Mining Screens

Sensor stability is critical to wireless vibration monitoring. KCF’s patented design incorporates a low center of mass which creates an incredibly stable sensor. This becomes increasingly more important when attempting to monitor vibrating screens. Because of the incredibly aggressive nature of screens, using a sensor that is top-heavy (high center of mass) creates a high likelihood that this type of sensor will not be able to maintain a solid mount. In addition to the low center of gravity, KCF’s wireless vibration sensor is equipped with a stud mounting option which can be directly threaded into the machine, or a mounting puck which can be welded into place and the sensor threaded on for a rock-solid mount.

Once the sensor is securely mounted and continuous data trending, the next challenge to overcome is making sense of what the data is telling us. Most vibrating screens are equipped with an eccentric shaft mechanism which, when the drive motor is operating, will cause the “shaking motion” that allows the screen to sift material. This motion creates extremely high levels of vibration, but only at a specific frequency. This is known as the operating or shaking frequency. Once this frequency is identified, KCF utilizes vibrating bands to begin to trend different aspects of the screen’s health, rather than trending overall vibration levels. By doing this, we can address the most common conditions that cause catastrophic failure on screens.

The trendline to the left shows overall vibration levels on a screen bearing at a mine. The levels before a vibration band is applied are heavily influenced by the intentional vibration of the eccentric mechanism. As a result, the trend remains consistently high with little room for observing behavioral change. This is significant because most of the development of bearing defects will not produce enough energy to influence this trend.