Dynamic simulation of a modular flotation plant

Abstract

The aim if this thesis work is to develop a dynamic simulator tool of a modular flotation plant with the final purpose of the simulator to be used as a training tool for operators. The thesis report describes basic theory about froth flotation process, process modelling, automated control and the development process of the final simulator tool. The simula-tor tool was developed for Outotec Oy® Finland based on their designs and calculations.

The simulator was developed with the aid of three different programs: HSC Sim 9, SIE-MENS PCS 7, Virtual Experience Manager and Virtual Experience Client. HSC Sim per-forms dynamic simulation of the flotation process. SIEMENS PCS is the Distributed Control System (D.C.S.) where the automated control, the human machine interface and the instrumentation are created. The final training platform development and training exercise creation was done using Virtual Experience Manager. Virtual Experience Client was used to activate the training simulator tool.

The final version of the training simulator was capable of simulating the required flota-tion flowsheet with the input ore-feed. It can be used as a base platform on which further development regarding instrumentation, flotation circuit and mineral processing can be modified to fit different configurations as required. Further development of the simula-tor requires improvement on the capabilities of the programs used for the development.