HIGH CAPACITY CASCADE-TYPE MINERAL SORTING MACHINE AND METHOD

• US 20160193630A1
• Filed: 03/11/2016
• Published: 07/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MineSense Technologies Ltd.
• Original Assignee: MineSense Technologies Ltd.
• Inventors: Bamber, Andrew Sherliker, Csinger, Andrew, Poole, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,029,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/04 Sorting according to size sorting devices as a component of the automatic supply and removal of workpieces B23Q7/12
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/34 Sorting according to other particular properties material testing per se G01N; quality control G07C3/14
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/3425 of granular material, e.g. ore particles, grain investigation moving fluids or granular solids using optical means G01N21/85
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/36 Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution sorting according to destination B07C3/003, B07C3/02
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/361 Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 5/362 Separating or distributor mechanisms switches for postal sorting B07C3/065; particular discharging devices for B65G47/74

Abstract

Methods and systems for achieving higher efficiencies and capacities in sorting feed material are described herein, such as for separating desirable “good” rock or ore from undesirable “bad” rock or ore in an unsegregated, unseparated stream of feed material. In the disclosure, higher efficiencies are achieved with combinations of multiple sensor/diverter cells in stages in a cascade arrangement. The number and combination of cells in the cascade may be determined through a priori characterization of probabilities involved in sensor/rock and rock/diverter interactions, and mathematical determinations of the optimal number and combination of stages based on this probability. Further, as disclosed herein, desired sorting capacities are achieved through addition of multiple cascades in parallel until the desired sorting capacity is reached.

Claims

1. A method of determining a number of sorting stages in a sorting cascade, each sorting stage comprising a sensor and a diverter, comprising:

calculating a probability of correctly determining a content of a mineral sample using a sensor;

calculating a probability of correctly diverting the mineral sample using a diverter;

calculating a utility of a sorting cascade based on the probability of correctly determining the content of the mineral sample and the probability of correctly diverting the mineral sample; and

determining a number of sorting stages based on the calculated utility.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the utility of the sorting cascade is further based on a previous characterization of the mineral sample.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a desired separation capacity;

determining a number of sorting cascades to achieve the desired separation capacity at the calculated utility.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each sorting cascade includes the determined number of sorting stages.

5. A system for sorting ore from a stream of material, comprising:

a first size-classifying stage configured to separate at least a portion of the stream of material into at least fine fractions and coarse fractions;

a first sorting cascade comprising at least one sorting cell, wherein the first sorting cascade is configured to;

receive the coarse fractions;

detect content of at least a first desired component from the coarse fractions; and

sort, based on a first grade threshold, the coarse fractions into a coarse fraction accept stream and a coarse fraction reject stream;

a second sorting cascade comprising at least one sorting cell, wherein the second sorting cascade is configured to;

receive the fine fractions;

detect content of at least a second desired component from the fine fractions; and

sort, based on a second grade threshold, the fine fractions into a fine fraction accept stream and a fine fraction reject stream;

a product stream comprising the fine fraction accept stream and the coarse fraction accept stream; and

a tailings stream comprising the fine fraction reject stream and the coarse fraction reject stream.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein detecting the content of at least the first desired component and detecting the content of at least the second desired component includes detecting the content of a same desired component in the fine fractions and the coarse fractions.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first grade threshold is different from the second grade threshold.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein detecting the content of at least the first desired component and detecting the content of at least the second desired component includes detecting a content of a different desired component in the fine fractions and the coarse fractions.

9. The system of claim 5, further comprising a second size-classifying stage configured to separate at least a portion of the coarse fractions into at least second-stage fine fractions and second-stage coarse fractions.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein a number of sorting cells in the first sorting cascade is determined by:

calculating a probability of correctly determining the content of the first desired component of the coarse fractions using a sensor;

calculating a probability of correctly diverting the coarse fractions using a diverter;

calculating a utility of the first sorting cascade based on the probability of correctly determining the content of the first desired component of the coarse fractions and the probability of correctly diverting the coarse fractions; and

determining the number of the at least one sorting cell in the first sorting cascade based on the calculated utility.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising at least one additional sorting cascade, wherein each additional sorting cascade comprises the determined number of the at least one sorting cell.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a number of additional sorting cascades is determined based on a desired separation capacity.

13. A method of separating material, comprising:

receiving material into a first sorting cell, wherein the first sorting cell comprises a first sensor and a first diverter;

sorting, using the first sensor, the material into a first accept group and a first reject group based on a content of the received material;

receiving the first accept group into a second sorting cell, wherein the second sorting cell comprises a second sensor and a second diverter;

sorting, using the second sensor, the first accept group into a second accept group and a second reject group based on the content;

receiving the first reject group into a third sorting cell, wherein the third sorting cell has a third sensor and a third diverter; and

sorting, using the third sensor, the first reject group into a third accept group and a third reject group based on the content;

wherein at least two of the first sorting cell, the second sorting cell, and the third sorting cell are configured to sort the content differently.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

combining the third accept group and the second reject group;

receiving the third accept group and the second reject group into a fourth sorting cell, wherein the fourth sorting cell comprises a fourth sensor and a fourth diverter; and

sorting, using the fourth sensor, the third accept group and the second reject group into a fourth accept group and a fourth reject group based on the content.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

combining the second accept group and the fourth accept group to form a product group; and

combining the fourth reject group and the third reject group to form a reject group.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising

determining a number of sorting cells to separate the material to a desired utility;

and

repeating the receiving, sorting, and combining steps for the determined number of sorting cells.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the number of sorting cells to separate the material to the desired utility is based on a probability of correctly determining content of the material and a probability of correctly diverting the material based on the content.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the material comprises ore, wherein sorting, using the first sensor, the ore into the first accept group and the first reject group based on the content of the received ore comprises:

exposing the first sensor to a mineral sample of the ore; and

measuring a spectral response of the mineral sample.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein sorting, using the first sensor, the ore into the first accept group and the first reject group based on the content of the received ore further comprises:

comparing the measured spectral response to previously recorded response data from mineral samples of a known content; and

assigning a compositional value to the mineral sample based on the comparison.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

prior to receiving the material into the first sorting cell, classifying the material into fine fractions and coarse fractions.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the fine fractions are received into the first sorting cell, and wherein the coarse fractions are received into a different sorting cell.