Influence of feeding condition on crusher performance and fatigue life

Other conference contribution, 2023

The fatigue life and liner wear rate of cone crushers depend on the feeding conditions. Uneven and segregated feed results in unnecessary high force amplitudes that are deleterious for the machine as well as for crusher performance and efficiency.

In this paper, a multidisciplinary approach and methodology are presented to estimate the fatigue life of crusher components and thus the service life of the crusher. We use a bonded dilated polyhedral element model to simulate the particle fracture for nominal and segregated feeding conditions. The resulting forces and stresses are spectra that vary over time. The critical components service life is evaluated by applying fatigue theory combined with the Palmgren-Miner rule for damage.

The results demonstrate the dependency between the feeding condition and the fatigue life expectancy. By addressing the feeding conditions significant unwanted costs for crusher operation and maintenance can be avoided and at the same time, the process performance is improved in terms of a smaller particle size distribution can be achieved.