New Products Structural bearings deliver extreme low-friction performance to resources projects Custom-fabricated structural bearings are being introduced by Hercules Engineering for extremely high stress applications in resources projects requiring outstanding load-bearing performance, even in compact or wet spaces in mineral processing applications, power generation, ports loaders and land and marine exploration and structures . The latest Herculon structural bearings are manufactured by integrating H-Glide fibre-reinforced composite pads sliding on 2B finish stainless steel to achieve an exceptionally low sliding coefficient of friction compared with other engineering bearing materials, even under water. Unlike metal bearings that may rust or require continual lubrication and maintenance, the environmentally safe yet hard-wearing H-Glide bearing pads are dry sliding and will not release contaminants into surrounding environments or adjacent processes. H-Glide’s excellent sliding properties (including friction coefficients from 0.05 – 0.1) are invaluable to infrastructure developers, engineers, architects and specifiers because lower coefficients of friction will transfer less stress onto the load-bearing structural components when the bearing does its job of protecting them against surrounding movement. Hercules Engineering and Cut To Size Plastics provide a wealth of experience and application guidance, based on almost 50 years of operation in Australasian and Asia-Pacific regions in applying engineering polymer technology to construction, infrastructure, energy, mining, manufacturing, maritime, oil and gas, food and beverage, safety and water and
wastewater applications. Hercules Engineering’s latest example of bearings incorporating H-glide was in an extensive roof which required extreme load-bearing capacity in a confined space, as close as possible to the axis of the load. The same high performance is equally useful in major energy and resources structures, including wharves, platforms and steel structures, where compact bearings must withstand long-term stresses to protect valuable structures with optimum levels of safety for those within or around them . With their incompressible H-Glide sliding layer, these bearings can withstand extreme point pressures of 350-500 megapascals, depending on bearing design and application. This outstanding performance – which is up to 40 times greater than conventional water-resistant and non-lubricated fibre-reinforced elastomeric bearing pads – is complemented by the material’s ability to function well in a variety of environments including, but not limited to, damp or under water applications. It is suitable for: • Oil process and production platform applications, as well as resource development infrastructure and mineral processing plants subject to changing operational loads and ambient conditions • Maritime and logistics structures, port and rail facilities, water and wastewater environments requiring a combination of high engineering performance combined with environmental compatibility • Energy structures, including wind, wave and tidal
power generators, where bearings must provide outstanding performance over varying loads for extended periods. • Industrial and manufacturing process plant, including food and beverage, plant and process engineering applications requiring low maintenance, with high requirements for safety and hygiene • Construction, infrastructure, engineering and architectural projects involving high point loads on bearings, including commercial, retail and public infrastructure ranging from health facilities to parking stations A major advantage of this type of composite bearing is that they do not require lubrication, which minimises any disruption to processes. H-Glide bearings’ already excellent lifespans can be increased by the use of a mirror polished stainless steel sliding plate. Absorption of water and other fluids is negligible. The material is virtually inert, reactions with food and cleaning substances, for example, almost never occur. The H-Glide bearing pad is available in different formulations, including conductive materials. It is equally suitable for a wide variety of high-load structures requiring extreme load-bearing capability combined with non ‘stick-slip’ behaviour, where static and kinetic coefficient of sliding friction are virtually equal.
Filler accomodates bulk bags and drums A new low-rofile, combination bulk bag/drum filler from Flexicon allows filling of bulk bags and drums in low headroom areas.
chute dust vent, and a low-profile densification deck that de-aerates material in bags weighing up to two tonnes as they are being filled.
When filling bulk bags, full-length forklifting tubes integral to the rear-post fill head allow incremental height adjustments secured with hitch pins to accommodate bags of all popular sizes, from 1000 to 1500 mm tall, and widths to 1150 mm.
A remote console or wall-mounted panel houses controls to automatically inflate the bag to remove creases, open a flow control valve or start a feed device, and stop the flow of material once a preset fill weight has been gained.
The filler is equipped with an inflatable bag spout seal, a feed
The vibratory deck de-aerates and densifies material in the bag at preset set points to create a solid, stable bag, ready for shipment. Once bags are filled, the controller deflates the spout connection collar and releases the loop latches, enabling the operator to remove the palletised bag using a pallet jack or fork truck. The unit can be switched to drum-filling mode in several seconds by positioning the
swing-arm-mounted drum-filling chute under the fill head discharge port. The attachment has an adaptable seal to handle drums measuring up to 570 mm in diameter and 900 mm in height. When filling one drum, initiating a filling cycle delivers a programmed weight of material to the drum. When filling two, three or four drums, the feed chute automatically indexes after each drum is filled, reducing operator involvement to initiating the cycle and removing the palletised drums using a pallet jack or fork truck. The filler is constructed of carbon steel with stainless steel material contact surfaces, and is available in all-stainless steel finished to industrial, food, dairy or pharmaceutical standards, and with material delivery systems integrated with upstream process equipment or storage vessels.
Cost-effective and lubrication-free mounting of solar panels Pillow block bearings for square tubes in photovoltaic power plants Solar plants operate under extreme environmental conditions. Treotham offers dirt-repellent and lubrication-free igus spherical plain bearings that precisely meet these requirements. They impress with their long service life, durability and low costs. The igus ESQM pillow block bearings enable the mounting of solar panels that are constructed with square
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tubes of different edge lengths. In many projects, ESQM-110 and ESQM-120 for 110 or 120mm edge length have already proven their worth. Now Treotham also supply ESQM-100 for 100mm edge length. The cost-effective pillow block bearings are UV-resistant, corrosion-free and particularly resistant to dirt and dust. They also enable alignment compensation, e.g. for unevenness in the substrate. The lightweight bearings are easy to assemble and disassemble, with a split version of housing and
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spherical balls. The service life as well as the load capacity (also due to high static wind loads) have been successfully tested. Treotham also supplies igus plain bearings that are suitable for solar tower power plants, parabolic trough power plants or the axis of rotation for panel adjustments, as well as energy chains with a defined torsional stop and minimum bend radius. With more than 17 years in the solar sector and extensive testing, igus can guarantee a long service life on all of their products.
