A cyclone for classifying materials has at least one vibrator attached to the downwardly tapering conical housing thereof to set up vibrations which interrupt the normal flow pattern of the downwardly swirling slurry of materials so that some of the smaller particles which would otherwise be trapped in the slurry are freed so that an increased amount of the smaller particles will move into the vortex created in the cyclone and thereby increase the operating efficiency of the cyclone. In a first embodiment, a conventional cyclone having a solid metallic conical housing is modified by having the vibrator attached to the periphery of the conical housing. In a second embodiment, an open-sided conical housing having a plurality of spaced apart longitudinal struts with the vibrator mounted on a strut which is configured to transmit vibrations to the metallic substrates of abrasion resistant liners mounted in the conical housing.
Cyclones having abrasion resistant liners with a system and method for replacing the liners when they worn out due to the destructive nature of the materials being classified in the cyclone. The cyclone includes segmented inlet housing liners which are separately removable through the opened top of the cyclone housing. A lifting ring in the bottom of a conical housing has an apex cone and plural cone liners supported in a stacked array thereon within the conical housing and hoisting straps are used to lift the lifting ring, the apex cone and the array of cone liners out of the opened top of the cyclone housing without having to remove the cyclone from its operating position and completely disassemble the cyclone. Wear detector bolts attach the inlet head liners and a cage-like conical housing allows direct viewing of wear detecting weep holes provided in the liners mounted therein.
