2012 9th International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD 2012)

The Design of Ball Grinding Mill Automatic Controlling System Based on Configuration Software
REN Jia-fu WU Shou-yong
Chengdu University of Technology Chengdu,China
AbstractA new method to design ball grinding mill automatic controlling system based on the MCGS configuration software was introduced,and the structure and the working principle of the whole system were studied.In the design of this system, the computer with MCGS configuration software was used as a host computer,and the monitoring functions,such as data collection, processing,display,alarm,report output,etc.,were realized. Hypogynous machine (PLC)was used as regulator ,so the process controlling was realized.The system can be completed on the mills work situation of real-time remote monitoring and overload alarm.And the real-time adjustment of the input of mineral and water can be done according to the changes of the output of pulp granularity,pulp density and motor current .Automatic controlling of the ball grinding mill system would be finally completed. Keywords-configuration software; MCGS; ball grinding mill; automatic controlling; PLC

module output a corresponding analog controlling signal to control the amount of mineral and the volume of the water,thus the entire system maintains in a state of automatic. II. THE DESIGN OF MONITORING AND CONTROLLING SYSTEM BASED ON MCGS A. Introduction to MCGS configuration software MCGS(Monitor and Control Generated System) is a windows-based platform for rapid construct and generate monitoring system configuration software,it can be run on a variety of 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating system. MCGS configuration software with functions of animation show, processing and device controlling, data acquisition and report output,has some prominent features such as easy operation, nice visibility,and strong maintainability.So it is very practical in the field of industrial process controlling and real-time monitoring[2]. B. The real-time database settings of MCGS configuration environment Analyzing the engineering project constitution and the specification of the ball mill automatic controlling system, monitoring objects and their characteristics can be acquired,as is shown in Table. Defining the corresponding data variable in the MCGS real-time database, assigning their names, types, starting values and the value scopes, then determine the related parameters of these variables,such as saving cycle, saving range, and shelf life ,and so on. C. The design of the engineering static picture With the analysis, the need to create three user windows can be named as "automatic controlling system of ball mill", "parameters setting" and "graph datas". Configurate on them separately. a) The configuration of "automatic controlling system of ball mill" static screen. In accordance with the kind of workflow, select a combination hardware icons, and add the appropriate material flow module and text notes, etc.. In order to make it easier to observe the entire system controlling, the real-time display of pulp density, pulp granularity, feeding volume, water volume, and motor current are set in the same window with the controlling system,which is shown in Fig.1. b) The configuration of "graph datas" static screen. Using the MCGS equipment toolbox, the real-time and historical

I.

INTRODUCTION

The ball mill is a very common form of grinding tool in the industrial production process,and mainly used in mineral processing, ceramics, chemicals, cement, glass, refractories and other industries.The main study here is to research its automatic controlling system when used in the grinding in mineral processing plant.Industrial controlling system in the past, be automated,relied on specific software programming for the hardware system,this method worked lower efficiency,higher error rate,and poor software universal.With the continuous development of the industrial sector,specifically industrial controlling configuration software came into being,which is a software tool for user to quickly build industrial automatic controlling system with monitoring capability,under a software platform of the automatic controlling system for monitoring and development environment,to provide with the advantages of low cost,easy to develop,rich resources,strong scalability and versatility[1]. With the help of the platform combined MCGS configuration software with computer, the motor current,the feeding volume of mineral,the volume of water and the pulp granularity and density of the output of ball mill in real-time monitoring when the mill running can be better achieved. And the achieved datas by monitoring would be counted,analyzed,compared to right,and finally the control instructions could be issued. The PLC(Programmable Logic Controller)as a controlling communication "bridge" between the configuration system and the lower machine,after receiving the instructions, PLC

978-1-4673-0024-7/10/$26.00 2012 IEEE

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curve platform of the system could be made.Setting the feeding volume, water volume, pulp granularity, pulp density as the demonstration objects, finally establish the withdrawal button.
TABLE I. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Name Motor current Feeding volume Feeding switch Water volume Water switch Pulp granularity Pulp density Reset switch Alarm group MONITORING AND CONTROLLING OBJECTS OF STATISTICS Parameter Type Numeric Numeric Switch type Numeric Switch type Numeric Numeric Switch type Group object Any Remarks Motor current of the ball grinding mill Feeding volume of the ball grinding mill Switch of Mineral aggregate feeding Water volume of the ball grinding mill Switch of water input Pulp granularity of the output Pulp density of the output Reset switch of the system Combination of the required alarm objects

III. A.

THE DESIGN OF AUTOMATIC SYSTEM BASED ON MCGS

The hardware equipments of the automatic controlling system Building automatic controlling system as a whole needs industrial computer, PLC, inverters, induction motors, sensors and other hardware devices. Using the motor current sensor,density sensor,granularity sensor to detect separately the operating current, the output pulp density and granularity, and feed them back to PLC,in the end displayed on the screen. By MCGS configuration interface, users can keep abreast of the work of the entire system, including archiving datas, alarm datas of the objects, and report output,etc.. Compare the feedback values with the parameter values given in advance, and then according to the script's programming conditions output corresponding values to the PLC, respectively control the frequency converters of water supply and feeding by PLC, to change the feeding volume and the water volume of the system, so to achieve automatic controlling. According to the complexity of the system, taking the economical and practical, stability into account,select the G110 inverter and PLC Siemens series as the main module to build hardware systems. Due to insufficient of hardwares, eventually enter simulation of analog signals to the control capabilities of the system. B. The programming of the automatic controlling system In the configuration design, the implementation of the automatic control is mainly dependent on the preparation of the control strategy. MCGS provides a complete set of control mechanisms, enabling the user to precisely control the work process according to actual needs. Its control strategy is made up of different policy modules, while the policy module is made up of multiple policies, and conditions and features of each strategy is divided into two parts ,in order to achieve " Carries out any function under any condition" mechanism [4]. MCGS control strategy is prepared in the windows of operation strategy, its core is cycle strategy.With the help of these strategies, it enables the system to be automatic. Script syntax is based on common Basic programming language, and some specific programming statements which provided by MCGS configuration software.

c) The configuration of "parameters setting" static screen. Use ! SetAlmValue(DatName, Value, Flag), provided by MCGS,input the proper script programs, and establish links between the input boxes and the objects,such as pulp granularity limits,and so on. D. Animation connection As the static pictures have been edited, the graphic objects in the users window need to be connected with the real-time data objects in the database,and set the properties of an animation. While the system was running, the appearance and characteristics of the graphic objects will be driven by the gathered real-time data values of the objects, enabling graphics animation effects[3].

Figure 1 The static picture of Ball Grinding Mill Automatic Controlling System.

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C. Data display and report output a) The display of alarm datas.In MCGS real-time database, alarm bounds should be set for data variables, such as motor current, pulp granularity and density. Append these three variables as alarm groups object members. Then add an appropriate user policy and set its new pull-down menu. While the system running, the exact moment can be shown when any variables over the limits. b) The display of the graphs. Graph processing is an important part of industrial controlling system. Analyzing the trend of graphs can be helpful to find out the data variation and benefit to system optimization. In order to display the data graphs normally when the system running, related properties should be set for the real-time and historical graph which were established before. c) The display of system work.This function is mainly used for recording and displaying the feeding volume,the water volume,the pulp granularity and density. This information can be automatically recorded and displayed at a certain cycle. In the MCGS real-time database, establish new object and set the feeding volume, water volume, pulp granularity, pulp density as its members. Creating relative user strategy, with its strategy behaviour named Inventory data browsebeing added,set its display property. IV. ANALYSIS AND DEBUGGING OF THE AUTOMATIC CONTROLLING SYSTEM After the design of the system completed,then may input the simulated signals to carry on the synthesis. Start the current project in the configuration environment,enter in the movement environment, the " Ball Grinding Mill Automatic Controlling System " begins. Operating the switch on the interface,the system begins to run. According to the design requests, there are several functions need be tested. a) The controlling function of the system switch,to manually turn on the system or manually forced to shut down the system. According to the lab test,when the system switch was turned on, also turned on the material switch and the water switch,the pulp density,etc.,displayed normally;while the system switch was shut down,the whole system stopped.

greater than 85 units,there would be a upper limit alarm,while the pulp granularity was less than 65 units caused a lower limit alarm; when the pulp density was less than 65 units,there was a lower limit alarm, while the pulp density was greater than 85 units caused a upper limit alarm; motor current more than 9 units caused overload alarm, meanwhile the system stopped. Alarm data is shown in Fig.2. c) The records for the system show the sample values of the feeding volume, the water volume,the pulp granularity,and the pulp density within a certain period of time, and the statistics of the total and average. According to the lab test, the sampling took place every 6 seconds, finally counted the total and average of each, as is shown in Fig.3.

Figure 3 The statistics of the system.

d) Automatic controlling functions, that is, within a certain range, the water volume changes with the changes in output of pulp density;the feeding volume changes with the changes of the motor current and the output of pulp granularity. According to the lab test, when the motor current increased in the normal working range of 6.5-8.5 units,there was a corresponding increase of the feeding volume;when the motor current reduced, the feeding volume showed a corresponding reduction. When the pulp granularity increased within the normal range , there was a corresponding reduction in the feeding volume; when the pulp granularity decreased, the feeding volume increased. When the pulp density increased between the normal working range of 65-85 units, a corresponding increase in the amount of water volume, pulp density decreased, giving a corresponding reduction in water volume.

Figure 2 Alarm information display.

b) Alarm and alarm datas display. According to the lab test, when the motor current was less than 6.5 units ,there would be a lower alarm, while the motor current is greater than 8.5 units caused a upper limit alarm; when the pulp granularity was

Figure 4 The real-time curve of the system.

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errors in data statistics and the average value analysis of each object.So,it need to be further optimized. e) Because of the automatic controlling system could not be really used in the factory,the stability of the system need to be further tested ,and lots of detail technical issues may be encountered in practical applications.

[1]

[2] Figure 5 The historical curve of the system.

e) Data graph shows, which display the real-time and the historical graphs of the system. According to the lab test, realtime graph is shown in Fig.4, historical graph is shown in Fig.5. With the analyzing of the graphs, it might discover that,for the whole system,there is a inverse relationship between the feeding volume and the pulp granularity, as well the motor current;while a positive correlation between the water volume and the pulp density,what conforms to the design requirements of the system basically. V. THE CONCLUSIONS

[3]

[4]

Cao Hui, Ma Dong-ping, Wang Xuanet al. Configuration Software Technology and Application. BEIJING:Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2009,p.1. ,, . [M]. : , 2009,1. Zhang Wen-ming, Liu zhi-jun.Configuration Software Technologies. Beijing: Qing Hua University Press, 2006 ,. [M]. :, 2006 Beijing Kunlun State Automation Software Technology co., Ltd. MCGS Reference Manual. Beijing: Beijing Kunlun-State automation software technology limited, 2004. .MCGS [M].: , 2004. Li Dan. MCGS Monitoring Configuration Software in Densely Ore Dressing Plant Crushing Plant Application. Kunming: Kunming University of Science and Technology, 2004, pp.35-36 . MCGS [D]. :, 2004,35-36.

This article is based on the industrial control configuration software MCGS, combined with hardware equipments, such as PLC, inverter, sensor,and so on, and an automatic controlling system of ball mill was designed. And with the input of simulated signals, its automatic controlling functions were tested, its recorded real-time and historical graphs were analyzed, then come to the following conclusions. a) Compared with the traditional instrumentation hardware control, this paper developed an automatic control system based on the configuration software MCGS, capable of automatic control the feeding volume and the water volume ,which depend on the changes of output of the pulp granularity, the pulp density,and the motor current. And obtain functions of alarm and overload automatic breaking. The system has a better interactive interface, scalability and versatility. b) Through the configuration of real-time graph,historical graph,etc.,which provided by MCGS, it is possible to keep a breast on the running status of the system,and to count the interested objects, just in the central control room,that would make it easier to optimize and improve the system in the long run. c) By the configuration of parameters interface, user can adjust the normal working ranges of the parameters according to the actual need when the quality of ore changed.So to realize the automatic controlling. d) Because the records and the output report of the system are completed by the way of gap sampling, there are certain

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