Control of Hydrocyclone Operation
In a beneficiation plant , during steady operation the products from a hydrocyclone has a definite cut point. However due to variations in the feed slurry characteristics and changes in the hydrocyclone geometry, especially the diameter of the apex due to abrasion, the cut point changes during operation. It is necessary to hold the performance at the desired dsoc value for down stream operations. The control strategy could be to monitor the deviation of the cut point. The alteration in cut point was obviously due to change in feed characteristics and additionally to changes in cyclone geometry due to abrasion. An important factor in designing control loops is the instrumental and programmable time delays, the case of hydrocyclone automation, the sources of time delays is given in Table1. Each instrument has to have a separate time delay factor which could be up to 3 seconds Programmable time delays introduced during iteration could be greater than instrumental time delays....