# US 12,758,980 B2 · System and process for monitoring wear on components of a grinding mill > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,758,980 B2 - Document ID: US12758980B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/282,236 - Filed: 2022-03-21 - Published: 2024-05-16 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2021-03-19 - Assignees: Buhler AG - Applicants: Bühler AG - Inventors: Prasanna Premendra - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12758980B2 ## CPC - B02C 25/00: Control arrangements specially adapted for crushing or disintegrating - B02C 4/06: specially adapted for milling grain - B02C 2210/01: Indication of wear on beaters, knives, rollers, anvils, linings and the like - B02C: CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN ({household tools and machines for pulverising foodstuffs, e.g. coffee and spice mills A47J42/00; pharmaceutical mortars A61J3/02; mechanical processing of refuse and garbage B03B9/06; dressing mould materials by grinding B22C5/04}; obtaining metallic powder by crushing, grinding or milling B22F9/04; {recovery of plastics by disintegrating B29B17/00; crushing raw materials in starch making C08B30/02; beaters for papermaking D21D1/02; crushing devices specially for transport in mines E21F13/002; slag crushing devices F23J1/00; fuel milling devices in combustion apparatus F23K1/00; household devices for crushing coal F24B15/02; ice disintegrating devices F25C5/02}) ## Abstract A process and system for monitoring of wear on components of a grinding mill to determine an optimized future time for maintenance of the grinding mill. The system uses control circuitry for controlling the grinding mill, a sensory system for detecting measurement data on technical parameters relating to a wear condition of a component and an operating state of the grinding mill, analysis circuitry to analyze a wear behavior of the grinding mill, and a data transmitter and data receiver to exchange data. The sensory system detects measurement data on the wear condition of at least one component and the operating state of the grinding mill. The analysis circuitry derives from several pieces of measurement data detected at different times a future wear state at a time in the future and assigns the future wear state to a future degree of wear and a future maintenance loss. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A process, comprising: detecting measurement data on a wear condition of a component of a grinding mill and on an operating state of the grinding mill periodically or continuously over time; assigning the measurement data to at least one parameter on the wear condition of the component of a degree of wear of the component and the degree of wear to a maintenance loss, corresponding to a yield loss based on technical maintenance of the component; deriving from several pieces of measurement data detected at different times a future wear condition at a time in the future; assigning the future wear condition to a future degree of wear and a future maintenance loss; assigning the measurement data on at least one parameter of the operating state of the grinding mill a grinding yield value that specifies a yield from operation of the grinding mill; determining a grinding yield loss relative to a target yield level of the grinding mill; deriving a future operating state from several pieces of measurement data detected at different times; deriving a future grinding yield loss at a future time; optimizing a maintenance time in the future, by establishing as the future maintenance time that time at which the future maintenance loss corresponds to the future grinding yield loss; and controlling an operation of the grinding mill based on the future maintenance time. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: aggregating the measurement data of the at least one parameter on the wear condition of the component and/or on the operating state of the grinding mill; and assigning, based on the measurement data which has been aggregated, an aggregated degree of wear to the component and a relevant maintenance loss and/or assigning the operating state of the grinding mill an aggregated grinding yield loss. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: compiling a forecast of the future maintenance loss and the future grinding yield loss using regression and/or interpolation. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: optimizing the future maintenance loss and the future grinding yield loss automatically using machine learning. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The process in accordance with claim 4, wherein: the machine learning sends a control signal for regulation of the operation of the grinding mill, the operation of the grinding mill is optimized corresponding to a desired maintenance time, self-adaptively in such a way that the future maintenance time corresponds to the optimized maintenance time. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The process in accordance with claim 4, wherein the optimizing further comprises: optimizing the operation of the grinding mill by an optimization in relation to an amount of parallelism of grinding rolls of a roll pair, a mutual gap of the grinding rolls and/or a rotational velocity of the grinding rolls, based on the future maintenance loss and the future grinding yield loss. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the detecting the measurement data comprises: detecting measurement data on a temperature of components, a roll profile and/or a roughness of grinding rolls of the grinding mill, a rotational velocity of the grinding rolls, a vibration of the grinding rolls, a gap of rolls of a grinding roll pair, energy consumption of the grinding mill, production quantity of the grinding mill, a grinding level of a material being ground, a time since last maintenance and/or downtimes of the grinding mill. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: optimizing the maintenance time in the future using specification data from the grinding mill and/or a grinding material to be ground from a data pool to determine the future maintenance loss and the future grinding yield loss. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The process in accordance with claim 8, wherein: the data pool provides data relevant to a specific grinding mill, particularly data on costs for material and work for a maintenance task, energy costs for operation of the grinding mill and/or information on the grinding material. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The process in accordance with claim 8, wherein: the data pool provides measurement data on technical parameters relating to a wear condition of a component and/or an operating state of other, comparable grinding mills, for optimization of determining the future maintenance loss and future grinding yield loss by comparison and/or inclusion of the measurement data. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: visually displaying a degree of wear of at least one component and/or a maintenance loss relating to at least one component and/or a grinding yield loss of the grinding mill as a curve over time. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The process in accordance with claim 11, wherein: visually displaying includes displaying a visualized, tailored dashboard format, designed in such a way that wear reports, recommended future maintenance times and information on a grinding operation are displayed. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: loading the measurement data on technical parameters in relation to a wear condition of a component and the operating state of the grinding mill into a cloud platform and/or a data pool with data relating to a specific grinding mill and/or data relating to other, comparable grinding mills into the cloud platform. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: automatically triggering a cycle of maintenance for the grinding mill based on the future maintenance loss ascertained and the future grinding yield loss by an automated signal generation and transmission and/or an offer for maintenance of the component and/or a maintenance order. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: uniquely identifying a grinding roll of the grinding mill using electronically stored data relating to the component. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: transferring at least an actual degree of wear and an actual grinding yield level for automated control of the grinding mill. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: ascertaining from measurement data on technical parameters relating to a wear condition of a component and/or from measurement data on the operating state of the grinding mill at least one specific maintenance task required for specific wear and establishing a future maintenance time for this required specific maintenance task as a time at which a specific future maintenance loss resulting from the specific wear corresponds to a specific future grinding yield loss resulting from the specific wear. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The process according to claim 1, further comprising: performing maintenance based on the maintenance time which has been optimized. ### Claim 19 A system, comprising: sensors for detecting measurement data on a wear condition of a component and an operating state of a grinding mill; analysis circuitry configured to: assign the measurement data to at least one parameter on the wear condition of the component of a degree of wear of the component and the degree of wear to a maintenance loss, corresponding to a yield loss based on technical maintenance of the component, derive from several pieces of the measurement data, a wear condition at a future time and to assign to it a future degree of wear and a future maintenance loss, assign the measurement data on at least one parameter of the operating state of the grinding mill a grinding yield value that specifies a yield from operation of the grinding mill, determine a grinding yield loss relative to a target yield level of the grinding mill, derive a future operating state from several pieces of measurement data detected at different times, derive a future grinding yield loss at a time in the future therefrom, optimize a maintenance time in the future, by establishing as the future maintenance time a time at which the future maintenance loss corresponds to the future grinding yield loss, and control an operation of the grinding mill based on the future maintenance time. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system in accordance with claim 19, wherein: the sensors include at least one of a temperature sensor and a vibration sensor, and the sensors further include a data transmitter and a microprocessor to provide the measurement data on a grinding roll of the grinding mill for the analysis circuitry. ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The system in accordance with claim 19, wherein: the analysis circuitry receives data regarding a specific grinding mill from a digital cloud platform. ### Claim 22 (depends on 19) The system in accordance with claim 19, wherein: a grinding roll of the grinding mill includes an identifier for unique identification. ### Claim 23 (depends on 19) The system in accordance with claim 19, wherein the analysis circuitry includes: circuitry for machine learning; servicing circuitry; and aggregation circuitry and/or regression circuitry, that is present in a cloud platform. ### Claim 24 (depends on 19) A grinding mill for grinding of grinding material, comprising: a grinding roll pair; and the system in accordance with claim 19. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The grinding mill in accordance with claim 24, wherein: the grinding roll pair is configured for grinding wheat and/or rye and/or durum wheat and/or oats and/or barley and/or peas and/or chick peas and/or pulses and/or rape and/or soya and/or cacao and/or coffee as a grinding material.