Numerical analysis of grinding power consumption of a vertical planetary mill

Planetary wheel rolling on a coal-bed was simplified as rigid wheel rolling on the coal-bed with a rigid base when a Vertical planetary mill (VPM) is running. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the Bekker formulation for computing rolling resistance is not applicable to calculate directly the rolling resistance of the wheel. According to the principle of the Bekker apparatus, pressure-sinkage curves were obtained by tests on a piece of mono-axial consolidation apparatus used in soil-mechanics. The deformation modulus of the coal-bed was calculated using elastic mechanics. A finite element model of the planetary wheel coal-bed was built up by the use of a rigid and a Drucker-Prager material model in LS-DYNA. According to the simulation results, the wheel rolling resistance, the grinding power consumption and the motor power of the mill were calculated and the mistake in the initial design of the mill was modified. The simulation results agree well with the results of the semi-industrial tests.