Engineering and Technology Journal

Exploring the effects of a new lifter design and ball mill speed on grinding performance and particle behaviour: A comparative analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Research Laboratory of Industrial Technologies Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Applied Sciences Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret, Algeria

Abstract

Ball mills are the leading grinding equipment in the mineral processing industry. Balls are the primary component in the grinding of materials. Lifters lift these balls to the shoulder position before cataracts them to the toe position. Almost all classical theories do not consider the lifter's geometry in calculating the energy consumption of ball mills and focus only on the fill level of the charge, the lifter dimensions, their number, and the mill's rotational speed. To improve the ball mill's performance, a new shape of the lifters was proposed in the present research work. Simulation through the EDEM software and the discrete element method (DEM) was used to predict the particle behaviour and conduct a comparative study on the influence of the lifter geometry and ball mill rotational speed on torque, power draw, and kinetic energy. The validation of our results is evaluated by a confrontation of the experimental tests of discontinuous grinding with a 573 x 160 cm of Bian. The results show that using helical lifters has a more significant effect on the grinding efficiency, the torque, and the power draw of the ball mill. They decrease the wear rate of liners and lifters when mill speeds are extremely high (90%, 100%).

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

  • The helical lifters considerably increase the grinding efficiency of a ball mill by reducing the wear rate of the lifters and liners.
  • The DEM simulation provides qualitative validation of the particle behaviour.
  • The power consumed by the mill shows lower values for the new helical lifters.
  • The torque reaches its maximum at a rotation rate between 70% and 75%, similar to experimental results.
  • For helical lifters, the average kinetic energy rises as the pitch increases.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References
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Engineering and Technology Journal
Volume 41, Issue 7
Mechanical Engineering
12 articles
July 2023
Page 991-1000
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