56 www.resourceworld.com
a u g u s t / s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6
MININGWORLD
A
t many mine sites, after material has
been crushed it is transferred to a con-
veyor belt to be transported to a mill
for further processing. Controlling the size of
the material feeding the mill and monitoring
crusher efficiency is necessary to optimiz-
ing the mill process and to maximizing
metal recovery. Conventionally, in order to
monitor and control the size of mill feed, the
conveyer belt is stopped; samples are pulled
and analyzed. Not only does this interrupt
the flow of mill feed, it might be a day or so
before the lab results are completed.
The founders of WipWare helped invent
the photoanalysis software algorithms 30
years ago in tandem with the University
of Waterloo (Hence the Wip in WipWare:
Waterloo Image Process).
The company's flagship product, Solo,
is a completely automated analysis instru-
ment for measuring the size distribution,
volume and contamination of material,
outputting results instantly and providing
continuous monitoring of material.
The system works by continuously cap-
turing images of material as it passes by
the system's cameras set up along conveyor
belts. WipWare is able to delineate the par-
ticles inside the images, and measure the
size of the material instantly. Depending
on the application, WipWare's systems are
capable of taking up to four images per
second.
In business commercially since 1995,
WipWare has experience installing its
technology in some of the harshest indus-
trial environments on the planet. Data
gathered by the automated system is used
for historical reference or direct control.
"The latest generation of Solo adds the
ability to provide volume statistics (when
combined with a belt weightometer) and
detect contamination. Results can be
accessed remotely through desktop com-
puter or at your fingertips with an iOS
WipWare's Solo system:
innovative on site material
monitoring and analyses
by Kathrine Moore
