Industries, Mining & Metals
In mining, rotating machinery doesn’t just drive production: it keeps people safe. Ventilation fans, dewatering pumps, and hoists are life-safety systems, and we engineer control systems built to that standard for underground and surface mines.
Credibility
Underground mines depend on primary ventilation fans that maintain breathable atmospheres, dewatering pumps that run continuously to prevent flooding, and hoists that carry miners and ore with zero tolerance for control-system failure. The consequences of equipment failure here are measured not just in lost production, but in lives.
We have spent more than 50 years engineering control systems for the rotating machinery that operates in the world’s most demanding environments, offshore platforms in hurricane zones, petrochemical facilities in extreme heat, and power generation plants where downtime costs millions. We apply that same discipline, deep expertise in fans, compressors, pumps, and generators, to the mine ventilation, compressed air, dewatering, and materials handling systems mining operations depend on. We engineer from the algorithm level up: we don’t apply generic templates to mine ventilation fan control or hoist safety systems, we develop control logic precisely matched to the equipment characteristics, operating requirements, and regulatory obligations of each specific mine. Programmed to IEC 61131-3 on commercial platforms, our systems give customers long-term flexibility and ownership, full access to configuration, calibration, and application logic to operate, maintain, and expand.
Applications
Primary and auxiliary ventilation fan control with variable speed drive coordination, reversal capability, airflow measurement and trending, and emergency ventilation sequencing per MSHA 30 CFR Part 57 requirements. We develop ventilation fan control systems that manage the complete fan operating envelope, from normal production ventilation through emergency reversal sequencing following a fire event, with the redundancy and fail-safe architecture that life-safety systems require.
Variable speed drive coordination for SAG and ball mill grinding circuits, including mill load optimization through power draw and bearing pressure monitoring, trunnion bearing protection, and charge weight estimation. Grinding mill drive control is one of the highest-value optimization targets in mineral processing: a SAG mill processing copper ore at $100,000+ per hour of downtime demands control systems engineered to that consequence level.
Tailings pipeline pump control, pond level management, beach deposition management, and environmental compliance monitoring for tailings storage facilities. We engineer tailings pump control systems with the environmental monitoring integration that supports dam safety compliance and regulatory reporting obligations.
Mine-wide compressed air generation control for large reciprocating and rotary screw compressor installations, pressure management, multi-compressor sequencing, variable speed drive optimization, and distribution system management. Compressed air is often the largest single energy consumer in an underground mine, and precise compressor control is the primary lever for energy cost reduction.
Variable speed slurry pump control for process pipeline and tailings pond systems, with pump wear monitoring through performance curve tracking, cavitation detection, and pipeline pressure management. We develop slurry pump control strategies that maximize pump liner life by maintaining operation within the efficiency sweet spot, the most effective single intervention for reducing slurry pump maintenance cost.
Control for turboexpander/compressor sets in NGL recovery, providing closed-loop speed control, inlet guide vane positioning, expander-compressor shaft balance management, and cryogenic temperature monitoring, engineered to maximize NGL recovery throughput without increasing fuel consumption or operator workload.
Deep-mine dewatering pump sequencing, sump level management, pump runtime equalization, and energy optimization for high-volume submersible and centrifugal dewatering systems. Our dewatering pump control systems manage the sequencing strategies that minimize energy consumption while maintaining sump levels within the operating bands that protect mine workings from flooding.
Overland and underground conveyor control, start sequencing, locked rotor protection, belt scale integration, and tension management. We engineer conveyor control systems that manage the starting and running conditions that protect conveyor belts and drives from the high-tension events that cause belt splice failures and drive train damage.
Deep-mine dewatering pump sequencing, sump level management, pump runtime equalization, and energy optimization for high-volume submersible and centrifugal dewatering systems. Our dewatering pump control systems manage the sequencing strategies that minimize energy consumption while maintaining sump levels within the operating bands that protect mine workings from flooding.
Mine hoist speed control, conveyance position monitoring, safety brake system integration, and cage/skip loading management for man-riding and production hoisting systems. We engineer hoist control systems with the multi-channel redundancy and independent safety channel architecture required for personnel hoisting, with emergency braking logic that responds correctly to overspeed, rope slip, and loss-of-control conditions.
Air flow management, slurry density and level control, and reagent dosing control for froth flotation mineral recovery circuits. Our flotation control systems manage the multi-variable challenge of simultaneous air, level, and reagent control, maintaining the froth stability and grade-recovery balance that defines concentrator performance.
Primary, secondary, and tertiary crusher control, feed rate optimization, closed-side setting adjustment, overload protection, and product size monitoring. Our crushing plant control systems manage the feed rate and crushing gap conditions that maximize throughput while protecting crusher liners and drives from overload events.
Where We Work
Engineering Depth
OEM Independence
A mine may run 1985-vintage ventilation fans, a 2008 compressed air station, and a 2019 grinding circuit side by side. Our open architecture is built for this: we work with legacy systems from any era, building integration layers that expose their data to modern SCADA without rip-and-replace. New systems we deliver use commercially available hardware and open software (IEC 61131-3) that any qualified integrator can maintain, not a single vendor with proprietary access.
Trusted Worldwide
Independent control for every turbine class.
Anti-surge, loadshare, performance, and capacity control.
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Single-source
A MESSAGE FROM JOHN KAZOUR, CEO
To our customers and partners,
For more than 50 years, our team has helped customers keep critical operations running. We built our reputation as Petrotech by taking responsibility for control systems on important rotating machinery.
As more industries came to us with similar challenges across power generation, compression, and hydro applications, our engineering team kept finding ways to solve them. Eventually, the business outgrew the Petrotech name.
We are entering our next chapter as Innova Technologies. The new name reflects the full scope of our work as a rotating machinery control systems specialist. We engineer controls around the machine, deliver complete projects from design through commissioning, and provide support that stays with the problem until it is solved.
Our name is changing, but the people, engineering experience, and commitment behind the work continue. Our responsibility to active projects and installed systems carries forward under the Innova Technologies name. Your current contacts remain the right place to start, and we will communicate directly if an administrative record requires an update.
We appreciate the trust you have placed in us over the decades, and we look forward to continuing that work as Innova Technologies.
CEO, Innova Technologies
