Eifel Road Show with the Sandvik Merlin CV116 vertical shaft impactor
Thanks to the close cooperation of the company Bierbrauer & Sohn with its long-standing business partner Sandvik Mining and Construction, in July 2010 the idea was born to offer interested companies in the region the opportunity to run “live” tests with the CV116 vertical shaft impactor and test material flows from gravel through basalt to alumina in a “stone-on-stone” crushing process (Fig. 1). Bierbrauer & Sohn currently has over 100 construction machines, from a vibratory plate through wheel loaders to screens and crushers. The company with its nine employees serves customers in the construction and recycling industry in the radius of 100 km. The special highlight of the road show: the companies were able to bring their own materials and test them in the working crusher. Companies from the local aggregates industry like, for example, Mendiger Basalt, but also from the chemical industry like, for example, Almatis based in Ludwigshafen, happily accepted Sandvik’s offer.
Mendiger Basalt Schmitz Naturstein from the neighbouring town of Mendig was one of the test companies. The material (basalt and tuff), which had been previously supplied for the test, was filled into the feed hopper and crushed at different settings there through the differently opened inspection door as well as the bi-flow system at different speed. The results were recorded for later assessment. For the second series of tests, pre-screened basalt material was supplied from the company’s own works. This was then passed through the crusher under identical conditions as in the first test series. Hans Junglas, Mine Manager at the Mendig Works, Weibern and Mayen of the company Mendiger Basalt was very satisfied with the particle shape of the basalt material. “The material doesn‘t have any more ‚little fishes‘ in it”, he concludes. “In addition our soft tuff is crushed realy well too.”
Since 2007 Sandvik has been in contact with the company Almatis based in Ludwigshafen, which in its Ludwigshafen facility comminutes its own alumina balls up to 20 mm diameter for a wide range of applications in the refractories and ceramics industries (Fig. 2). A Sandvik CV116 vertical shaft impactor has been successfully used for the comminution of the balls mainly to sizes of 0-6 mm from mid-2008. Alumina causes very severe wear during comminution – a problem that is completely unknown in the non-metallic minerals industry. On account of this, Sandvik developed special wear parts for the CV116. Compared to the cone crusher used previously, which required weekly replacement of the wear parts, the wear and maintenance costs could be reduced substantially.
In further tests the possibility of the use of the CV116 vertical shaft impactor for comminution to 0-1 mm is to be tested. The results of the tests were so convincing that negotiations are currently in progress with Almatis concerning the introduction of another vertical shaft impactor from the CV series, the somewhat smaller CV215, for comminution to 0-1 mm. This vertical shaft impactor is a further developed machine that works on the “material on material” principle of comminution. The special „Hurricane Rotor“ is designed such that a material bed forms inside the rotor, which provides optimum protection against wear. Furthermore, all parts of the casing are protected against wear by a material bed. With built-in bi-flow valves, up to 20 % of the material can be fed past the rotor to comminution, no further energy input being necessary.
At bauma 2010 a further developed model of the CV crusher series, the VSI CV217, was unveiled (Fig. 3), in which an opening in the rotor enables the replacement of the newly developed 3-part distributor plate through the inspection door in the casing. An opening of the machine from the top, as previously required, is therefore no longer necessary. Newly developed „Turbo-Rotor Tips“ lengthen the service lifetime of the rotor tips. As an upshot of the Eifel Road Show with the Sandvik vertical shaft impactor Merlin CV116, it can be said that the use of the new crusher generation returns brand new results for both the non-metallic minerals industry and the chemicals sector.
Sandvik Mining and Construction Central Europe GmbH, Norbert Kaufmann, Projektierung und Sales Support Crushing and Screening, Tel: +49 174 3367-477, norbert.kaufmann@sandvik.com, www.sandvik.com
