Vibration Sensors for Detecting Critical Events: A Case Study in Ferrosilicon Production

Abstract

The mining and metal processing industries are undergoing a transformation through digitization, with sensors and data analysis playing a crucial role in modernization and increased efficiency. Vibration sensors are particularly important in monitoring production infrastructure in metal processing plants. This paper presents the installation of vibration sensors in an actual industrial environment and the results of spectral vibration data analysis. The study demonstrates that vibration sensors can be installed in challenging environments such as metal processing plants and that analyzing vibration patterns can provide valuable insights into predicting machine failures and different machine states. By utilizing dimensionality reduction and dominant frequency observation, we analyzed vibration data and identified patterns that are indicative of potential machine states and critical events that reduce production throughput. This information can be used to improve maintenance, minimize downtime, and ultimately enhance the production process’s overall efficiency. This study highlights the importance of digitization and data analysis in the mining and metal processing industries, particularly the capability not only to predict critical events before they impact production throughput and take action accordingly but also to identify machine states for legacy equipment and be part of retrofitting strategies.