You are here: Home » Blogs » Application » Ore Color Sorter

Ore Color Sorter

Views: 248     Author: Site Editor     Publish Time: 2021-08-13      Origin: Site

Ore Color Sorter


Sunrise Ore AI color sorter machine have series of models which have Ore color sorter, Quartz color sorter, Feldspar color sorter, calcite color sorter and sand color sorter. Each kind color sorter can be used for sorting various kind of Industrial products.


The Video of Ore Sorting




Requirement for ore color sorting


Resources from high-grade deposits are being rapidly depleted. As a result, mining companies turn to exploit low-grade deposits. However, low-grade deposits are much harder to exploit, which means the production of each ton of precious minerals requires larger quantities of raw ore, thus resulting in higher costs in exploiting transportation, crushing and processing, and increased energy consumption.


When particles are similar in size and density, color sorting appears to be the only solution to remove the unwanted particles.


The color sorter is the best choice for color sorting. Color sorting is a high-tech technology requires the combined utilization of light, electricity, gas and machine. It is advanced in processing, effective in automatic sorting and scientific in deep processing and pretreatment. The color sorting technology is environmentally friendly and helps to save resources. 


What problems can be solved by an ore color sorter?


The working principle of the color sorter is based on the different frequencies or wavelengths of light reflected by qualified ores and waste rocks in different colors. The color sorter helps to remove waste rocks and improve the purity of the ores. In addition, it simplifies the beneficiation process and reduces the processing cost,


Many ores contain impurities, for example, pure barite is white and lustrous but the mixture of barite and other waste rocks is often gray, light red or light yellow.


The ore color sorter performs well and has a high production capacity. Moreover, it can classify the ores into certain grades by recognizing different colors. Besides, it is beneficial to the rational utilization of resources.


Ore Sorting Examples

Ore sorting


What kind of ore can be sorted by the color sorter?


Nearly 100 kinds of non-metallic minerals include: potassium feldspar, quartz, talc, phosphate, calcite, dolomite, andalusite, fluorite, vermiculite, mica, bentonite, kaolin, barite, feldspar, quartz, calcium carbonate, pebbles, cryolite, garnet, limestone, manganese ore and so on.


Black ore: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon.


Nonferrous ore: copper, antimony, mercury, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, magnesium, cobalt, aluminum, bismuth and silica.


Precious metals: gold, silver, zirconium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and niobium.


Among the raw quartz sand ore, the purer quartz sand is white or milky white, the color of iron-containing impurities or its gangue minerals is slightly yellow, light yellow or light brown and gray, etc., the color of quartz sand and iron-containing impurities or gangue minerals Difference is the key to color selection.


Component of the color sorter


The key component-image sensor

Most of the mainstream color sorters has adopted charge-coupled device (CCD device) as the identification system. A CCD device is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked or coupled capacitors. The CCD device has a high-quality camera with a special high-definition lens. The ore flow in each chute is detected by several of scores of sensors, significantly increasing the production capacity and working effect of the ore solor sorter.


The vibration system 

The vibration system consists of a vibrator and a hopper. The selected materials will be sent to the conveyor belt through the hopper and the chute. The output of the color sorter can be adjusted by controlling the vibration of the vibrator. The feeding device is equipped with a shock absorber which is isolated from the frame and effectively reduces the internal vibration of the color sorter.


The feeding chute

The feeding chute consists of an inclined channel and a fixed frame, which can make the selected material enter the conveyor belt even and stable and evenly, steadily and quickly.


The frame

A reasonable closed frame, built by profiles section steels and different types of square tubes has good rigidity and laser cutting technology and a beautiful appearance.


The electric control box

There is a power switch and some circuit boards and other components in the electric control box.


The sorting box

The sorting box consists of a luminous source, a CCD image sensor and a background plate adjustment device. When working, the received information is transmitted to the microelectromechanical control system for processing through the CCD sensor device. It runs according to the settings set by the operator, allowing the ore color sorter to identify the particles to be rejected.


The discharge hopper

The discharge hopper has one front part and one rear part, receiving the selected materials and the waste respectively.


Process of the color sorter


Processing capacity

The processing capacity of a color sorter refers to the number of materials it can sort per hour.  The factors that affect the processing capacity of include the configuration, structure and specifications of the identification system. Besides, it is also concerned with the type of raw materials, the ratio and size of impurities and the demanded sorting accuracy.  


Take out ratio

Take out ratio refers to the proportion of number of impurities to the number of the qualified particles in the waste.


Sorting accuracy

Sorting accuracy refers to the proportion of sorted impurities to the to total impurities. The factors that affect the sorting accuracy is related to the flow and the performance of the color sorter. The net sorting accuracy is one of the main technical indicators to assess the performance of the color sorter. 


The net sorting accuracy is the ratio of the quality of the qualified sample after removing the foreign-colored particles to the qualified quality of the material after color selection, expressed as a percentage. The industry standard is: the impurity content is 2%, and its net sorting accuracy is ≥99.9%.


Rejection rate

The rejection rate is an important parameter for the color sorter that is used to obtain high-quality materials. The rejection rate is the proportion of particles in different colors removed from the raw material to the total particles in different colors contained in the raw materials, expressed as a percentage. In the same case, the higher the rejection rate is, the fewer impurities are left, hence, the better the color sorter is.


Sensitivity

There's no specific sensitivity index for the color sorted, but it is one of the factors you need to consider when purchasing a color sorter or choosing a supplier. Under a give flow, a color sorter having a higher selection rate usually has higher sensitivity. rather than blindly relying on increasing sensitivity.


Stable performance

 The stable performance is fairly important for the ore color sorter as it determines its production capacity and working efficiency. Many ore color sorters perform well in the beginning but fail to perform as well as the beginning after certain days of use and even need frequent repair and test. The reason is that the optical systeme color consisting of the light source, background and the imaging system is not stable in performance. 



The ore color sorter mainyenance


Pay attention to the operation and the sorted materials when the color sorter is working. If you hear weird sound or find a lot of impurities in the accept box, you shall stop the color sorter immediately and inspect it at once.


Inspect whether the belt is abnormal when the ore color sorter is working


Ensure the normal operation, if there's something abnormal, report on time.  


Place all the equipment in order and remove the dust from the hopper and the sorting box to prevent the machine from clogging and rusting.


Cleaning brushes should be checked regularly to ensure that they are in place. Camera lenses and glass shall be kept clean all the time.


Filter cartridges should be cleaned regularly to prevent clogging. 


Generally, sophisticated instruments are expensive, so is the color sorter. Thus, regular maintenance is a must to reduce unnecessary losses.