You have just erected a crushing plant and it is operating to your satisfaction. That’s great! So, your prime responsibility now is to keep the crushing plant in good operating condition. How can that be done? Read on.
Service experts at Propel Industries vouch for regular periodic inspections to keep your crushing plant in good condition.
- The three main steps recommended are (BOX ITEM)
- The crushing plant must to be inspected regularly
- Adjustments are to be made according to the manufacturer’s standards
- Consumables and wear parts should be replaced as per Propel’s specifications.
What determines the frequency of inspection?
- The type of material used
- The climate of the place where the crushing plant has been commissioned
- The operating conditions
Cleanliness matters
The crushing plant has to be well painted and kept clean.
Propel experts strongly believe that a clean machine as a rule receives better care, is well maintained and more importantly, will not deteriorate as quickly when compared to one which is neglected and abused.
The team
It is imperative for the maintenance team to understand the maintenance requirements of the crushing plant. If the team is adhering to the inspection schedule, then the plant will experience increased profit margins.
- Only reliable and qualified technicians or engineers are to take up the maintenance and repair activities of the crushing plant
- The technician/engineer must adhere to all the starting, stopping and maintenance procedures as per the instruction manual before getting hands on at the work
- The technician/engineer must ensure that the immediate area is safe and secure.
The three types
You certainly want to keep your crushing plant in good operating condition for a long period and the best thing to do is to have a preventive maintenance programme in place.
A well thought of preventive maintenance programme will include
- Scheduled checks/inspections
- Service done at regular time intervals as recommended by the manufacturer
Preventive maintenance is usually done on a daily (8 hours), weekly (40 hours), monthly (200 hours), yearly (2,000 hours), and on liner change schedule. Consumables such as oil/filter have to be replaced as per the schedule.
After the inspection is done, adjustments are to be made and the worn-out parts should be replaced.
Preventive maintenance is vital to increase the life span of the crushing plant( BOX ITEM)
Next important type of maintenance is monitoring the condition of the crushing plant while it is in operation. This is termed as predictive maintenance.
What are the tools to achieve predictive maintenance?
- Lubricating oil - temperature sensors or gauges, tank return screen, filter condition indicator
- Crusher coast downtime
- No-load head spin
- Crusher drive motor power draw readings
- Vibration sensor readings
- Completed daily operator crusher log sheets
These tools can help you understand the crushing plant’s normal operating condition. Once this has been figured out, you can find out when things get abnormal, quite easily. Even if a repair is scheduled based on an abnormal operating condition, it will certainly be easy on the pocket.
There is another type called reactive maintenance where the rules of the other two maintenance types are flouted. The crushing plant is allowed to operate and no action is taken to correct an abnormal condition, until it experiences failure. This is not good as it may cause massive repair costs, disruptions in production and failure.
Industry experts would tell you that the rock crusher will experience poor on-line availability, high operating costs, short life span and will in turn lead to idle manpower and idle connected equipment such as excavator, dumpers etc, if preventive and predictive maintenance is ignored.
Maximize the performance of your crushing plant by implementing an effective preventive and predictive maintenance programme.
