#WarrenYard_cement #cement Cement Works - 6 - Rotary Kiln Central to the cement works is the rotary kiln (structure 17 on site map) which turns at a nominal 2rpm and heats the mix of limestone, silica sand and in real life other additives, to form a clinker. The left hand building (15) performs pre-heating of the mix and cleans the exhaust gases prior to release in the flue (chimney)(16). The flue is not shown in place at this time. The mix enters at the high end and is gradually heated by the flame fuelled in this case by pulverised coal at the lower end. The resulting clinker is cooled and the initial raw grind to size of the clinker is performed (18). This will be passed to the clinker storage warehouse (20). The kiln barrel (17) has been spray painted in a characteristically rusty state, with a darker state at the burner end and shiny supporting tyres. Motorising of the rotary kiln uses a combined motor and gearbox assembly from that well known auction site. It is coupled to the kiln cylinder by a reinforced rubber sleeve arrangement. One end is a push fit on the motor shaft and the other end is sleeved down in diameter and reinforced internally with a short pointed piece of toothpick. This enters a hole centrally cut in the end of the kiln barrel. Power for the motor comes from an old Nokia phone charger via a dropper resistor to set the kiln rotation speed. I did not use the Walther motorising kit because it is very expensive and I suspect runs fast with a noisy gearbox, however that may not be the case. Anyway, this approach was a lot cheaper and runs quietly. The next stage is the pre-mix building (11) and silica sand silos (12) which will stand between the crushed limestone warehouse (10) and the pre-heat building (15), these are currently wip. Jim.

Posted by Jim Franklin at 2021-04-28 20:51:06 UTC