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Gearless mill drives

Go gearless for highest availability,

reliability, flexibility and efficiency
2 GEARLESS MILL DRIVES

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Leading the gearless mill drive evolution
The ABB gearless mill drive (GMD) is the most powerful mill drive system available,
combining the highest levels of efficiency, reliability, flexibility and availability.

The gearless mill drive eliminates ring-gear, GMDs have now been supplied for the world's
pinion, gearbox, coupling, motor shaft and motor largest autogenous (AG), semi-autogenous (SAG)
bearings, used within a conventional mill drive and ball mills, fulfilling the highest power
system. By mounting the rotor poles directly onto requirements while operating under extreme
the mill, the mill itself becomes the rotor of the environmental conditions.
gearless motor.
Focus on the future
Building a track record Larger ball and SAG mills, with higher installed
ABB's experience in optimizing gearless solutions power ratings relative to the mill diameter, offer
for grinding applications extends over 50 years, higher efficiency and throughput, round-the-
making it the market leader with the largest clock reliability and the opportunity to mine in
number of installed units worldwide. remote areas. This makes low ore grades
economical to grind.
In 1969, ABB commissioned the first GMD for a
ball mill at Ciments Lambert-Lafarge, France. The ABB has delivered some of the world's largest
6.4 MW gearless motor is still operating today GMDs:
and is proving to perform cost-efficiently and
with long-term reliability. Significantly, it met the • 22 MW GMD for 28’ ball mill
challenge of heat related expansion associated • 28 MW GMD for a 40' SAG mill
with the dry cement process. • 28 MW GMD for 42' SAG mill

In 1985, ABB delivered the first GMD for mineral Whether it is size or an installation at the highest
processing at an ore mill at Bougainville, New altitude (4600 m.a.s.l.), ABB’s GMDs are well
Guinea. Since then innovation has continued with positioned to contribute to the building of larger
the first GMD for a double-rotating ball mill in and ever more powerful mills.
Carlin, Nevada, meeting a 160 °C heat challenge at
the mill shell.
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ABB's gearless mill drive (GMD)

Competence in grinding interfaces, as well as the impact of digitalization.

For many decades, ABB's optimized mill drive As such, ABB is evolving a range of digital
solutions have consistently set new productivity solutions that will enable future mining solutions
records in cement and mineral applications. The through its ABB AbilityTM platform.
industry's largest installed base benefits from
application-specific functionality. This The GMD system
contributes to the most powerful, efficient and The poles of the gearless or synchronous motor
productive grinding without the need for (also called wrap-around motor or ring motor)
mechanics that reduce efficiency and increase are directly installed on the pole flange of the mill
maintenance while benefiting from variable- shell, turning the mill body into the rotor. The
speed control for smooth operation. stator is then wrapped around the mill.

Engineers with expertise in research and The gearless motor is fed by a cycloconverter
development through to designing, assembling which has a rated output frequency of
the ring motor, installing and commissioning the around 5 Hz for the GMD drive. The fuseless
automation and electrical aspects of mill grinding cycloconverter is connected to the MV
solutions are always on call. During the operation network through three special cycloconverter
and maintenance of grinding, ABB offers full transformers.
service and equipment support including
predictive, preventive and corrective maintenance Additionally, a small excitation converter supplies
and access to genuine spare parts. the poles' excitation via the slip rings to the rotor
of the gearless motor. Knife switches are installed
The benefits include complete integration of ABB directly at the motor for both the stator and rotor
solutions into the plant environment taking into circuit to make a visible disconnection before
consideration electrical, mechanical and civil entering the motor for maintenance purposes.

ABB AbilityTM MineOptimize domain knowledge, leading edge technology and

ABB AbilityTM MineOptimize is a 4-pillar vast global and local engineering competence –
framework that takes a deep dive into all aspects all under one roof.
of a mine to identify ways in which to fine-tune
and optimize every process, every sensor and Before you select your next grinding solution, get
device, every application and every service. The the bigger picture courtesy of ABB AbilityTM
four pillars include optimized solutions, MineOptimize.
optimized engineering, digital applications and
collaborative services. Optimized Optimized
engineering solutions

One of the four pillars focus on ways to optimize

solutions like the gearless mill drive (GMD).
Without the in-depth domain knowledge of ABB’s
engineers and their decades of simply knowing
where to look, getting the absolute best return on
investment may be missed.

ABB Ability MineOptimize gets the best from a

Collaborative Digital
GMD, leading to increased availability and lower services applications
lifetime operating costs. It is a combination of
4 GEARLESS MILL DRIVES

Built-in features 3. The lower the number of stator parts, the fewer
The GMD eliminates the need for ring gear, pinion, man hours are required for installation.
gearbox, coupling, motor bearings. Meanwhile, 4. Every split of the stator influences stator
inching and creeping functionalities are provided stiffness. Without counter measures this would
by the drive control software, making an result in a lower natural frequency. ABB has
additional inching motor unnecessary. successfully realized GMD projects with both
fewer and greater than four stator parts.
The drive system, including the gearless motor, 5. A thorough analysis of the complete system
does not require any grease or lubrication, (mill, pole units, bearings, foundations,
therefore reducing maintenance costs. interaction between rotor and stator, stator
structure and the soil conditions) warrants that
The GMD can run the mill with variable speed, in all components fit together from a resonance
both directions of rotation. This means the and stiffness point of view.
grinding process can be optimized at any time
during the mine's life. These optimization Efficiency
strategies are often oriented at decreasing the Mills are by far the largest power consumers in a
liner wear, thus resulting in reduced overall concentrator plant. ABB first selects the most
downtime. efficient design and then optimizes it. The
sophisticated single-turn winding system
Design rules for GMD ensures that stator winding losses are minimized.
1. The system should always run sub-critical, In addition, the rise of motor temperature is
ensuring that the motor cannot reach the first relatively low, resulting in a low thermal
critical speed, leading to a minimum stiffness expansion and a lower resistance of the copper
requirement. Such is the importance of this windings, hence translating into lower losses. A
essential rule that the stator typically has the further reduction of losses is achieved by
highest stiffness. minimizing the number of semiconductors in the
2. Stator design is influenced by modes of cycloconverter.
transportation from the factory to the world’s
mine sites. ABB has successfully overcome size
constraints through innovative transportation
methods that ensure safe arrival of each motor
part on site. Customer and site requirements
are integrated into the design and determine
the number of stator pieces necessary to
simplify the transport.
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Poles Cooling
ABB’s poles are designed as single pole unit. This Cooling boxes with water-to-air heat exchangers
enables greater precision through individual and cooling fans are located at the bottom of the
adjustments. The single pole unit automatically stator frame. This allows easy access for
eliminates a potential failure by not having an maintenance while also providing cooling water
additional pole assembly unit. ABB’s center just below the stator windings. This eliminates
plates, pole bolts and mill flange act together the risk of water leakage into the core. With this
without welded parts as an efficient spring design, a low temperature rise can be achieved,
system. This ensures that the transfer of torque which minimizes thermal expansion and
from pole to mill flange is only by force of friction optimizes efficiency.
and not by sheer force of the pole bolt.
Cooperation
Windings With the largest installed base of GMDs
ABB’s single-turn windings eliminate the worldwide, ABB has extensive experience in
possibility of the catastrophic inter-turn failure by dealing with all main mill suppliers. A long history
default. They make it possible to have real motor of successful cooperation with them and the
differential protection. ABB uses a full continuous respective civil engineers ensures that all mill
vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) system for system components work seamlessly together.
both the winding in the slot and for the overhang ABB achieves this goal by choosing the right
portion. The windings work on site at the stator partners who also work with the complete
joints is drastically minimized with the operation process in mind.
sophisticated winding design.
6 GEARLESS MILL DRIVES

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Network

Network study Mill control and protection

The cycloconverter feeding the ring motor ABB features the most sophisticated
creates the typical harmonics and inter- cycloconverter to power the gearless motor. It is a
harmonics of a 12-or 18-pulse direct converter. In well-proven technology which, while having a
addition, other utilities in the plant may generate fuseless design, is short-circuit-proof. The control
undesirable harmonics towards the network. ABB of the converter does not require speed or
has the resources, competence and know-how to position sensors, therefore automatically
perform a network study, even for the complete eliminating a potential failure source. Among the
plant. This study deals with harmonics, inter- GMD standard features are inching, creeping and
harmonics and improves the power factor to the frozen charge detection.
required level.
Typically, ABB also controls and feeds the mill
The applicable local standards typically form the auxiliaries. Comprehensive protection of the
basic requirements for this study. Aside from complete GMD system is key to achieve the
performing the network study, ABB is also your highest possible availability. This includes state-
partner for delivery of any hardware filter of-the-art air gap monitoring and the real
components you may require. gearless motor differential protection. Although
the design is focused on avoiding short circuits or
mitigating their effects, the complete system is
still able to withstand any short circuit situation.
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ABB Ability™ MineOptimize
collaborative services
Enabling future mining
To take full advantage of the internet of things, it is necessary to have a system
that supports a flexible, scalable and reliable cloud platform with a range of
comprehensive service offerings.

Partnering with an experienced supplier who Service solutions for your grinding mills
supports your needs and ever changing site For continuous and cost efficient operations, ABB
requirements is ABB’s answer to minimize risks offers a range of services, regardless of where
and increase overall performance through production is located. These services range from
digitalization. Through its global Collaborative phone support to complete long-term service
Operations Centers, ABB’s experts protect your agreements:
plant throughout equipment lifetime regardless • Installation and commissioning
of the location of your mine. • Remote services, including SupportLine 24
hours x 365 days per year
With over 50 years of global experience in • Periodic maintenance with scheduled asset
grinding solutions, ABB’s dedicated experts audits
continuously develop and improve GMDs to • Collaborative services like remote assistance,
match the latest grinding circuit challenges. predictive maintenance and performance
ABB’s GMD solution is part of the ABB Ability™ optimization through ABB Ability™ platform
platform with a customized range of services • Preventive and corrective services
intended to maximize plant uptime and reduce • Spare parts management
operating costs. • Customer training based on ABB University
approved methods

Portfolio Service clusters Services

ABB lifecycle services portfolio Extension upgrades and retrofits Software upgrades Hardware upgrades

Spares & consumables Spare parts lists and parts kits On-demand spares

Training On-site Classroom

Technical support & repairs Emergency on-site support Start-up support

(Technical support)

ABB AbilityTM services portfolio Remote assistance 24/7 SupportLine Remote support
and troubleshooting

Do more Asset health Preventive maintenance services

Monitor, control,
secure, manage, apply Virtual training Remote learning platform (RLP) E-learning

Inspection Scheduled maintenance On-demand service

Lifecycle assessment Plant lifecycle assessment System enhancement studies

Predictive maintenance Online fault prediction and

notification services
Do better
Optimize, simulate, Cyber security Periodic assessment & fingerprint
predict, automate services

Energy optimization Energy optimization services

Performance optimization Performance & quality optimization

For contact details, please visit our website:
www.abb.com/mining

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ABB Switzerland Ltd
Local Business Unit Process Industries
Segelhofstrasse 1K
5405 Baden 5 Dättwil
Switzerland
Phone: +41 58 586 84 44
E-Mail: [email protected]

© Copyright 2018 ABB. All rights reserved.

Specifications subject to change without notice.