新技术新产品 – Page 12 – Ying Hui International

World first: China’s hack-proof communications system

China has launched what it says is the world’s first quantum satellite from the Gobi Desert on Tuesday. If successful, it will allow for global hack-proof communications.

During its two-year mission, the QUESS satellite will establish “hack-proof” quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.

Quantum technology uses photons to transmit encrypted messages. This form of encryption is secured against any kind of computing power because the information encoded in a quantum particle is changed as soon as it is measured, which means it cannot be cloned. This in turn makes it impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.

QUESS will utilise high-speed coherent lasers to connect with base stations 1,200km apart, in order to test long-distance communications. There have been past experiments looking to achieve this, however they struggled with the loss of photons in transmission and therefore quantum communications could only be achieved over a short distance (no more than 500km).

If successful, the QUESS project could result in the establishment of a ground-to-satellite quantum communication system, enabling global scale quantum communications.

“This newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China’s role – from a follower in classic information technology development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements,” said Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of the project, in a comment to Xinhuanet.

Pan believes that if more quantum satellites are sent into orbit, the global quantum communications network will be established in the next 15 years.

The Future-Proof mining plant

Globalisation, competition, material and resource pricings, aging workforces and regulatory pressures are just some of the challenges facing Australian mining companies. Some of these challenges grow more daunting by the day. But Australia has always been an innovative force in making the best of difficult situations, particularly in the mining sector.

The external factors that affect mining are so volatile that it is difficult to pin down with absolute certainty what the industry will look like in a year – let alone five years or a decade. To combat these unknowns mining companies are using Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies to more effectively control their own assets and in-turn, creating future-proof mining plants with modern process automation at its core.

The Future-Proof Plant helps mining organisations in three ways: keeping pace with accelerating business and operational requirements; evolving with changing technologies; and attracting the right people, then supporting them with the required knowledge.

The Speed Challenge

Over the last decade, critical business variables associated with industrial production has fluctuated. For example, today the price of the electricity that a mining operation consumes might change every 15 minutes. This increase in speed has also impacted the frequency in variation of the production value and material costs of an operation.

Now, the speed of business is so fast that industrial operations must be able to respond to market changes in real time, including many traditional functions that industrial operations have performed in transactional business systems. Real time business functions such as performance measures, activity-based accounting and profitable safety and asset performance management, will need to operate succinctly in process automation systems.

These systems must be designed right from inception to be extremely agile, adapting to process changes quickly and easily. As these process changes are implemented, object-based industrial service-oriented architecture (SOA) can help industrial companies to adapt flexibly. This future-proofs the operation while maintaining the operational integrity of the mining plant.

Tightly integrated, resource-to-market, data-driven businesses allow advanced Supply Demand Optimisation (SDO) systems to be implemented. These systems provide real-time visibility and predictive capability, allowing businesses to overcome the challenge of complex interlocked operations. In turn, this enables ‘lean’ production that meets market demands whilst mitigating bottlenecks.

The Technology Challenge

As well as helping companies meet business challenges by future-proofing operations, modern process automation systems embody all the characteristics essential to keeping ahead of ever-evolving technological developments by future-proofing their technology as well.

Control room components such as operator consoles and engineering tools have much shorter lifecycles than process-connected components such as transmitters and control hardware. There is also an increased use of mobile technology, with two out of three businesses in a recent Schneider Electric IoT survey planning to implement the Internet of Things via mobile applications in 2016. No single computing architecture will monopolise these systems. Instead, IoT will flourish across systems, both at the edge and on premise.

This in-part reflects ongoing security concerns, with cybersecurity threats related to IoT a critical challenge for future business. Making information available across heterogeneous computing environments will help end users adopt IoT solutions in the way that best suits their security and mission-critical needs while also offering those with legacy technology infrastructures a logical and manageable path forward.

Industrial businesses can protect their engineering investments and in many cases, use emerging technology to drive more value from their automation solutions. From an architectural perspective the key features of such an automation system are threefold: providing a distributed software architecture that operates in standard operating system environments, utilising open industry standards and building a distributed object-based communication infrastructure.

In recent years, the concept of continuously-current technology has been taken to a new level by extending the basic system design to become an industrial service oriented architecture (SOA).

Looking at Schneider Electric technology as an example, clients found they could continually evolve to the latest state-of-the-art technology – while preserving existing hardware, software and applications. This enabled clients to protect their engineering investments and in many cases to use emerging technology to drive more value from their automation solutions.

This approach means Process manufacturers have the flexibility to continuously upgrade smaller components to meet emerging business needs, without having to upgrade everything at once, thereby minimising downtime.

Increased use of open standards, with a transparent data-driven approach is based on the desire among industrial companies to have common approaches, allowing systems to integrate and interoperate. Better integration enables the flow of data to information, knowledge and offers operational insight, encouraging efficient collaboration across mining plant operations.

The People Challenge

A final important issue facing industrial companies over the next few decades will be the changing workforce; retirements of the older workforce and training the next data-driven and more transitory generation. The processes of a Future-Proof Plant helps reduce the impact of these changes, primarily by using automation technology such as virtual reality to embed expertise into systems rather than people.

Properly designed automation software can help capture the intellectual property of engineers and operators before they depart, safeguarding important information and valuable processes. Software workflow engines at the system layer allow intellectual property to be embedded into the system environment. Therefore, critical information and knowledge can be passed on to new employees in the most succinct and efficient way. With these assets available on demand, operators and maintenance workers can be guided through unexpected and perhaps unsafe events via intellectual property embedded in automatically triggered workflows.

Automation systems with sophisticated design are also able to help facilities improve both safety and efficiency standards. Operator training simulators used in conjunction with contextualised virtual reality training systems can help new mining operators achieve certification levels in less than half the time of traditional methods. With the challenge often lying in training new operators how to respond to infrequent or unexpected events, simulation and augmented reality software can be programmed to effectively teach this.

Embedding lifetime training capability into the online environment through performance feedback mechanisms and performance prediction software ensures continuous worker development after certification. Since people learn by feedback control, providing the capabilities of the Future-Proof Plant’s operational insight environment drives workers to even higher levels of performance than that of their predecessors.

The future – tomorrow and beyond

IIoT automation system technologies cannot address every challenge faced by Australian mining. But creating Future-Proof Plants ensures that a company’s assets are used at their maximum capacity and efficiency and will continue to do so effectively in the coming years.

Protecting the operational integrity of plants, enhancing the operational insight of people and enabling plants to adapt easily and affordably to change are just some of the benefits local companies are already experiencing today. These benefits will help them remain competitive tomorrow and beyond.

New Curtin Uni facility unlocking ‘hidden’ gold

Scientists at Curtin University have uncovered gold nanoparticles in arsenopyrite using atom probing.

Curtin West Australian School of Mines (WASM) research associate in applied geology Dr. Denis Fougerouse and other researchers found metallic gold nanoparticles only nanometres in diameter within the mineral, a study which Fougerouse believes is the first of its kind.

According to Curtin University the study “challenges the understanding of nanoparticle formation and allowed the team to establish the main controls on gold incorporation in sulphides”.

Fougerouse explained,” The application of atom probe microscopy in geosciences is relatively new.”

“The technique is based on field-evaporation of atoms from tiny, needle-shaped specimens to provide three dimensional sub-nanometre scale information of the position and type of individual atoms in the specimen in the mineral,” he said.

“Typically the amount of material analysed is really, really small – a single grain of salt is more than a billion times larger than a typical analysis.”

Large amounts of these gold nanoparticles are ‘locked’ in gold-bearing arsenopyrite, a common iron arsenic sulphide.

“Arsrenopyrite is a very common mineral found in Australia and other mines, although not every arsenopyrite contains, it is common to find gold locked inside this mineral,” Fougerouse said.

“Our results show that gold can be hosted either as nanoparticles or as individual atoms in different parts of the crystal structure, and the different types of gold yield important information about the controls on gold deposition as the ore body forms.”

He went on to say this research supports the capacity of atom probe microscopy in geoscience.

“Our research shows the Geoscience Atom Probe has the potential to characterise gold deposition processes as the atomic level. In turn this could help unlock hidden gold resources in known deposits, and will enhance gold recovery.

“Nanogeoscience is a new, but rapidly growing research field; through this research and use of the Geoscience Atom Probe, we can show that tiny observations can yield big results that have potential economic importance.”

Affordable mill liner profile condition monitoring system

With volatility in commodity prices, it is critical that mines optimise the operating costs of the entire plant, and this need has seen an increased focus on achieving the desired grind efficiency in mills. While each mill liner profile is designed to provide the correct trajectory to achieve either impact grinding or attrition grinding depending on the specific application, wear on the mill liner profile will affect the grind efficiency.

Matthew Fitzsimons, Technical Manager of Multotec Rubber, explains that it is important to understand that the wear rate of liners is not linear, and that as the liners wear the increased slippage of the charge increases the wear on the liners.

“This can, in turn, rapidly decrease the grind efficiency of the mill due to the trajectory in the mill being sub optimal and the energy transfer for breakage is reduced,” Fitzsimons says.

It is for this reason that condition monitoring of mill liners, whether steel or rubber, is necessary. Regular inspection of the liner profile will allow historical data to be collated which will facilitate liner life predictions.

Fitzsimons says the only way to approximate the trajectory is to measure the liner profile and this can only be done when the mill is stopped.

“The correct procedure is to determine the profile at installation and then again at each subsequent inspection. This will allow the determination of the profile and the analysis of the trajectory of the charge.”

Most plants focus on throughput, however there are some that, due to economic conditions, are forced to focus on cost savings. This data, together with critical mill operating parameters, is used to predict the point where the liner becomes inefficient and it is at this point that the mill itself will become inefficient.

“Depending on the accuracy of the information available, the plant can make a critical decision as to whether to run the liners to the changeout point or change when the liners reach this point of inefficiency,” Fitzsimons says.

Describing how liner inspection has been done traditionally, Fitzsimons says that until recently there have only been two options available, one of which is the pin gauge method which is known to be time consuming and often inaccurate. Furthermore it requires that the mill be stopped to allow access for personnel to actually perform the inspection. At the other of the scale is very expensive sophisticated technology.

“Inspection using the pin gauge method is done during planned downtime, however it is essential that skilled and trained technical personnel take an accurate measurement because once the mill has restarted it is not feasible to stop it again,” he says. “This method does not allow live feedback and it is not possible to verify the measurement immediately.”

Fitzsimons confirms that Multotec Rubber recently introduced what he says is set to become the most affordable best practice mill liner profile condition monitoring system because it offers such high accuracy and immediate availability of information as such a reasonable cost.

“With the introduction of MultoScan it is now possible for plants to accurately measure the liner profile and using this information end users can easily and accurately predict the lifespan of the liner and the point at which the mill will become inefficient,” he says. The automatic measurement and display of the charge level is valuable in confirming that the operation of the mill is correct and this value is essential in calculating the trajectory.

Highly skilled technicians take the data acquired by MultoScan and leverage Multotec’s Hawkeye proprietary programme to interpret and analyse the data.

Significantly there is no time lag on the information analysis and the level of responsiveness possible using MultoScan has not been available to plants until now.

“It will allow customers immediate feedback on the condition of the liners and any immediate issues can be addressed on the spot,” Fitzsimons says.

Another very important advantage when using MultoScan is the repeatability of the results. This is considered an enormous benefit as there is virtually no room for human error.

In addition, MultoScan will allow plants to reduce the time spent in the mill taking readings and this will decrease the mill stoppage time, another significant cost saving for mines.

Having access to accurate information on the liner profile will allow maintenance crews to set the trigger point for the liner inventory. This will, in turn, allow plants to reduce the liner stockholding drastically optimising the inventory; another cost saving.

Fitzsimons explains that MultoScan has been proven in field trials in some of the most arduous milling conditions on the African continent and most recently the technology has been exported to Australia.

“The potential that MultoScan offers is enormous. Using key operating criteria on individual plants it will be possible to map mill key performance indicators versus the liner profile. This extends the capability of the condition monitoring system and will allow mines to select specific key criteria,” Fitzsimons says.

“Multotec Rubber is the only rubber liner manufacturer that has its own in-house condition monitoring system and by improving the way liners were traditionally monitored we will be able to take condition monitoring to the next level,” he continues.

“By having access to this level of input and technical assistance plants will be able to optimise mill performance,” Fitzsimons concludes.

New mineral extraction process developed

Scientists at South Australia’s Flinders University are developing a series of experiments to extract minerals from ore using environmentally friendly microbes usually found on mine sites.

Associate Professor Sarah Harmer said the next phase of the new technique – called bio-flotation – involves larger and more complex experiments.

“We’re making real progress in finding better ways to more sustainably separate valuable ores such as copper, iron, lead and zinc,” she said.

“At the moment we’re mixing together pure minerals of known quantities and purity and studying the effects.”

Harmer’s team used high-tech x-ray imaging and micro-spectroscopic methods to study the distribution of chemical species responsible for selective attachment of bacteria and the separation of metals.

They also used extreme light beams in synchrotrons to pinpoint the chemical mechanisms of bioleaching of copper ore, using soft and hard x-ray spectroscopies.

Harmer said it was critical to make the technology cost effective on a larger scale for commercial use in the mining industry.

“That’s what has really slowed the adaption of using microbes and different types of bacteria for minerals processing. They’ve only been done on a small scale in the past due to the cost,” she said.

She added that the new technology has the potential to replace toxic chemicals such as cyanide currently used to separate minerals from ore.

Another technology is being developed as part of the EU’s research and innovation program

The BIOMore project, part of the EU’s research and innovation program, is developing another extraction technology aiming to extract minerals from deep deposits. The process uses both hydro-stimulation and in-situ bioleaching, which extracts metals from ores using innocuous living organisms and sulphuric acid.

Plans for first commercial space mining venture gets off the ground

Deep Space Industries (DSI) has announced plans to launch the world’s first commercial extra-terrestrial mining mission.

The company’s Prospector-1 vehicle is slated to rendezvous with a near earth asteroid and appraise it to determine its value and potential resources.

“This mission is an important step in the company’s overall plans to harvest and supply in-space resources to support the growing space economy,” DSI said.

According to the company, when the vehicle reaches the space body, it will map the surface and subsurface of the asteroid, taking visual and infrared imagery and mapping overall water content, down to approximately meter-level depth.

When this initial science campaign is complete, Prospector-1 will use its water thrusters to attempt touchdown on the asteroid.

“Deep Space Industries has worked diligently to get to this point, and now we can say with confidence that we have the right technology, the right team and the right plan to execute this historic mission,” Rick Tumlinson, chairman of the board and co-founder of Deep Space Industries, said.

“Building on our Prospector-X mission, Prospector-1 will be the next step on our way to harvesting asteroid resources.”

The company recently partnered with Luxembourg’s Government to develop its Prospector-X technology.

The international mission, known as Prospect-X, is an agreement to explore, use, and commercialise space resources and builds upon Luxembourg’s earlier space mining initiative to become a technology hub for the fledgling industry.

Prospector-X is an experimental mission to low-Earth orbit that will test key technologies needed for low-cost exploration spacecraft. This precursor mission is scheduled to launch in 2017. Then, before the end of this decade, Prospector-1 will travel beyond Earth’s orbit to begin the first space mining exploration mission.

“DSI’s Prospector missions will usher in a new era of low cost space exploration” Grant Bonin, Deep Space Industries chief engineer, said.

Prospector-1, the first space mining mission vehicle, uses a water based propulsion system, as such “water will be the first asteroid mining product, so the ability to use water as propellant will provide future DSI spacecraft with the ability to refuel in space,” the company said.

“During the next decade, we will begin the harvest of space resources from asteroids,” Daniel Faber, Deep Space Industries CEO, said.

“We are changing the paradigm of business operations in space, from one where our customers carry everything with them, to one in which the supplies they need are waiting for them when they get there.”

The asteroids will be chosen by a team at DSI.

“Prospector-1 is not only the first commercial interplanetary mission, it is also an important milestone in our quest to open the frontier,” Tumlinson said.

“By learning to ‘live off the land’ in space, Deep Space Industries is ushering in a new era of unlimited economic expansion.”

Iot platform revenues will grow to $3 billion worldwide by 2021

By Sam Murden 09 August 2016

Editorial

According to a new research report from the M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the global third party Internet of Things (IoT) platform market increased 36 percent to $610 million in 2015.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8 percent, revenues are forecasted to reach $3.05 billion in 2021. There is a wide range of software platforms available, intended to reduce cost and development time for IoT solutions by offering standardised components that can be shared across many industry verticals to integrate devices, networks and applications.

Most IoT platforms available on the market today can be categorised as being a connectivity management platform, a device management platform or an application enablement platform, although there are many products that offer overlapping functionality or other unique features.

Many enterprises and organisations have already been involved in various machine-to-machine (M2M) deployments that have typically been characterised by customised solutions deployed within single industry verticals, or by one company, to improve existing business operations. IoT puts more emphasis on integration of sensors, devices and information systems across industry verticals and organisations to transform operations and enable new business models. “IoT furthermore aims facilitate a better understanding of complex systems through analytics based on data from diverse sources to assist decision making, improve products and enable entirely new services”, said Andre Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight.

Whereas connectivity and device management platforms have already reached comparatively high adoption, the market for application enablement platforms (AEPs) is in an earlier phase. AEPs typically provide functionality such as data collection, data storage and analytics.

Fully featured platforms also provide tools, frameworks and APIs for creating business applications featuring data management, event processing, automated tasks and data visualisation.

Many platforms also provide tools and ready-made libraries and UI frameworks that facilitate modelling and creation of interactive applications, workspaces and dashboards with little or no need for coding. “The AEP segment is seeing considerable activity in terms of acquisitions and new market entrants”, said Mr. Malm.

After PTC acquired ThingWorx and Axeda, other major software and IT companies have followed. Examples include Amazon that acquired 2lemetry, Autodesk that acquired SeeControl and Microsoft that acquired Solair. Other leading IT companies that are extending their service offerings to include IoT platforms – often focusing on analytics and machine learning – include IBM, SAP and Oracle. “As a group, AEP vendors primarily face competition from system integrators and companies that develop similar functionality in-house”, concluded Mr. Malm.

China aims to top global workforce automation rankings

China aims to increase its robots from 36 per 10,000 workers to 150 per 10,000 workers by 2020, to become one of the top countries in terms of workforce automation.

Currently, China is ranked just 28^th globally in terms of workforce automation, despite having the world’s largest manufacturing sector, employing around 100 million people. The Chinese government seeks to “modernise” the industry.

A statement by China’s National Development and Reform Commission cited the ageing population and rising labour costs as the two main reasons the government is encouraging the development of the robotic industry and modernisation of the manufacturing sector. According to the 2016Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, the nation’s labour force costs in 2015 were five times that of 2005.

According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), China aims to increase sales of domestically produced industrial robots to 100,000 per year and boost the share of the domestic market held by Chinese robotic manufacturers. The IFR predicts that by 2020, China will have more robots per person than any other country.

New waste to energy cranes launched in Australia

KONECRANES is introducing a broad range of lifting and materials handling technologies to Australasia, designed specifically for waste to energy (WtE) and biomass applications.

Konecranes’ WtE cranes are now available in Australia.

The technologies include unmanned full automation, remote operation stations, remote monitoring, and maintenance reporting products.

“Our WtE cranes can be equipped with GlobalTechnical Support connection, remote monitoring and a compute interface capable of semi or fully unmanned automation or a remote for manual handling, as well as a range of features and benefits to maximise production and minimise running costs,” Konecranes Australia national industrial equipment manager Peter Monaghan said.Koncranes’ waste handling cranes also come equipped with smart features designed to manage critical crane functions to reduce structural stress, increase efficiency and prolong the machine’s lifespan.For instance, sway control minimises load sway from bridge and trolley motions, reducing collisions between the bucket and pit walls or hopper as well as preventing equipment damage.“Cranes play a crucial role in waste-to-energy as well as other modern incineration plants where tight environmental management guidelines are applied. A continuous material handling system with maximum safety and efficiency and minimum downtime is vital,” Monaghan said.For now, four types cranes are available to the sector – Konecranes’ biomass handling crane, refuse handling crane, refuse plant crane, and ash (or slag) handling crane.Additionally, Konecranes’ main user interface (MUI) is the company’s new standard solution for programming waste to energy automation.The MUI features a computer, which is fully integrated with the crane’s programmable logic controller (PLC) system, while isolated from outside networks. It allows the operator to schedule and program a week-long agenda that includes up to 20 different work routines in full automation, giving plant managers enhanced flexibility to manage pit operations for receiving, mixing and burning waste.

BHP launch coal remote operations centre

BHP has launched an integrated remote operations centre (IROC) in Brisbane for its coal business.

The miner aims to replicate the success it had with its IROC in Perth, which controls operations right across the Pilbara, covering more than 1500 kilometres of rail, stockyards, and two separate port facilities.

Working with its joint venture partners Mitsubishi and Mitsui, the miner plans to provide real time coverage of its seven BMA mines in the Bowen Basin and the Hay Point Coal Terminal near Mackay, as well as its two BMC coal mines in the Bowen, and the Mt Arthur coal mine in the Hunter Valley.

According to BHP, the IROC will be a new, state-of-the-art facility located in Brisbane that will deliver an advanced control room which will operate continually, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“This is a very important step on our innovation and productivity journey across our coal assets and will mean we can more effectively replicate our best practices at each and every site,” BMA said in an official statement.

“The IROC will ensure we can optimise our production supply chain at every point in the cycle and deliver substantial, sustainable savings for our business, providing us with a significant competitive edge.”

When fully operational, the remote control operations centre will employ around 200 workers across a range of different roles, most of whom will be drawn directly from existing operations.

However the implementation of the new centre will affect workers on site, with BHP stating, “We understand that this type of innovative change to the way we operate can also bring uncertainty and displacement for some people, and we will be working closely with our employees to communicate regularly with them through this process.”

BHP has been contacted for further comment on how many jobs may be lost, and which roles will be most affected.

The miner has launched videos on Youtube to recruit controllers for the centre.