Patent ID: 8511594

Claim:
A pulverizer for coal comprising: a housing; a table within the housing for receiving raw coal to be pulverized; a plurality of pulverizing rollers engaging the table; each of said rollers having associated therewith a force controlling assembly including a spring operatively connected to urge the associated roller toward the table; each of said force-controlling assemblies further including a load cell for producing an electrical signal related to the forces produced by the individual force-controlling assembly; and a processor connected to receive all of the electrical signals produced by the load cells and configured to detect an abnormal force condition by establishing a reference representing a desired profile of the electrical signals and to detect a departure from the desired profile selected from the group consisting of one or more of (a) an out-of-balance condition based on the relationship between the individual electrical signals; (b) force spikes occurring at a frequency related to a frequency of rotation of the rollers relative to the table; and (c) a reduction in the overall force applied through the force-controlling assemblies to the rollers.