Adv. Manuf.
(2018) 6:83–94
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40436-017-0208-3
Thermal optimization and experimental research of high-speed
universal pulverizer
Qiang He1 • An-Ling Li1 • Yuan Shen1 • Li-Li Li1
Received: 7 April 2017 / Accepted: 29 December 2017 / Published online: 5 February 2018
Ó Shanghai University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Because of high efficiency, energy conservation,
simple operation, wide application range, and small size,
the high-speed universal pulverizer has been well received
by customers. However, its electrical motor can overheat
when working, which hinders continuous operation of the
pulverizer. In this study, a series of efforts were made to
address this problem. Firstly, a detailed analysis of the
working principle of the pulverizer was conducted and an
optimization plan was proposed, consisting in punching
ventilation holes on the surface of the original pulverizer.
Simulations of the pulverizer flow field before and after
optimization were performed. The hydrodynamic simula-
tion results were used to conduct a steady state thermal
analysis of the pulverizer, investigating the influence of the
flow field on heat transfer. Additionally, experimental
investigations were conducted on the pulverizer before and
after optimization in order to measure and compare the
parameters (motor working temperature, wind speed and
temperature of the motor cooling system, vibration, noise,
and pulverizing degree of the material) influencing the
performance of the pulverizer. The numerical simulation
results showed an increment in heat transfer caused by
increment in air flow volume and velocity when air was
injected into the pulverizer through bottom and side holes.
Experimental results showed that the pulverizer with air
injection through holes had the best performance when
temperature, vibration, and refinement effect were consid-
ered as performance indicators.
& Qiang He
hq@ayit.edu.cn
1 Recent experimental and numerical analyses of pulver-
School of Mechanical Engineering, Anyang Institute of
Technology, Anyang 455000, Henan, People’s Republic of
China
Keywords High-speed universal pulverizer  Flow field
simulation  Thermal analysis  Pulverizing degree 
Vibration noise
1 Introduction
The numerous applications of pulverizers are in the fields
of herbal medicine, pharmaceuticals, health care products,
food processing, and agricultural products. In general, the
available pulverizers in the market can be divided into four
different types: mechanical pulverizer, air flow pulverizer,
grinding mill, and low temperature pulverizer. The
mechanical pulverizer is suitable for pulverizing materials
of moderate hardness [1] and offers high pulverizing effi-
ciency, large reduction ratio, simple structure, and
stable operation. Currently, the most widely applied
mechanical pulverizer in the industry is the hammer pul-
verizer. This pulverizer is composed of drive motor,
feeding device, machine body, rotor, dumping device,
operation door, and control system. It has several advan-
tages such as high efficiency, low cost, and strong adapt-
ability. However, it is difficult to use for home and medical
applications, because of the high levels of vibration and
noise during its operation [2, 3]. The high-speed universal
pulverizer not only shares the advantages of the hammer
pulverizer, but also shows unique characteristics such as
light weight, small size, energy conservation, wide appli-
cation range, simple operation, and easy usability. These
advantages make it suitable for home and medical appli-
cations. Moreover, because of its small body size, it offers
a significant reduction of vibration and noise.
izer shave focused only on improving their accuracy and
efficiency. Özer et al. [4] built a multi-component model
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