Five common problems and solutions of hydrocyclones

Hydrocyclone is a more effective fine particle classification equipment in current mineral processing equipment. In daily production, there are more or less some equipment failures of hydrocyclones. If they cannot be found and solved in time, it is likely to lead to the shutdown of hydrocyclones. So, what are the common failures of hydrocyclones in daily operation? How do we solve these problems when we encounter them? This paper analyzes the causes and countermeasures from five common faults.

1. The ore pressure fluctuates greatly
In the process of production, ore feeding pressure will affect the hydrocyclone capacity and grading granularity. Generally, the ore feeding pressure of the hydrocyclone should be kept stable according to the required pressure, and large fluctuation should not occur, otherwise it will damage the performance of the equipment and affect its classification effect. The large fluctuation of the pressure to the ore is usually caused by the drop of the pump tank level or air drag caused by the pump to the ore shortage, or the blockage of impurities into the pump. If the hydraulic cyclone after a long time of operation occurs to the mine pressure drop is mainly caused by pump wear.

Solutions:

1. If the mine pressure fluctuation is caused by the drop of the pump tank level, it can be adjusted by increasing the level, or closing one or two hydrocyclones, or reducing the pump speed;

2. If the pressure fluctuation caused by pump blockage or wear, the pump needs to be repaired.

2. The hydrocyclone is blocked
The blockage of hydrocyclone can be judged mainly by observing whether the overflow and bottom flow discharge of hydrocyclone are smooth. When there are more coarse particles in the overflow, the flow of the overflow and bottom flow decreases or the bottom flow stops, and the sand is discharged in columnar form, it indicates that the hydrocyclone has been blocked. In addition, if the hydrocyclone has a long time of violent jitter, it also indicates that the hydrocyclone is blocked.

Solutions:

1. If the overflow and bottom flow both decrease, the inlet of the hydrocyclone may be blocked. At this time, the feed valve blocking the hydrocyclone should be closed, removed, and the blockage should be removed;

2. If the bottom flow is reduced or cut off, it is the bottom flow port blocked. At this point, the flange can be removed to remove debris in the bottom port.

3. In order to prevent clogging, facilities (such as chip removal screen) can be set in the feeding pool of the hydrocyclone group to prevent coarse materials and sundry objects. At the same time, the feeding pool should be emptied in time when stopping, so as not to cause clogging due to precipitation and high concentration when starting again.

3. Abnormal bottom flow concentration and discharge
In the process of operation, the operator of the hydrocyclone should observe the discharge state of the bottom flow of the cyclone regularly, and detect the concentration and fineness of the bottom flow regularly. If the concentration of the bottom flow fluctuates or the "bottom flow pinching" occurs, it should be adjusted in time. Under normal working condition, the bottom discharge of hydrocyclone should be in the shape of "umbrella". If the concentration of the bottom flow is too large, the bottom flow is "columnar" or intermittent "block" discharge.

Solutions:

1. The high concentration of bottom flow may be caused by the high concentration of slurry or too small bottom flow outlet. Appropriate amount of water can be added at the feeding place first.

2. If the bottom flow is discharged in an "umbrella shape", but the concentration of the bottom flow is less than the concentration required by production, it may be caused by the low concentration of the feed, and the feed concentration should be increased at this time.

3. "bottom flow clamping" may be caused by bottom port wear, bottom flow diameter is too large, overflow pipe diameter is too small, pressure is too high or too low, it is necessary to adjust the pressure, and then detect whether the bottom port wear or replace a smaller size of the bottom port, gradually debugging to normal production state.

4. Abnormal overflow concentration and fineness
During the operation, the hydrocyclone operator also needs to check the overflow concentration and fineness of the hydrocyclone regularly. The increase of overflow concentration or "overflow running thick" is usually caused by the increase of ore concentration and the blockage of bottom flow port.

Solutions:

1. If "overflow running rough" is found, check whether the bottom port is blocked first, and then check the concentration of ore feed, and then adjust according to the specific situation. If the bottom orifice is blocked, it is necessary to open the bottom orifice to clear the blockage.

2. If the overflow concentration is small and the fineness is fine, the pressure can be reduced or the concentration of ore feed can be adjusted at this time, or the requirements can be met by replacing the small sand nozzle. If the overflow concentration is large and the fineness is coarse, the requirements can be met by increasing the pressure and adjusting the ore concentration, or by replacing the large grit nozzle.

5. The sand nozzle is spray or rope
Under normal circumstances, the hydrocyclone sand settling is discharged in umbrella shape, the sand settling Angle is between 10° and 20°, and the concentration reaches about 75%, which is the ideal working state of the hydrocyclone. If the nozzle is spray, too large spread Angle indicates that the nozzle size is too large. If the nozzle is rope shaped, it may be due to too high concentration of ore feeding, too small size of the nozzle, partial blockage of the nozzle or too low slurry density.

Solutions:

1. When the nozzle is spray, it can be adjusted by replacing the small nozzle.

2. When the nozzle is rope shaped, the size of the nozzle can be appropriately increased to stop the operation of the cyclone to clean up the blockage.

The above are the causes and countermeasures of common failures of hydrocyclones. In order to stable and efficient operation of equipment, in addition to the selection of equipment types in line with the beneficiation process, daily maintenance and maintenance is also particularly important. It is suggested that all mine owners consult professional hydrocyclone manufacturers when purchasing, and comprehensively consider the box selection process and beneficiation equipment, so as to further improve the working efficiency and economic benefits of concentrator.