The Computer Simulation of a Magnetic Separator for Iron Ore Dressing under Conditions of Uncontrolled Disturbances

Abstract

The article presents theoretical material about the principle of operation, design and advantages of the magnetic iron ore separator. A review of researches is given, where special attention is paid to the study of factors that affect the quality of concentrate and the loss of a valuable component in the tailings. The technical characteristics of the PDM-SC-120/300 magnetic separator are given. Regression models are obtained that reflect the relationship between the content of the class -0.074 mm and the solid phase flow rate in the separator feed with a high coefficient of determination in the MS Excel package with a solid phase content in the feed of 20 % and 30 %, respectively. The statistical significance of this coefficient was verified using the Fisher criterion. A mathematical description of the object elements such as an controlled valve, motor, and magnetic separator is given. These models are simplified by dropping small time constants and linearization in the vicinity of nominal modes using Taylor series expansion. The main disturbances that cause the deviation of the dressing indicators from the optimal values are highlighted. A computer model of the magnetic separator was constructed using the Simulink Matlab application based on its block diagram. The simulation results showed that with the specified control actions, an increase in the content of the class -0.074 mm in the feed to 94-95 % brings the mass fraction of iron in the concentrate to the acceptable limits, but reduces the productivity of the separator.