The Situation
A major UK mineral processing company had a series of ball mills operating in different configurations. One of these drivetrain arrangements was suffering from recurring issues, sometimes resulting in complete breakdowns and halting production on the line. The ball mill pinions and support bearings had failed and been replaced twice and the David Brown gearbox also replaced for new, in a twelve month period. The customer had attempted to identify the root cause of the issues, without success.
The Solution
HAYLEY 247 DMS DEXIS, a company with a pedigree in delivering condition-based monitoring services and solutions, were invited on-site to attempt to diagnose the issues. Iris M motion amplification camera and equipment was brought along and used by the trained engineer. It was immediately clear from the real-time motion amplification that a forcing frequency at 12.7Hz was having an impact. Following generation of the comprehensive video report, multiple issues within the structure were noted. The motor was moving dramatically under load, causing a huge strain on the drive and ball mill driving pinion, and resulting in anchor bolts loosening.
"THE LEVEL OF INSIGHT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN UNACHIEVABLE AND HAS ENABLED THE CUSTOMER TO TAKE SWIFT REMEDIAL ACTION."
The Result
The motion amplification service provided accurately identified the root cause of the persistent problems faced by the customer with their ball mill drive configuration. This level of insight had previously been unachievable and has enabled the customer to take swift remedial action. Thanks to the project, the new drive configuration has suffered no faults since its installation, providing a trouble-free operation.