QCX /BlendExpert™

QCX/BlendDesigner is an add-on option

to the basic QCX/BlendExpert™ functionality

QCX/BlendDesigner
Chemical Design & Simulation
Takes care of the entire chemical mass balance
form quarry to cement

Details for quarry

& pile + cement mill

Operational benefits
not shown here
QCX /BlendExpert™
• advanced state-of-the-art supervision, accounting and mix
optimization software
• powerful application support for both traditional laboratory
analysis instrumentation and on-line analysis techniques – decades of accumulated FLSmidth experience in material proportioning...
• high configuration flexibility to match virtually any occuring
process lay-out details
• an un-matched functionality of special utilities to handle
virtually any type of control disturbance or other factors
influencing the main objective of producing a good product QCX/BlendExpert™- Pile
mix quality Intuitive graphic user
interface. Operator
QCX/BlendExpert™- Mill
FLSmidth Automation reserves the right to change specifications functions are easily QCX/BlendExpert™- AQL
without prior notice. executed via a right use
Our brochure makes no offers, representations or warranties click directly from the
QCX/BlendDesigner
(express or implied), and information and data contained in this proces mimics
brochure are for general reference only and may change at any
time. Please contact us for specific information or data that may
relate to your interests.

The optional QCX /BlendExpert -Simulation package (structural

diagram on next page) is a very powerful cement process chemical
balance simulation tool allowing the user to follow at all process
stages the effect of changes in material chemistry & costs, process
constraints and alternative chemical control schemes.

Operational benefits
QCX /BlendExpert will ensure minimum variance in key chemical
parameters of the controlled product mix. Pending plant specific
details such as material retention times, delay times from sampling
to analysis, sampling frequency etc a controlled range of 3-5 LSF
units/0.4 CaO units or better for traditional lab X-ray analysis
based raw mix control can typically be expected (s.dev of hourly
samples of the mill product before the kiln feed silo). The use of
on-line analysis techniques may reduce the variance to an even GPS operation concept for
lower level. Being developed for more than 30 years by cement QCX /BlendExpert™- AQL
process specialists and applied worldwide for hundreds of raw
mills, cement mills or stockpiles, QCX /BlendExpert offers:

• advanced state-of-the supervision, accounting and mix
optimization software combined with:
• an un-matched functionality of special utilities to handle
virtually any type of control disturbance or other factors
influencing the main objective of producing a good product
mix quality.
© FLSmidth A/S Automation. All rights reserved.
ECS/ProcessExpert, ECS/CEMulator, ECS/PlantGuide, QCX/RoboLab, QCX/OnStream, ECS/CemScanner,
ECS/ACESYS, ECS/ControlCenter, ACE/Woodware, ECS/SmartStation, ECS/StackGuide, QCX/Laboratory,
QCX/AutoSampling, QCX/AutoPrep, QCX/BlendExpert, QCX/BlendMaster and Kilnloq are either registered trade-
marks or trademarks of FLSmidth A/S Automation in the United States and /or other countries. All other trademarks
are property of their respective owners.
FLSmidth Automation reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. Our brochure makes no
offers, representations or warranties (express or implied), and information and data contained in this brochure
are for general reference only and may change at any time. Please contact us for specific information or data that
may relate to your interests.

QCX /BlendExpert™
www.flsmidth.com PP-7002. 0001
QCX /BlendExpert™
Application
QCX /BlendExpert controls the proportioning of raw material
feed to stockpiles, raw mills and cement mills or other process
blending systems to obtain the desired chemical product quality
with respect to chemical constraints, process constraints, material
costs etc. Complemented by functionality for quarry operation
planning and chemical mass balance and mix design calculations
the QCX /BlendExpert suite of application modules supports
quality optimization from quarry to bagged cement.
The typical application of QCX /BlendExpert is material feed set-
point control based on periodical analysis of representative
samples of the controlled material stream. The analysis data are
received automatically from the laboratory XRF spectrometer
and/or from on-line XRF or PGNAA analysis devices. Upon
completion of an analysis cycle, new feeder set-points are
calculated and automatically positioned. The control algorithms
support off-line control modes (e.g. manual set point positioning
or operator inserted analysis/production figures).
Stockpile accounting and associated application specific control
utilities are supported by the QCX /BlendExpert - Pile application
module. Recent software development focuses on PGNAA
applications and offers unique accounting and graphic data
presentation facilities. Raw and cement mill control applications
are handled by the QCX /BlendExpert - Mill module.
The QCX /BlendExpert software is licensed to the number and
type of stockpiles, number of raw mills and number of cement
mills. The simulation option is also licensed separately. Key
configuration parameters such as number of material sources for
a stockpile, number of feeders for a mill, delay/retention times for
the process equipment, silo system specifications and much,
much more are accessible to the user. This Product Profile mainly
addresses general QCX /BlendExpert features. Please refer to the
QCX /BlendExpert - Pile respectively QCX /BlendExpert - Mill
Product Profiles for application specific details.
Basic software functionality & features
Applying object oriented programming techniques, the
QCX /BlendExpert software features and associated data are
structured in these functional blocks:
Integration of QCX /BlendExpert™
within QCX system structure
Analysis estimation
Optimizing
Feed/mix analysis
Production accounting
Set-point control
Feed/mix analysis
In a combination with the basic QCX/Laboratory features, the
software offers support for:
• automatic data acquisition from the laboratory XRF
spectrometer and/or on-line analysis devices. Data from more
analytical devices may be combined to support alternative
control strategies as well as redundancy
• off-line entering of product mix and raw material analyses
• automatic feed forward of raw material analysis either from
stockpiles or from raw material sample groups (incl data
filtering/screening features)
• calculation of cement chemical modules and quality deviations
for product mix
Production accounting
Through it’s integration with the process I/O features of the ECS
software platform, the QCX software facilitates on-line automatic
process data acquisition and combines these data with analytical
data as required for the mix optimization task. The accounting
schemes comprise:
General & Software Description
Bias compensation
Single or mulitple
feed estimation
BlendExpert - Mill feed estimation concepts.
Stockpiles:
• individual or combined process streams from multiple sources
through single or multiple crushers
Optimizing concept
• product mix accounting on longitudinal or circular stockpiles
Mills:
• individual feeders, dust, fuel ash (and by pass)
• single or multiple/parallel samplers
• product mix and product type sorted feed to continuous type
or batch type silo systems
Analysis estimation
When the raw material analyses - due to natural fluctuations - are
poorly determined, these advanced analysis estimation and
control bias compensation techniques are available (normally
applied for mill control only):
Mills:
• single feed estimation (back-calculation)
• multiple feed estimation using a time-varying Kalman filter
with variable forgetting factors
• control bias compensation
Set-point control
Optimizing On-line set-point control features comprise:
QCX /BlendExpert optimization is based on a unique combination
of linear and quadratic equation algorithms incorporating multi- Stockpiles:
variable adaptive or predictive control techniques. This • on-line control of apron feeders or material feeders under
combination ensures optimal solutions even when operating surge bins
under various process constraints:
Mills:
• linear quadratic optimization techniques • on-line control of mill weigh feeders
• adaptive and/or model based predictive control optimization in • set-point ramping
accordance with the relevant process equipment dynamics,
material transport delays and storage system characteristics Batch operated silo systems:
• advanced priority selection between multiple sets of control • ‘OK to dump’ commands
set-points/set-point ranges. For each so-called constraint set • Automatic silo designation and selection
(or priority set), individual optimizing parameters can be
applied. Where conventional control methods often under Other software featues
constraint situations results in poor control, this unique The software structure allows the user to configure and later on
approach means that best possible expert control is always modify the material accounting and associated control algorithms
achieved. and features in accordance with the actual process layout and the
• Chemical target set points can be defined using terms as desired control strategy
‘greater than’, ‘less than’, ‘range’ and ‘equal to’. The standard software features include:
• material cost is possible as optimization parameter. • mimic displays of pile/mill operation for process supervision
• a wide range of coordinated optimizing and set-point control • graphic user interface integrated in process mimics
utilities for automatic handling of disturbances/events such as • browser style application specific user interface with lots of
feeder blockages, feeder start/stop, deviation between easily comprehensible data charts, trends and smart utilities
demanded and realized feed, changes in total mill production • integrated reporting of analysis & control figures as well as
etc alarm and event reporting