A review of the AG/SAG mill liner health monitoring systems

After a certain period of operation, liners in AG/SAG (Autogenous Grinding/Semi-autogenous Grinding) mills usually suffer from wear and damage, which significantly affect the grinding efficiency. It is important to keep AG/SAG mills working in a healthy condition; therefore, AG/SAG mill liner health monitoring is crucial. Regular condition check, such as laser scanning of the interior of AG/SAG mills has been used widely recently. However, for optimal economic performance without delay or the necessity to shut down the mill, it is more desirable that AG/SAG mill machine health could be monitored in a real-time manner. It has been found in the literature that mill part defects and faults could be detected by offline sensors, such as strain gauges, accelerometers and microphones. While mill shell vibration, shoulder and toe angles have been identified as important factors, recent advancements in portable accelerometers and encoders offer promising potential for modelling liner defects and enabling online detection. In this review paper, various AG/SAG mill online health monitoring systems are summarised together with future reserved requirements based on current founds and research gaps.