This article was written by one of our client's operators, which mainly introduce how to operate the asphalt plant as the operator’s view. Many thanks for his generous sharing.
I am an operator of asphalt mixing plants, and the asphalt machines are purchased from a Chinese professional asphalt plant manufacturer. Our company had purchased 3 sets of different models and capacity from this same company - SINOSUN machinery.
Before training by this asphalt plant supplier, I am a fresh man, after many times teaching and training by their technicians, now I am very familiar with their plants. They taught me many knowledge about the equipment. They have different series of asphalt plants,such as batch mix asphalt plant(with twin shaft asphalt batch mixer), drum mix asphalt plant , continuous mix(with asphalt continuous mixer)asphalt mixing plant. Our company chosen different models according to the road construction engineering real demand. And the follow will be some ideas about “How To Operate An Asphalt Mixing Plant From China?”.
I will take the batch mix type asphalt plant as an example.
To operate the Chinese asphalt plant easily, firstly we need to know and understand the general structure of the plant and function of its each main parts.
Normally, for an complete asphalt mixing plant, it includes the below main parts:
A. Cold aggregate feeding system: it includes cold feeding bins, aggregate feeder, and belt conveyors, and no materials alarm device. It is for loading, storage and feeding the cold aggregates.
B. Drum dryer and burner assembly: this parts used for heating the cold aggregates, the burner temperature control is very important.
C. Dust collecting system: for collecting the dust from the drum dryer and the mixing tower, and to protect the environment. They have cyclone dust collector and bag house dust collector(or filter)
D. Hot elevator: it’s used for elevating the the aggregate which are heated by the burner.
E. Mixing tower assembly: it includes the vibration screen and hot stone storage and weighing hopper, asphalt mixer. It’s the key parts of the asphalt plant. The different materials will be weighted and mixed here and finished products also will be discharged from the bottom of the mixing tower.
F. Bitumen storage and heating system: it usually includes the asphalt tanks, burner, also thermal oil heating system , asphalt pump,and pipes and valves. This system is used for heating and storage the bitumen, bitumen will be pumped to the mixing tower when make product.
G. Mineral powder(filler) storage and weighing system: it have the filler silo, filler screw conveyor and elevator, and the weighing system. It provide the filler to the mixer when the project need to use the mineral powder. Some projects maybe no need to use this system, some will use the filler if their road project have a high standard. So this system is for optional.
H. Control system, compressed air system, fuel oil tank: all the asphalt plant control operation will be in the control room. And the compressed air will be used for the burner and the dust collecting system and the all the cylinders, and valves. The oil tank will provide the fuel for the main burner of the drum dryer.
After you read the above general introduction of the structure and parts function of the asphalt plant, next will be how to operate it.
The work principle of the asphalt plant is heated and mixed the different materials with designed proportion according to the projects demand, after it arrived certain temperature then discharged to the truck, and finally will be paved on the road.
When operating this plant, we must obey the safety requirements told by the asphalt plant engineer and take care of the local regulations on safety.
The operator of the mixing plant should be responsible for the maintenance work and make sure the asphalt plant is running in full load and in good condition, any component that cannot guarantee the safe working of plant must be replaced.
Before starting to run the plant, the followings should be checked firstly:
-check materials in cold aggregate bins and storage yard
-check fuel oil enough or not
-check the blowpipe with air pressure or not, and cylinders and valves can action or not.
-the temperature of asphalt and thermal oil is ok or not( make sure the asphalt pump can run, normally the temperature of the asphalt at least 110 degree or above).
-load vehicle is in the place for loading
-check if the mixing formula is correct
After the above checking, the I will turn on the operation penal, press the bell for alarming to start the plant, and labors should be far away the motors and the running parts.
Firstly, I will test the asphalt circulation pump can run or not, it it can run smoothly, then I can go to next step, to press the buttons of these parts one by one: Air Compressor - Draught Fan - Mixer - Vibration Screen - Hot Elevator(If you use the filler, you should also start the filler discharge screw - filler weighing screw) - Drum Dryer - Burner - Inclined Belt Conveyor - Cold Feeding Bins(Cold Feeders)-Primary Screw Conveyor - Dust Discharge Conveyor-Bag House Screw Conveyor. Especially notes, when you press each big motor, please waiting for some seconds until the motor current is low down and balance.
Now the asphalt plant is started, we will make products according to the mix design( the mix proportion formula), in the beginning, some batches of products we will operate by manual, after the finished products temperature is stable, then we can turn to auto operation.
When you want to finish the day’s work, firstly, you should stop the cold aggregate feeding, after minutes, then you can stop the burner of the drum dryer, then continue to run the drum dryer and the mixing tower and other parts, until there is no material is left in the asphalt mixer and vibration screen and storage hopper, then you can stop the drum dryer, primary dust conveyor, hot elevator, vibration screen, then the mixer, and the bag house dust collector(the draught fan, the bag house dust conveyor, and dust discharge conveyor)., stop the bitumen system, air compressor.
After finished the above steps, as an operator, I will arrange the labors to do some maintenance work and clean the asphalt plant site.
That’s all the steps and contents about operating the asphalt plant. If you have any questions, please feel free to consult SINOSUN Machinery and let us to explore the field of road construction machinery together.
