Belt Tightening

7/29/2019 Belt Tightening

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In his presentation on Leading Edge Conveyor

Technologies presented during MINExpo last

year, Greg Bierie, Global Manager, Project Sales,

Martin Engineering, listed the problems of

conventional conveyors as:

■ Material spills, airborne dust and the risk of fire

or explosion

■ Housekeeping expenses

■ Chute buildups and blockages

■ Higher operating and maintenance costs

■ Higher costs for dust control (suppression

and/or collection)

■ Longer operating hours.

Bierie suggests four topics – air-supported belt

conveyors, engineered flow chutes, combination

systems and new conveyor design standards,

which all come down to one thing: “how to get

better material handling.”

Replacing idlers with a film of air to improve

conveyor operation brings many benefits,

including lower friction and reduced power

consumption. It also provides a stable belt pathand leads to reduced spillage and segregation.

Such conveyor sysrtems would normally be totally

enclosed and as such are great at controlling dust

emissions.

The advantages of engineered flow chutes are

shown in the diagram. Their design requires test

samples of the specific material to determine its

behaviour and characteristics. The transfer has to

be designed to match material specifics and

system requirements. It is also important, Bierie

says, to verify the design using DEM to model

flow. It is also important to conduct a laser survey

of the project site to verify dimensions and

obstructions.

At one application in a coal-fired power plant

in St. Louis, Missouri, the bunker feed conveyors

had a tendency to plug, reducing capacity and

releasing too much dust. Engineering the flow of

the chutes eliminated the plugging and reduced

dust by 98%. This allowed the plant to

dramatically reduce its purchases of suppression

chemicals. Similarly at a plant in Escatawpa,

Mississippi, there was a need to manage coal flow

and reduce dust. This was achieved successfully

and the plant was able to cancel the budgeted

installation of an automated washdown system,saving $350,000.

Underground at a coal mine in eMalahleni,

South Africa, there was need to reduce chute

blockages and control dust without consuming

scarce water. ‘Hood and Spoon’ chutes were

installed underground, which eliminated

blockages and reduced dust without water (see

the transfer section later in the article).

Also, Bierie explained, air-supported conveyors

can combine readily with engineered flow

transfers for consistent flow, without plugs or

dust.

There is, he says, a “new hierarchy of

requirements for conveyor design” that should:

■ Achieve throughput goal■ Be safe

■ Minimise fugitive materials (escape and

accumulation)

■ Be easy to clean and service

CONVEYORS

Belt tightening

Considerable effort isbeing put into conveyorimprovements.John Chadwick foundnew technologies in,among other areas, beltcleaning, better transfersystems, new idler ideasand better energymanagement

Continental says conveyors often provide significant

economies in site preparation and installation. “After

analysing truck versus belt haulage, more and more

companies are turning to overland belt conveyor

systems,” the company reports. “In many applications,

belt haulage equipment, maintenance and power costs

are lower, tonne-for-tonne, than other methods of

moving bulk materials. The relative ease in which

conveyors of this type can be relocated often provides

an attractive resale feature for the owner.”

16 International Mining OCTOBER 2009



■ Use standard components

■ Be cost effective and be upgradeable.

External Wear Liner is one example of new

thinking. The traditional design with the wear liner

inside the skirtboard makes it hard to install, inspect

and replace. However, having the wear liner

outside the skirtboard significantly improves the

installation, at no added cost. It allows precision

alignment, easier inspection and an improved seal.

There is also no need of entry to a confined space.

Bierie says for a successful project mines should

expect the following from a supplier:

■ Experience and a history of success

■ Testing of bulk material and liners

■ Engineering, including structural modelling,

design, and detailing

■ In-house fabrication or certified outsourced

fabrication

■ Installation by specialist crew or supervision of

plant or contractor workforce

■ Guaranteed performance

■ Single source accountability, knowing the

supplier “stands behind” the system.

He concludes that the coming economic

benefits of conveyor architecture for the 21st

century will mean reductions in dust and spillage,

in costs/man-hours for housekeeping, in loss of

valuable material and in costs for dust

suppression. Efficiency/service life benefits will

focus on decreased wear of the belt cover and

improved loading patterns (centre loading). The

main environmental benefits will be reduced dust

and the concomitant reduction of employee

exposure to respirable dust. That is also a safetybenefit, as are the reduced risks of chute fires,

coal dust explosions and injury (fewer personnel in

any one area of the conveyor system and less need

to work near the conveyor to clean up spillage).

Also at MINExpo, Siemens’ Todd Kennedy,

Business Development/Engineered Solutions,

Mining Solutions, presented Mine Conveyor

Efficiency & Productivity , explaining that

technology can deliver energy conservation,

higher availability, reduced mechanical wear,

control automation amd centralised control. He

lists some of the risk factors of traditional

conveyor drives using wound rotor motors as:

■ Gear drive

■ Six or more bearings and numerous resistor

control contactors

■ Two mechanical couplings

■ Carbon brushes and rigging

■ Three slip rings

■ Carbon dust contamination (windings)

■ Brake/backstop.

Some of the mechanical risk factors of an

asynchronous motor and fluid coupling

combination for the conveyor drive eliminate the

numerous contactors, the carbon brushes and

rigging, the slip rings and carbon dust

contamination. But there is the added risk

associated with one more mechanical coupling

and a fluid coupling. With a modern conveyor

drive employing an asynchronous motor and

variable speed drive, the mechanical risk factors

are reduced to those of the gear drive, six or more

bearings, two mechanical couplings and the

brake/backstop. The direct coupled synchronous

motor drive, such as Siemens provided for the

Prosper-Haniel mine in Germany is even better.

The mechanical risk factors of a modern

conveyor drive with synchronous flange-coupled

motor are reduced to:

■ Two bearings

■ Slip rings

■ Parking brake.

Kennedy stresses the importance of matching

belt speed to material demand. As for examplefor an inclined conveyor, 5% rated power savings

may reasonably be achieved by matching 75%

speed with 75% rated capacity. Even more

significantly, in the same way 15% rated power

savings may reasonably be achieved for a

horizontal conveyor.

He lists many modern conveyor drive efficiency

advantages:

■ Downhill conveyors may provide regeneration

of energy back onto the supply lines

■ Pre-torque control can prevent roll back when

starting loaded belts

■Matching belt speed with material flow

requirements reduces power consumption

■ AFE drives provide Unity Power Factor at all

speeds

■ Flywheels not required, start/stop damping is

fully managed by the drive

■With fewer mechanical components,

maintenance downtime can be reduced

significantly

■With controlled start and stop energy

mechanical stresses are reduced and the mean

time between failure will significantly increase

■ Belt splice and belt life will be extended

requiring fewer repairs and replacements

CONVEYORS


Productivity risk comparisons

Martin Engineering’s engineered flow transfer chutes



■ Slow speed belt inspections will contribute to

improved maintenance opportunities

■ No brush gear or slip ring maintenance or

repair

■ No resistor or resistor control contactor

maintenance or repair.

He adds that with a flange-coupled motor

there are direct coupling bonuses, if the capital

expenses are justified. There are no slip losses at

any speed using synchronous motors. There are

no energy losses from gear drives or from fluid

couplings. Finally, no energy is consumed by oil

coolers, oil heaters, etc.

Better beltsRema Tip Top South Africa is linking up with

Dunlop for a strategic co-operative alliance.

Thorsten Wach, the company’s Managing

Director, explains: “Our customers have, in thepast, expressed a need for a one-stop-shop

system for the management of their conveyor

belting requirements on site, essentially requesting

one point of contact for an entire project.”

Both companies are industry experts with a

shared customer base as well sharing customer

goals. The companies intend this alliance should

not only enhance the activities of both groups

and their employees but most important of all,

enhance the service and optimisation of

production for current and future customers. Both

companies believe they can supply total customer

satisfaction in this way. Trevor Howard-Trip, Sales

and Marketing Director of Dunlop Belting

Products, says “This alliance will benefit because

of the fact that capital investment is protected by

prolonging the life of the conveyor belt”.

Dries van Coller, General Manager of Rema Tip

Top South Africa says “This alliance will enable us

to focus on the complete conveyor belting

installation and systems. We will be involved with

the customer from the commencement of the

project, overseeing the planning, sourcing, project

execution, training as well as preventative and

general maintenance scheduling, thereby offering

the customer superior operational optimisation

and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) throughout

the lifespan of the project. Our main objective is

to ensure that the TCO model optimises the

added value as well as the production for the

customer. We minimise downtime dramatically

during maintenance cycles and thereby ensure

lower overhead costs for the customer which is a

crucial element of the service we offer”.

Both companies are global players and haveaccess to the expertise and resources from their

various offices worldwide. Both are technology

innovators and invest heavily in research and

development.

A new Goodyear pipe-shaped conveyor belt

uses finite element analysis (FEA) technology to

keep material and dust in, and wind and rain out.

Goodyear Confine pipe conveyor belts are designed

to stay sealed while travelling through curves and

inclines built into in-plant and overland systems.

Conventional pipe conveyor belts have been

The global resources of Rema Tip Top and Dunlop Belting

will be used to effectively implement new systems and

best practices in TCO in South and Sub Saharan Africa

CONVEYORS


we have an attitude!We are passionate about the speed control of your AC

motors. We can provide solutions that improve your processcontrol and efficiency for all applications large and small.

Check us out at www.vacon.com

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used for more than 15 years but exhibit shape

collapse, compromised seals, buckling and

rotation or twisting, according to Dave Tersigni,

Marketing Manager for Veyance Technologies –

“Performance issues of conventional designs

create inefficient systems requiring more power tooperate, while material and dust can escape from

the system,” he said.

Veyance design engineers used advanced FEA

software to model the performance of various

conveyor belt designs in straight runs as well as

horizontal and sloping curves. The modelling was

validated by dynamic testing that simulates extreme

field conditions encountered over the life of the belt.

“They designed a unique, patent-pending

arrangement of steel-cable and fabric reinforcement

that helps Confine maintain its shape while

navigating tight left, right and vertical bends and

flexing continuously at the beginning and end of a

transport system,” explained Tersigni. He added that

Confine's reinforcement configuration enhances

transverse stiffness which provides an excellent seal

where edges overlap. It also resists rotating theoverlap zone from the top to the bottom of a pipe

conveyor system, regardless of its path.

Typical Confine belt widths range from 610 to

1,905 mm and provide pipe diameters from 152

to 508 mm. A conveyor system using Confine can

include an incline that is 10° steeper than an

equivalent flat conveyor system using trough-

configured belts.

Introduced by Veyance in 2008, the Goodyear

Engineered Products Cord Guard monitoring

system gives belt operators an inside view of their

steel cable reinforcements. Using a magnet,

sensor and monitor, Cord Guard allows operators

to monitor the integrity of Goodyear Flexsteel

conveyor belts without stopping production. It

produces a four-colour display of real-time

information about imbedded steel cables which

are otherwise hidden from view.

“Wear and tear occurs on a belt during normal

use,” said Tersigni. “The impact of rocks and

minerals beating on a conveyor belt creates a lot

of stress and occasionally oversized material slips

past a crusher and causes damage with a single

impact.”

Veyance reports that “unlike conventional steelcable monitoring systems, the Cord Guard system

uses easy-to-interpret imaging that looks like the belt

itself. Older equipment showed steel-cord damage in

a complex wave-length format that required an

analyst to interpret. “Cord Guard’s four-colour

display mimics an actual belt with data that rolls

across the screen, allowing operators to make

maintenance decisions without consulting an analyst.

“Cord Guard is a great maintenance-planning

tool, allowing operators to track damage points

over time and print detailed reports on-demand,”

Designed to help operators increase the life-span of

conveyor belts, the Cord Guard system detects

damages of all sizes from small frays to major breaks

that would not be noticed during a visual inspection

CONVEYORS

OCTOBER 2009 International Mining 21

http://www.richwood.com/



Tersigni said. Cord-Guard’s ability to monitor steel

cable integrity in real-time can help prevent

unscheduled production shutdowns, he said. The

monitoring system also has the ability

to send alerts and perform

automatic shutdowns if it

senses that major

damage has occurred

to the belt. “Early

indication of

conveyor belt

damage can

help to avoid

more costly

problems and

unexpected

downtime,” Tersigni

said. “When

paired with ourSensor Guard

RFID system,

Veyance gives

customers a complete

package for conveyor belt

monitoring.”

Innovative Conveying Systems International

won the Excellence in Transport and/or Conveying

category in the 2008 Australian Bulk Handling

Awards. The award recognises companies that

have introduced new or improved practices or

technology that affects conveying and transport

systems with a positive impact on performance,

reliability, efficiency and the environment.

The ICS is a unique materials handling

technology with capabilities that include: mobility

while in full operation, tight horizontal curves,

steep angle conveying of a wide variety of materials,

high tonnage rates and economic efficiency.

Rollers and brakesRulmeca recently introduced the new TOP roller, a

roller that is made almost exclusively of

thermoplastic. The new TOP roller weighs about

50% less than conventional steel rollers, which

means lower power consumption during

start/stop operation of the belt conveyor, reduced

power requirements.

Twiflex says its VKSD-Model disc brake calipers

are “recognised worldwide as industry leaders in

providing safe control for some of the most

heavy-duty mining equipment in operation

today.” In conveyor applications, these spring-

applied, hydraulically-released caliper brakes are

used for emergency stops, for normal stopping

and parking, at junctions where one conveyor

feeds material to another – at risk of over-spill – orwherever there is risk of personal injury,

particularly underground.

While VKSD brakes may be fitted to the tail

drum, driving drum or motor shaft, Twiflex

recommends that on long overland conveyors, the

VKSD should be fitted to the upstream end to

prevent a catapult effect due to

the reversal of belt

tension.

New RopeCon in PNGSince the beginning of May 2008 a new

Doppelmayr Transport Technology RopeCon® has

been transporting gold ore on the tropical island

of Simberi, Papua New Guinea. This runs through

impenetrable rainforest and over rugged terrain,

just two of the reasons why Allied Gold opted for

this novel product, which combines ropeway

engineering with proven conveyor belt technology

and which has proven to be a safe and reliable

solution where conventional conveyor systems or

other means of transport turned out to be no

viable solution.

In August 2006 Doppelmayr Transport

Technology was awarded the contract to build a

system that would ensure a constant material

flow as well as continuous feed of the gold

processing plant at the harbour despite the

difficult conditions. RopeCon® turned out to be

the ideal solution: It harmonises well with the

unspoiled landscape and requires no more than

three tower structures over a line length of 2.7

km. This means that the system crosses spans of

up to 850 m without touching ground, thus

minimising space requirements. The construction

and maintenance of roads to transport the ore on

trucks would have been too costly, as landslides

caused by heavy tropical rains would have

repeatedly made access impossible. No previous

infrastructure existed, and a conventional

conveyor belt would have required 11 separate

sections with the corresponding great number of

transfer stations, a solution which would haveentailed massive earthmoving and would have

had a disastrous impact on the environment.

Not only does the installation itself require very

little space, it is also unnecessary to provide

maintenance roads or similar along the line: the

conveyor belt with the integrated wheel sets

keeps passing through the station where the

components can be easily inspected and

maintained if necessary. To reach any position

along the line, e.g., to inspect the rope, the roof

cover which protects the transported material

from the rain, or the power lines integrated in the

roof cover, a maintenance trolley has been provided

which travels on the two upper track ropes.

The installation also makes use of the

topographic situation in terms of energy

consumption: The decline permits the generation

Doppelmayr's RopeCon on the tropical island of

Simberi, Papua New Guinea, showing the

maintenance trolley

Twiflex

VKSD-

Model disc brake

calipers have many uses on

conveyor systems

CONVEYORS




of 221 kW of braking energy which can be used

in the mine or to process the ore. Mark Caruso,

Chairman of Allied Gold, is enthusiastic: “It is an

excellent piece of Austrian technology and

Doppelmayr can be very proud of the installation”.

Great detail on a RopeCon carrying Jamaican

bauxite was published in March 2008, p4.

ThyssenKrupp Robins was selected to design

and supply a complete new 14.5 km long belt

conveyor system to transport gold ore from the

open pit to an existing heap leach plant at Barrick

Gold USA’s Cortez Hills project in Nevada, which is

nearing completion. The system is designed to

handle over 900 t/h. The ThyssenKrupp Robins

scope of supply included a belt feeder and five

conveyors that make up the conveying system.

The 27 m long variable speed belt feeder will

transfer primary crushed ore to the first of the five

conveyors, which vary from 61 m to 11,580 m in

length.

The most complex conveyor of the system is

the 11.58 km regenerative overland conveyor

that runs at 275 m/min with a 3.2 km long

downhill section that drops 275 m vertically. Thisis followed by a long radius horizontal curve

section. A unique control system was developed

to verify that the proper belt tension is achieved

between the drives.

IPCC systemsIn-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) systems were

covered in detail in the June issue but in the light

of the latest news from Joy Global it is pertinent

here to review the P&H Mining Equipment

situation. In 2008, the company, best known as a

supplier of electric mining shovels, blasthole

drilling rigs and walking draglines, announced

that it expanded its product line to include IPCC

systems. One

contributing factor

behind that move

was the existing and

natural fit between

P&H electric shovels

and mobile mining

crushers linked to

high-volume

overburden

handling conveyor

systems in coal

mining operations.

Other factors

included growingawareness

throughout the

mining industry that

an IPCC material-

handling system can be an optimal solution for

some coal, oil sand and other mining operations

faced with volatile and intractable costs related to

haulage truck fuel, truck operation and

maintenance, ancillary haulage road development

equipment and maintenance, and ever-

lengthening material haulage distances requiring

even more haul trucks and related costs.

P&H also determined that its shovel experience

combined with increasingly powerful information

and drive systems technology well-positions the

equipment supplier to co-ordinate and optimise

the performance of a shovel-IPCC system from an

operations and maintenance standpoint.

In addition, P&H IPCC technology includes over

90 years of Continental Crushing & Conveying

(CCC) expertise applied to mining operations.

Embedded within the CCC technology portfolio is

40-plus years of Stamler crushing technology.CCC joined P&H, which will celebrate 125

continuous years of operations on December 1

this year, within Joy Global in 2008. That

development - combining industry-leading shovel,

crushing and conveyor systems technology

suppliers - effectively positions P&H for complete

IPCC system integration solutions in surface

mining operations. The firm is actively working

with several mining operations worldwide in

efforts to explore and develop customized IPCC

system solutions up to and including shovels,

mobile, semi-mobile and fixed crushers, conveyors

and spreader components.

Because such material handling infrastructure

projects involve considerable scope, long time

horizons, and careful financial analysis and

management strategy, P&H Mining Equipment

engineers and other specialists engage with mine

operations and maintenance managers to carry

When a design endures so long in the marketplace, the

reasons are probably worth examining – Richwood’s IC

P&H should have IPCC systems inoperation by 2011

CONVEYORS




out detailed total cost of operation (TCO) analysis

in addition to multi-year IPCC application cost

sensitivity analysis to help forecast IPCC-versus-

alternatives operating cost impact on mine

operations. Furthermore, P&H develops computer-

generated 4D graphics to help visualise IPCC

applications to the mine production landscape, up

to and including IPCC equipment and throughput

flows along with a metrics 'dashboard' to display

system key performance indicators.

The latest news from Joy Global is that the

process of integrating CCC into Joy Mining will

begin immediately. Mike Sutherlin, President and

CEO of Joy Global: "We have always intended

that crushers and conveyors would become

seamless extensions of our P&H and Joy Mining

product lines, and therefore sold and supported

just as any other product in these divisions. This

integration will accelerate our progress in havingJoy Mining and P&H Mining Equipment be the

face to the customer for crushing and conveying

systems." P&H will become the exclusive dealer

for all surface mining and industrial applications

which includes the management of current

Continental above-ground distributors.

Cleaning and transferGood belt cleaning remains a ‘holy grail’. Late in

1987, Richwood introduced what was then its

latest development, a single-blade belt cleaner

called simply the 1C. It incorporated advances in

polymer bearings and investment cast parts to

produce an exceptionally strong cleaner actuator

able to be configured for a wide variety of

applications and able to operate in difficult

applications without seizing or binding. In 2009,

over 21 years and thousands of installations later,

the 1C has a history of successful service and

excellent prospects of continued success. 1C

cleaners are used on conveyors carrying bulk

materials of all kinds all over the world.

Richwood says “factors contributing to the

longevity of the 1C would include:

1. Flexibility in installation - conveyors vary so

widely in materials of construction and

configuration that a successful design must be

easily adaptable to whatever conditions exist in

the field. The 1C flange mounting can be adapted

easily to mount on the chute or the conveyor

structure. Appropriate mountings are furnished

with every unit ready to install. Simple mechanical

adjustments change the angle of the blade in

relation to the belt.

2. Variety of cleaning surface - the materials on

the conveyor may be more or less abrasive, wet or

dry, larger or smaller in particle size. To besuccessful in this wide range of conditions a belt

cleaner must be able to offer options in the

cleaning surface appropriate for all materials. As a

primary manufacturer of moulded rubber cleaner

blades, Richwood can vary the composition of the

rubber or include tungsten carbide elements to

obtain hardness and friction characteristics

appropriate for the job.

3. Engineering and technical support - part of

every 1C cleaner is the application drawing

produced for the customer’s specific

circumstances. The mounting arrangement and all

accessory equipment necessary for the job are

planned and included with the unit. Complete

records are maintained at Richwood for continuing

support. Such careful planning at the design stage

ensures a successful installation and long service.

4. Return on investment - In general,

equipment continues to be employed as long as

its use is financially feasible to the end user. When

belt cleaning problems are effectively solved, the

customer has freedom to build his business by

concentrating his attention where it is needed.

Flexco’s new Mineline secondary cleaner with

Service Advantage Cartridge™ is a slide-out

cartridge cleaner designed to be quickly, easily

and safely serviced. Flexco says “while other

manufacturers offer slide-out cartridge-type

secondary belt cleaners, many of those units

develop performance problems operating in dirty

environments and become difficult to remove and

service.” The Flexco cartridge has minimal

interface with the pole so that the surfaces can’t

corrode and fuse together. A limited space SST

CONVEYORS


o u r B e l t

You’ve been tasked to do more with less. That means

keeping everything longer, including your belts.

The problem is, many of them are getting worn to the

point where a vulcanized splice is no longer an option.

The answer? Mechanical belt fasteners that can really

save your belts — and your operation — time and money.

Find out how at SaveYourBelt.com

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Spring Tensioner provides a “isual tension-check”feature, making it easy to check the blade tension

and if necessary, bring the blades back to optimal

tension. It is compatible for belts with mechanical

splices or vulcanised conveyor belts and blade

replacement can be done without removing the

pole, tensioner or mounting brackets. Also, the

cartridges can be easily refurbished on site.

An underground coal mine in South Africa has

seen the benefits of installing two custom-

engineered chutes to connect mainline conveyors

more than 60 m underground. This mine

produces around 3.6 Mt/y of coal. Its trunk

conveyors move run-of-mine coal from the face to

the above-ground processing operations. These

1,500 mm wide, 35º trough belts operate at speeds

up to 5 m/s, with carrying capacities of 4,500 t/h.

The mine installed engineered chutes to

connect its conveyor system to reduce blockages

and control dust and spillage at the underground

conveyor load zones. The belt-to-belt drop height

in both transfers was 1.8 m. Martin Engineering

South Africa installed two complete underground

conveyor transfer systems.

The first priority for the project was to increase

throughput without blockages. The new chutes

needed to handle large lumps of ROM coal, up to

350 mm in any dimension. In addition, the

transfers had to allow foreign objects – rags, scrap

iron, and even roof bolts – to move through the

system without causing plugs, or damaging the

belt or chute. Additional goals for the new chutes

were to reduce spillage at the transfers, and to

reduce dust and so allow a reduction in use of

water for dust suppression.

Each Martin Inertial Flow™ Transfer Chute is

custom-engineered in 3D and modelled with

DEM to assure proper design for the material andflow rate. At the top of each chute, a ‘hood’

controls the flow of material from the discharging

conveyor, maintaining a coherent material stream

and minimising induced air. At the bottom, a

smooth-line transfer loading chute or ‘spoon’directs the stream of material onto the receiving

belt at the proper speed and angle, without

impact, to minimise material degradation, belt

abrasion, and airborne dust.

In addition to the engineered hood and spoon,

the transfer points incorporate a number of

unique features to accommodate their

underground application. The load zones feature

modular impact units with height-adjustable legs

that accommodate uneven floor surfaces.

Retractable idlers were used to allow for safe and

easy replacement of the closely-spaced idlers

under the loading zone. The chutes had holes in

the wear liner at strategic points to allow

ultrasonic measurement devices to monitor and

predict the life of liners.

Modular chutes were used in the installation,

allowing components to be transported to the

point of installation (5 km in from the mine

entrance) and then assembled. The actual

installations were carried out during 48 hour

outages on weekends when the mine’s conveyor

system was down for maintenance.

There have been no chute blockages since

installation, resulting in reduced conveyor

downtime. Spillage has been reduced to nearly

zero, with significantly less dust generation.

Consequently, there has been no need to install

dust suppression spray bars (and increase water

usage) at the transfer point.

The mine has placed orders for three more

underground transfers, with two already installed

and operating. In addition, three more South

African mines have placed orders for MartinEngineering’s engineered chutes.

Superior Industries recently introduced a three

unit conveyor system designed to bring greater

efficiency during loading and unloading. The idea

behind the newly released Slide-Pac conveyors is

first to reduce freight costs, transporting up to 73

m of conveyors in one load. Secondly, after

transportation, the system is designed with a roll-

style slide-off system for safe and speedy

unloading of the top two conveyors from the

bottom trailer unit. From start to finish, the entire

unloading process takes just minutes to complete.

The three-in-one conveyor system is available in

lengths of 18.3, 21.3 and 24.4 m for up to 73 m

of conveyor length in one load. The trailer unit can

be raised to a 4.3 m discharge height, is equipped

with air brakes, a fifth wheel hitch and travel lights.

Today, there are choices in transfer chute


CONVEYORS

A stabilised WipFrag Momentum system that is capable

of analysing up to 8 images per second

Flexco CFMTS



CONVEYORS


technology. Gone are the days when a transfer

was designed by constructing a box large enough

to be certain whatever is fed to it will not plug up.With ever increasing environmental and

workplace safety regulation, every operation

needs conveyor transfers designed with new

regulations in mind. Flexco’s Controlled Flow

Material Transfer Systems (CFMTS) are designed to

control materal flow through a transfer by keeping

material in a continuous stream throughout the

transfer. The geometry of the system is designed

to accurately control velocity and direction of the

material stream contained within it, so the material

stays together with all fines and particulates

entrained in the stream. The discharge from the

system is deposited softly and uniformly at a

predetermined velocity and direction on the

receiving belt(s) so the material settles on the

receiving conveyors rapidly and without turbulence

that typically leads to spillage and dusting.

CFMTS have a unique method for switching

and splitting the material stream between two or

more discharge paths that allows the material

stream to be switched from one discharge leg to

the other while material is flowing. All moving

components of the diversion system are outside of

the material stream, unlike flop gate style systems

where critical moving components of the system

are directly in the material stream. Keeping these

critical moving components out of the material

stream should "assure years of simple trouble free

operation of the diverting system," Flexco reports.

The design by Flexco permits simultaneous splitting

of the material stream between two discharge legs

of a diverting system and can provide accurate

control of the material split.

Keeping them movingABB recently won a five-year contract from

Minera Escondida to manage maintenance andincrease productivity at the world's largest copper

mine. Located in the north of Chile, the Escondida

mine produced 1.2 Mt of fine copper in 2008,

close to 8% of world copper production.

ABB will provide performance-based

maintenance services for the five crushing plants

at the mine, and the 25-km conveying systemthat then transports the copper ore to the

processing plants. These services include

management of all maintenance activities, as well

as continuous improvement programs to increase

overall process efficiency and improve the

reliability and availability of all production

equipment. The agreement involves 87 people

and started on May 1, 2009.

“This contract highlights how ABB's innovative

approach to performance-based services,

combined with our industry expertise and

commitment to helping

our customers achieve

their targets, provides a

win-win situation for all

parties,” said Veli-Matti

Reinikkala, head of

ABB's Process

Automation division.

Monitoringthe flow“A picture is worth a

thousand words" is an

understatement when

discussing the use of

photoanalysis

technology. Blast

optimisation, reduced

crushing costs,

improved quality control

procedures and

continuous monitoring

of material passing on

conveyor belts are a few

of the many benefits

this technology offers.WipWare, which

provides these systems,

has seen a change in

user demand for cost-

saving technologies: “When the mining industry is

at a standstill like it is, operators are investing in

new technologies that start saving their

companies money instantly.” says Tom Palangio,

President of WipWare, “We have clients calling

and telling us that our technology is saving them

millions of dollars in maintenance and energy

costs annually.”

Between blasting, moving the material and

crushing- a company that can monitor material

size throughout its process can determine what

part of the operation needs improvement.

Perhaps the most beneficial part of automated

sieving technologies is that oversize material can

be detected before it causes damage to

equipment and/or contaminates the remainder of

the product.

Trolex has a new version of its proven

Flexiprobe multi-purpose limit switch. With itstough heavy-duty specification, the new

Flexiprobe has been carefully value-engineered.

With a variety of roller and paddle accessories for

the end of the actuator, Flexiprobe can be used

for position sensing, movement detection, safety

interlocks, level detection, conveyor detection and

vehicle detection. This means that it can be used

to detect and monitor such things as material

flow along a conveyor belt, belt alignment, water

flow, spillage, rope run-out and emergency stop

detection. IM

Flexco’s new Mineline MHS secondary cleaner features easy

blade and blade cartridge removal to minimise conveyor

maintenance time and improve safety

http://www.twiflex.com/

Belt Tightening

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