Abstract
Due to the inadequate pre-dispersion and high dust concentration in the grading zone of the turbo air classifier, a new rotor-type dynamic classifier with air and material entering from the bottom was designed. The effect of the rotor cage structure and diversion cone size on the flow field and classification performance of the laboratory-scale classifier was comparatively analyzed by numerical simulation using ANSYS-Fluent. The grinding process performance with an industrial classifier was also tested on-site. The results revealed that an inverted cone-type rotor cage is more suitable for the under-feed classifier. When the rotor cage’s top-surface diameter to bottom-surface diameter ratio was too large or too small, the radial velocity and tangential velocity at the outer surface of the rotor cage greatly fluctuated. Furthermore, the diameter of the diversion cone also affected the axial velocity and radial velocity of the flow field. Models T-C(1-0.8) and T-D(1-0.7) were determined as the best rotor cage structures. Under stable operating conditions, the classification efficiency of the industrial classifier was 87% and the sharpness of separation was 0.58, which meet the industrial requirements for classification efficiency and energy consumption. This present study provides theoretical guidance and engineering application value for air classifiers.