Analysis of a laboratory jigging system for improved performance

Abstract

The movement of water through the jig bed is the key to better stratification of particles. In this study a systematic analysis of the movement of water in a conventional pressurized pulsion and gravity induced suction cycle is analyzed using an instrumented jig. Detailed analysis of a single jig cycle indicates that this approach to jigging confines its operation to a narrow range of frequencies with interdependencies of amplitude and frequency of the water waveform. To improve the jigging operation, identical water movement in both the pulsion and the suction phase of the jig cycle is required. It has been accomplished, first, with the controlled application of air pressure during both phases of the jigging cycle, and second, by the implementation of a timer control operation of the air valves. This paper gives a brief account of the changes that are made to the jigging system leading to decoupling of the strong correlation between amplitude and frequency of the water waveform, and increase in the operating range of the frequency of pulsation. In the modified jig set-up, the amplitude and frequency of pulsation are varied over a wide range to generate different patterns of waveforms. The most suitable waveform is used to study the jigging behavior of different particulate systems. The role of amplitude and frequency on the progress of the bed stratification during jigging is established.