Many of the elements that are mined are obtained as chunks or as large pieces which are not suitable for use in the industries they are meant for. These include natural elements like limestone, dolomite, gypsum and others. To make them suitable for use in the industry for the extraction of their component elements, the chunks of large pieces have to ground into fine powder. These powders are then are fed into various processes which extract the components in their purest form. The extracted components are then used in the manufacture of various kinds of products.
The conversion of chunks of mined material into fine powder requires a grinding mill which is a special type of machinery that is built by companies who are experts in the field of making this machinery. The companies do a lot of research to come up with the correct designs to make this machinery. The companies also interact with other firms and the industries to get feedback on the operation of the machinery so that the design could be made better. They use the most modern equipment and test tools in the manufacture of each component of the plant machinery. They employ a team of experts in the field of R&D and production.
One type of these grinding mills is known as the Raymond mill which designed in such a way that it is more efficient than other mills used for grinding. It is less costly that a mill using balls for grinding the material into a powder. It has rollers which do the grinding job by putting pressure on the grinding rings under centrifugal force. The rollers and the grinding rings last for a longer time than the parts used in the centrifugal type of mills. It consumes lesser power than other mills and can be built at a lesser cost. It produces less pollution as the powder dust produced is less than that of other mills.
The operation of the grinding mill starts with the lumps of material being deposited in the storage bin by the bucket elevator. The electro vibrator takes the material from the storage bin and dumps it into the grinding chamber. The shovel puts the material between the roller and the grinding ring. The moving roller and the stationary ring break the material into small pieces and then grind it into powder. The ground powder is blown into the analyzer so that it can be classified. The large cyclone collector will separate the powder which qualifies from the unqualified powder. The unqualified powder will be deposited in the grinding chamber for another round of the grinding process.
The pollution level produced by the grinding mill can be kept low because the whole airflow system is closed and moves in cycles of due to the presence of high and low-pressure areas. This allows very little dust to escape into the operational area thus keeping it clean and much fresher than other mills of the same category. The main parts that are more to wear and tear are the roller, the ring, the grinding assembly, the air flue and so on.