Superior Industries is expanding its horsepower options across its Patriot cone crusher lineup to provide aggregate producers with more flexibility in demanding and unpredictable crushing applications.
The move to more horsepower is geared to solving operational challenges and less about increasing tonnage, according to the company.
The updated options include increasing the Patriot P300 from 300-hp to 350-horsepower, the P400 from 400-hp to 450-hp, and the P500 from 500-hp to 600-hp.
“There’s a misconception that more horsepower equals more tonnage, and that’s not necessarily true,” said Jarrod Adcock, Superior’s Crushing Product Manager. “What additional horsepower really does is expand the machine’s application flexibility.”
Adcock explained that ideally, cone crushers should be choke-fed (operating with a full crushing chamber) for maximum crushing efficiency. However, in real world operations, maintaining consistent choke feed conditions is not always possible.
Variations in upstream feed, surge fluctuations, screening limitations, segregation, portable plant constraints, haul cycle inconsistencies and changing material conditions can all prevent a cone crusher from operating with a consistently full chamber.
“When producers reach amp limits before fully optimizing the crushing chamber, additional horsepower can make a big difference,” Adcock said. “It creates more operating headroom, allowing producers to maintain crushing force and reduction performance in inconsistent or partially loaded feed conditions while sustaining throughput and hitting target gradations.”
For portable operations, expanded horsepower is a major advantage. Traditionally, moving into the 600-hp cone crusher class has required larger plants and oversize transport permitting, but the increased horsepower available on the P500 helps producers achieve that performance on a portable chassis.
“Having a 600-hp cone on a portable chassis is not typical because higher horsepower cones can create portability challenges,” Adcock said. “Adding more horsepower to our P500 portable cone gives producers access to expanded performance without sacrificing portability.”
Feed flexibility
Superior Industries notes the additional horsepower is not intended to override the physical limitations of chamber design or liner geometry. Instead, the expanded horsepower configurations are designed to help producers operating in difficult or inconsistent applications where ideal feed conditions cannot always be maintained.
According to the Superior, the added horsepower provides more operating flexibility in situations where crushers are not consistently choke-fed or where upstream conditions fluctuate throughout the day.
The additional horsepower options are available on new Patriot cone crushers, while select existing units may also qualify for retrofit upgrades following an application review by Superior engineers.
