Siemens modernizes drive system for ore mills in Chile
21/02/2017 Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies
Siemens modernizes drive system for ore mills in Chile-€¢ Modernization increases drive system reliability and boosts mill throughput
-€¢ Extremely short system installation time of just 13 days minimizes mill standstill period
-€¢ New drive system ensures significantly lower downtimes
As one of the world's biggest copper ore operations, the Chilean mining company CompañÃÂa Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi SCM based in Las Condes/Chile commissioned Siemens to modernize the drive system of four of its ore mills. The mine is located in the North of Chile, around 180 kilometers southeast of the port of Iquique. The contract required Siemens to supply complete state-of-the-art drive systems comprising new motors and Flender couplings with torque limiting shear pin as well as new Sinamics SL150 cycloconverters with thyristor stacks from its extensive portfolio. The new drive systems will give a huge boost to the reliability and consequently also the throughput of the mills. The contract is valued in the double-digit million range.
The modernization project includes two 8 MW SAG (semi-autogenous) mills and two 1.7 MW ball mills with dual pinion drives. The new drive systems are replacing the existing synchronous motors and direct converters for the SAG mills and the drive systems of the ball mills, which were installed by a different manufacturer. The standardized system design now offers all the benefits of controllable drives also for the ball mills.
When implementing this project, to prevent costly standstill periods and also to minimize risk it was vital for the new motors to fit on the foundations constructed for their predecessors. Also with a view to minimizing any risks associated with the conversion, a decision was taken to replace the entire mill automation system by modern technology rather than endeavor the laborious task of adapting the hardware and software.
The direct converter and the new automation systems were installed in ready-assembled new "E-€‘Houses" which were completely developed, produced and pre-tested in the plant in Santiago/Chile, to be subsequently connected and commissioned on site.
The location of the mine at an altitude of over 4,200 meters meant that particular care had to be taken with the electrical and thermal dimensioning of components.
For more information, please visit: www.siemens.com/mining
Print this article
Process and Control Today are not responsible for the content of submitted or externally produced articles and images. Click here to email us about any errors or omissions contained within this article.