A

tremendous amount
of material is crushed
each year by cone
crushers, but despite
this a detailed knowledge of how
cone crushers work from a
process point of view is quite
poor.This paper presents a model
for predicting cone crusher
performance.The model can be
used as a simulation tool to assist
in the design of crushers, allowing
any arbitrary design of cone
crusher to be studied. If a set of
simulations is performed for a
given crusher, a ‘crusher
performance map’ can be created
which can then be used when
optimizing a given crushing task
or crushing plant.
Sandvik Rock Processing are
currently using this performance
model to predict the gradings
from a new design of ‘fine
chamber’ crushers.This will allow
the company to offer and supply
Performance
by Design
crushers which are designed to
meet the specific demands of fine
crushed-product applications with
a high level of confidence.

A model for predicting cone crusher performance

Previously manufacturers would
either decline such an application
or invest in lengthy prototype
test work before the application
could be released for commercial
use.This type of research,
however, gives Sandvik the ability
to develop new crushing profiles
throughout the full range of
Hydrocones with relatively short
lead times.
Principles of
cone crushing
In a cone crusher the rock
material is crushed between rigid
surfaces.The motion of the
moving surface is independent of
the loading of the crusher,
therefore the explored
comminution principle is ‘form-
conditioned’ compressive
crushing.The crushing action is
achieved by an eccentric gyratory
movement of the main shaft axis,
as shown in figure 1. Particles are
nipped, compressed and crushed
between the mantle and the
concave. Breakage of particles can
be both single particle (particles
are broken between cone and
mantle) and interparticle
(between other particles).The
mantle and the concave must be
replaced regularly as they are
subjected to continuous wear.
Crushing takes place
continuously and is interparticle
to a great extent. Interparticle
crushing is achieved when a
particle is stressed and broken
between other particles.This type
of breakage is desirable from the
point of view of wear and service
life, and is also considered to give
the best particle shape.To achieve
interparticle breakage choke-fed The author, C. Magnus
conditions are normally Evertsson, is assistant
professor of machine
recommended. Choke-fed
and vehicle design at
conditions imply that the inlet of Chalmers University of
the crusher is covered with feed
material, which is then fed into ®
Technology, Göteborg,
Sweden

QM Apr 2002 www.qmj.co.uk 23


Fig. 1. Principle of a the crusher under the influence of
cone or gyratory gravity.The distance between the
crusher mantle and the concave at the
outlet of the crushing chamber is
called the closed-side setting
(CSS) when the mantle is in its
closed position.
Model
development
The overall model for predicting
cone crusher performance
presented in this paper has been
developed in four successive
parts:
—size-reduction process
modelling
—characterization of rock
material breakage behaviour
—flow modelling
—interaction between flow and
size reduction.
Fig. 3. Nominal
In figure 2 a structure for the
geometry for a
analysis of a cone crusher is
Sandvik Hydrocone
crusher5. β is the shown5.The size-reduction model
angle between the predicts the size distribution after
crushing and bed compressing the rock material.
vectors The flow model is important
24
Fig. 2. Structure of the crusher performance model
since it describes how the rock
material moves down through the
crushing chamber.The interaction
between the two models is quite
complex and intricate, as the
overall size reduction in a cone
crusher is a result of a repeated
consecutive comminution
process.
Nominal
geometry
Before any simulations can be
carried out the nominal crusher
chamber geometry has to be
encoded numerically. For this
reason an input module for
geometry was designed5. By
means of this generally designed
input module, every possible
chamber geometry can be
treated.
The nominal geometry for a
Sandvik Hydrocone crusher is
shown in figure 3. Already at this
stage it is possible to calculate a
set of nominal parameters that
characterize the crusher chamber.
Nominal stroke snom and bed
thickness bnom are determined at
every point in a cross-section of
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the chamber.The ratio between
stroke and bed thickness is called
the nominal compression ratio
and is denoted (s/b)nom.This
parameter is central to later
predictions of size reduction.
The horizontal cross-sectional
area is calculated at all vertical
levels.The minimum of the cross-
sectional area defines the
so-called choke level of the
crushing chamber.The location of
the choke level is important since
it will control the different types
of breakage modes in the
crushing chamber.
Size-reduction
process model
In a cone crusher the incoming
feed material is transformed into
product by a repeated
comminution process.The
number of reduction steps varies
from crusher to crusher, but it
can be ten or more5. An analytical
model describing the process
should therefore include all these
reduction steps. In Figure 4 a
model is presented using two
basic mechanisms for describing
each single reduction cycle,
namely selection and breakage1.
The product from one crushing
event is the feed to the following
event.The size reduction
occurring in every single crushing
event is described by a selection
and a breakage function. Selection
(S) corresponds to the probability
of a particle being broken, while
breakage (B) reflects the way a
particle is broken, ie the size
distribution of the daughter
fragments. It is believed that these
two mechanisms can describe all
the important aspects of breakage
behaviour.
Rock
fragmentation
characteristics
To quantify the S and B functions
laboratory-scale compression
crushing tests were performed6.
QM Apr 2002
 Fig. 4. Process model
of a cyclically
operating crusher with
N consecutive crushing
events. The utilized
compression ratio
(s/b)u is determined
from the location of
each crushing event,
crusher dynamics and
rock material density6.
S = selection,
B = breakage

(1)
In the tests the rock material was Equation (1)
crushed in a steel cylinder, the
equipment being designed to
imitate the conditions under
which a volume of material is
compressed in a real crushing
Fig. 5. a) Two-variable
chamber2,3.
selection function fitted
The value of selection is to experimental data
obtained directly from the b) In 3D the function
compression tests.The achieved
values of S are plotted in figure
appears as a surface
in space
5a against the compression ratio
which is denoted s⊄. It is clear
that the breakage probability S
varies both with the compression
ratio and with the feed size
distribution.The particle size
distribution is characterized by its
width or spread and is assumed
to be reflected by a normalized
standard deviation σ⊄ of the figure 6. similar breakage behaviour,
distribution.The value of S It is obvious that the overall although, for a given compression
increases with increasing s⊄, reduction increases when the s⊄ ratio, gneiss generates more fines
ratio increases. A function given in than diabase.
equation (2) with s⊄ as a
which is an obvious and natural
behaviour.The size distribution
width influences the value of S, so parameter and four constants can Flow model
be fitted to the experimental The crushing process is modelled
data3,6. Here x⊄ is a particle size
that for short fractions higher
values of the breakage probability as a series of repeated crushing
relative to the initial particle size events.The flow model must
x0.The particle size x⊄ is defined
are obtained compared to wide
therefore predict where, and
in equation (3), in which xmin is a
fractions.
The two-variable selection under which conditions (how),
function S(s⊄, σ⊄) in equation (1) small reference particle size. the material is compressed during
can satisfactorily describe the For comparison, data for each size-reduction cycle. For a
diabase are also shown in figure given rock material, the operators
Si and Bi depend on the utilized
breakage probability6.The
63. It can be seen that the two
compression ratio ® (s/b)u.The
appearance of the selection
function achieved after fitting different types of rock have a
equation (1) to experimental data
Fig. 6. a) Normalized
is shown in figure 5.The good fit
breakage behaviour of
with the experiments confirms the tested gneiss
the assumption about the material6
behaviour of the selection b) Comparison of the
function. breakage behaviour for
The breakage behaviour is diabase3 and gneiss6
described with a breakage
function B.The breakage function
is a cumulative function and the
value of B describes the relative
amount (by mass) of particles
passing a given relative size. For a
given original particle size, the

(2)
breakage behaviour is assumed
only to be dependent on the
compression ratio. Normalized

(3)
size distributions resulting from
the compression tests with
different s⊄ ratios are shown in Equations (2) and (3)

QM Apr 2002 www.qmj.co.uk 27

Fig. 7. Repeated
strokes show how a
particle is transported
through the crusher
chamber. When the
eccentric speed
increases, the number
of crushing zones
increases.The mantle
profile is shown in its
neutral position5
utilized compression ratio is
always smaller than the nominal
compression ratio.The flow
model should therefore predict
the compression ratio at those
points where a material volume is
subjected to the crushing
events3,4.
The flow model developed is
based on equations of motion5.
Three different mechanisms are
assumed to describe the material
flow, namely sliding, free fall and
squeezing. By performing
repeated strokes it is possible to
show how a particle is
transported down through the
crushing chamber. As the
predominant flow mechanism is
Fig. 8. a) Simulated free fall, this simulation will reveal
product size the fastest possible path a particle
distributions at an can take. Examples of the
eccentric speed of resulting paths from repeated
269 rev/min. CSS strokes are shown in figure 7.
varies in 1mm steps From the simulation the so-
between 8mm and called crushing zones are defined.
16mm
A crushing zone corresponds to a
b) Simulated crusher
performance map for volume of material which is
an eccentric speed of crushed when the eccentricity of
269 rev/min the main shaft is turned one lap.
28
Simulation,
results and
experiments
To validate the crusher flow and
size-reduction models, full-scale
tests were performed under
realistic operating conditions.
During the tests both the
eccentric speed and the closed-
side setting were altered.The
crusher chosen for these tests was
a Sandvik Hydrocone equipped
with a fine crushing chamber.
The model’s response to
changes in closed-side setting
matches the full-scale tests very
well.The number of interparticle
crushing zones (#IP) decreases
when the CSS increases.This is a
consequence of an upward
movement of the choke level with
increasing CSS.The effect is
strongly dependent on the specific
crusher design and is therefore
not necessarily a general
behaviour for cone crushers.The
most important effect associated
with increasing CSS is a
decreasing compression ratio.
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When the compression ratio
decreases the overall size
reduction also decreases.This
effect is obvious but has not
previously been proven by this
type of simulation.The combined
effect of a decreasing number of
crushing zones and decreasing
compression ratio is an overall
decrease in size reduction.
In figure 8a size distributions are
shown for various closed-side
settings.The corresponding
crusher performance map is
shown in figure 8b. For com-
parison, full-scale test results are
shown in figure 9.The similarities
between the simulations and the
test results are convincing.The
qualitative agreement is especially
good in terms of the locations of
maximal relative capacities and the
trends of the different fractions.
Conclusions
A calculation method with a
modular structure based on a
deductive crusher model has
been developed.The model
presented is a comprehensive
analytical tool for predicting cone
crusher performance and
provides a detailed understanding
of how and where size reduction
is achieved in a cone crusher. Full-
scale tests have been performed
to validate the model and the
agreement between the simulated
results and the experimental data
is very good.
If a set of simulations is
performed for a given crusher a
crusher performance map can be
created, which in turn can be used
when optimizing a given crushing
task or a crushing plant.The
crusher performance map
describes how the product output
from the crusher varies with the
machine parameters. By applying
optimization criteria to the crusher
performance map the best
operating conditions can be found.
Three main factors are
identified to promote the size-
reduction process occurring in a
cone crusher7.They are: breakage
modes; number of crushing zones;
and compression ratio.These main
factors are affected by crusher
design, rock material and
operating parameters. For a given
crusher application, the factors
depend on eccentric speed, CSS
and feed size distribution.These
three main factors offer the
possibility of a fundamental and
detailed understanding of how a
cone crusher operates, and any
QM Apr 2002
design consideration should be
evaluated against them.
The model is capable of
establishing a direct correlation
between crusher design
parameters, rock fragmentation
behaviour and crusher
performance, and can be used as a
simulation tool to assist in the
cone crusher design process.Any
arbitrary design can be studied and
different machine layouts can be
compared and evaluated early in
the design stage. Improvements in
crusher design can be made
without excessive testing.The cone
crusher perfor-mance model gives
manufacturers the ability to
produce customized crushing does not necessarily need to utilize particle breakage as applied to cone Fig. 9. a) Product size
chambers. form-conditioned compressive crushing’, Minerals Engineering, 1997, distributions from full-
There are numerous improve- crushing, but could use any vol. 10, pp199–214. scale tests at an
comminution principle. S
ments and extensions that can be 4. EVERTSSON, C. M.: ‘Output eccentric speed of
prediction of cone crushers’, 269 rev/min. CSS
Minerals Engineering, 1998, vol. 11,
made in the future.At present the
varies in 1mm steps
simulation tool is able to predict References pp215–232. between 8mm and
both crusher capacity and product 5. EVERTSSON, C. M.: ‘Modelling of 16mm
flow in cone crushers’, Minerals
1. EVERTSSON, C. M.:‘Prediction of
size distribution from cone b) Crusher
Engineering, 1999, vol. 12,
size distributions from compres-
crushers, but there are no inherent sing crusher machines’, Proceedings performance map
limitations on extending the model EXPLO 95 Conference, 1995, pp1,479–1,499. from full-scale tests at
to also predict other desired Brisbane,Australia, pp173–180. 6. EVERTSSON, C. M.: ‘Size an eccentric speed of
reduction in cone crushers’, 269 rev/min
Minerals Engineering Conference
2. EVERTSSON, C. M.: ‘Prediction of
cone crusher performance’, Lic.
features such as product quality,
Eng.Thesis, 1997, Machine and 1999, Falmouth, England.
crusher wear and power
consumption.The formulation of
Vehicle Design, Chalmers 7. EVERTSSON, C. M.: ‘Cone
crusher performance’, PhD Thesis,
size-reduction strategies will University of Technology,
further improve the fundamental Göteborg, Sweden. 2000, Machine and Vehicle Design,
understanding of the size-reduction 3. EVERTSSON, C. M., and R.A. Chalmers University of
process.The size-reduction process Bearman:‘Investigation of inter- Technology, Göteborg, Sweden.

QM Apr 2002 www.qmj.co.uk 29