Metso Outotec is launching a virtual inspection tool for horizontal grinding mill linings, with the innovative platform utilising 3D scanning.
The virtual inspection platform scans the mill linings to be viewed in virtual reality, which then enables an efficient and safe environment for technical discussions.
“There is a growing need to find new ways to reach out to our customers and to discuss mill lining performance with them remotely,” Metso Outotec mill lining solutions research and technology development manager Lars Furtenbach said.
“Our customers will benefit from our strong experience with over 8000 mills worldwide combined with the market’s most comprehensive offering and the new software platform.”
The platform allows users to enter a 360° environment where they can move about freely in a 3D virtual setting and interact with the mill lining scan to analyse it.
It has features including remaining liner thickness measurements and profile review that enable the users to make real-time assessments of the liners.
Being able to view the scans in virtual reality is the next best thing to an actual site visit and reduces the need to travel to the site to make inspections in a risky environment, thereby improving safety and reducing CO2 emissions.
“Our patented MillMapper 3D-scanning of mill linings has been the industry benchmark for years,” Furtenbach said.
“The scans are used to understand the way the mill liners wear, to optimise the liner design and to accurately predict the reline schedules.”
Metso Outotec has more than six decades of experience in engineering and manufacturing mill liners and grinding mills.
The announcement follows Metso Outotec’s recent launch of a new range of minerals processing plant islands – the Horizontal Mill Plant Units.
The pre-engineered plant units provide optimised grinding performance and simplify project management through easy circuit selection and flowsheet implementation.
Metso Outotec is a global leader in sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries.