Robot system and method for copper concentrate injector cleaning in the flash furnace

Abstract

At present, the flash furnace due to an increase in fusion forms accretions in the burner which causes that the “air umbrella” does not develop and in order to clean it manually the load must be lowered for safety reasons. One of the major disadvantages of all the tasks associated to the cleaning process is the exposure of the personnel to harsh environmental conditions. This in the medium and long term could generate serious occupational diseases to the operators in charge of carrying out such activity. Due to the above, a robot system and method have been developed for the automated cleaning of the burner thus minimizing the decrease of the load. The robotic system is composed mainly of an anthropomorphous robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom, and a gripping mechanism which allows to take, manipulate and release several tools from a tool holder to carry out the cleaning process of the smelting furnace.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 734,969 filed 2005 Nov. 10 by the present inventorFEDERAL SPONSORED RESEARCH [0002] Not Applicable SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM [0003] Not Applicable BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION [0004] This invention relates to the use of robotic technology in mining industry, specifically in cleaning tasks in smelters. BACKGROUND—PRIOR ART [0005] The Smelting furnaces main function is to smelt metals and / or concentrates in order to purify and extract the ore. These furnaces use the heat generated from the high temperature oxidation reactions resulting in 2 stages: one stage with the valuable metal of interest which is called matte, and the other stage with worthless metal called slag. In general terms, the smelting furnaces operate on a continuous basis, while the matter and the slag are discharged to bins through batch processes by opening and closing the corresponding ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

One of the major disadvantages of the tasks associated to the cleaning process is the exposure of the personnel to harsh environmental conditions.

In the medium and long term this could generate serious occupational diseases to the operators involved in carrying out this activity.

Particularly the cleaning process has disadvantages from the point of view of safety as a result of the exposure of operators to spatters and molten metal projections.

On the other hand, a decrease in the furnace processing capacity could be generated which means a decrease in the flash furnace production.

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