Moscow, September 2, 2025 - RUSAL, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, has introduced machine hearing technology into alumina production. This innovation utilises mathematical algorithms to analyse acoustic vibrations from mill operations, enabling the optimisation of bauxite ore loading, reducing equipment wear, and lowering energy consumption.
RUSAL’s Engineering Department developed a machine hearing system to control mill loading and successfully tested it on a small wet grinding unit at the Krasnoturinsk alumina plant.
RUSAL has developed and implemented numerous machine vision technologies, and the company now applies machine hearing for the first time. Vibroacoustic sensors on the mill supports capture operational sounds and convert them into digital signals. A mathematical algorithm analyses these signals and determines the mill’s ore load based on vibration frequency and amplitude. The system then instructs the mill feeder to make adjustments automatically. The algorithm is trained to recognise the exact relationship between sound patterns and mill loading while ignoring irrelevant noise.
Maintaining optimal mill loading is crucial for energy efficiency, grinding quality, and equipment safety. Underloading the mill wastes electricity, and grinding balls strike the mill lining instead of the ore, resulting in wear. Overloading, on the other hand, produces coarse, low-quality grinding, which reduces the efficiency of the subsequent leaching process and lowers alumina yield. Prolonged overload can also increase the frequency of mill repairs.
RUSAL’s Engineering and Technology Directorate of Alumina Production has begun evaluating the feasibility of deploying machine hearing technology at the Achinsk Alumina Refinery, which is the only alumina refinery in the world that processes a blend of nepheline and limestone ores. Because its milling equipment generates vibration and sound patterns distinct from those in bauxite mills, the system will require custom fine-tuning to ensure optimal performance.
Note: This article has been issued by RUSAL and has been published by AL Circle with its original information without any modifications or edits to the core subject/data.
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