Prediction of worn geometry in cone crushers

A cone crusher is used for crushing rock material in mines and quarries. The performance of the crusher changes during its lifetime due to wear of the crusher liners. Previous research has made it possible to model, simulate and optimize the performance of a given crusher. A problem is that due to wear the optimized geometry will change and the performance will suffer. To design crusher geometry for optimized performance throughout the lifetime of the liners, it is desirable to predict the worn geometry. This paper presents a method for this purpose. In a previous study, a wear model was investigated for a laboratory scale crusher. This model has been implemented in a cone crusher. The controller in a modern cone crusher can, for example, keep the close side setting or the power draw constant. Such a controller was implemented in the model. Measurements of the worn geometry were conducted in order to validate the wear model. The worn geometry is well predicted although the wear rate, estimated from experiments presented in a previous study, was overestimated. The effect of constant power control and wear on various output parameters was studied in simulations.