Reagent Addition Control for Stibium Rougher Flotation Based on Sensitive Froth Image Features

The reagent addition control level of stibium rougher flotation has a significant impact on the performance of cleaner and scavenger flotation. Currently, due to the complexity of the froth flotation process, the addition rates of reagents, which are controlled by operators, are often not regulated properly in time. Therefore, it is necessary to study a control strategy for the reagent addition rates. This paper proposes a sensitive froth image feature (FIF)-based control strategy that involves an estimator of the feed grade, a preset controller, and a feedback controller. Because the addition rates of reagents should be regulated according to the feed grade, an estimator model for feed grade is built based on the probabilistic support vector regress method. Then, the addition rates of reagents are preset according to the feed grade type based on the operational pattern method. To overcome the steady-state disturbances, a feedback dosage controller is developed to further regulate the reagent addition rates based on the interval type-II fuzzy control system. In the proposed control strategy, the selection of FIF, the inference of feed grade, and the process of uncertainty in sample data are described in detail. Finally, industrial experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed method.