System and Method for the Real-Time Measurement of a Flow of Discharge Material from a Mineral-Grinding Mill

A method to measure the flow of material passing through the pulp lifters and the discharge cone of an autogenous or semi-autogenous mill for mineral grinding, and said mill (1) comprises a cylinder or shell (3), a cover (2), an exit or discharge port (4), and an opening (5) for receiving the material, wherein in the internal part and close the discharge port (4) a grate is located thereof (7) with slots (24) for the screening of the material in such a way that when the material reaches the appropriate size, passes through said slots (24) heading toward the pulp lifter (8), passing through the discharge cone (9) until reaching the discharge port (4), wherein the wails of both pulp lifter (8) and discharge cone (9), are made of rubber (12) and the rubber holds within a plurality of ceramic inserts (13), wherein said method includes the following steps:

• passing through of the flow of material (25) through said pulp lifter (8) and/or the discharge cone (9),
• compressing the surface (11) of the rubber (12) forming the pulp lifter and/or the discharge cone (9), wherein one of the ceramics (13) of said components, pulp lifter (8) and/or discharge cone (9), has a strain gage (16), and wherein the stress transmitted to the surface (11) by the flow of material (25) compresses the ceramic insert (13) and therefore, the strain gage (16);
• capturing the variation in the electric resistance in the strain gage (16) due to compression;
• conducting the captured signal by the wiring (18) crossing the chamber (17) toward one of the screws (6) in the cover (2) where the wireless transmitter is placed (19);
• receiving the signal in the wireless receiver (20) from the wireless transmitter (19);
• and
• processing said measured signal of the flow of material (25) crossing through the discharge cone by a signal reader (21) after said signal has been previously calibrates and correlated.