Process Training for operators of Pfeiffer MPS vertical mill

The purpose of grinding is to get a higher surface for any brittle produkt to
increase the surface ans with it the reactivity of this material, also to make it
easier to homogenize or to transport by air.

In fact there are three process processes going on in the MPS mill namely:

 grinding
 drying (kalcining)
 classifying

And only when all these three processes are working well, the operation of the
mill will also be good.
For drying sufficiently it is necessary that the mill is heated up before operation
starts. Significant is the temperature after mill (approx. 90°C).
Otherwise the “cold” mill grinding plant would absorb too much heat away from
the drying process and the finish product could be too “wet”; handling problems
in the meal transport and silo extraction will be the result.
Also a cacking in the grinding zone could occur, the material then sticks on
rollers and plate, which results in higher vibration and material spillage.

Preheating (slowly) is also necessary to prevent thermal stress in the grinding

parts, which are made of high alloy cast iron. Since the parts have a high mass
and thickness, the inner temperature takes a longer time to adapt the temperature
of the surface (thermal stress).
Therefore the heat at the mill inlet should be changed slowly. Due to the
minimum heat amount needed for the drying process which is related to an inlet
temperature higher than 120°C it is not possible to heat up the mill during
operation. So the mill and the grinding plant must be preheated at a inlet
temperature of about 95-120°C. During heat up there must be a sufficient air
flow through the mill to force the heat transfer to the parts. A sufficient air flow
creates at least a mill differential pressure of 5 mbar (without feed).

The time for heating up must be long enough to reach a temperature after mill of
about 85°C.
After a longer period of standstill (>10h) this time should be at last 2h.
 Important process parameters of the MPS mill

The operator is responsible for a stable process during start up, operation and
shut down of production. He must have the knowledge about the machine and
the influencing parameters and realize every change in the system to bring the
prozess back to normal, or to iniziate a shut down and and maintenance.

For company control matters and for the training of the operators, it is helpful to
record the measured parameters continiously.

These main parameters are:

 feed rate to the mill [to/h]

 differential pressure [mbar]
 air flow [m³/h]
 vibration at inlet gearbox [mm/s]
 power consumption of main drive [kW]
 power consumtion of mill fan [kW]
 reject material [to/h]
 temperature at mill outlet [°C]
 temperature at mill inlet [°C]
 thickness of grinding bed [mm]
 hydraulic operation pressure [bar]
 separator speed [rpm]
 differential pressure of filterhousing [mbar]
 position of mill fan damper [%]
 position of recirculation damper [%]
 position of fresh air damper [%]
 position of hot gas damper [%]
 position of filter duct damper [%]
 residiual water of finish product [%]
 fineness of product / residue on xx μ sieve [%]

feed rate to mill

You start a mill with lower feedrate at about 60% max load. When the process is
stable after approx. 5 minutes you should increase the feed to 70% up to 100%.
The feed rate influences directly the differential pressure.
differential pressure of the mill

The differential pressure is measured between the inlet of the mill and the outlet
of the mill, which is before the separator.
The differential pressure of the mill without operation is depending on the
airflow through the mill.
The differential pressure of the running mill is depending additional on the dust
load of the air in the mill.
Therefore it can be seen as the sum of the differential pressure resulting from the
plain air flow and from the resistance of the dust in the air. Dust makes the air
heavy.

ΔpMPS = Δpair flow + Δpdust load

In case the air flow is kept constant (by control loop) the differential pressure is
an indicator for filling degree of the raw mill.
The amount of the dust in the air is, or better said the filling degree is mainly
influenced by the feed rate and little by the grinding force.
Therefore the feed rate is in a control loop with the differential pressure as a
guide value.
The differential pressure of the air flow Δpair flow also exists when the mill is not
in grinding operation and depends only on the air flow through the mill and the
open section of the nozzle ring.
The dustload related differential pressure does not only depend on the feed rate,
but also on the grindability of the feed material, the moisture and the efficiency
of the grinding process.

air flow

The air flow is neccecary for the transport of the dust to the filters. Also the
seperator is depending on a sufficient air flow. If you increase the airflow and
want to keef the fineness constant, it is neccecary to increase the speed of the
separator and vice versa.
By the way, the air transports heat to the mill needed to vaporice the water in the
wet feed material and carry away this water.
The airflow is measured by the differential pressure of an orifice or a nozzle.
This measured value is used as a guide value in a control loop with the mill fan
damper, or the speed of the mill fan.
vibration at mill inlet

The vibration of the mill operation is measured on top of the mill gearbox inlet
shaft. Too high vibration can damage mechanical parts like bearings, liners, cast
iron or housing parts. High vibration occurs when the grinding process is
instable and it must shut off the mill, to prevent further damage. Vibration is
measured in mm/s .
Vibration occurs when the grinding bed is too low, too high or bigger pieces of
hard material enter the grinding bed. Also instable layers of material or
unsufficient heat supply can create higher vibrations.
For the operator it shows always a guideline how good operation is.

power consumption of main drive

More interesting than power consumption of main drive itself is the energy
consumption per tonnage of of finish material ( specific power consumption). It
shows how efficient the process is. Most influence has the height of the grinding
bed. With a high grinding bed, more material is spilled by the rollers and not
getting crushed. Also over the time when grinding parts are worn out, it happens
that specific power consumption is rising.

power consumption of mill fan

The mill fan is responsible for the transportation of the dust in the mill plant.
The more air it must transport the higher the power consumption will be.Most
significant is the position of the mill fan damper . When it is closed completely,
the power consumption will be the lowest. But this is not good for a longer time,
because vibration will rise. So after a start up, when the damper must be closed,
it should be opened a little to give a little airflow.
With the same damper setting, this power consumption is also depending on the
density and the dustload af the air. Cold air is more “heavy” than hot air.

reject material

The amount of reject material depends on the grain size of the feed material and
on the speed of air in the nozzle ring.
The relationship is expressed in the force balance of a particle in the air stream
just above the nozzle ring. In a simple theory the gravity force pulls down the
particle (rock) against which the air resistance force is lifting up the particle.
Depending on which force is dominant, the particle will either fall down through
the nozzle ring (reject) or jump back to the grinding table. Dust and small
particles will be transported to the classifier.
The size of the feed material is adjusted by the crusher.
The air stream is adjusted by the air flow by setting the damper of the mill fan
(and also recirculation).

temperature at mill outlet

For the sufficient removal of water out of the grinding product, it is necessary to
heat up the material during operation. It is also good to have hot product because
this is easier to transport. Its called fluidisation. Temperature at mill outlet
should be around 90°C

temperature at mill inlet

For providing the mill with heat inlet temperature must be sufficient to heat up
the air at mill outlet up to 90°C. It should not exxeed 200°C for a MPS B mill.

thickness of grinding bed

The thickness of the grinding bed shows how good a grinding process is
running. It is influenced by the feed rate, the speed of the table and the pressure
of the hydraulic cylinders. The optimum height of the grinding bed is related to
the diameter of the rollers. It is about 3%to 5% of the roller diameter. Also the
size of the biggest material must be smaller than the height of the grinding bed.
During operation the movement of the cylinders shows a good or a bad process.
High oscillation shows an instable grinding bed and can be the reason for not
enough heat, too much feed or bad size of the feed material.
When the height of the grinding bed is too low, high vibration will occur.

hydraulic operation pressure

Depending on this pressure the intensity of grinding is increased with the

pressure and vice versa. The problem will be, that a pressure too high will also
decrease the height of the grinding bed so that vibrations will occur. A pressure
too low will be followed by more reject material and you have to decrease the
feed rate.
The optimum is somewhere in between.

separator speed
This speed is responsible for the effect of deflecting coarse material from the
classifier wheel.
High speed means fine product, low speed means coarser product. When you
select a high speed, more material will go back to the grinding table
(recirculation) and make the grinding bed instable.

Differential pressure at filterhousing

This value shows good or bad operation of the filter. Low pressure means clean
filter, no pressure means, theat the filter might be damaged. A value too high
means that the filter is clogged and needs to be cleaned. It can also mean, that
dedusting is not working, and the filterhouse is filling up.

position of mill fan damper [%]

Control the airflow with the damper setting.

To much airflow grinds down the housing parts too early and means also high
power consumption.
Low airflow means that the transport of dust is not fast enough and the mill will
“drown”. The result is high reject amount and high power consumption of the
main drive. At least the mill will trip and you have to clean the mill manually.

position of recirculation damper [%]

With the recirculation damper you control the pressure ahead of the mill. Set it
in automatic (-10up to -5 mbar ) when you run steady conditions.

position of fresh air damper [%]

To purge the system and to reduce excessive heat when the process is out of
control. During operation only use it as an emergency damper.

position of hot gas damper [%]

Control the exit temperature of the mill with the hot gas damper.

position of filter duct damper [%]

Control the pressure at the junction point with this damper. It should be approx.
the same position like the hot gas damper. What comes in must go out to keep
the system balanced.

residiual water of finish product [%]

It is neccesary to dry the fine dust which finally goes to a bin. If the moisture of
this finish product is too high. It will cake.
For other products like gypsum it is needed to predict the reactivity by the
amount of residual cristal water (combined water)..

fineness of product / residue on xx μ sieve [%]

Handling and reactivity of a dust material is depending on the fineness. A

material too fine would be blown away too easy, and a material too coarse
would take too long time to react. To make a qualitative statement about the
fineness it is not needed to know about the complete distribution of particle size.
Its only neccesary to know the residue of the mesh chosen.
Loading and precharging the mill

To ensure a successfull start of the mill (or any other equipement) the start
conditions must be always the same good.
Too small an amount of material in the mill will create excessive vibrations
during start up as there is not enough material between the rollers and the
grinding bowl.
It can also happen, that during start up the feeding conveyor runs out of material.
Start up with a delay time (wait a minute) to ensure that material is fed to the
mill when the rollers are lowered.

After maintenance when the mill was cleaned out it is needed to precharge the
mill during standstill.
When the mill is too full the main drive will be overloaded and trip. Remove
some material with the help of the service drive, or by hand.

Ready to start ?

The grinding plant is started in a fixed order according to the interlocking

diagram. This contains the logic of the system and the protection against misuse
or damage.

Before any action starts, be aware if somebody is working on the grinding plant.
During operation it is forbidden to do any maintenance work at the grinding
plant. Keep up communication to the plant or even better have an own look if
everything is OK. Is the equipement available and is there no fault?

 All machines of the feeding group ready

 Enough feeding material in the bins
 Enough place in the product silo
 System heated up
 Cooling water and compressed air available
 Settings of machinery OK for start up (Feed rate / lifting height / damper
settings / classifier speed etc. )

The gear oil supply can always run to maintain optimum temperature of the
gearbox. Especially in wintertime (northern hemisphere) it is nessecary to heat
up the oil.
To start up a cold mill it is important to preheat the mill up to an exit
temperature of 90°C (gypsum calcining needs higher exit temperatures).

Do you know how much material is already in the mill? This is helpful for a
succesful start up.

Start group by group and wait for clearance of the interlock

Material transport is always started from the farest point of meal removing to the
mill and then from the mill to the farest point of material feed. Otherwise you
will compress the material and create an overflow or a jamming.

 Start group 40 gear oil supply

 Start meal removal group 10
 Start dedusting group 20
 Start gas flow routing group 30

Now you can start preheating the mill if necessary

 Start up group 50 and lift up the rollers approx. 20 min before you want to
start the feed
 Start the main drive, when the rollers are lifted
 Start external recirculation if installed
 Start the feed and if the mill is rather empty lower the rollers with delay
time. This helps to build up a good material layer on the grinding bed.
You start with a feed capacity of about 60-70 % and increase during first
minutes. Don`t start with full capacity.

It is now absolutely necessary to concentrate on the process and to run the mill
“by hand” until the mill runs stable after at least 10 minutes.
Then it is possible to switch to automatic. If you want to make changes in the
settings be careful not to bring the process to stumble. Use a slow hand and
better make more little changes during the time instead to change immediately.

Take a product sample to control the quality. As soon as the results are layed on
your table analyse them and make decisions for your settings if needed.

Time is up? Then stop always controlled!

Try to run a mill as long as possible in continuous condition. This guarantees a
steady quality over the time. Anyway there are two ways to stop a mill.

 Emergency stop

Whenever a problem occurs the mill will shut down automatically. It depends on
the reason if the mill can be restarted immediately or must be maintained.

 Shut down

This is the best way to stop a mill. Normally before then the feed rate is reduced
to 60-70% and after a short time the mill drive is shut off, the feed will be
stopped and the airflow reduced approx to 50 %. Shut down the heat supply
slowly and open the fresh air to purge and cool down the system a little. After
15 minutes the gas flow can be stopped and the dampers will be closed to
prevent hot gas vagabunding through the mill and cause damage by local
overheating.
During cooling down the tension hydraulic should be shut off.
Finally the dedusting and the meal trantport can be shut off.

Never stop the mill and walk away

The process must always be observed for another 30 minutes to be sure

everything is shut off completely and nothing is overheating by accident.