In any industrial setting, you’ll encounter machinery integral to the workflow. One crucial type is industrial crushers. You might not realize it, but these machines are often the unsung heroes in mining, quarrying, recycling, construction, waste management, and the chemical industry for material handling and processing.
The mining industry is particularly snowballing. In 2020, the global mining market stood at USD$1,641.67 billion. It rose to USD$1,845.55 billion in 2021. With a growth rate of 12.4% from 2020 to 2021 and 7% from 2021 onward, it’s predicted to hit USD$2,427.85 billion by 2025.
Perhaps you’ve struggled to find the right crushing equipment for your operations. Or maybe you’ve dealt with machines that didn’t match your needs. These are common industry pain points and can significantly impact productivity and efficiency.
Fortunately, there’s a solution. In this article, you’ll discover insights into five different types of industrial crushers and their applications. As you delve deeper into each type, you’ll see how they work and where they shine. So buckle up and embark on this informative journey.
- Glass crusher
A glass crusher machine pulverizes glass into sand-like consistency, as this video illustrates:
This unique machine is widely used to reduce glass bottles and containers to tiny fragments.
How does it work? Feed a glass crusher machine with glass containers, and its powerful mechanism, often featuring spinning metal discs or ‘hammers,’ grinds them down. These machines are easy to use and incredibly efficient.
A glass crusher machine is a staple in waste-recycling facilities. It is particularly useful in industries where a large amount of glass waste is generated, like bars, restaurants, and hotels.
While these machines offer many benefits, including waste reduction and recycling, they have limitations. They’re designed to handle glass materials only, so it’s not wise to feed non-glass materials into them. Safety precautions are also crucial when working with these machines to prevent accidents.
- Jaw crushers
Functioning much like a human jaw, the jaw crusher crushes material between a stationary ‘jaw’ and a moving one. The moving jaw compresses material against the fixed jaw, reducing it into smaller pieces. It’s a simple yet effective system.
Corrugated jaw plates, preferred for hard ores, offer compression, tension, and shearing crushing. This contrasts smooth plates that provide compression only. Considering rocks are ten times weaker in tension than compression, corrugated profiles yield lower power consumption and wear costs.
Jaw crushers are known for their ability to handle larger, abrasive materials. Plus, they offer a high reduction ratio and can produce uniform cubical end products. Their design allows them to be applied in settings where precise product sizing isn’t a priority but high throughput.
Jaw crushers find their use in various industries. They’re popular in mining for crushing ore, construction for demolishing concrete, and waste management for recycling. However, despite their high efficiency and versatility, they have drawbacks. Their design may limit their use to coarse and medium crushing, and maintenance can be challenging due to their complex mechanism.
- Gyratory crushers
Gyratory crushers, invented by Charles Brown in 1877, are elegant tall devices that crush material between a conical fixed outer shell and a smaller conical inner shell that gyrates. As the inner cone rotates, it crushes the material against the outer shell, reducing it to smaller sizes.
Gyratory crushers are unique in several ways. They can handle much harder, abrasive material and crush larger quantities faster than other crushers. They’re also preferred for their ability to produce a finer, more uniform product. The high capacity and reduction ratio makes them a valuable asset for any crushing operation.
Regarding applications, gyratory crushers often find their place in mining and large-scale quarry operations. They’re the workhorses when dealing with large amounts of hard, abrasive materials.
But there’s a flip side to these robust machines. They’re complex and costly, and their installation and maintenance require professional expertise. So they’re not always the best choice for smaller, less-resource-rich operations.
- Cone crushers
The cone crusher features a cone-shaped crushing surface. This unique shape allows it to perform a distinct crushing action that is essential in many industrial applications.
A cone crusher squeezes the material between an eccentrically gyrating spindle and a concave hopper. The crushed material is then discharged through a narrow opening at the bottom. It’s a clever system, combining efficiency with simplicity.
These versatile machines are widely used in mining and quarrying operations, especially when dealing with medium-hard, hard, brittle, and abrasive materials. They offer several benefits, including high productivity, less downtime, and easy maintenance.
However, they’re not without their cons. Cone crushers can be costly to purchase and operate, and their output may not be as uniform as that of some other crusher types.
- Impact crushers
Impact crushers earn their name from the impactful way they crush materials. These machines can grind large pieces of rock, ore, concrete, or other materials, preparing them for further processing in a ball mill or hammer mill.
They use a rotor that propels materials into fixed impact plates, causing the material to fracture and break apart. It’s an effective method that ensures a high output rate and efficient use of power.
Impact crushers are widely utilized in various industries, including construction, mining, and waste management. They’re favored for their ability to produce a high-quality, cubical product and handle various materials. But, like every machine, they have their drawbacks. They can wear quickly when dealing with abrasive materials and are not ideal for producing very fine material.
Conclusion
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these crushers can be a game-changer for your operations. You can tailor your choice of machinery to your industry’s needs, balancing factors like cost, capacity, output quality, and maintenance requirements. This way, you can optimize your workflow and solve certain challenges.
