Location: Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd – Mumbai, India
Product: PAS-230 Acoustic Cleaners
Principle: Primasonics International Limited (UK)

Problem: Separator fan cleaning, Separator fan dust build up

Gujarat Ambuja Cements (GACL) approached Primasonics for a separator fan cleaning solution in their cement mill No. 1. The separator fan is located after the dynamic separation system, which consists of 3 Nos. of cyclones. The fan used was heavily loaded with dust, which was not separated in the cyclones.

Due to the deposition, the vibration level of the fan used to increase rapidly from 3 mm/sec. to 9 mm/sec. and then reached the peak level of 11 mm/sec., at which the fan used to trip automatically. GACL had to stop the ball mill, open the fan and clean it. The total procedure of this separator fan cleaning solution used to take about 1-2 days, stopping the complete production.

Primasonics local agent Abhijit Bakshi attended GACL's Veraval plant to study the separator fan cleaning problem in detail and in addition to a dimensional drawing, obtained the following technical date:

• Type of material: Raw meal dust
• Temperature of material: 300 Deg. C
• Temperature of air: 300 Deg. C
• Moisture content of material: 5%
• Moisture content of air: 5%
• Fan RPM: 1000
• Air velocity: 12 m/sec.

The Solution

After studying dimensional drawings and material specifications, Primasonics recommended the installation of a Model PAS-230 Acoustic Cleaner to combat separator fan dust build up by mounting it on the side of the fan casing.

The Result

Primasonics supplied one unit of Acoustic Cleaner directly to GACL's Veraval plant, and all the accessories like solenoid valve, timer, pipes, hose and mounting tube & flange etc. The separator fan dust build up was cleaned thoroughly before operating the Acoustic Cleaner.

The acoustic cleaner was sounded for a few seconds at periodic intervals. The initial reading of vibration level was 2.5 mm/sec., which increased to 4.5 mm/sec. at 720 rpm. and 5.1 mm/sec. at 742 rpm. The Acoustic Cleaner continued in operation, preventing any separator fan dust build up, and reading of vibration level was stable from 5.0 to 6.0 mm/sec. at full speed of 742 rpm.