what is a feeder breaker in mining

I. Introduction

The mining industry involves converting natural mineral resources into directly usable industrial raw materials through exploration, extraction, mineral processing, and other stages. With technological advancements, the industry has shifted from traditional to modern mining models, differing primarily in technology, efficiency, and environmental protection. Modern mining employs automated and intelligent technologies to enhance extraction efficiency and safety while reducing environmental impact, whereas traditional mining relies on manual labor and simple machinery, resulting in low efficiency, high costs, and significant environmental harm. Compared to traditional mining, modern mining has a greater demand for high-efficiency crushing equipment, particularly in terms of processing capacity, wear resistance, durability, adaptability, flexibility, and intelligent automation.

A feeder breaker is a critical piece of equipment in coal mining and other mining sectors, especially for open-pit mining. It is an integrated mining machine that combines crushing, feeding, and material conveying functions. Feeder breakers play a pivotal role in the continuous production processes of mining, ensuring stable material supply, improving production efficiency, reducing downtime, and enhancing overall operational benefits through continuous crushing operations.

II. Structural Composition

A feeder breaker is composed of processed parts, castings, purchased components, and assembled units, integrating a chain conveyor and a crushing unit. This complete system combines feeding and crushing functionalities.

Our company’s feeder breaker consists of two main parts: a chain scraper conveyor and a roller crusher. The chain scraper conveyor includes a tensioning device, chains and scrapers, and a conveying box.

III. Core Working Principles

The operation of a feeder breaker is based on the following key mechanisms:

Feeding and Pre-Screening
Materials are uniformly fed into the crushing chamber via a feeding device, where large impurities (such as metal or wood) are removed by a pre-installed grid screen.
High-Speed Impact Crushing
The rotor drives hammers or gear rollers to rotate at a linear speed of 20–50 m/s, breaking materials through impact, shearing, and extrusion forces.
Particle Size Control
An adjustable screen plate or grid controls the discharge particle size, with unqualified materials automatically recycled for re-crushing.
Continuous Discharge
Crushed materials are discharged directly under gravity or centrifugal force, eliminating the need for additional conveying equipment.
IV. Differentiated Design

Compared to traditional crushers (such as jaw crushers), feeder breakers offer structural design advantages:

(1) System Integration

Unlike traditional jaw crushers that require auxiliary feeding and conveying equipment, feeder breakers’ integrated design provides multiple benefits:

Space Saving: Reduces equipment footprint by 50%.
Cost Reduction: Eliminates investment in vibration feeders and intermediate belt conveyors.
Mobility: Easily integrated into mobile crushing stations for flexible deployment.
(2) Feeding Method: Open Crushing Chamber + Continuous Operation

Advantages:Horizontal Open Layout: Unlike the V-shaped chamber of jaw crushers, the feeder breaker’s horizontal open crushing chamber eliminates dead zones and blockage risks, enabling continuous operation.
Wet Material Handling: Processes sticky or wet materials (up to 15% moisture content) 3 times more effectively than jaw crushers.
Throughput: Achieves 40–60% higher production capacity due to continuous discharge, compared to the intermittent discharge of jaw crushers.
(3) Discharge Control

Compared to traditional manual discharge adjustment in jaw crushers, feeder breakers’ adjustable screen plates offer:

Precision: Hydraulic adjustment of screen gaps with ±2 mm accuracy.
Automatic Recycling: Unqualified materials are automatically re-crushed, reducing manual intervention and costs.
Continuous Operation: No need to stop the machine for discharge, enhancing system stability.
(4) Maintenance Convenience: Modular Quick-Disassembly Structure

Advantages:Hydraulic Locking: Hammers and gear rollers use hydraulic locking devices, reducing replacement time for wear parts from 8 hours to 2 hours.
Cost Reduction: Lowers maintenance costs by over 50%.
V. Typical Application Scenarios

1. Primary Crushing in Open-Pit Mines

Feeder breakers are typically deployed at mining faces or primary crushing workshops in open-pit coal mines and metal mines to process freshly extracted large raw ore.

Coal Mining: Crushes blasted or excavated raw coal to 300–500 mm for transportation to coal washing plants or power plants.
Metal Mining: Pre-crushes hard raw ores like granite and basalt to reduce particle size for downstream cone crushers or ball mills.
2. Mobile Crushing in Underground Mines

In underground mines or tunnel mining with limited space, through-type crushers are often integrated into mobile crushing stations to achieve “crushing as you mine”.

Application scenarios:

In underground metal mining, on-site crushing of ore to reduce the cost of transporting large pieces of material (such as crushing the raw ore before lifting it from a thousand meters underground to the ground).

In tunnel construction or urban mine restoration, crushing rock waste to produce recycled aggregate.

3. Coal Washing and Processing

Feeder breakers serve as core equipment in the pre-processing stage of coal washing plants, crushing raw coal and separating impurities.

Coal Preparation: Crushes raw coal from open-pit mines to 200–300 mm for subsequent separation of gangue and clean coal via roller screens.
Series Operation: Works with mineral sizers (double-tooth roller crushers) to further crush materials to 50–100 mm, meeting coal washing requirements.
4. Front-End Crushing in Mineral Processing Lines

As primary crushers in metal ore beneficiation lines, feeder breakers form multi-stage crushing processes with secondary and tertiary crushers.

Iron Ore Processing: Crushes hematite/magnetite to below 300 mm, followed by cone crushers to 50 mm, and then ball milling and magnetic separation.
Copper Ore Processing: Pre-crushes sulfide copper ore to provide uniformly sized material for flotation.
VI. Conclusion

Feeder breakers are revolutionizing the efficiency and economic viability of mining crushing processes, with their application scenarios continuously expanding across diverse mining operations. These versatile machines serve as integral components in modern mining, driving productivity gains and sustainable practices by seamlessly integrating feeding, crushing, and conveying functions into a unified system. Capable of handling massive volumes of materials with high efficiency, feeder breakers are engineered with specialized wear-resistant components—such as hardened steel rollers and impact-resistant chambers—to thrive in challenging environments, from abrasive hard rocks to wet, sticky ores. This adaptability ensures they remain indispensable for optimizing end-to-end production workflows, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing downtime. As the mining industry prioritizes both output and environmental responsibility, feeder breakers continue to grow in importance, acting as key enablers for cost-effective, high-performance operations that balance productivity with long-term sustainability goals.