INTAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR A ROLLER MILL, ROLLER MILL HAVING SUCH AN INTAKE ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE GROUND MATERIAL FILL LEVEL OF A STORAGE CONTAINER OF A ROLLER MILL

Abstract

An intake arrangement (1) for a roller mill which includes a storage container (2), a force transducer (6) arranged on the storage container (2), a level sensor (7) arranged on the storage container (2) for determining when a ground material level (B) is reached in the storage container (2), and a control unit (8). The control unit (8) is designed to determine a first fill level (A) of the storage container (2), from a weight force (EG) determined by the force transducer (6), and to determine a characteristic fill level curve (K), based on the determined first fill level (A) and the fill level (B) determined by the level sensor (7).

Claims

1-13. (canceled)

14. An inlet arrangement for a roller mill comprising: a storage container with at least one milling material inlet (3) and at least one milling material outlet, at least one metering device arranged in the storage container for metering a milling material into a milling gap of the roller mill through the milling material outlet, a force transducer arranged on the storage container for determining a weight force exerted by the milling material, and a control unit which is connected or connectable to the force transducer, wherein the inlet arrangement further comprises: a level sensor arranged on the storage container for determining when a milling material level is reached in the storage container, the control unit is connected or connectable to the level sensor, the control unit is designed to determine a first fill level of the storage container from the weight force determined by the force transducer, and the control unit is further designed to determine a characteristic fill level curve based on the determined first fill level and the milling material level determined by the level sensor.

15. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the characteristic fill level curve is determined when the milling material level is reached.

16. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the control unit is further designed to determine, after the determination of the characteristic fill level curve, a second fill level based on a determined weight force and the characteristic fill level curve.

17. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein a vertical distance between the force transducer and the level sensor is between 7.87 and 31.50 inches (20 and 80 cm).

18. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the level sensor is a capacitive sensor.

19. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the characteristic fill level curve is determined by one of interpolation and extrapolation.

20. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the level sensor is arranged in the storage container.

21. The inlet arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the force transducer is arranged in the storage container.

22. The inlet arrangement according to claim 21, wherein the force transducer is arranged in a lower region of the storage container.

23. A control unit for an inlet arrangement with a storage container of a roller mill according to claim 14, wherein the control unit is connected or can be connected to the force transducer, arranged on the storage container, for determining the weight force exerted by the milling material, and to the level sensor, arranged on the storage container, for determining when the milling material level is reached in the storage container, wherein the control unit is further designed to determine the first fill level of the storage container from the weight force determined by the force transducer and to determine the characteristic fill level curve based on the determined first fill level and the milling material level determined by the level sensor.

24. A roller mill comprising at least two rollers defining a gap, wherein the roller mill further comprises an inlet arrangement according to claim 14.

25. A method for determining a level of a milling material in a storage container for the milling material of a roller mill, the storage container comprising at least one milling material inlet, at least one milling material outlet and at least one metering device for metering the milling material into a milling gap of the roller mill through the milling material outlet, the method comprising the following steps: determining a weight force exerted by the milling material with a force transducer arranged in the storage container, determining a first fill level of the storage container from the weight force determined by the force transducer, determining attainment of a milling material level in the storage container with a level sensor arranged in the storage container, and determining a characteristic fill level curve based on the determined first fill level and the milling material level determined by the level sensor.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the characteristic fill level curve is determined by one of interpolation and extrapolation.

Description

[0059] The invention is better described below with reference to a preferred embodiment in conjunction with the figures. It is shown:

[0060] FIG. 1a a schematic sectional view of the inlet arrangement according to the invention; and

[0061] FIG. 2a schematic representation of a characteristic fill level curve.

[0062] FIG. 1 schematically shows an inlet arrangement 1. The inlet arrangement 1 comprises a storage container 2 with a milling material inlet 3 and a milling material outlet 4. A metering device 5 is also arranged at the milling material outlet 4, which is designed as a throttle valve. A gap width of the milling material outlet 4 can be changed by swiveling the throttle valve. A force transducer 6 is arranged on the storage container 2, which comprises an extension arm 9 that projects into the storage container 2 and can be designed, for example, as a bending beam.

[0063] When filling the storage container 2 with milling material, a cone of milling material is formed, which is shown schematically by the dotted line. As soon as the cone of milling material has reached the extension arm 9, the latter is loaded with a weight force FG. The control unit 8, which is connected to the force transducer 6 (shown schematically by the dotted line 10), thus detects that a first fill level A has been reached in the storage container.

[0064] When the storage container 2 is filled further, the cone of milling material and thus the fill level in the storage container increases. The increase in the fill level in the storage container 2 is detected by the control unit 8 by an increase in the weight force F determined by the force transducer 6. The control unit 8 can thus carry out a preliminary fill level determination using a preliminary characteristic fill level curve K2, which is shown dashed in FIG. 2.

[0065] When the cone of milling material has reached the level sensor 7, a signal is transmitted to the control unit 8 via the connection 11 (also shown schematically by the dashed line), which signals that a fill level corresponding to a milling material level B has been reached. The control unit 8 can thus use the first fill level A and the milling material level B to determine a characteristic fill level curve K, which is shown schematically in FIG. 2.

[0066] The fill level curve K (and analogously the preliminary fill level curve K2) correlates a measured weight force F (x-axis) to a fill level FS (y-axis). It can be seen from FIG. 2 that the fill level curve K can be used by the control unit 8 to determine a fill level FS of the storage container 2 for each weight force F determined by the force transducer 6, which fill level FS is more accurate than a fill level which can only be determined with the aid of the provisional fill level curve K2, because the fill level curve K has been calibrated by using the fill level B. Manual adjustment of the actual measured level with the actual fill level of the storage container 2 can thus be omitted.