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Cane Preparation Equipment Installed Power Specific Power Tip Speed Tip Clearance [kW/tfh] [m/s] [mm] Leveller knives 6 50 1000 First knives 15 60 150 Second knives (heavy duty) 30 60 50 Shredder 60 100 Total 111 Southern African industry average 84
c is a factor dependent on the cane preparation equipment, c = 1.3 if the tandem is preceded by a shredder n is the mill speed in rev/min N is the number of rollers in the tandem L is the length of the roll in metres D is the mean diameter of the rollers in metres f is the fibre percent cane
The problem with M. Hugot's equation is that is a function of the square of the mill speed, which means mathematically that the mill capacity will increase with speed, reach a
maximum and then deacrease, as the speed increases. This could be interpreted in an engineering sense that the mill will have an optimum speed to operate at beyond which the capacity deacreses due to slippage of bagasse in the mill. It does not seem prudent to design the mills so that the capacity could be in the decreasing region.
Geometry of Mills
Tooth Profile
Vertical distance between top and side roll centres at rest [mm] Vrest
Calculations
Average peripheral velocity of top/feed rolls [mm/min] vTF = 2 n 0.5 (MDT + MDF) / 2
Average peripheral velocity of top/discharge rolls [mm/min] vTD = 2 n 0.5 (MDT + MDD / 2 Escribed volume in the discharge opening [m3/min] Discharge Work Opening [mm] Escribed volume in the feed opening [m3/min] Feed Work Opening [mm] Top - Feed roll Centres (Working) [mm] Top - Discharge roll Centres (Working) [mm] volEscrD = fibrethput / ffD woD = volEscrD/ (vTD lroll)/1000 volescrF = fibrethput / ffF woF = volEscrF/ (vTF lroll)/1000 TF = MDT / 2 + MDF / 2 + woF TD = MDT / 2 + MDD / 2 + woD
Horizontal distance between top roll and feed roll centres HF = (TF2 - (Vrest + l)2) [mm]
Horizontal distance between top roll and discharge roll HD = (TD2 - (Vrest + l)2) centres [mm] Set feed opening (Tip to Bottom) [mm] Set discharge opening (Tip to Bottom) [mm] soF = (HF2 + Vrest2) - MDT / 2 + MDF / 2 soD = (HD2 + Vrest2) - MDT / 2 + MDD / 2
In mill with and underfeed roll (also known as a the fourth roll) there is often a additional pair of mill pinions. The underfeed roll is driven by a pinion mounted on the non-drive end (also called the pintle end) of the top roll. Whereas the mill crown wheels all have an equal number of teeth the gears driving the underfeed roll are often speed reducing. the purpose of the mill pinions is to transmit torque from the top roll to the other mill rolls. The feed and discharge rolls normally run at the same rotational speed as the top roll. Unlike normal gears in a normal gearbox, mill pinions need to able to accomodate a changing centre distance. This is for three reasons
The top roll floats, so the centre distance changes from second to second
The fibre content of the cane changes and to accomodate this, the mill rolls centre distance is checked and adjusted weekly. The mill rolls wear and to accomodate this wear the centre distcance will change from season to season.
The change in operating centre distance means the pinion tooth profiles need to be sufficiently flexible to accomodate these changes. Contrary to what has been written in Dr Rein's book, Cane Sugar Engineering by Bruce St C Moor it is essential that the tooth profile is involute, no other tooth profile can accomodate a changing centre distance. What is clear though, is that a mill pinion tooth profile can not be in accordance with the two current AGMA tooth profile standards. The AGMA standards are based on fixed centre distances. AGMA Standard Gears and Mill Pinions Parameter AGMA 20 and 25 Mill Pinion Tooth Profile Involute Involute Pressure Angle 20 or 25 16 to 20 Addendum 1/P 1.1/P Dedendum 1.25/P 1.5/P to 1.9/P Fillet Radius 0.3/P 0.6/P to 0.75/P Circular Tooth Thickness 0.5/P 0.4/P to 0.45/P While the tooth profile of a mill pinion is an involute curve, this fact is not helpful to th pattern maker in the foundry where the pinion will be cast. The involute curve is approximated by two arcs: one from the base circle to the pitch circle, the second arc extends from the pitch circle to the start of the tip radius of the tooth.
Mill Bearings
Bearing Pressures
The maximum pressure that a bearing can withstand is mainly a function of the bearing material. The bronzes that are common in sugar mills have a recommended maximum bearing pressures of up to 100 MPa for phosphor bronze and 50 MPa for tin-bronzes. Standard sugar mill practise limits the bearing pressure to about 10 MPa.
Because the conditions under which bearings must operate in service may vary over a wide range, it is necessary that bearing materials be used which have certain desirable properties. Amongst these we must include such factors as
mechanical strength; softness and low melting point; low modulus of elasticity; corrosion resistance; high thermal conductivity; and of course, economic considerations.
Since these factors cannot all be obtained to a desirable degree in a single material, it is necessary in practice to make a compromise.
White metals is a term used to include the tin and lead-base metals, broadly referred to as Babbitts (after Isaac Babbitt, 1839), and since such metals are highly competitive, they are recommended for most applications where the loading is not severe. Babbitt bearings are manufactured with the white metal lined onto steel, cast iron and copper base alloys. Since white metal suffers a reduction in fatigue strength with increase in temperature, and this reduction is a function of thickness, it is usual to limit the thickness to between about 0.1000.175 mm, and thicknesses of only 0.025-0.050 mm are used with copperlead over the backup material. White metal is not commonly used as a sgar mill bearing material
Copper-base Alloys
Copper-base alloys including lead-bronze, gun-metal and phosphor-bronze are widely used as bearing materials. Lead-bronze is the cheapest, and is used for general service bearings. It has a low tendency to seizure, in common with the white metal bearings, and has greater fatigue strength to withstand higher temperatures. Lead bronze bushes are frequently used in the form of single, solid units, i.e. as bushes without the supporting shell surrounding the bearing material, as is required of the Babbitt or white metal bearing materials. Gun-metal provides a relatively cheap and easy to machine material, having good bearing properties and capable of withstanding somewhat higher loads than the lead-bronze alloys. This alloy also has good resistance to corrosion in sea water. Phosphor-bronze is used for heavily loaded bearings, where high frictional stresses are likely to occur. Because of the high hardness of this material, it demands the use of a hardened steel journal.
Lubrication
Sugar mill shafts do not turn sufficiently fast for a hydrodynamic film of lubricant to be formed between the journal and the bearing. Consequently hydrostatic lubrication is required. This is achieved by supplying lubricant to the bearing under pressure. Under these conditions, attention must be given to the adequate supply of lubricant at all times, and in particular to the location of oil supply holes and grooves. Bitumin based lubricants are often used in sugar mill bearings.
keep a nearly constant pressure on the mat of bagasse in the mill allow some throughput variation without sacrificing extraction protect the mill from damage from tramp iron
Typically hydraulic rams together with a gas accumulator provide the downward force on the bearing caps to resist the upward force of the bagasse on the mill roll. The gas accumulator acts as an air spring. The hydraulic oil in the system is not compressible, but the gas in the accumulator is and it is this gas that has the give that allows the roll to float. The gas in the accumulator is precharged with a particular gas pressure. The higher the precharge pressure the softer the spring rate. A low precharge pressure will make the system very stiff and may not allow sufficient float to let tramp iron through the mill, which may cause damage. A high precharge pressure will make the system very soft and the top roll bearing may continually rise up to its maximum lift. This means the mill headstock may be subjected to very high forces, not anticipated in design. The correct precharge pressure which ensures that the top roll floats about its design position is important to ensure good extraction and to protect the mill from damage
Viscosity @ 40C (mm2/s) 1205 Viscosity @ 100C (mm2/s) 50,5 VIE Colour Pour Point (C) Flash Point CCC (C) Bitumen Compounding EP Additives 84 Black 0 250 Yes Yes
the HCV. By ASTM standards the HCV is calculated at atmospheric pressure and at 20C. LCV of bagasse is calculated by the formula: LCV=[18 309 - 207,6 (moisture % sample) - 196,05 (ash % sample) - 31,14 (brix % sample)] kJ.kg-1 Do online calculations of HCV and LCV. Select the parameter to be used as the graph's xaxis by clicking the appropriate radio button