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May 2017
MODERN MINING
49
CRUSHING, SCREENING
AND MILLING
feature
spread the material as evenly as possible across
the deck, so that the cut points are even across
the surface and the wear rates are more or less
uniform to allow for predictive failure patterns
and to facilitate longer replacement intervals.
Multotec’s panel options also include pur-
pose-built deflectors that can be strategically
deployed in the deck map design to assist with
this spreading function.
“Downtime is a primary concern for all our
clients,” says Faba. “So our composite deck
designs must ensure that wear patterns are as
even as possible, so that we can extend the
mean time between failures (MTBF) and con-
duct scheduled maintenance as infrequently
as we can. Typically we want to ensure that
customers can run these screens for six to eight
months at least before they have to schedule
maintenance downtime.”
This is where Multotec’s Hawkeye is push-
ing the boundaries, by systematically managing
and analysing the data from the deck maps,
creating a powerful planning system for on-
going application improvement. By tracking
the performance over time of the various panel
types on each deck in operation, the screening
requirements in each part of the deck can be
constantly refined.
“The composite deck concept opens the
door to almost infinite combinations in the
placement of particular panel types, and the
sheer bulk and complexity of the data from
each screen on each operational site needs to
be carefully managed and analysed to make it
useful,” says Roche.
He emphasises that Multotec’s screen pan-
els are also commonly used in double-deck
formations, which
substantially increases
the amount of data
being collected.
Leveraging perfor-
mance data is likely
to become an excit-
i ng f i e l d f eed i ng
into technological
advancement, espe-
cially in the light of
the process guarantees that bind every player
in the supply chain to their commitments,
says Faba.
“The scientific use of this data can help us
respond positively to the mining operation’s
changing ore characteristics, through our com-
prehensive feedback loop,” he says. “This
extends from our technicians on site, back
through our design facilities, to sales engineers,
and into our manufacturing processes. We can
assess how well the existing deck map design
is meeting the client requirement, while pick-
ing up guides and pointers from the data about
how best to adapt to changing ore conditions.”
Underpinning the interchangeability of
panels on composite screen panel decks is the
modular format of Multotec’s two common
panel sizes – 1' x 1' or 2' x 1'.
“This modular design allows for the different
types of panels to be placed in specific areas of
the screen as part of the overall goal of achiev-
ing metallurgical efficiency on the screening
media surface,” Roche concludes. “Our experi-
ence is that modular panels can cut operating
costs on screen decks by up to 30 % plus, when
using iterative improvement techniques.”
An example of a composite
deck layout.