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Technical note

Cone crusher chamber optimization using multiple constraints


Dong Gang , Huang Dongming, Fan Xiumin
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, PR China
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, PR China
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 19 January 2009
Received in revised form 9 June 2009
Accepted 4 July 2009
Available online 22 July 2009
Keywords:
Cone crusher
Crushing chamber
Optimization
Size reduction
Flakiness index
The chamber geometry is one of the key factors that inuences the performance of a cone crusher. The design
of the chamber geometry should take product quality and crushing efciency into account. In this paper the
kinematics of rock material in a crushing chamber, as interparticle breakage occurs, has been analyzed and
the chamber division is achieved. Based on the chamber division and a population balance model, the
method for chamber geometry design is presented. Combining the empirical model for predicting particle
shape with the size distribution model, a akiness prediction model is proposed. With the size reduction
model and akiness prediction model as constraints, an optimization of the crushing chamber is achieved.
Finally, the validity of the crushing chamber optimization model has been veried by an appropriate
prototype test.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Cone crushers are widely used in the mining and aggregates
industry to crush blasted rock material. The chamber geometry is one
of the key factors that inuences the cone crusher performance,
measured by productivity, particle size and particle shape of the
product. Previous research in this area (Evertsson, 2000; Gauldie,
1953) has studied the behavior of a particular cone crusher, which
made it possible to model the kinematics of the rock material and
proposed the method for dividing the crushing chamber into several
crushing zones. In order to predict product quality, Evertsson (1997)
presented a size reduction model. Magnus and Evertsson (2006) have
studied the factors that may inuence product akiness and presented
an empirical model for predicting the product particle shape. However
this model could not be used directly for chamber optimization.
Most previous research has focused on modeling of the relation-
ships between the key parameters, and only a few have been about
improving the models, combining the models and optimization with
the models. As the chamber geometry is crucial for the performance of
a cone crusher, the method for crushing chamber optimization under
multiple constraints will be useful for improving its performance.
2. Crushing chamber geometry optimization
The purpose of chamber geometry optimization is to design the
geometry of the concave chamber surfaces given that the key
parameters, including rotational speed n, eccentric angle , height of
pivot point h and base angle of cone , have been given.
The two main crushing parts of cone crusher are the mantle and
the concave. The axis of the mantle intersects the axis of the crushing
chamber at point O, which is a pivot point. The angle between the two
axes is , which is an eccentric angle, as shown in Fig. 1. As the crusher
is working, the mantle moves around the axis of the crushing
chamber. In the cross section of the cone crusher, the mantle is
performing a pendulum movement with O as the center. As the
mantle swings between the closed and open sides, it periodically
approaches and leaves the concave surface. When rock materials get
into the crushing chamber, they keep falling until they meet the
mantle. Then the rock materials are pushed against the concave
surface by the mantle and get crushed.
While the rock particle is falling in the crushing chamber, the
movement can be expressed by Eq. (1). While the particle is pushed
against the concave surface, the movement could be regarded as a
combination of circular motion and simple harmonic motion, and the
two motions could be expressed by Eq. (2). As a result, it is possible to
trace the movement of the particle, as it passes through the crushing
chamber.
As shown in Fig. 2, the pivot point O is taken as the origin of the
coordinate system, A
0
is the intersection point of the choke level and
the open side, and its coordinates are (X
0
, Y
0
). Generally, it is
reasonable to take A
0
as the initial position of the particle. The particle
keeps falling until it reaches the mantle at A
1
, whose coordinates are
(X
1
, Y
1
). Obviously, X
1
is equal to X
0
and Y
1
can be calculated with
Eqs. (1) and (2). Eq. (1) is the equation of falling motion, where t
1
is
the time. Eq. (2) is the equation of simple harmonic motion, where n
is the rotational speed specied in rpm, (X
P
, Y
P
) are the coordinates of
Int. J. Miner. Process. 93 (2009) 204208
Corresponding author. School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong
University, Shanghai 200030, PR China. Tel.: +86 21 62933362; fax: +86 21 62932070.
E-mail address: dgang@sjtu.edu.cn (D. Gang).
0301-7516/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.minpro.2009.07.005
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Int. J. Miner. Process.
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ i j mi npr o
the pivot point O,
Y
P
Y
0
XP X
0
is the slope of the open side and
Y
P
Y
1
XP X
1
is the
slope of the mantle's edge when the particle reaches the mantle, and
cos
nt
1
30
_ _
is the angle between the two lines at time t
1
.
Y
1
Y
0
=
1
2
gt
2
1
1
cos
nt
1
30
_ _
= arctan
Y
P
Y
0
X
P
X
0
_ _
arctan
Y
P
Y
1
X
P
X
1
_ _
: 2
Subsequently, the particle is pushed against the concave surface
and reaches the closed side at A
2
, whose coordinates can be calculated
with Eq. (3) and the equation of the closed side. Eq. (3) is the equation
of the rst circular motion, where R
1
is the distance between A
1
and O.
X
2
2
+ Y
2
2
= R
2
1
: 3
Repeating the steps above, the whole trace of the particle in the
crushing chamber can be calculated. In this paper, n is supposed to be
greater than the critical rotational speed, so that the particle will not
slide along the mantle.
Based on the theory of interparticle breakage, when such breakage
occurs in the crushing chamber, rock materials are crushed only once,
in a single crushing zone. Accordingly, the study described above not
only traces the movement of rock materials but also reveal how to
divide the crushing chamber into crushing zones. Obviously, each
turning point of the trace is on the boundary between two crushing
Fig. 1. The crushing chamber and cone crusher working principle.
Fig. 2. The kinematics analysis of material and the division of the crushing chamber.
205 D. Gang et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 93 (2009) 204208
zones. In the cross section of the crushing chamber, the outline of each
crushing zone is a quadrangle. Using the formalism described above,
the three sides of the quadrangle can be dened. The next step is to
dene the fourth side, which is to design the curve of concave surface
in each crushing zone.
As the closed side setting (CSS) should be given by the user of
crusher, the design should be started in the discharge gate of the
crushing room. However, in the course of the design of the concave
surface there are two key factors that should be taken into account.
Firstly, based on the theory of population balance, while the crusher is
operating, the mass of rock materials in one crushing zone must be
equal to that in the next crushing zone so that materials do not get
jammed in the crushing chamber. Secondly, the nip angle of each
crushing zone should be less than the given nip angle so that materials
do not slide along the mantle. In the Chinese Standard, the nip angle of
the crushing chamber should be less than 27 (Lang, 1998).
As the cone crusher can only work on the premise of no jamming,
the minimum standard deviation of the mass of material in each
crushing zone is taken as the objective of the crushing chamber
geometry optimization. As shown in Eq. (4), m is the total number of
crushing zones, V
i
is the volume of crushing zone i,
i
is the
volumetric lling ratio of crushing zone i and is the density of the
material, so M
i
(V
i
,
i
, ) is the mass of material in crushing zone i.
M
1
(V
1
,
1
, ) is the mass of materials in crushing zone 0, which is
the closest to the discharge gate. In fact M
1
(V
1
,
1
, ) is the mass of
material that falls out of the crushingchamber duringa single rotationof
the mantle, and it reects the productivity of the cone crusher. The
productivity of the cone crusher could be calculated knowing M
1
(V
1
,

1
, ), the rotational speed n and some empirical correction coefcients,
such as K
s
and K
h
(Lang, 1998). The coefcient K
s
describes the inuence
of the size distributionof the feedoncrusher output, andthe valuerange
is 11.4. The coefcient K
h
describes the inuence of material hardness
on crusher output, and the value range is 0.751.
F x =

m
i =1
M
i
V
i
;
i
; M
1
V
1
;
1
;
2
m 1

_
4
0 V
i
V
min
: 5
The second factor is taken as the boundary constraint in the
crushing chamber geometry optimization. As shown in Eq. (5),
i
is
the nip angle of crushing zone i. With the method above, a crushing
chamber geometry optimization can be achieved, as shown in Fig. 2.
3. Constraints of product quality
3.1. Size reduction model
The crushing process in each crushing zone has been presented by
Evertsson (1997). In that process the material ow through the
crusher is modeled as a series of successive crushing events, as shown
in Fig. 3 and Eq. (6), where P
i +1
represents the feeding material of
crushing zone i, P
i
represents the discharge materials of the same
zone, S
i
is the selection function and B
i
is the Breakage function.
P
i
= B
i
S
i
+ 1 S
i
P
i + 1
6
P =

m
i =1
B
i
S
i
+ 1 S
i
F : 7
As the entire process of crushing is modeled as a series of
successive crushing events, the size distribution of the nal product
can be calculated using Eq. (7), where P represents the nal product
and F represents the initial feed.
The values of S
i
and B
i
are determined by the parameter (s/b)
i
,
which is the compression ratio of crushing zone i. This parameter
describes how much the rock material is compressed and is
determined from the location of the crushing event and the crusher
dynamics. Actually, following the work on the crushing chamber
geometry optimization, the compression ratio of each crushing zone
has already been calculated. As shown in Fig. 2, (s/b)
i
is just the value
of S
C1C2C3C4
/ S
C1C2C5C6
, where S
C1C2C3C4
is the area of quadrangle
C
1
C
2
C
3
C
4
and S
C1C2C5C6
is the area of quadrangle C
1
C
2
C
5
C
6
. So it is
possible to take the size distribution of nal product as the constraint
in the crushing chamber optimization.
3.2. Flakiness prediction model
Generally the product akiness is tested according to European
Standard EN 933-3, which is a part of the European Standard for
classication of aggregate characteristics.
Magnus and Evertsson (2006) revealed that the akiness of the
product can be estimated with the knowledge of the CSS and the
average size of the feed, and presented an empirical model for
predicting product akiness in cone crushing, as shown in Eq. (8),
where FI(F

, CSS, P
SIZE
) is the akiness index, F

is the average size of


the feed and P
SIZE
is the particle size of the product.
FI F; CSS; P
SIZE
_ _
=
0:24
F
1:25F + 20
CSS
_ _
2
P
2
SIZE

1:25x + 20
CSS
_ _
P
SIZE
+ 1:25F:
8
Based on this empirical model and the size reduction model, the
percentage of aky particles in the nal product can be calculated, as
shown in Eq. (9).
FI
total
=

K
j =1
P
j
FI
j
F; CSS; P
SIZEj
_ _
: 9
In Eq. (9) P
SIZEj
is the average size within size range j, FI
i
(F , CSS,
P

SIZEj
) is approximately the percentage of aky particles in size range
j and P
j
is the product matrix of the crushing zone j. Actually, the value
of P
j
is the percentage of the particles in size range j with respect to
the total product. Obviously FI
total
is the percentage of total aky
particles in the nal product. The akiness prediction model can also
be taken as the constraint in optimization of the design of the crushing
chamber.
4. Crushing chamber optimization under multi-constraints
Based on this method for crushing chamber geometry optimiza-
tion, taking the size reduction model and akiness prediction model
as constraints, a crushing chamber optimization model is achieved.
As shown in Eq. (10), the rotational speed n, eccentric angle ,
height of pivot point h, base angle of cone and average nip angle of
Fig. 3. The model of the i crushing process.
206 D. Gang et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 93 (2009) 204208
chamber
nip
are taken as the design variables. The other structural
and working parameters, such as the eccentric distance and length of
the stroke, can be determined by the parameters above.
X = x
1
; x
2
; x
3
; x
4
; x
5
= n; ; h; ;
nip
_ _
: 10
The objective of the crushing chamber optimization is to produce
the minimumstandard deviation of the mass of discharge materials of
each crushing zone as shown in Eq. (11). The size reduction model and
akiness prediction model are taken as performance constraints, as
shown in Eq. (12). P
CSS
is the percentage of material whose size is less
thanCSS, andit is akeyparameter for estimatingthecrusher performance.
P
CSS min
is the expected value of the minimum P
CSS
. FI
total max
is the
expected value of the maximumFI
total
.
F x =

m
i =1
M
i
V
i
;
i
; M
1
V
1
;
1
;
2
m 1

_
Ymin 11
P
CSS
z P
CSS min
FI
total
V FI
total max
:
_
12
To ensure that the optimization would succeed and the outcome
would be useful, there should be boundary constraints on the design
variables as shown in Eq. (13). The cone crusher chamber optimiza-
tion is implemented with Matlab, the corresponding owchart is
shown in Fig. 4.
n
min
V n V n
max

min
V V
max
h
min
V h V h
max

min
V V
max
0 V V
min
:
_

_
13
In this work a PYB900 cone crusher (made in China) is taken as an
example. The structural and working parameters of PYB900 are taken
as the initial input for the crushing chamber optimization. The
outcome of the optimization, including these parameters and the
crushing chamber geometry, and the corresponding performance
prediction, are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 5. With the akiness
prediction model, the akiness index of the nal product is calculated,
as shown in Fig. 6.
To verify the validity of the cone crusher chamber optimization
model, we cooperated with the Shanghai Jianshe Luqiao Machinery Co.,
Ltd to redesign the PYB900 cone crusher in accordance with the
outcome of the optimization. The corresponding prototype has been
made. It has been working in a quarry in Huzhou China. The
performance of the prototype has been tested, as shown in Table 1.
The productivity and P
CSS
of the prototype are respectively 105.56t h
1
and 48.15%, which are both greater than those of the original PYB900.
The FI
total
of the prototype is 25.95%, which is less than that of the
original PYB900. Actually, the improvement of output is mainly because
of the increase in the volume of the crushing chamber and the rotation
speed of the shaft. The improvement of product quality is because
interparticle breakage occurs in the process of crushing and rock
materials get crushed thoroughly. The performance of the prototype did
not matchthe outcome of optimization, and several factors such as cone
Fig. 4. The cone crusher chamber optimization owchart.
Table 1
The outcome of optimization and prototype test.
Type of parameters Structural and working parameters Performance parameters
n (r min
1
) (deg) h (mm) (deg) (deg) Q (t h
1
) P
CSS
(%) FI (%)
Initial parameters 270 2 344 40 22 80 45 30
Parameters optimized 332.46 1.8 382.46 44 24.3 125.12 54.88 22.13
Parameters of prototype 330 1.8 380 44 24 105.56 48.15 25.95
Fig. 5. The optimized chamber geometry of PYB900.
207 D. Gang et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 93 (2009) 204208
crusher operating conditions, feeding conditions, assumptions of those
models and cone crusher manufacturing deviations, may lead to those
discrepancies. However, basically the validity of the crushing chamber
optimization is veried by the corresponding prototype test.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, in which we have studied rock material in a crushing
chamber, the motion of the material has been traced and the method
for dividing crushing chamber into crushing zones is presented. Based
on the chamber division and population balance model, the method
for the design of the chamber geometry is presented. Combining the
empirical model for predicting particle shape with the size distribu-
tion model, a akiness prediction model is proposed. Using the size
reduction model and akiness prediction model as constraints, the
crushing chamber design optimization is achieved. All this work will
be useful for future cone crusher optimization strategies.
With the cooperation of cone crusher manufacturer, the PYB900
cone crusher has been redesigned in accordance with the outcome of
the optimization procedure. The corresponding prototype has been
working in a quarry in Huzhou China. The validity and reliability of the
crushing chamber optimization have been veried with the prototype
test.
References
Evertsson, C.M., 1997. Output prediction of cone crushers. Miner. Eng. 11, 215231.
Evertsson, C.M., 2000. Cone Crusher Performance. Ph.D. thesis. Chalmers University of
Technology.
European Standard. 1997. EN 933-3. CEN European.
Gauldie, K., 1953. Performance of Jaw Crushers. Engineering. October 9, 1953, 456458;
October 16, 1953, 485486.
Lang, B.X., 1998. Cone Crusher, rst ed. Mechanical Industry Publishing Company,
Beijing.
Magnus, B., Evertsson, C.M., 2006. An empirical model for predicting akiness in cone
crushing. Int. J. Miner. Process. 79, 4960.
Glossary
Roman
B
i
breakage function of crushing zone i
F
i
feeding matrix of crushing zone i
F feeding matrix of initial feed
F

average particle size of the feed


FI akiness index
FI
i
percentage of aky particles of size range j
FI
total
mass of total aky particles to the mass of total product
g gravitational acceleration
h height of pivot point
k total number of size range
K
s
feed size distribution coefcient
K
h
material hardness coefcient
m total number of crushing zones
M
i
mass of materials in crushing zone i
n eccentric shaft speed
P
i
product matrix of crushing zone i
P product matrix of nal product
P
CSS
product weight percentage undersize
P
SIZE
particle size of the product
P
SIZEj
average particle size of size range j of the product
Q productivity of cone crusher
S
i
selection function of crushing zone i
S
troke
stroke of discharge gate
(s/b)
i
utilized compression ratio of crushing zone i
t
i
time of the ith falling motion
V
i
volume of crushing zone i
Greek letter
base angle of cone

i
nip angle of crushing zone i

nip
average nip angle of crushing chamber
eccentric angle
density of material

i
volumetric lling ratio of crushing zone i
Acronyms
CSS closed side setting
Fig. 6. The akiness index of the nal product.
208 D. Gang et al. / Int. J. Miner. Process. 93 (2009) 204208

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