Crusher Types
The choice of crusher depends on the type and amount of material to be crushed. Gyratory and jaw crushers represent the bulk of primary crushers used at mining operations today, although some operations use roll impact crushers, low-speed roll sizers and feeder breakers. Cone crushers remain the most popular for fine crushing applications, although some mines use vertical impact crushers for tertiary and quaternary crushing.
Major equipment
The major equipment in a primary crushing circuit usually includes only a crusher, feeder and conveyor . Secondary and tertiary crushing circuits have the same basic equipment items, along with screens and surge storage bins.
Additional and Optional Equipment
Other equipment items in crushing circuits can include:
• Rock breaker • Apron feeder to the primary crusher • Overhead crane • Dust collection/suppression system • Freight elevator • Eccentric trolley removal cart • Service air compressor • Man-lift elevator • Sump pumps • Air cannons • Air vacuum clean up systems • Water booster pumps • Rock grapple • Service trolleys • Conveyor belt magnets • Conveyor gravity take-up service winch • Conveyor belt metal detectors • Conveyor belt rip detector • Belt monitoring systems • Conveyor belt weigh scales • Belt feeders • Vibratory feeders • Screw feeders • Lime/cement silos • Bin ventilators • Sampling stations.
PLANT LAYOUT AND DESIGN
A well-designed plant layout balances the capital versus operating cost over mine life. Buildings, infrastructure, and major equipment items, represent the major cost elements of a crushing plant . The designer must prepare a layout that suits the design criteria, flowsheet and selected equipment in the most economical possible configuration. It’s important to keep structural costs down, to design for ease of maintenance and operation, and to combine best practices with advances in fabrication and erection. Input from an experienced mining plant structural engineer can be very helpful.
Crushing circuits and ancillaries have not changed a great deal over the years, so “Keep It Simple” is still the best way to design a plant. Owners may wonder why the design of head chutes hasn’t changed in decades, but the explanation is simple: it’s because the old, well-proven approaches still work best. On the other hand, it’s dangerous to assume that a layout that works well at one mine will work just as well, or at all, at another.
Provisions must be made for the replacement of wear parts (e.g., install man-doors on head chutes with flood lighting inside the chute.) Faster part replacement means less downtime. Layout tools can include cut-and-paste arrangements, 2D arrangements fitted onto site topography, or 3D CAD to superimpose the design on the selected site. The choice of tool depends on whether the work is being done at the prefeasibility, feasibility or detailed engineering level, as well as on the accuracy required of any associated cost estimate. The best designs are developed using basic approaches and tools: site visits, discussions with mine personnel, sketches, and cutand-paste layouts. This writer believes that only after the initial concepts have been developed and optimized does 3D CAD have a role to play.
Different industries have different approaches to crushing plant design. The standard approach in the oil sands industry is to use MicroStation 3D CAD from the start; in some cases, the finalization of a system design (hopper, feeder, sizer crusher, and takeaway conveyor) has taken as much as two years, because of the uniqueness of the application. A similar design in the hard-rock mining industry takes from four to six months.
THE PRIMARY CRUSHER
Primary crushers, no matter what type, must all meet the design parameters described earlier. Design details that are fundamental to the layout of gyratory crusher plants are listed in the sections that follow. Some of these details are applicable to other types of crushers as well.
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Mining EQUIPMENT SELECTION,crusher types,primary crusher
Crusher Types
The choice of crusher depends on the type and amount of material to be crushed. Gyratory and jaw crushers represent the bulk of primary crushers used at mining operations today, although some operations use roll impact crushers, low-speed roll sizers and feeder breakers. Cone crushers remain the most popular for fine crushing applications, although some mines use vertical impact crushers for tertiary and quaternary crushing.
Major equipment
The major equipment in a primary crushing circuit usually includes only a crusher, feeder and conveyor . Secondary and tertiary crushing circuits have the same basic equipment items, along with screens and surge storage bins.
Additional and Optional Equipment
Other equipment items in crushing circuits can include:
• Rock breaker • Apron feeder to the primary crusher • Overhead crane • Dust collection/suppression system • Freight elevator • Eccentric trolley removal cart • Service air compressor • Man-lift elevator • Sump pumps • Air cannons • Air vacuum clean up systems • Water booster pumps • Rock grapple • Service trolleys • Conveyor belt magnets • Conveyor gravity take-up service winch • Conveyor belt metal detectors • Conveyor belt rip detector • Belt monitoring systems • Conveyor belt weigh scales • Belt feeders • Vibratory feeders • Screw feeders • Lime/cement silos • Bin ventilators • Sampling stations.
PLANT LAYOUT AND DESIGN
A well-designed plant layout balances the capital versus operating cost over mine life. Buildings, infrastructure, and major equipment items, represent the major cost elements of a crushing plant . The designer must prepare a layout that suits the design criteria, flowsheet and selected equipment in the most economical possible configuration. It’s important to keep structural costs down, to design for ease of maintenance and operation, and to combine best practices with advances in fabrication and erection. Input from an experienced mining plant structural engineer can be very helpful.
Crushing circuits and ancillaries have not changed a great deal over the years, so “Keep It Simple” is still the best way to design a plant. Owners may wonder why the design of head chutes hasn’t changed in decades, but the explanation is simple: it’s because the old, well-proven approaches still work best. On the other hand, it’s dangerous to assume that a layout that works well at one mine will work just as well, or at all, at another.
Provisions must be made for the replacement of wear parts (e.g., install man-doors on head chutes with flood lighting inside the chute.) Faster part replacement means less downtime. Layout tools can include cut-and-paste arrangements, 2D arrangements fitted onto site topography, or 3D CAD to superimpose the design on the selected site. The choice of tool depends on whether the work is being done at the prefeasibility, feasibility or detailed engineering level, as well as on the accuracy required of any associated cost estimate. The best designs are developed using basic approaches and tools: site visits, discussions with mine personnel, sketches, and cutand-paste layouts. This writer believes that only after the initial concepts have been developed and optimized does 3D CAD have a role to play.
Different industries have different approaches to crushing plant design. The standard approach in the oil sands industry is to use MicroStation 3D CAD from the start; in some cases, the finalization of a system design (hopper, feeder, sizer crusher, and takeaway conveyor) has taken as much as two years, because of the uniqueness of the application. A similar design in the hard-rock mining industry takes from four to six months.
THE PRIMARY CRUSHER
Primary crushers, no matter what type, must all meet the design parameters described earlier. Design details that are fundamental to the layout of gyratory crusher plants are listed in the sections that follow. Some of these details are applicable to other types of crushers as well.