Latest generation crusher upgrades quarry production

Tilcon New York’s West Nyack crushed stone facility chose a new type of gyratory crusher for their recent expansion. The 1400 x 2100 type TSU (patent pending) went into operation in October 2009 and is the first of its kind, offering improved safety, reduced design and construction costs and lower maintenance requirements.

It was a bold decision by Tilcon management to invest in serial number 001, but it was one founded in sound economics and in line with their operating principles. Vice President at Tilcon New York, Alain Maio comments the decision: “We selected the top service machine for several reasons:

1. Increased safety for maintenance employees.
2. Faster maintenance turn-around time.
3. Decreased construction costs on the primary tower.
4. Servicing the crusher from the top is simply an engineering change, not a design change. We felt that this small change posed little risk in terms of operating performance”.

Whether cement, mining or aggregates the primary crusher is the beginning of the production line. As such it is critical it has maximum availability and easy maintenance.

Safety benefits
Gyratory crushers must be serviced to replace bushings and other components. Traditionally this service must be performed from below the crusher in the discharge area.
The design of this gyratory crusher allows service to be performed on the unit by removing necessary parts from the top, which eliminates the need to send personnel down into the crusher discharge bin. This drastically reduces or eliminates fall hazards, overhead hazards, and work in confined spaces.

Maintenance benefits
With all components being serviceable from the top, the maintenance time required to exchange an eccentric or replace a bushing has been drastically reduced. In fact the time to service the eccentric can be reduced from days to as little as one shift.

One further benefit is the rapid removal which enables the plant manager to do more preventive maintenance with minimal impact on the plant capacity. A crusher with greater routine maintenance will be less likely to experience unscheduled downtime, which increases overall plant production.

To further enhance serviceability the crusher was designed to maximise use of complete service spare modules. An example is the hydraulic cylinder assembly. This was redesigned to locate all wear components on the piston instead of the cylinder as in traditional designs (patent pending). This allows a complete piston assembly to be exchanged for rapid return to production.

Plant design benefits
The top service design benefitted Tilcon plant design and construction activities as follows:

1. Eliminating eccentric cart and maintenance access. Eliminating the eccentric cart and the access provisions has reduced station cost by as much as USD 800,000.
2. Lower crushing stations. The height of the station can be reduced since there is no crusher maintenance and access required under the crusher.
3. Reduced out of balance forces. With the new eccentric assembly a larger counterbalance can be utilised on the machine. This has enabled close to 100% counterbalance of the out of balance forces.

Successful cooperation
After more than four years of development, it is clear that the top service gyratory serial number 001 has paid off.

Since the Tilcon crusher went into operation in October 2009, only a minor adjustment has been needed in the oil flows and the crusher has met its production targets.

As important as the advantages in the crusher is the relationship developed through this project.

Plant Manager at Tilcon New York Bernardo Bulness says, “The field services provided by FLSmidth during the assembly, commissioning and operation have been superb. All our concerns have been addressed and a growing partnership has been solidly established.”

The management and professionals at Tilcon should be commended for their courage and leadership in selecting a new crusher format for the mining and aggregate industries. The crusher offers significant benefits which can be capitalised on for future crusher stations for improved safety, maintenance and operations.

Contact Mark Solomon.
For more on the Gyratory Crusher.