Online Vision System and Measuring Parameters for Bubbles in Mineral Flotation

In mineral processing, mineral flotation is a widely used traditional method for obtaining minerals. Normally, the froth surface is monitored and controlled by an operator who has good experiences for production optimisation, which is tedious and personal dependent. In order to overcome these disadvantages, a machine vision system was developed for monitoring froth surface variation. This paper presents such an online vision system. The system consists of hardware and software; here we just present software and relative bubble measurement parameters. About 56 visual parameters are used to characterize a bubble after image segmentation. Since industrial parameters (outputs) are not only visual parameters, we set up a platform for the combination of these parameters. In this way, the system works well and can meet industrial needs.