Machine Elements

One of the government's environmental objectives is to reduce the use of natural gravel in Sweden, because natural gravel is a scarce resource which is not renewable. Concrete production must therefore stop using natural gravel and instead use ballast of crushed rock. CRPR is active in this field and will provide industrially and scientifically sound process solutions which will accelerate the achievement of the objectives.

Modeling and simulation of crushing processes

The research groups include both senior researchers and PhD students.

The research projects comprise:

• Modeling and improvement of crushers and screens
  Mapping the rock material’s fragmentation characteristic is of central importance for the modeling of crusher machines. Depending on the machine's “verkningssätt”, different decomposition methods are utilized. The crushing process’ yield and quality of different products are a combination of the rock material’s decompositional behavior and the equipment.
  
  
• Dynamic modelling and simulation of crushing processes
  
  
• Optimization of equipment design and process performance
  A new method, which includes both technical and financial aspects, has been developed for optimization of crushing facilities. Simultaneous optimization of machines’ parameters and wear tolerances is made possible. The economic model is comprehensive and includes fixed and variable costs, downtime costs, energy consumption and revenues. The optimization also takes product quality into account.
  
  
• Quality of aggregates and wear of manganese crushing chambers
  
  
• LCA and LCCA of crushing and screening processes
  Fundamental and detailed understanding of the functions of crushing machines and screens is a condition for continuous product development. Customer value is in focus, which means that the machines’ performance need to be improved constantly. An important area of concern for crushing machines is the wear of manganese steel mantles. When the mantles are worn, the crushing machine’s performance is changed over time. Models and simulation tools have been developed in order to predict the wear.
  
  
• Process monitoring and operator training
  

International Cooperation

CRPR is one of the six parties which make up the Global Comminution Collaborative (GCC).

Through collaboration with a foreign university, together we have been able to simulate the effect of a new technology for the embrittlement of rock and ores using high-intensity microwaves. The total energy saving is substantial for the global mining industry.