High efficiency impact mill

1. An apparatus for pulverizing material, the apparatus comprising:

a housing defining an interior wall of a grinding chamber;

an inlet conduit positioned at an axial input end of the grinding chamber and configured to feed the material vertically downward into the grinding chamber;

an outlet conduit positioned at an axial output end of the grinding chamber and configured to direct the pulverized material vertically upward from the grinding chamber;

a shaft axially traversing at least a part of the grinding chamber;

an axial flow path extending between the inlet conduit and the outlet conduit, parallel to the shaft;

hammers extending radially outwardly from the shaft, the hammers being circumferentially spaced and respectively having attachment ends and heads, the hammers being in pivotal relation to the shaft about a pivot pin and are movable on impact with the material; and

annular baffles located axially along the flow path, at least a portion of the annular baffles located above and eclipsing a width of the shaft, each of the annular baffles having an outer circumference and an inner circumference and being attached along the outer circumference to the interior wall of the housing such that the annular baffles are coaxial with the shaft and the inner circumference extends into the grinding chamber adjacent the heads of the hammers, the annular baffles extending continuously along an entirety of the interior wall perpendicular to a direction of flow of air and material parallel to the shaft to promote residence time of the material in proximity to the hammers as air and the material flows through the mill parallel to the shaft, wherein the hammers pivotal relation to the shaft comprises a swinging movement about the pivot pin, in a circumferential direction during operation of the mill;

wherein each of the hammers has a radially outward facing outermost extent and each of the annular baffles has a radially inward facing innermost extent, the radially outermost extent of at least one of the hammers extends radially outward beyond the radially innermost extent of at least one of the annular baffles, by a radial distance; and

comprising a variable speed motor configured to rotate the hammers within the grinding chamber, wherein varying the speed of the motor, in conjunction with the baffles, affects residence time and magnitude of impact grinding force acting on particles of the material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the hammer and an adjacent baffle are configured to provide a shearing action when the hammer passes the adjacent baffle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a number of the annular baffles is at least as many as a number of rows of the hammers, and the hammers and the baffles are interspaced with each other and circumferentially spaced relative to the shaft.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the grinding chamber is cylindrical in a direction of flow of the material.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the annular baffles is welded to the interior wall of the grinding chamber.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the annular baffles and the grinding chamber are formed together during casting.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the annular baffles is mechanically fastened to the interior wall of the grinding chamber.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the annular baffles are constructed in component sections each attached to a corresponding segment of an axial liner that can be fastened to and subsequently removed from the interior wall of the grinding chamber without removing the hammers and the shaft.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the annular baffles are constructed in component sections each attached to a corresponding segment of an axial liner that can be fastened to and subsequently removed from the interior wall of the grinding chamber without removing the hammers and the shaft and in which each of the component sections is integrally cast with the corresponding liner segment using a wear resistant material.

10. A method of retrofitting the apparatus for grinding material, to improve grinding of material, comprising:

providing the impact mill of claim 1 , wherein the annular baffles are installed on a retrofit basis, wherein the retrofitting basis includes the steps of providing the grinding chamber and attaching the annular baffles to the liner.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the annular baffles are constructed in component sections each attached to a corresponding segment of an axial liner that can be fastened to and subsequently removed from the interior wall of the grinding chamber without removing the hammers and the shaft.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the annular baffles are constructed in component sections each attached to a corresponding segment of an axial liner that can be fastened to and subsequently removed from the interior wall of the grinding chamber without removing the hammers and the shaft and in which each component section is integrally cast with the corresponding liner segment using a wear resistant material.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the annular baffles are installed on a retrofit basis which comprises attaching the annular baffles to the liner.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the annular baffles are retrofitted onto the apparatus by attaching the annular baffles to the liner.