Modern tube mill design and its influence on maintenance requirements

Sizes of grinding mills can be expected to continue to grow in the near future. Besides the lower specific investment cost, reduced operating and maintenance requirements are a major reason for this trend, since the commercial success of a cement plant greatly depends on availability, maintainability, and the labor costs. This means that, besides increasing mill sizes and technical progress, higher availability, ease, and reduction of maintenance are major goals for further developments in grinding mill design. The main features affecting operation, maintenance, and availability that are influenced by the grinding mill vendor are the accessibility to the mill interior, the bearings, and the drive train. The author discusses modern tube mill design features, taking into account new technical developments in regard to bearing and drive train design