To meet the increasing interest mining companies are showing in the condition monitoring of mining equipment, process manage- ment solutions company Emerson Process Management launched its portable vibration analyser, the CSI 2140 Machinery Health Analyser, in June, Emerson Process Management mining and power industries director Alan Novak tells Mining Weekly.

The CSI 2140 is a handheld device, with a battery life of more than ten hours. The device can detect impending mechanical defects in the gears and bearings of mining equipment such as mechanical shovels. Sensors are fitted to the equipment, which provide the CSI 2140 with data that it processes using Emerson’s unique PeakVue technology, which, in turn, enables the CSI 2140 to identify any impending issues in real time. Companies can use this data to prevent unplanned downtime of equipment.

The CSI 2140 shares many of the same advanced analysis capabilities with the rack-mounted CSI 6500 Machinery Health Monitor, which was developed in 2008 in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the US.

“Emerson developed its PeakVue vibration analysing technology for low-speed, moving or rotating equipment,” says Novak, adding that the equipment helps mining companies anticipate equipment downtime and schedule maintenance accordingly.

In 2010, the vibration analysing technology was adapted and field- proven to support mobile mining equipment, but can also be used in conveying systems such as aggregate crushers.

Drilling and materials handling machinery company P&H Mining Equipment was the first company to enter into an original-equipment manufacturer contract to use the CSI 6500 vibration analysis technology, which has been integrated into P&H’s Centurion class shovels to monitor vibration in the hoist, crowd and swing systems of the shovel.

In the last two years, iron-ore producer Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine, in the Northern Cape, has received five new P&H Centurion class shovels, each fitted with a CSI 6500 vibration analyser, and it will receive a sixth by the end of the year.

In June, Emerson was contracted to fit the CSI 6500 vibration analysers to Brazil-based mining company Vale’s 37-km-long conveyor network system at its S11D iron mining project, notes Novak, adding that this is the largest application of vibration analysing technology from Emerson.