Factory Engineering

A SELF-SETTING MILL - A SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE

INNOVATION
M y d u r A n a n d * , B. S. G u r u m u r t h y * * , Gunasekaran* *
"Consultant, Bangalore, India
**Ponni Sugars, E r o d e , India

ABSTRACT
M. Anand conceived the idea in 1982 of operating the conventional
3-roller mill without the pinion on the discharge roller, which would rotate
only in response to frictional forces. This has now been adopted as regular
milling technique in at least 10 factories in South India. Without the pinion
on discharge roller, the mill developes self-setting characteristics, with
immediate results in better and more uniform mill performance. The new
technique opens up immense possibilities of improved mill design such
as larger discharge rollers and narrower trash plates. Results of trials on
the four mills of the 12-roller milling tandem at Ponni Sugars, India, are
tabulated and discussed. Results from Thanjavur factory are also included.

INTRODUCTION
Milling is the most important operation in a cane sugar factory. Milling efficiency
and capacity depend upon several factors such as size of rollers, length of tandem,
the horse power of the mill drives, extent of cane preparation, hydraulic loading
on top rollers, grooving of rollers, extent and efficiency of imbibition, etc. For a
given mill, the operation efficiency depends largely on the uniformity of cane feeding
(fibre loading) and particularly on the effectiveness of mill setting.

THE NEW SYSTEM

Mill setting
In any mill, setting is the most important factor in the hands of the mill engineer
to improve the mill performance, be it higher capacity or higher efficiency. Many
formulae are in use, all depending mainly on fibre loading and calculation of the
escribed volume to be generated at the discharge opening under a given set of milling
' parameters. After calculating the discharge opening, the feed opening is set at a
certain work ratio. This may vary from 2.5 to 1.75 depending upon the formula
adopted and the experience of the mill engineer. It is common experience that the
correct calculated mill settings remain in the notes of the engineer and the actual
settings differ widely. Then again the settings are often disturbed by unexpected
loads or unequal wear and tear of mechanical parts.

Keywords: Self-setting mill, innovation

798 FACTORY ENGINEERING

Self-setting mills
In spite of utmost care in calculating and adjusting mill openings, the mill per-
formance depends largely on the uniformity of the fibre loading. Many control
systems have been devised but even minor variations disturb the mill settings, parti-
cularly because in the conventional mill, the lift of the top roller alters the ratio
of the feed and discharge openings, "varying almost every minute" (Hugotl).
To offset such disadvantages, it has been the constant effort of designers to
evolve a design in which the escribed volume at the discharge roller is proportional
to the fibre loading. This is a stiff demand on mill designers and so far, no mill
design has proved satisfactory. ~ h e L e a r e s tto succeed, though far away from the
ideal, is perhaps the model marketed by Fives-Lille Cail (FLC) of France.
FLC mill - F.63
The FLC-F63 mill has become quite popular. Though the manufacturers claim
this to be a "self-setting mill", Hugot2 describes it correctly as a "constant ratio
mill". By an ingenious design of holding the top roller in a cap, it pivots about
an axis situated on the delivery side of the mill and so located as to enable the dis-
charge opening to open or close to the extent of 50% of the feed opening at any
movement. This is an important development, though, in the opinion of the authors,
the maintenance of constant ratio is not equivalent to generation of the required
escribed volume at the discharge opening according to the fibre loading at any given
moment. Thus, the FLC mill F63 does not entirely satisfy the requirement of a self-
setting mill. Model F-63 has indeed other ingenious innovations such as the hydraulic
plungers on each of the housings at the end of pivoted top caps which greatly improve
the uniform application of hydraulic pressures and hence the performance of this
mill. Its success should not blind one to the understanding of and the claims of
the self-setting characteristics. Again F-63 suffers from the many weaknesses inherent
in a conventional 3-roller mill such as, limitations on the diameter of discharge roll,
mill angle, drive through the floating top roller, a larger trash plate etc. These can
be avoided and improved upon in the future mill design to be described hereafter.
Free rotating discharge roller
In his search for a mill in which the escribed volume varied proportionally to
the variations even in momentary fibre loading, the senior author was visualising
a discharge roller of which the speed could be varied independently regardless of
the speed of the top or feed rollers. The simple idea of doing away with the pinion
on the discharge roller and allowing it to be rotated by frictional forces was the
natural development of this thought process (Figure 1).
This idea was first tested at the beginning of 1983 and has since been adopted
in several factories. Appendix 1 gives the list of factories which have adopted this
during 1984-85, either on a few mills or all mills of the tandem.
The new technique involves the simple step of removing the pinion from the
discharge roller of a 3-roller mill. The only precaution to be taken is to arrange
for the drive of the mechanical lubricator to come from the feed or top roller. In
this arrangement, the discharge roller rotates only if the cane mat is passing through,
as, in its absence, there is no friction and the discharge roller comes to a stop.
MYDUR ANAND, B.S. GURUMURTHY AND GUNASEKARAN 799

In most mills, no adjustments have been needed to make the change but in
a few installations, the cane mat would not flow freely, causing some vibrations.
Suspension of hydraulic load for a short time and slight increase in the discharge
opening solved the problem.
I

I I

FIGURE 1. MILL WITHOUT PINION ON DISCHARGE ROLLER

Factories at which the new technique has been adopted

Arignar Anna Sugar Mills All the mills

Jawaharlal Nehru Sugar Mills d0
Ulundurpet Co-op Sugar Mills do
Dharmapuri Co-op Sugar Mills do
New Horizon Sugar Mills d0
Ponni Sugars & Chemicals Ltd do
Ambur Co-op Sugar Mills First & Last Mills only
VelloreCo-op Sugar Mills do
800 FACTORY ENGINEERING

As the movement depends on friction, the speed of rotation of the discharge

I
roller varies according to the feed. As the friction load varies the speed also varies
and the common experience is that the rate of rotation of the discharge roller ranges
between 60% and 90% of that of the top roller, the figure being higher when the
feed is heavier. At any time, the speed of the delivery roller is less than the speed
of the top-roller. The speed adjusts itself and the expectation is that it adjusts itself
to provide the correct escribed volume for the occasion.
This in essence, is the "real" and "simple" self-setting mill; real because it
provides the critical escribed volume that adjusts itself to even momentary variations
in fibre loading. It does not bother about ratios which are less important; simple
because every conventional mill, irrespective of make or model, can be easily convert-
ed to self-setting operation by the removal of the delivery roll pinion; self-setting
because the opening can adjust itself to variations in fibre-loading. Even the initial
setting is not critical and can be set after practical observation. It ensures optimum
milling performance under even very poor and irregular feeding conditions. No thin
blanket of wet bagasse can escape the mill.
Observations
Amongst the mills which have adopted this technique, the general observations
have been that normal rates of crushing were easily maintained and exceeded where
tried; that a11 that was required to increase crushing rate was to increase the mill
speed; and that mills operated with no chokes whatsoever. Heavier imbibition may
be applied; some mills have adopted 300% or more of water on fibre and the absence
of choking and roller slippage has helped the use of hot water, up to 80 OC, with
obvious advantages.
The emerging bagasse blanket was uniform; well compressed and uniformly
dry even with varying rates of cane feeding. The bagasse was found to burn more
easily in the boilers. The pol in bagasse, under identical rates of milling, was found
to be less by about 0.5 and the moisture less by 1-2%. The variations, from sample
to sample, narrowed down considerably. No forward slip (re-absorption) or spurting
of juice through discharge opening was observed, even in the final mills of a tandem.
Trials and results
Ponni Sugars factory started its first regular season late in 1984. During the
early part of the season cane supply was irregular and it was considered desirable
to stabilise the operations of the factory by adopting conventional techniques. This
continued until March 1985. Attempts at the new technique of running mills without
pinions on discharge rollers were initiated during April 1985. This caused no
problems and there were visible indications of improved performance, which have
been corroborated largely by the factory control figures.
For trial periods, pinions were restored on one or two of the mills and the results
have been tabulated for the different periods. Table I shows figures for normal
milling in the last days of March; Table I1 deals with the first 10 days of April with
no discharge roller pinions and Table I11 deals with later resultk for a train partly
without pinions.
Crushing capacity - The mill was rated to crush at 55 TCH. During March
and April the cane supply was less than the rated capacity but in May the cane supply
MYDUR ANAND, B.S. GURUMURTHY AND GUNASEKARAN 80 1

TABLE I. Conventional milling with delivery roller pinions

Cane Pol % Fibre OO/ I m b i b i t i o n O/O Pol % bagasse

Day
Mar 85 tlh - cane cane fibre Max Min Ave
20 13.98 349
21 13.84 352
22 13.95 389
23 13.69 341
24 13.60 346
25 13.94 344
26 13.60 358
27 13.76 313
28 14.00 316
29 13.83 313
30 13.86 326
31 14.04 295
Average 2.29
-
RESULTS OBTAINED AT PONNl SUGARS: INDIA
ROLLER SIZE: 750 x 1500 (30 x 60); 12 ROLLER TANDEM
--

TABLE II. Same tandem as in Table I but without delivery roller pinions

Day Cane Pol % Fibre % I m b i b i t i o n % Pol % bagasse

tlh cane cane fibre
Max Min Ave
- - -

Average 2.28
-

improved and in spite of higher fibre % cane, the mill easily handled 72 TCH. The
mill train could handle higher rates but the boiling house capacity was limited to
around 60 TCH. On several days, the mill crushed over 1800 tons against a rated
capacity of 1250 tons.
 802 FACTORY ENGINEERING

TABLE Ill. Same tandem as i n Table I with various pinion arrangements

Part A. Mills 3 and 4 without discharge pinions

Day Cane Pol % Fibre % Imbibition % Pol % bagasse

Apr 85 tlh cane cane fibre Max Min Ave

Average
May 85
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Average

Part 6. Mills1,3 and 4 without pinions

I Day Cane Pol % Fibre % Imbibition OO
/ Pol % bagasse
1 June 85 tlh cane cane fibre Max Min Ave

11 64 10.22 14.46 296 2.2 2.0 2.08

12 65 10.13 14.65 280 2.1 2.0 2.02
13 62 10.33 14.30 314 2.1 2.0 2.05
 MYDUR ANAND, B.S. GURUMURTHY AND GUNASEKARAN 803

Mill efficiency - Table I11 indicates that at full rate the mill performance
improved considerably, recording the lowest values for pol 70bagasse. During other
periods also, pol loss was less than that in conventional milling, though the difference
was very slight.
Uniformity - Irrespective of rates of crushing, the performance was more
uniform when the pinions were removed. This can be observed from Tables 1 and
I1 which indicate that pol in bagasse showed less range between maximum and
minimum values on any day.
Imbibition - The most impressive performance is related to imbibition. During
May and June as cane supply improved, it was considered wise to reduce the load
on the evaporators by reducing imbibition. During March and April, imbibition
averaged over 325% on fibre with the pol in bagasse at around.2.29 (Table I). The
crushing rate then was about 1250 TCD. During May and June the crushing rate
rose to 1450 TCD and imbibition was reduced to 250% to 275% fibre. Even so,
the pol loss in bagasse fell to around 2.06 (Table 111). Thus, even with reduced water,
the mill extraction was maintained.
Load on mill drives - No quantitative results can be presented, but the chest
pressure of the turbines was steadily lower than during conventional milling, even
when higher rates of crushing were reached. In another mill, steam flow meters
have indicated a reduction in steam demand by about 15%.

I
TABLE IV. Performance of Thanjavur tandem without pinions on discharge
rollers of mills 2,3 and 4

Particulars 16 3 85 18 3 85 20 3 85 22 3 85 24 3 85 26 3 85
- - - - - -

Cane Crushed in MT 1533

Pol % Bagasse 1.70
Moisture % Bagasse 49.00
Imbibition % Fibre 281.77
Fibre O/O Cane 15.21
Reduced Mill
extraction 96.42
Undiluted Juice loss
in Bagasse % Fibre 29.45
Pol % cane 11.85
Recovery O/O Cane 10.33
Pol Loss'in
Bagasse O/O cane 0.53
Total losses 1.54

Another trial - At another sugar mill (Thanjavur), Ramalingam4 has reported

even more impressive results with pinionless drive on three of the four mills in the
tandem. The data are presented in Table IV. Ramalingam claims better shredding
of cane pieces due to unequal peripheral speeds of top and discharge rollers and
describes this technique as 'a great break-through in milling technology, specially
804 FACTORY ENGINEERING

for small tandems without intensive cane preparatory devices'. He has claimed
I
reduced power consumption and higher boiler efficiency due to drier bagasse. ,
Ramalingam experienced a reduction in pol % bagasse from 2.29 to around 1.76 rn
and a drop of over 1% in moisture qo bagasse.
Even though the records d o not indicate a substantial improvement, smooth
working and marginally improved results have already been experienced. The new
technique will be adopted from the beginning of the next season on all four mills
at Thanjavur.
The future
The success achieved in operating discharge rollers without pinions holds the
promise of vast developments in the design and construction of future mills. The
areas where revolutionary changes could be foreseen are as follows:
The mill housing can be so designed as to take a discharge roller with a diameter
of about 1.5 times the nominal diameter of the top and feed rollers. In the present
mills, the mounting of the pinion limits the diameter. Also, a delivery roller can
be used after it wears much more than at present. In effect, the mill angle, now
limited to about 70°, can be further reduced. Even in most conventional mills room
will be found to increase the shell diameter by 50 mm to 100 mm because the
limitation due to pinion is eliminated.
With a large diameter of discharge roller, the width of the trash plate can be
reduced to a fraction of its present dimensions; it should be possible to introduce
a small diameter rotating roller (idler) to serve in place of trash plate. The consi-
derable horsepower, presently being wasted in moving the cane blanket over the
stationary trash plate at the high pressures involved - about 20% of the power -
can be almost totally avoided. Also, the wear and tear of trash plates and the compli-
cations due to wrong setting can be minimised.
As the transmission of power to the discharge roller is no longer required, it
will not be necessary to drive the mill through the top roller; the drive can be given
to the feed roller. This makes for great convenience by eliminating the need for
the cumbersome system of muff couplings and long tail bars.
The drive to a fixed feed roller could be of a precision type. The gear system
on the prime mover side could be brought down to a lower level and moved closer
to the mills. This would save a lot of foundations and provide better stability to
the whole system.
The application of hydraulic load loses its impact, though it should be retained
with advantage. The initial mill setting is not critical for efficient milling; hence
with one setting, milling rates and efficiencies can be varied over a wider range.
The slower speed of the discharge roller relative to the speed of top and feed rollers
could result in a better combination of advantages of both high speed milling
(capacity) and low speed milling (better drainage at discharge roller).

CONCLUSION
Milling with free rotating discharge rollers has already proved its practicability
and utility. It has great potential for evolving improved designs in mill construction as
well as in mill operation.
MYDUR ANAND, B.S. GURUMURTHY AND GUNASEKARAN 805
Thanks are due to the managements and technical personnel of the various
factories which have tested and adopted the new technique; in particular, the
Management of Ponni Sugars.

REFERENCES
Hugot, Handbook cane engineering. Elsevier, 1972. p. 265.
Hugot, Handbook cane engineering. Elsevier, 1972. p. 266.
3. Anand, M. et al. Self-setting mill: a new discovery. The South India Sugar Technologists
Association 1983.
4. Ramalingam, M. SISSTA 1985. Methods of improving mill extraction.