ABHR Jul/Aug 2020

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VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 | JULY/AUGUST 2020

In this issue: Keeping Australia moving during COVID-19 Bulk outside the box 28-page conveyor feature

LEVEL MEASUREMENT SENSORS TO SIMPLIFY COMPLEX PROCESSES

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CONTENTS JULY/AUGUST 2020

24

14

28

40

6 Industry News

58 Life beyond the head pulley

36 Reliability for the Hi Rollers

14 RTI helps bulk handlers measure and monitor

62 A case study of stacker chute analysis using DEM and scale modelling

38 Building the last line of defence

16 Branching out

66 ASBSH Member Profile: Tom Stahura

18 Improving uptime with new mill lining solutions

Conveyors

20 Harnessing the science of bulk solids

26 New pulley lagging brainwave

22 Building the aspects of quality engineering

28 Conveying innovations from thyssenkrupp

24 Schaeffler’s automated future in the new normal

32 Mine site chooses HDPE over steel

12 Keeping Australia on the move

54 Bulk outside of the box

34 Online technology keeps miners connected

40 Stretching the limits of belt technology 42 IKEA ingenuity 44 Automated bulk bagger boosts business 47 Pilbara drives Flender’s WA expansion 48 Staying safe around belt conveyor danger zones 50 Belt cleaning: Just deal with it

www.bulkhandlingreview.com

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 | JULY/AUGUST 2020

In this issue: Keeping Australia moving during COVID-19 Bulk outside the box 28-page conveyor feature

LEVEL MEASUREMENT SENSORS TO SIMPLIFY COMPLEX PROCESSES

RELIABLE TRACKING OF COMPLEX PROCESSES Operating one of Switzerland’s largest grain mills is a complex task – every processing step is recorded and calculated meticulously. ABHR speaks to the team at Swissmill about the level sensor technology it uses to make this challenging task possible.

For the full story, see page 10.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 3

AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL

Published by:

AUSTRALIA

REVIEW

REVIEW

Pulling through the pandemic 11-15 Buckhurst St South Melbourne VIC 3205 T: 03 9690 8766 www.primecreativemedia.com.au Publisher Christine Clancy E: christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au Editor William Arnott E: william.arnott@primecreative.com.au Business Development Manager Rob O’Bryan E: rob.obryan@primecreative.com.au Client Success Manager Janine Clements E: janine.clements@primecreative.com.au Design Production Manager Michelle Weston E: michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au Art Director Blake Storey Design Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty Subscriptions T: 03 9690 8766 E: subscriptions@primecreative.com.au

www.bulkhandlingreview.com The Publisher reserves the right to alter or omit any article or advertisement submitted and requires indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published. © Copyright – No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the publisher.

4 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

There is a subculture of survivalists that plan for an upcoming apocalypse by hoarding as much as they can, whether it is food, petrol or weapons.

Called ‘Preppers’, a startling number of them believe that when push comes to shove, society will descend into chaos, where it will be everyone for themselves.

However, unlike the Hollywood disaster movies, when a deadly virus outbreak became a pandemic, Australians have come together to beat it.

After the initial shock of panic buying, and by the time toilet paper returned to supermarket shelves, social distancing had become a wellworn phrase. Organisations around the country moved employees out of traditional offices and workplaces to keep them safe, and handwashing became a significantly more thorough affair.

The bulk handling industry has played a vital role throughout this phase. Distilleries in Queensland swapped gin for hand sanitiser, mining manufacturers in Victoria built ventilators, and conveyor belts continue to keep materials flowing to where they need to go.

The mining industry – a sector that is highly experienced when it comes to risk management – has been quick to address the threat COVID-19 poses to the workers and the communities they work in. Checklists and thermometers have been deployed to spot potentially infected people before they can reach the site, and workers are encouraged to get tested if they display any of the symptoms.

While Australia has done relatively well at flattening the curve, there is still plenty of work to do before COVID-19 is truly defeated. At the time of writing, Victoria is beginning to see a second surge of the virus and is moving to higher levels of restrictions to combat it.

Scientists around the world are working towards the development of a vaccine, with the World Health Organisation expecting it may be available within 18 months. Until that time, it’s hard to see the world returning to normal, but we all still have our part to play in saving lives.

Throughout this, Australian Bulk Handling Review will continue to cover the stories that matter to this essential industry and the organisations within it. Our next edition of the magazine will be our annual engineering feature, and we encourage all engineering firms that provide their bulk handling services to get in touch.

William Arnott Editor - ABHR

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NEWS

Instant asset write-off scheme extended THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS extended the $150,000 instant asset write-off for another six months to 31 December 2020.

Australian businesses with annual turnover of less than $500 million will be able to take advantage of the support to invest in assets that will aid business as the economy reopens and COVID-19 restrictions are eased.

The Federal Government expects the measures will aid more than 3.5 million businesses across Australia. The instant asset write-off scheme is designed to help businesses stick to planned investments and encourage fast tracking investment to support economic growth in the short term.

The threshold applies on a per asset basis, so eligible businesses can immediately write-off multiple assets provided each costs less than $150,000.

Assets can be new or second hand and

The instant asset write-off scheme is designed to encourage fast tracking investment to support the economy.

could include a truck for a delivery business among many other things.

Legislative changes will be made to give effect to this measure, which is estimated to have a cost to revenue of $300 million over the forward estimates period.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed the outcomes of Treasury’s wage subsidy review will be provided on 23 July 2020.

In a doorstop interview at Meccania Engineering in NSW, Frydenberg says the JobKeeper program is legislated until September and highlighted the National Cabinet’s three stage process of easing restrictions which Treasury forecast to see 850,000 people back in work.

Frydenberg also says the construction, mining and agriculture have bounced back in demand earlier than expected.

“Construction is one sector where we’re starting to see more activity,” he says.

“Mining has been working effectively through the crisis and again strong demand for our exports has been reflected in commodity prices. We’ve also seen agriculture be another sector,” Frydenberg says.

Potash fertiliser project wins federal support MAJOR PROJECT STATUS HAS been granted to the Mackay Potash Project, which is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Mineral fertiliser company Agrimin Limited’s potash project aims to extract potash minerals from Lake Mackay, which according to the company, is the largest undeveloped potash-bearing salt lake in the world.

Major project status is a way for the Federal Government to recognise the strategic significance of a project to Australia. It provides companies with extra support from the Major Projects Facilitation Agency, including a single entry point for Commonwealth Government approvals, project support

6 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

and coordination, and help with state and territory approvals.

Federal Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews says the project would provide significant economic benefits at such a critical time.

“The project will create approximately 300 jobs during construction and 200 jobs during operations, and is estimated to support more than 600 jobs through the broader region and supply chain,” Andrews says.

“New jobs and more revenue for the sector will be crucial as the economy continues to deal with and recover from the effects of COVID-19.

“Value-adding to our critical minerals offers Australia huge economic

opportunities but given this fertiliser is used extensively by our farmers, it can also further strengthen our sovereign capability.”

Agrimin plans to produce up to 426,000 tonnes of premium Sulphate of Potash (SOP) fertiliser per year across its 20-year lifespan. This would make the project one of the largest global suppliers of SOP fertiliser, generating an estimated sales revenue of $315 million.

Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt says there is growing international demand for Australia’s critical minerals.

“Overseas markets represent growing opportunities for Australia’s critical minerals, especially as they look to build their industry capabilities,” Pitt says.

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NEWS

SWR Engineering keeps manufacturer’s air safe TO AVOID A POTENTIAL EXPLOSIVE risk, a PVC powder manufacturer has installed the AirSafe 2 dust monitoring system.

As part of its manufacturing process, large bags were filled with PVC powder.

The mixture of powder is ignitable at 60 grams per cubic metre, which can potentially occur if a large bag breaks or the material begins to overflow.

The safety risk to employees and equipment was deemed unacceptable, and so the company reached out to SWR Engineering to install the solution.

AirSafe 2 monitors the dust concentration in the ambient air, working best in indoor areas such as buildings, production sites, silos or boiler houses.

The sensor is placed nearby the presumed dust source, allowing the filling plant to be permanently monitored.

A switching point at 15 grams per cubic metre was pre-calibrated, which means that if a large bag was ruptured,

The AirSafe 2 dust monitoring system can be installed anywhere inside a room.

the system is switched off before an ignitable concentration of the material could be reached.

The system measures dust particles by drawing in a current of air through the duct at around 100 cubic metres per hour. Particles carried by this current pass an integral electrodynamic dust sensor which generates a charge transfer to be used as the measurement signal.

This signal is then converted to

be used for display or control on a programmable logic controller.

It can be installed anywhere inside a room, with no need to maintain distance from units or walls.

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Australian 2019-20 sugarcane data released MORE THAN 30 MILLION TONNES of sugarcane were harvested and delivered to Australian sugar mills in

Queensland accounted for nearly all of Australia’s sugarcane in 2019-20.

2019-20, with Queensland accounting for nearly all of it, according to new experimental estimates released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

According to the data, the largest producing regions are all in Queensland.

As a whole, the state produced 28.44 million tonnes.

ABS Agricultural Statistical Solutions Director Rob Walter says the experimental estimates were produced through a collaborative arrangement using existing industry and government data validated against satellite maps.

“Through this collaboration, we have

been able to produce data around six months after harvest which is nine months earlier than can be produced though our usual survey process,” Walter says.

“The greater regional detail achievable through this process has highlighted Burdekin, which surrounds the town of Ayr in Queensland, as the sugarcane capital of Australia. Burdekin produced 7,013,900 tonnes of sugarcane, almost twice as much as the next biggest area which was Ingham Region with 3,602,200 tonnes.

“The ABS hopes to extend this work to other agricultural commodities.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 9

COVER STORY Most of the flours, semolina and flakes produced by Swissmill are processed in large-scale bakeries, pasta processing and starch factories.

Reliable tracking of complex processes Operating one of Switzerland’s largest grain mills is a complex task – every processing step is recorded and calculated meticulously. What makes it possible are VEGA’s level sensors.

THE GRANARY ON THE LIMMAT River, near the Swiss city of Zurich, is the site of one of the biggest grain stores in the world. Measuring 118 metres, it is the second tallest building in the city, and where a thousand tonnes of grain is processed every day.

Operated by Swissmill, the city’s rail network delivers the grain directly to the premises. Material comes from all around the world, with corn from Italy, durum from France or Canada, and oats from Norther Germany and Sweden. The majority of the resulting processed flours, farina or flakes are then trucked to be processed in industrial bakeries, pasta processing or in starch factories.

Karl Dahlke, Manager of the flour silos and batch logistics at Swissmill, explains why the location of the granary in the immediate vicinity of the city presents a challenge for production.

“On the one hand, we have to pay particular attention to the noise emissions, on the other hand, space is restricted. Expansion of the plant is not easily possible,” Dahlke says. However, he adds that there are some positives to the combined space, as it “stirs the imagination” to find new ways to get the most out of the plants.

Processes at the facility have changed over time to reduce the number of steps required compared to other grain mills, as part of Swissmill’s goals to ensure its

10 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Each process step is recorded during its processing.

operations are trouble free and reduce energy usage. This has been assisted by the company’s close cooperation with its customers and the monitoring of product streams.

In the beginning, was the bran From a level measurement point of view, flour is difficult to measure. When filling a silo, a lot of dust is created, which settles slowly. The dielectric constant differs significantly across the estimated 120 different types of flour, becoming even more difficult to measure when the grain gets drier in summer, causing a further drop in the dielectric constant.

Dahlke says the most difficult substance to measure is bran. In summer,

it has an epsilon value of 1.4 and is stored in a slim, 10-metre-high, steel-reinforced concrete silo, making it hard to get an accurate level measurement.

Mario Keller, Head of Electrical Maintenance at Swissmill, says one product managed to solve this problem for good.

“I will never forget how, 25 years ago, a VEGA technician visited us, analysed the measuring situation with the bran and explained to us that we must approach the problem from a totally different angle,” Keller says.

“A few months later, a new device, at that time still a VEGAFLEX with adapted software, was installed and really did provide reliable measured values.”

Since then, Swissmill has recognised VEGA as a problem solver, working with the company to set the standard for level measurement at the factory. Over the years, new sensors from VEGA have been tested at the site to help solve some of the issues it was facing. At the granary, this included twisting of the cable in the guided microwave, trapping grain and sending a false measuring signal.

Replacing this was a VEGAPULS 69 radar level measuring instrument, which operates with an 80-gigahertz frequency.

The device measured without needing to make contact with the grain and could provide reliable readings through heavy clouds of dust, eliminating false signals.

“However, we must say that, since we have been working with VEGA, measuring uncertainties have never really been a problem because VEGA always feels responsible and takes us seriously,” Keller says.

The VEGA devices not only measure product levels but are also used for process control, specifically in the production of fodder. When pelletising fodder, the preliminary depot must always be full to ensure the pellets have the right density later. A reliable measuring signal is crucial in the outflow cell in the pelletiser as a result. When the cell overflows, the feeders close and the mills may be shut down. As such, the process planners need a 100 per cent signal to avoid the whole production plan from getting out of control.

The tube sheet is used to feed the intermediate products to the roller mills.

VEGA’s sensors are used for level measurement in Swissmill’s customer’s silos.

Saves time and money Dahlke is convinced that work at the factory without level measuring technology would be quite different.

“When a holiday is coming up and the bakeries need more flour, we can start production a week earlier thanks to our reliable stocktaking. Previously, we had to work special shifts to compensate for bottlenecks,” he says.

In addition, bakeries previously would not know whether their silos were halffull or nearly empty, leading to situations where the Swissmill drivers would need to drive back with a full truck. These loads then had to be rebooked and handled separately, incurring unnecessary costs.

Dahlke also recalls another situation a few years ago when floods led to failure of compressors in a cellar, interrupting production for three days.

“However, we knew exactly how much every single silo contained and were able to juggle supplies to satisfy every customer. They never noticed the incident. This would never have been possible without the exact level display,” he says.

Another aspect the level measurement technology assist with is the grinding of organic products, which must be done separately for legal reasons. At the beginning of the process, there is a mixture of conventional grain, which is then fed back to the conventional section, but if not done properly this can lead to a quality downgrade.

“The more accurately I can feed this quantity, the less loss I have per milling cycle,” Dahlke says.

Level measuring technology has a special task in stocktaking. Swissmill does not only measure the level in its own 200 grain silo cells, but also within 150 of its customers’ silos as well.

Dahlke says that thanks to VEGA technology, the company can look directly into the customers’ silos and make an order as required.

“The companies therefore hand over the responsibility for their raw material management to us,” he says.

For more information, visit www.vega.com/au

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 11

COVID-19

Keeping Australia on the move ABHR speaks to Rema Tip Top Australia CEO Benedikt Schneider about how the business managed to protect its people and keep its products moving during the COVID-19 lockdown.

AS A GLOBAL COMPANY, Rema Tip Top operates in every country except for North Korea, employing more than 8000 people.

However, when the time came for a local response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company moved quickly, forming a small group of leaders to develop a plan of attack.

“We wanted to be on the front foot and respond appropriately,” says Benedikt Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Rema Tip Top Australia. “Our MateSafe culture means we take the safety of our people very seriously.”

“This philosophy became more important than ever, as it meant working to keep families and the communities we are privileged to engage with safe as well.

“Working in some of the most challenging landscapes in the world has prepared us to be methodical in our process to identify and mitigate risks to our business. While we are in unprecedented times, we take comfort from our process.”

Rema Tip Top works in some of the most challenging environments in the world.

12 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Rema Tip Top’s COVID-19 Response Team implemented a number of measures to enforce social distancing requirements during the early stages of the outbreak. Staff that could work from home began doing so, travel restrictions were put in place to limit domestic travel, and a detailed checklist for managers and supervisors was created to quickly identify and isolate anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

Communication was critical during the first few weeks. With potential global shipping delays looming, customers wanted to ensure they could still depend on their suppliers.

Because manufacturing centres are located in Germany, the global directive was to increase stock holdings of the components that keep conveyors running.

The company’s A-class products, such as belt scrapers, and wear protection and lining, were strategically moved to warehouses around the country to ensure there would be no interruptions to essential services.

Schneider says the mining industry

Rema Tip Top Australia CEO Benedikt Schneider.

has been quick to respond to the safety challenges COVID-19 poses.

“Miners are no stranger to managing risks, so the industry [was] wellprepared to respond to the pandemic,” he says.

“They have been at the forefront of the response and we have made an effort to engage with their safety teams to ensure we are compliant with their procedures.”

Schneider says the mining industry is excellent at understanding how to use their people for maximum effect. One of the ways this has manifested during the lockdown is an increased focus on employee training.

Rema Tip Top has ramped up its external training offering, helping to teach operators how to improve processes through a better understanding of the conveyor technology. It has also put additional resources into keeping its own teams engaged, providing training via Microsoft Teams and other online platforms.

Vocational and soft skills, such as time management and advanced Microsoft Excel skills, are part of the company’s push to broaden the capabilities of its staff. Using its internal system called Connect, Rema Tip Top has developed a number of new training modules to be delivered through webinars across the business to keep its employees engaged.

“When you arrive at Rema Tip Top, the company culture will see you grow

alongside the business,” Schneider says.

“You may start as a belt splicer, but at the end of the career you could be the CEO.” A global pandemic does not only pose risks to people’s physical health, which is why Rema Tip Top has turned its focus to supporting mental health practices.

The company had been developing its remote working plan for months before the pandemic hit, and one of the first questions raised was: ‘how do we keep isolated workers engaged and connected?’

The answer was to use the technology available for more than just work meetings, encouraging people to check in. The company believes social interactions and behaviours, such as talking about the footy or asking what someone did on the weekend, are important to maintain even if outside of the office. Regular “huddle” video calls between teams have been implemented to get people talking about life outside of work, and to check on the wellbeing of each other and their families.

“We take a lot for granted in working

life, with humans being highly social creatures,” Schneider says.

“As our workforce dynamic changes for the foreseeable future we’re doing everything we can to ensure we remain connected to support our people and our communities.”

Schneider says the next step for Rema Tip Top Australia is to continue looking outwardly to better understand the needs of the industries it operates in.

The company has spent the last year working on improving its internal systems, connecting platforms and preparing its strategy. Now, it aims to bring its advanced conveyor product offering to new customers and markets.

“Australia is in a very fortunate place at the moment, but we must stay mindful of the risks,” Schneider says.

“There’s the potential to see a second wave of the virus, and as a distributed global manufacturer, that’s a risk we need to take into account.

“We’re moving forward carefully and are in a good position to respond.”

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MEASUREMENT

RTI helps bulk handlers measure and monitor Australian manufacturer Realtime Instruments provides bulk handlers with an accurate understanding of their material flow.

PURCHASING BULK COMMODITIES is often based on weight. Power plants want to know how many dry tonnes of ore they have to get an accurate understanding of the amount of energy that will be produced.

In addition, manufacturers want to know the quality of the bulk commodities they are buying. For example, a steel mill will want to know the quality of both the iron ore and the coking coal to ensure the quality of the end product.

As a result, accurate measurement sensors are key to reducing any arguments and ensuring the value of the material is accurate.

Will Robinson, Chief Sales Officer at the Realtime Instruments Group (RTI), says quality control is a serious issue for many manufacturers, as there is not much room for error.

“Accuracy is important, because in many industries, if a reading is incorrect it can have serious implications for a plant,” he says.

“The cement industry, for example, controls these risks tightly. Products from the quarries need to have the right amount of silica and calcium, along with other additives, to ensure the process creates the right grade.”

RTI is an Australian company that specialised in the measurement and analysis of bulk materials. It began as an instrument technician service provider for the local coal industry but has since grown and diversified.

It now manufactures and supplies a number of measurement equipment for mining, mineral processing, power, cement and food manufacturing businesses.

Robinson says traditional quality measurement requires a sample of the material being conveyed collected from the belt, where it is then crushed,

14 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

The systems are designed to be easy to install.

homogenised and tested.

“This sample is used as a representative of up to thousands of tonnes of material that was fed into the process, and is often not very representative,” he says.

“For example, iron ore tested could show a 65 per cent quality rating, but it could have been from a relatively small pocket within the mine itself. Quality can vary throughout the ore body, so it is almost impossible to tell what the endquality actually is from a limited number of samples.”

RTI’s solution to this is the Allscan elemental analyser, which is installed over the conveyor itself to monitor the entire product stream going across the belt. It uses technology similar to that in an X-ray machine to determine the overall quality of the materials and can be integrated with plant.

Blending control software may be used to automatically ensure an even and accurate blend is achieved.

In addition, the company manufactures and supplies belt scales that have been designed with accuracy in mind that use counterbalanced weigh frames.

Robinson compares the technology to balance scales of old, that would use a known weight to measure gold.

“Most scales these days have a very heavy weigh frame supported by four load cells to carry the dead weight of this frame. Our belt scales instead use a single load cell, with the deadweight balanced out of the measurement to match the material that is being weighed,” he says.

“By removing the dead weight, we can get multiple times the measurement resolution compared to conventional scales.

As part of the company’s offering, it also provides total life cycle management from its service department in Mackay, Queensland or in Perth, Western Australia. To assist with this, each sensor is supplied with a 3G modem that can connect to the internet via a virtual private network, allowing for remote calibration and monitoring.

With COVID-19 preventing a significant amount of international and local travel, Robinson says there has been a lot of interest in the remote support technology already.

“We’re quite positive to see the industry continuing to get on board with Industry 4.0 technology. What started off as a good idea has now become a necessity for many in the industry and we look forward to continuing to support this,” he says.

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MANUFACTURING The Karratha branch helps reduce logistical challenges for the local industry.

Branching out With two Fenner Dunlop facilities reaching their one-year milestone, Managers Dan Luther and Ross Vandyke explain how the branches have rapidly and safely expanded.

FENNER DUNLOP TAKES PRIDE IN its close proximity to its customers.

The conveyor manufacturer’s mission is to keep its resources near those that need them. As such, it began looking at regions across Australia where it could expand.

In 2019, the company’s fast-paced growth strategy saw two new branches set up from scratch, one in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales and one in Karratha, Western Australia.

When Fenner Dunlop first established a branch in Beresfield, NSW, it started with just three employees. Since July 2019, that number has quickly expanded to 44 and another service facility opened in the Muswellbrook region of the Hunter Valley.

The branch offers the local mining companies complete end-to-end services, equipped with the staff and equipment to carry out offsite belt maintenance and repair on any size belt.

It also stocks a number of components, such as belts, rollers and belt cleaners, to ensure the company can respond quickly if necessary.

According to Ross Vandyke, the Branch Manager, building a solid, customerfocused team was the first priority.

“When we began recruiting, we were looking for people that were passionate about what they were doing and who would create the right culture,” he says.

16 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Almost everyone hired had never worked at Fenner Dunlop before.

According to Vandyke, the team was hand-picked to understand the needs of the customers in the region and have a keen focus on safety.

“From our perspective, we want to deliver what the customer wants, which is safe, efficient and effective products and services,” he says.

“Business relationships are built on mutual respect and trust. Our team helps save time and money for the industry in the region, and because of that, we’ve seen eight of the major mine sites become loyal customers.”

Employees who are new to the belting industry undertake two onemonth sessions in Perth to learn the

basics of belt splicing, belt repair and pulley lagging. After this, they begin learning on the job and applying what they have learned in the field.

In addition, Fenner Dunlop ensures all of the branch’s employees go through the Verification of Competency process to train them in high-risk activities. The service team is evaluated by a nationally accredited assessor and subject matter experts ensuring the quality of their work is above the expected standards and that all equipment is operated safely.

This has resulted in the branch meeting its first anniversary without a single recordable injury.

Vandyke says the achievement reflects on the team’s focus on

The Hunter branch offers local mining companies access to end-to-end-services.

behaviour-based safety processes and the importance of safety culture.

“This milestone is only possible because of the commitment of our hardworking and dedicated employees, and of course the support of our dedicated team of Supervisors and Managers,” he says.

Fenner Dunlop takes a decentralised approach in Australia, with its management team in Melbourne providing support to branches around the country.

Located around 1500 kilometres from Perth – more than a 15-hour drive away – in WA’s Pilbara region, is Fenner Dunlop’s Karratha facility.

Initially, the branch was established to assist a Western Australian iron ore producer with a major belt maintenance contract. While Fenner Dunlop had a presence in the town, it aimed to further reduce the logistical challenges and high freight charges that faced iron ore businesses in the region.

Dan Luther, the Branch Manager for Karratha, explains that branch has a full fabrication and mechanical/electrical services workshop, significantly reducing turnaround times.

“Before, if anything needed to be manufactured, maintained or refurbished, it would need to go to Perth to be fixed and transported back.

By opening the branch in Karratha, it means we can cut down a month-long turn around to around a week.”

The off-site capabilities for belt preparation include the ability to fit all reels up to 51 tonnes from cotton to full race tracks, up to 25 tonnes and 500 meters. This offers the customers the reduction of critical risk exposure onsite and a decrease in belt cost as larger reels are significantly cheaper.

One of the early challenges the branch faced was building the team.

Karratha has a population of around 17,000, with many people already employed by major companies in the

region. On top of that, Luther says housing restrictions means it can be an expensive place to rent.

To account for this, the company took a two-pronged approach. It focused heavily on building up a team of locals while also encouraging workers from elsewhere in Australia to relocate to the town.

Luther says the company plans to remain in the town permanently, supporting the regional economy and the industry.

“We want to become ingrained as part of the community, we will continue to invest in the branch to keep delivering the best Australian made products and premium service to our local customers.,” he says.

“One of our team members even has his son moving here to join the team.

“We’re really grateful to be up here.

The town has been really welcoming and accommodating. We’re looking forward to a long future here.”

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MILLS

Improving uptime with new mill lining solutions One of Sweden’s largest open-air copper mines has adopted a milling solution that minimises components and maximises uptime.

AT BOLIDEN AITIK, AN OPEN-AIR copper mine in Gällivare, Sweden, the mill determines the pace of the entire maintenance process.

Most maintenance shutdowns are planned according to a schedule set for the reline of the mill, meaning that if a reline can be done faster, the entire process will be too.

Establishing as much uptime as possible is critical for the mine, especially as it aims to grind 45 million tonnes in 2020.

For years, Boliden has had a Life Cycle Services (LCS) cost-per-tonne agreement with industrial machinery company Metso for mill linings and additional services.

Kjell-Arne Johansson, Senior Technical Supervisor Concentrator at Boliden, believes this has helped improve the

mine’s products and services.

“Our cost-per-tonne agreement for mill linings makes development beneficial both for us and Metso. The agreement strengthens our cooperation, as we challenge and drive the development together,” Johansson says.

Boliden Aitik is a world leader when measured by tonnes produced per employee hour. It has around 100 employees working at the concentrator with about three to four employees in the maintenance department focusing on mill linings.

That number would have been higher if mill lining expertise and service had not been part of the LCS agreement, according to Malin Ömalm, Maintenance Engineer at Boliden.

“We have regular follow-up and

Boliden Aitik was one of the first in the world to install the Metso Megaliner.

18 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

performance improvement meetings.

Weekly reconciliations, technical meetings and steering committee meetings all contribute to control, knowledge transfer and development,” Ömalm says.

Megaliner for a new era Boliden Aitik was one of the first in the world to install the Metso Megaliner.

Today, its primary AG mills feature Megaliner mill liners on the shell and feed-end head.

“Megaliner represents a new era and there is no going back. We haven’t had any problems since we started using Megaliner. The design and the wear life have fulfilled our expectations, and we have been able to significantly improve the reline time while also improving safety,” Johansson says.

Because the mill determined the maintenance schedule for the entire process, minimising downtime is essential. Each hour that can be saved puts pressure on the areas in the process to also improve. This includes the maintenance schedule (wear life) as well as the length of maintenance shutdown (reline).

“We want the mill to be up and running for as long as possible, and when the liners are worn out, they need to be changed as quickly as possible. Some six to seven years ago, we used to have six maintenance shutdowns per year. Today we have a balanced wear life and just two to three shutdowns per year,” Johansson.

In addition to the mill lining solution, Metso is also focused on other methods of assisting Aitik to improve its shutdown times. Shutdown optimisation services, such as time and motion analysis studies, mill relining simulations and special tooling, all play a part in reducing downtime. One of the goals of the LCS

contract is to find the best way to bring all of these elements together to deliver the best overall result for the mine.

Per Sundström, Product Support Manager at Metso, says it is always looking for new ways to improve uptime.

“We like the challenge and the trust.

It makes us want to continue to pursue improvements in both mill linings and services,” Sundström says.

“When we started, the mill was a bottleneck, but the development has been continuous; today we are pushing all other areas towards fewer and shorter maintenance shutdowns. Mill availability right now is around 98 per cent, and our team keeps improving the design of the lining and tools. That means even less downtime in the future.”

Raising the bar Another of Boliden Aitik’s targets for 2020 is to further reduce downtime. A new technology that Metso is testing to make this possible is the Megaliner for discharge systems.

Kjell-Arne Johansson, Senior Technical Supervisor Concentrator at Boliden.

The Megaliner for discharge systems minimises the number of components necessary for installation by integrating dischargers, grates and filling segments, reducing the number of liner components by up to 70 per cent. Reline time has been improved, as the liner has fewer attachment points.

Removing the bolts, which are attached from the outside of the mill,

also helps cut down on downtime.

Traditional long bolts that go through the grate, pulp lifter and the mill discharge head are not used, eliminating the need for recoilless hammers.

“I see lot of potential in the Megaliner for discharge system,” Johansson says.

“First of all, it is favourable from a safety point of view. And it will increase uptime, as there are fewer parts to handle and the bolts are attached from the outside of the mill. We estimate a time savings of up to 30 hours per reline – that’s a lot of money.

“The time savings will also mean that we will be less dependent on critical equipment, such as the liner handler and recoilless hammers. This is the equipment that must work during a maintenance break, and days can be lost if they break down.”

The company expects the test installation at Boliden Aitik will enable a 50 per cent faster reline of the discharge end in the semi-autonomous grinding mill.

ARE YOU A DESIGNER / MANUFACTURER / RESEARCHER / OPERATOR OF BULK SOLIDS HANDLING SYSTEMS / EQUIPMENT / STORAGE?

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SILOS Kotzur takes a scientific approach to designing its silos and systems.

Harnessing the science of bulk solids Australian family-owned business Kotzur is testing materials and drawing on a wider knowledge base to design fit for purpose material handling equipment.

DESIGNING EFFECTIVE BULK storage for non-free-flowing materials often requires scientific and engineering know-how.

Without it, issues like bridging,

arching or ratholing can begin to impact the flow of product.

While some products, such as vibrators or air hammers, break the material up to restore flow, Andrew

Andrew (right) and Ben (left) Kotzur.

20 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Kotzur, Managing Director of Kotzur, says reliably designed infrastructure can eliminate the need for them entirely.

“Understanding the behaviour and design principles required for different bulk solids is critical in constructing appropriate solutions important to build the proper solutions,” he says.

Based in Walla Walla, New South Wales, Andrew runs the family business with his son Ben, who is a design engineer. The company manufactures a diverse range of products, from climate controlled stainless-steel silos for the agricultural industry to specialised industrial storage for the mining, plastics and defence sectors.

One of its key strengths, according to Andrew, is the company’s robust approach to materials testing. Kotzur has strong relationships with a number of technical specialists and this provides

a wide and well-established knowledge base for material research.

When working with a new material, the company will undertake a number of tests to learn more about its properties, such as wall friction, internal friction, angle of repose and bulk density, to design the optimal solution.

Ben explains that Kotzur takes note of key details, including location, when designing new materials handling equipment.

“Location is important for a number of reasons, as Australia has a vast array of different environments,” he says. “In a marine environment, corrosion will need to be taken into account. There are also differing wind and seismic regions across the country, with some seeing seasonal cyclones.”

“Materials also differ from industry to industry. For example, agricultural grains are relatively well understood, as they are free flowing and rarely cohesive, meaning the engineering goes into controlling

biological and quality-based factors.

“For the mining industry, some materials will cake and absorb moisture or are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, so there are a number of approaches we need to take to maintain reliable quality and flow.”

The company’s diversification has not only seen it expand into new markets, but also develop its internal design and engineering capacity. Kotzur has also recently invested in improving the manufacturing technology it uses, implementing advanced machinery to improve product quality.

While primarily based in Walla Walla, Kotzur maintains three other footprints in Toowoomba, Moree and Perth.

Andrew says the geographic and market diversification has improved the company’s stability in times of economic uncertainty.

“Around 15 to 20 years ago, all of our eggs were in one basket. We’ve seen how COVID-19 has affected some sectors of

Kotzur can provide bulk handling equipment for a broad range of industries.

the market, but in other sectors there’s been a significant increase in demand,” he says.

“We’ve maintained our entire workforce during the lockdown and are working hard to ensure our customers can continue to look to us for support.”

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Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 21

ENGINEERING

Building the aspects of quality engineering

Richard Morgan (centre) and his team at Aspec Engineeirng.

ABHR speaks to Richard Morgan, Founder of Aspec Engineering, to learn why it has such a high rate of return business.

MORE THAN 90 PER CENT OF ASPEC Engineering’s workload comes from its existing clients. When asked how the company has managed to foster this level of patronage, Director Richard Morgan says the answer is simple – quality and experience.

Aspec Engineering is a specialist engineering firm, with a particular focus on complex brownfield upgrades, to help extend asset life, reduce risk and increase throughput.

Morgan founded the company in 2003 with business partner Frank Gatto. Both had previously worked as part of BHP’s engineering team.

“Within BHP, we were involved in complex engineering projects to improve the lifespan of the existing assets,” Morgan says.

“We had a large involvement with the bulk handling machinery, such as the shiploaders, stackers, and reclaimers, which helped us build up a lot of skills when dealing with heavy equipment.

“These massive machines are effectively large moving structures, subject to fatigue loads and corrosion if they’re near the ocean. They take about 10 times more effort to keep them safe when compared with static infrastructure such as conveyors or bins.”

Morgan worked within BHP for around 13 years, before moving to Toronto-based

22 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

engineering Hatch for three years. When he and Gatto decided to take the risk to start their own business, they started small, but soon grew as the mining boom began in earnest. At its peak, the firm employed 55 staff members, before stabilising to around 40.

One of the biggest challenges facing the firm in its early days was setting up an integrated structural and mechanical engineering group. To do so, the company hired a number of young engineers who worked alongside an experienced engineering mentor.

These engineers are now in key positions in the firm, working in small teams of around four to six. Morgan says these family-sized teams help keep communication strong, even in the midst of a global pandemic, and have allowed

Aspec Engineering works to extend the life of large bulk handling machinery, such as stackers.

the company to be flexible and reactive.

He adds that this focus on people is what allows the company to maintain its high level of quality on every project it is engaged in.

“We have very little turnover in our staff. Our key people have been with use for a very long time and have developed a lot of knowledge about the numerous facilities they have worked on,” he says.

Aspec Engineering has also developed a number of methodologies and a rigorous verification process to further strengthen its quality control. These methodologies, developed over years and using expertise from industry veterans, assist the firm’s auditing, retrofitting, specifying and design auditing services.

When an engineer finishes their calculations, their work is reviewed by an

experienced team member. Morgan says there are layers of checking and review, with a dedicated drafting checker that works to ensure everything is accurate.

Building a brand Initially, Aspec Engineering started off with a focus on coal, but the company saw the need to diversify, not only in material but in location too. The firm spread around the country, setting up offices in Newcastle, Brisbane, Wollongong and Perth.

Morgan says that while there was a significant demand for Aspec’s engineering services, a key factor for the company’s growth was due to the relationships it had developed over time.

“It has taken us many years to build this reputation,” he says. “We had good relationships with the people who used to work at BHP when we set up Aspec, so it was natural for them to start reaching out to us in the beginning.”

“These relationships include people

who we knew that moved on to other companies, such as Rio Tinto, creating a number of opportunities for us to expand to new clients.”

A recent project was the Port Kembla Coal Terminal which involved replacement of two large reclaimers, three stackers and refurbishment to two older shiploaders.

Aspec assisted the terminal specify the equipment and provided design checks for the upgrade.

Morgan says bulk handlers will often reach out to Aspec to ensure designs are verified as part of industrial best practice.

“Sometimes this will see us checking the work of an independent consultant, other times it will be checking the designs of original equipment manufacturers.

These are major investments, so it makes sense to protect that,” he says.

The company plans to continue focusing on its people. Aspec Engineering’s staff are already spread across the country and have access to flexible working environments.

This allows them to work from home, limiting the impact COVID-19 has had on the business.

Morgan says the future looks bright for the team, even during the pandemic.

“We’ve been seeing slow organic growth over time and that has really worked well for us,” he says.

“As we do so, we’ll be looking to bring in new, young people into the company and to continue offering our expertise.”

Aspec Engineering’s services • Design audits of stackers, reclaimers and shiploaders • Throughput analysis • Discrete element modelling (DEM) • Conveyors • Bins • Hatch filling studies • Machine configuration • Loading and unloading systems • Detailed design • Data analytics

INDUSTRY 4.0

Schaeffler’s automated future in the new normal

The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many companies to change how they do business, leading to a rise in automated technology and Industry 4.0 practices. ABHR speaks to Schaeffler Australia to learn how bearings are involved in this digital transformation.

THE BASICS OF BEARING DESIGN have changed gradually over the past hundred years, but recent advances in material technology have allowed for increasingly durable and reliable designs.

Chris Lane, Global Mining Solutions Manager at Schaeffler, says the next step forward in the field of bearing design is embracing the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0.

“Automation isn’t new, what’s new is how accessible it has become. The price of automating a site has dropped considerably and the technology is easy to use, often simply an app on someone’s phone,” he says.

“Digitalisation is the next stage of bearing design. We’re now able to integrate sensors that measure the speed, torque, wear and more into the bearing itself, along with other features such as smart lubrication.”

These smart bearings collect and transfer data using the internet to cloud-based computers. When the data is uploaded to the cloud, a machine-learning algorithm uses the sensor data and combines it with Schaeffler’s expansive amount of historical data that has been built up over years. The algorithm then analyses the information to make predictions about potential problems

24 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

and can alert staff weeks before the issue would have been noticed by a human.

Lane says some of the most common causes of bearing failure come from impact damage and lubrication failure.

With smart bearings, these problems can be detected through vibration data and fixed as early as possible.

With more information on hand, unscheduled downtime can be avoided and reduced significantly. If a fault is detected before it becomes a critical issue, there is more time to procure replacement parts, schedule a time for the repair to take place, generate permits and arrange for training if necessary. The old parts can be collected and sent back to the manufacturer for repair, refurbishment, recycling or a refund.

According to Tony Dintino, Schaeffler’s Regional Manager – East, this agility has a major effect on an operation’s profitability.

“The cost of downtime is expensive.

If a machine fails, it can cost operations up to $30,000 an hour. If that site is down for eight hours, that adds up to a lot of money,” he says. “The cost of downtime and servicing high outweighs that of high quality and reliable equipment.”

“Schaeffler has built up a reputation based on the reliable nature of its products, acting as a premium brand

and using high-end materials and engineering.”

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to finding the right bearing for the job. For this reason, Schaeffler works closely with its customers to understand the asset.

As with any relationship, trust and communication are vital. This is why Schaeffler’s engineering specialists work alongside clients to build a long-term partnership.

Lane says the biggest limitations now are no longer technical, they’re human.

“There is always a resistance when it comes to new ways of doing things. Humans don’t tend to like change – they like to have something constant. But acceptance of automation and new technology has accelerated significantly, especially as a result of COVID-19,” he says.

“We’ve been working with many partners during this period to help modernise their facilities and have proven we can detect faults with rotating machinery through our experience with bearings. Things are being done now that were once not economically possible.”

Lane compares the change to prospecting, “while it’s possible to go out into the bush with a couple of hand drawn maps instead of a satellite phone and a

Schaeffler uses cloud based technology and machine-learning algorithms to assist customers.

GPS, you’re less likely to find the gold.”

“Companies are realising if they don’t modernise, they’ll be left behind by the competition who are becoming more competitive, using less energy and reducing their risks,” he says.

The benefits or predictive maintenance

can be considerable, with many sites that partner with Schaeffler for automation seeing a 50 per cent reduction in operating costs and a 40 per cent improvement in product quality.

In addition, because the cloud-based technology is not limited to hardware, modernising a plant is highly scalable – it doesn’t matter if there are 100 sensors or 10,000, the system can handle it all. If a mine site doesn’t have good access to the internet, it is also possible to process the data locally to send less data off site.

Dintino says that this Industry 4.0 approach has made it easier for Schaeffler to stay in contact with its customers during the COVID-19 lockdown, communicating remotely with Skype and Microsoft Teams to assist with online and offline monitoring.

“We do a lot of offline monitoring in Tasmania, but the person who usually handles that is in Victoria. By offering them remote monitoring, they’ve been able to keep themselves informed about their site while visits

Schaeffler believes digitalisation is the next stage of bearing design.

aren’t an option,” he says.

Schaeffler has also increased its market share and improved engagement with customers through a series of webinars.

“The bulk handling sector is embracing Industry 4.0, and we’ll continue to work closely with them to have the technology and the products to support this,” Dintino says.

CONVEYORS

New pulley lagging brainwave Brain Industries has developed a new type of pulley lagging that uses the best qualities of rubber, polyurethane and ceramics.

PULLEY LAGGING, THE SACRIFICIAL surface applied to the shells of conveyor pulleys, plays an important role in mining conveyors.

The lagging protects the pulley shell, and in some cases the belt itself, from abrasion. It also extends the life of the pulley, as the lagging can be replaced for less than the cost of a new pulley or conveyor belt. It can also provide additional friction between the belt and the pulley, leading to a stronger grip.

Tony Lobb, Co-Founder of materials handling product manufacturer Brain Industries, says the material used in pulley lagging can provide significantly different results.

“Rubber is easy to work with and can be installed onto pulleys on site, making it less likely to interrupt a mine’s processes,” he says.

“However, materials such as polyurethane can last five times as long, and ceramic tiles can last even longer under heavy wear conditions.

“Mines can reduce downtime significantly if they’re only changing out conveyor pulley lagging every five years, instead of every year. This leads to significant savings in the long run from higher uptime.”

Lobb has more than 30 years’ experience working with pulley lagging products and has used his expertise at Brain Industries to find new ways to extend the lifespan of pulley lagging products.

One of the downsides to polyurethane lagging is that it is much harder to bond the material to the shell. Brain Industries’ process involved removing the shell from service and sandblasting it before it is placed into a large oven where polyurethane is poured and set. The shell is then cured, the mould is removed, and lathed and grooved to provide the grip.

The process created lagging that is effective and durable, but Lobb wanted to find a way to further improve the

26 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Pulley lagging reduces downtime and protects the pulley shell.

process and make it more efficient. While researching, he found a new adhesive technology.

“Polyurethane is great, its durable and effective, but it’s harder to work with than rubber. For many years, it wasn’t possible to get a good bond without hot casting it onto the pulley, but then we developed an entirely new type of lagging,” Lobb says.

The lagging uses a mixture of all three materials – rubber, polyurethane and ceramic tiles– to get the best qualities from each. Brain Industries provides polyurethane lagging by itself and polyurethane embedded with ceramic tiles. All lagging of its has a rubber backing, which helps it create a

strong bond to the pulley shell. Layered on top of this is the polyurethane lagging with ceramic tiles to provide an increased amount of wear resistance and durability.

The ceramic plates also include dimples, designed to improve the lagging’s grip on the belt.

Testing has found the adhesion of the lagging can reach up to 15 kilonewtons, exceeding Australian standards. The next stage of testing will see the lagging installed on a conveyor.

“We focus heavily on the wear resistant qualities of all of our components, and with four factories in Carrington, NSW, we can ensure our products live up to our high standards,” Lobb says.

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CONVEYORS

Conveying innovations from thyssenkrupp thyssenkrupp has developed two new ways to unlock a belt conveyor system’s productivity and improve its reliability – digital twins and rail-running conveyors.

A MAJOR CHALLENGE WHEN IT comes to designing and building conveyors is the fact that real-life operation and performance can differ from design expectations. Even identical conveyors, when installed and operated side-by-side, may see different performance issues.

Designers must deal with a number of variables and complex operating conditions that can get in the way of the conveyor’s primary goal of transporting the required amount of material from A to B reliably.

Determining how reliable a conveyor is requires information, and a considerable amount comes from

the system in operation. Failure data, performance history and maintenance issues are critical.

Alexandre Loyola, thyssenkrupp’s Digital Twin Products Manager, says when a conveyor performs poorly, it is all too easy for the designer to blame the operator and for the operator to blame the design.

“There is a clear gap between design engineering and operations/ maintenance,” Loyola says.

“The more well-known the operating conditions are, the more costeffective decisions can be made, without sacrificing reliability. Knowing exactly how each component responds to every

operating condition and what effect each design decision will have, opens the door to the next level of belt conveyor operation and maintenance.

“The truth is that when design and operation do work together, there is a lot that can be improved. This is where the digital twin plays an important and decisive role.”

thyssenkrupp’s belt conveyor digital twin Digital twins are a virtual replica of a physical object or system, built from data gathered by Internet of Things technologies, to enable understanding, learning and reasoning.

Figure 1: A Google Earth image of a haul road in a large limestone quarry. Material could be carried by either trough or pipe rail-running conveyor versions along the haul road, on a path indicated by the blue line.

28 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Each individual component is evaluated, and the actual loads are compared to the design ratings.

thyssenkrupp, in partnership with the North American-based Overland Conveyor Company, have developed a digital twin for belt conveyors. The goal of a digital twin is to continually evaluate the conveyor belt to ensure the system is operating as designed. thyssenkrupp’s digital twin aims to bridge the gap between operation, maintenance and asset design, enabling a complete understanding of the behaviour of every major component against the changes in real operation variables.

This real-time analysis enables a faster and more accurate decisionmaking process. A classic example is whether the design has to be changed or the operational parameters adjusted.

Creating a digital twin requires a data model to be built. This is a dynamic representation of the belt conveyor, which models each major components and system. Real operating data is then imported into a virtual environment to ensure its operating conditions match reality. thyssenkrupp’s digital twin is capable of running a number of dynamic simulations, such as starting or stopping, or constant running under different load conditions, using a physics-based engine. These load analyses provides an in-depth understanding about the behaviour of the asset and are completed for each individual major component.

thyssenkrupp engineers then review and evaluate the asset to ensure any design or operating changes will benefit the asset.

Digital twins create a benchmark matched to the existing conveyor. This assists with any capacity upgrades or revamps. They also help detect unreliable systems dealing with chronic problems by finding the root causes of the failures. It can even analyse the power demand to understand where excess power is being consumed.

In addition to digital twins, Martin Lurie, Global Technology, Innovation and Sustainability Manager at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions says the company has developed a new technology that will revolutionise conveying productivity.

Rail-running conveyors Rail-running conveyor systems combine the efficiency of rail transport with the continuous nature of belt conveying to provide additional productivity benefits in overland, steep and pipe conveying.

“The rail-running conveyor

system overcomes key limitations of conventional belt conveyors, allowing breakthrough performance improvements in several crucial areas,” Lurie says.

“They use conventional fixed idlers to carry a standard belt in the usual configuration near the head and tail of the conveyor with the belt itself carrying all the tension.

“But between the head and tail, the belt rests securely in the cradles of slim, wheeled carts rolling on light rails. In the transition zones between fixed idlers and the carts, the carts rise up to take over from the idlers or drop away to hand the belt back to the fixed idlers.”

Before reaching the head or tail, the cart train turns around independently of the belt, and a light wire rope keeps the carts moving through the turnaround. Automated inspection devices continuously monitor the condition of wheels and bearings at these turnaround locations, where deteriorating bearings or wheels can easily be exchanged.

As with conventional rail systems, derailment is a possibility, but carts can be designed to be both resistant to and tolerant of derailments. Low-cost automated derailment detection will allow the conveyor to be stopped should a derailment occur.

The measured rolling resistance of about 0.4 per cent of the moving weight is comparable to that of light-rail transport. Trough conveyors are typically designed to handle rolling resistances about three to five times higher.

“This much-lower resistance paradigm translates directly into substantial capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expense (OPEX) savings, as estimated in published thyssenkrupp case studies for long overland trough

The horizontal turn-around at the head of a rail-running conveyor.

Automated evaluation software can then catch when a conveyor is running beyond the design intentions.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 29

CONVEYORS

conveyors,” Lurie says.

Craig Wheeler of TUNRA and his team at the University of Newcastle, Australia have been developing the technology for nearly a decade. Coincidentally, the Heavy Duty Conveyor group at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions had created a number of designs based on similar principles.

The university’s designs are protected by a number of international patents, and now TUNRA and thyssenkrupp are collaborating to bring this product family to the mining industry under exclusive licenses for nearly every country. thyssenkrupp’s testing and analysis of the technology has found the technology provides around 20 to 50 per cent CAPEX saving on the engineer-procure portion of a project when compared to conventional trough conveyors, with OPEX costs 20 to 60 per cent lower. Energy consumption was also found to be one third to one fifth of that for long trough conveyors whose path is not governed by steep elevation changes. The technology allows for very tight curves and longer runs to become possible, eliminating the need for more transfer points.

A model of the pipe version of a thyssenkrupp rail-running conveyor.

Rail-running pipe conveyors Pipe conveyors carry material within a wide belt that forms a pipe to isolate the material from the environment and can negotiate much tighter vertical and horizontal curves than a trough conveyor.

Luke Bennett, thyssenkrupp National Sales Manager, says it is in the pipe conveyor field that the rail-running technology becomes immensely compelling.

“The pipe or enclosed version has all the advantages of conventional pipe conveyors, but without the high tensions developed by drawing the pipe through successive rings of fixed idlers,” Bennett says.

“Conventional pipe conveyors have much higher losses than conventional trough conveyors, especially for pipe conveyors that must operate in very cold conditions designed for rolling resistances of perhaps 4.5 per cent, or 10 times higher than a rail-running pipe conveyor.”

These systems also have similar CAPEX and OPEX savings. For example, elevated gantries do not require

30 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

walkways for idler maintenance, which allows enormous reductions in structural weight. As with the open-trough version of the rail-running conveyor, the pipe version’s OPEX benefits come from lower power consumption, smaller maintenance crews, and lower costs from idler monitoring and replacement.

This means that a rail-running pipe conveyor of even relatively short length can show significant advantages over conventional pipe-conveyor technology.

For pipe or enclosed versions of the rail-running conveyor, the loading point and pipe formation is the same as for a conventional pipe conveyor. For a short distance, the pipe belt moves through conventional pipe conveyor idler panels.

Then the carts move up to take over from the fixed idlers. To keep the belt closed in its pipe form, the cradle of each cart has a circular bottom. Every two meters there is a fixed idler that presses down on the belt edge to keep the pipe closed, mounted in a frame above the carts.

Mine or plant layouts that are awkward or unfeasible for conventional trough conveyors become candidates for pipe-form belts carried by the circulating carriages. For example, a rail-running pipe conveyor could run in a single flight from pit to plant along the curve of the haul road.

For many pit layouts where the haul road curve radii can be configured to about 100 metres or greater, mines will

be able to run haul trucks adjacent to the conveying corridor, allowing for the flexibility of truck haulage alongside the extremely low cost per tonne of belt conveying.

For some mine layouts, a planner might be considering costly trough conveyors on an elevated structure, such as that visible Figure 1.

Due to the rail-running conveyor’s ability to negotiate very tight curves, the material could be carried by either trough or pipe rail-running conveyor versions along the haul road, on a path indicated by the blue line. Even though the length is greater than the direct, elevated route, the CAPEX cost per metre as well as the much lower maintenance intensity makes the curved rail-running conveyor the lowest cost choice.

The pipe conveyor version of the system is now ready to be deployed in a pilot installation, ideally carrying 500 to 1000 tonnes per hour of sized material for a distance of up to one kilometre or through an elevation change of 50 to 100 metres.

Lurie says Australian innovation and tax incentives may be available to companies who partner with thyssenkrupp to build pilot-scale systems.

“In fact, thyssenkrupp is about to complete a study comparing conventional and rail-running designs for a specific project in Australia, with very promising numbers emerging thus far,” he says.

CONVEYORS

Mine site chooses HDPE over steel By using recycled plastic instead of steel for its conveyor guards, a major iron miner has increased its safety while reducing its environmental impact and maintenance requirements. workshop, reducing offshore lead times and avoiding overseas supply and shipping problems.

Thomas Greaves, General Manager at DYNA Engineering, says one of the key challenges of recycling plastic is the demand for the products which use the material.

“The large miners can really lead the way and create a global demand for recycled plastic, which is a major step towards a more sustainable future,” he says.

HDPE’s benefits Dyna Engineering’s HDPE conveyor guards were an environmentally friendly safety solution for the mine.

AN IRON ORE MINE AT CHRISTMAS Creek, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, was looking for the most suitable conveyor guarding to increase safety for their site personnel.

However, during the early phases of development, the mine identified a way to reduce its environmental impact by using 100 per cent recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic guards instead of conventional steel.

HDPE is a thermoplastic polymer produced from monomer ethylene that presented significant benefits when compared with older steel technology.

The new guards provided greater safety, significantly reduced maintenance and managed to save four tonnes of plastic from going to landfill.

In addition, the decision to use recycled plastic was even more environmentally sustainable because the guards can be recycled after their expected service life of 10 to 15 years.

Dyna Engineering manufactured the conveyor guards in its Perth-based

32 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Compared to conventional steel guards, HDPE guards present a lightweight solution, weighing up to 40 per cent less.

Greaves says safety risks around lifting weights have been in the industry spotlight and that lifting objects more than 15 kilograms is considered a no-go.

“Most steel guards struggle to remain lighter than 12 kilograms. When site operators are consistently removing and re-installing guards to maintain your conveyors, the repetitive nature and stress can add up and take its toll,” he says.

“DYNA Engineering HDPE conveyor

guards can be as light as six kilograms for one metre-by-metre panel, with the guard weight engraved on the panel for quick and easy assessment by operators to help prevent the risk of lifting injuries.”

Conventional steel guards can also be painful to install. When the guards don’t fit perfectly, a lot of work is required to alter the size.

The tools involved in this include a welder, cutter, grinder, bender and a hot work permit. Alongside this, the size of a steel panel can often only be altered by 50 millimeters due to the inherent mesh size and design.

With DYNA Engineering’s HDPE guard design, small adjustments can be made comparatively easily. For example, if the post was out of line by five millimeters it would be as simple as shaving or cutting the edges to accommodate the size adjustment. HDPE only requires a saw to modify, cutting down the amount of hot work required.

As a non-metal, HDPE cannot rust where steel can, reducing the long-term maintenance costs and minimising potential rectification works. The material is also resistant to many chemicals, such as caustic soda, hydrochloric acid and

Installation is easy and does not require hot tools.

The guards weight up to 40 per cent less than the steel equivalent.

sulfuric acid, making them applicable for guarding processing plants and facilities.

Steel guarding also has the potential to interfere with metal detectors. This requires operators to lower the detector’s sensitivity, potentially allowing fugitive material to slip through. The HDPE alternative does not interfere with these sensors, instead enabling sites to calibrate the detectors to the optimal level.

Dyna Engineering’s HDPE conveyor guards are also made in safety yellow coloured material, which Greaves says makes maintenance much easier.

“If anyone has experience with maintaining conventional steel guards, they would know how much painting is required to maintain the safety yellow colour,” he says.

“Not only is regular painting required, but due to the size of the mesh, it’s a costly process. A lot of paint is used and lost.

Operators have to resort to hand painting for a good portion of the time, which is extremely expensive.

“Conveyor systems are considered one of the highest risk areas on a mine site. Reducing time spent in and around the conveyors is a major plus and helps reduce overall risk.”

DYNA Engineering HDPE conveyor guards are designed to the Australian Standards for Australian conditions.

They can be designed to suit existing equipment, replace conventional steel mesh guards and can be adapted to incorporate metal detectors, belt change stations, access platforms, access points, conveyor trip wires, cabling and any other requirement. They can even be designed to incorporate retractable idler roller frames.

“Not all HDPE conveyor guards provide the same levels of safety,” Greaves says. “DYNA Engineering designed, developed and patented a stronger, more robust panel than others on the market, which delivers reduced deflection of fugitive material leaving the belt.

“The secret is in the actual design layout of the panel itself.

Its exclusive and patented “X” shape design increases the guard’s strength up to 60 per cent when compared with others.”

The HDPE guards are engineered to exceed Australian Standards Series AS 4024 : 1 : 2014, AS 4024 : 3610 : 2015 and AS 4024 : 3611 : 2015.

DYNA Engineering HDPE conveyor guards are manufactured in Perth, Western Australia. Typically, a replacement guard for an existing conveyor can be manufactured in as short as a couple of days compared to potentially weeks or months if sourced internationally.

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CONVEYORS

Online technology keeps miners connected A global pandemic has not slowed down Control Systems Technology, which is finding new ways to implement its digital machinery.

COVID-19 HAS SEEN MAJOR changes implemented across businesses around the world to help halt its spread. Core among these changes are policies that encourage physical distancing.

The Australian Government’s Department of Health has ordered all workplaces in Australia to develop a COVID-19 plan in line with the Safe Work Australia National COVID-19 Safe Workplace Principles. Some of the methods of doing this include reducing travel and avoiding in-person meetings.

Ian Burrell, Managing Director of Control Systems Technology, says the restrictions have highlighted the importance of remote connectivity in the bulk handling sector.

“Mobile phones and internet connectivity have become commonly available and used almost everywhere in our day to day lives,” he says. “Which is why our latest developments apply aspects of this to mining application.”

Control Systems Technology is a manufacturer of conveyor belt weighing equipment for the Australian mining industry. The company was founded in 1984 in response to a long-standing industry need for accurate, reliable and durable in-motion weighing equipment.

One of the key focuses for the company has been to use the latest technological developments that are

Control Systems Technology manufactures conveyor belt weighing equipment.

common in other sectors and apply them to material weighing applications.

“Connectivity has always been a part of our offering, and now it’s even easier to achieve,” Burrell says.

“Typically, we now can add a 3G or 4G modem to any of or electronics, allowing them to connect to the internet through a virtual private network. This enables us to connect to belts in some of the most remote areas in the world as we were there in person.”

Because of this, the company has been able to provide remote assistance for mines in Australia, but also around the world, including Thailand, Peru and Mongolia.

One aspect that Control Systems The company uses the latest technology to maintain high levels of accuracy.

34 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Technology has begun to offer during the pandemic is remote installation supervision. A trained operator would be able to direct a person on site to act as an avatar during the installation. Using a web-connected camera, the remote assistant can walk the person through the entire process to ensure the equipment is correctly installed and calibrated.

Digital calibration has also been used to help save miners money. Burrell uses the example of an Australian mine site that needed to recalibrate the sensors after a new belt had been installed on the system.

“Typically, this would have been a one-day job, but because we were able to do the work remotely it got the customer a faster result and saved them money.”

With more than 3000 active installations, the company has developed a significant presence in the Australian and export markets.

“Our team includes many employees who have chosen to stay with us for more than 10 years. Which has been invaluable in assisting and maintaining our relationships with our customers, many of whom have been faithful customers for the life of our business,” he says.

CONVEYORS

Reliability for the Hi Rollers With more than 40 years of experience, Ag Growth International’s Hi Roller conveyors are helping grain handlers cut clean-up costs while improving safety.

THERE IS A POINT WHEN A BRAND can become so popular its name becomes synonymous with the product itself.

For example, if you fall over and get scratched, you’ll most likely call the adhesive bandage you use a Band-Aid. Similarly, brands like Jacuzzi, Jet ski and Velcro are often more used to describe something than the generic name.

Mike Spillum, Sales and Marketing Manager for Hi Roller, says that in the United States, it’s common to hear people call most enclosed belt conveyors a Hi Roller.

Hi Roller has been manufacturing enclosed belt conveyors to reduce dust in the grain industry since 1978. The company’s founder had, at the time, worked in the agricultural industry and found that conventional open belt Hi Roller conveyors are fully enclosed, self-cleaning and self-reloading.

36 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

conveyors were dirty and unsafe Grain dust in particular poses serious risks to operations, as it presents environmental issues, can have high clean-up costs and can be explosive.

To resolve this, Hi Roller conveyors are totally enclosed, self-cleaning and self-reloading. All of the bearings are isolated and there are no ledges for build-up to gather in. Instead, any spilled product or dust falls onto the return belt and is brought back to the tail section, where it is then diverted to the outer edges of the pulley that have flippers to pass it back onto the belt.

“Just putting a box around a conveyor belt won’t help in the long run. In fact, it’s actually a major flaw.

It means dust can start to build up on exposed bearings, leading to more maintenance and potential safety

issues,” Spillum says.

Hi Roller has also expanded the types of materials that its conveyors can move, including dry, dusty, granular products such as absorbent clay products or lime.

Spillum says the popularity of the brand comes from its extensive experience. More than 9000 of the enclosed conveyor systems have been installed around the world since it was first launched.

“Almost anyone can bend some metal and call it an enclosed conveyor.

We’ve had around 30 years to learn about what works and what doesn’t and then apply that to improve our systems,” Spillum says.

He says another reason the brand has become so widely used is its ability to mitigate dust emissions.

“There’s a night and day difference when comparing Hi Rollers to open belt conveyors. The trend over the last 40 years has been to improve dust control and we’ve seen plenty of businesses and sites now trying to catch up,” he says.

“Hi Rollers also provide a sizeable economic benefit on top of their environmental one, especially for indoor sites. When unloading silos in these facilities, it is often common practice to have people with brooms cleaning up the dust every day. Installing a Hi Roller means you can cut this unnecessary and potentially unsafe labour cost.”

In December 2006, manufacturer of agricultural bulk handling systems Ag Growth International (AGI) acquired Hi Roller, rolling it into the company’s portfolio of brands. This allowed the company to collaborate closely with other AGI-owned brands to further improve its line of conveyors.

One of these brands is CMC Industrial Electronics, which manufacture hazard monitoring systems for industrial applications. CMC’s devices are used to perform temperature checks of bearings, scan for belt misalignments and plugged

discharge sensors.

In addition, AGI has a design group dedicated to using the technology and brands within its portfolio to find the best solutions for its customers.

Spillum says that customisation is a big part of Hi Roller’s brand, with its engineers going above and beyond to assist clients.

“When we put together a proposal, we listen carefully to what our customers are trying to achieve and work with them to get the best possible design,” he says.

“We also tend to be quite conservative with the way we size and design conveyors. We make the assumption that at some point, a gate might open too far and overfeed the belt.

We know things don’t always work out perfectly, so our belts are designed to handle that.”

“It’s all part of our goal to be a market leader, providing customers with more value than they paid for.”

The conveyors are designed for dry, dusty, granular products.

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CONVEYORS

Building the last line of defence Quality braking systems are vital to avoid catastrophe, which is why a major Australian miner selected Altra Motion Australia to install one of the biggest backstops in the country.

WHEN AN AUSTRALIAN mining company commissioning a conveyor for an underground mine, it needed to ensure the equipment it selected was best suited for the job.

At the mine, the conveyor was the main method to bring thousands of tonnes of ore to the surface, up a steep incline. With such a high lift and angle, it was vital that the braking systems employed would be able to bring the system to a complete and safe stop.

According to the Australian Standards, this would also require two forms of holdback for such a system.

Svendborg Brakes are one of Altra Industrial Motion’s bulk handling brands.

Paul Pavlou, National Contracts Manager for Altra Motion Australia, says the miner selected Altra Motion to supply a Svendborg brakes and highspeed braking system called the SOBO IQ and a fixed Marland backstop on the low-speed shaft on the pulley, the largest sold in Australia.

“Svendborg brakes and Marland Clutch has a long and successful history as reliable products. Our products are designed with the largest safety factors available – we don’t skimp on quality,” Pavlou says.

38 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

“As a result, our brakes and backstops are used on many of the challenging mining projects around the world, especially in Australia.

“Our customers need to depend on our products, as they are the last line of defence if something goes wrong with the conveyor drives.”

The SOBO IQ acts on the gear drives, applying a torque based on the stopping time irrespective of the loads on the conveyor to stop it in a controlled manner. It uses a speed reference signal, taken from the coupling bolts on the high-speed coupling holding the brake disc, and a pressure feedback loop to accurately predict what the braking system needs to stop the conveyor.

The system allows for up to three controlled braking ramps, meaning the conveyor can be stopped within a set parameter, irrespective of the load on the belt, using only enough torque to bring it to a soft stop.

It is also backed up by an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system, allowing the brakes to operate in case of a power failure, and a mechanical two-stage backup.

Pavlou says typically variable frequency drives (VFD) will bring the conveyor to a stop, forming the operational stop.

“Our SOBO IQ shadows this and takes over the braking if there are any problems with the VFD. This could be if the VFD faults or in the case of a power failure,” he says.

“If all else fails, our products will safely bring the conveyor to a controlled stop and hold the load on the conveyor, providing the main safety.”

Svendborg and Marland are part of Altra Industrial Motion’s portfolio of industrial brands. The company owns more than 25 different brands of mechanical, hydraulic, electromechanical and pneumatic power transmission and motion control

components and systems.

The company has a global reach, with brakes, hydraulics and controls being manufactured in Denmark and shipped to projects in Australia, Asia, North and South America and South Africa. Likewise, Marland has a global reach with backstop products manufactured in the USA. In Australia, Altra’s brands feature heavily within the mining sector, with Svendborg being used in challenging areas, such as shiploader winches and mine hoists.

Pavlou says having a broad portfolio means it can make working on large, complex projects easier.

“Using multiple Altra Motion brands means there are less suppliers involved in a project, creating less complexity overall. For this project, we had a meeting where the miner, designer and other contractors got together to find the best way forward. Because multiple components were used, there was one less person required in that room,” he says.

In addition, the company offers after sales support for the product’s entire life, from design to tender to supply and decommissioning. Factory trained technicians around Australia inspect, install and commission Altra’s products for the life of the system, backed up by in-workshop servicing.

The company continues to grow throughout 2020 and will aim to develop a greater reach across Australia and Oceania.

“We have teams in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales covered, so the plan is to cover more Australian states and to better support the Asia Pacific region,” he says.

“With our experience in the industry and the backing of our global manufacturing centres, 2020 and beyond is shaping up to be an exciting time for Altra Motion Australia.”

CONVEYORS

Stretching the limits of belt technology Quality engineering and high standards have allowed belt supplier Sempertrans to build novel solutions to bulk handling problems, including a flying conveyor belt.

WHEN IT COMES TO MOVING BULK materials, not all methods are created equal. Mines, ports, power plants, and heavy industry manufacturers will often need to find the right method of transportation to facilitate the rivers of material that flow into or out of their sites.

Christian Ullmann, Head of Technical at conveyor belt manufacturer Sempertrans, says the continuous flow of material provides higher availability and lower costs, making it an easy decision for many organisations.

Sempertrans, a business segment of the Semperit Group, is a global conveyor belt supplier with more than 50 years of manufacturing experience. It supplies its customers with steel cord and textile conveyor belts, offering also tailor-made constructions, assistance in conveyor belt selection, conveyor optimisation, conveyor belt installation and splicing supervision services.

Ullmann says the company’s experience and the versatility of its products allow it to meet the extreme conditions of Australian mining across every application.

“With two sales offices in Australia

and production facilities in Poland and India, Sempertrans supplies tailored conveyor belts to customers who demand both high-performance and economical transport of raw materials and other goods,” he says.

“Great importance is placed on quality. To reach the highest standards, we engage in all stages of manufacturing a conveyor belt, from engineering the belt design to mixing the rubber compounds and producing our own steel cords.

Because we undertake the entire process of belt manufacture, it gives us total control over the technical construction and properties of the conveyor belts.”

Ullmann says another way Sempertrans stays competitive is to position the company as a partner of its customers, offering a range of belt solutions, including custom designs, to adapt to specific requirements of each conveyor system.

“Take FQM’s Cobre Panama mine as an example. It’s a massive new copper mine – one of the biggest operating openpit copper mines in the world. It includes a 13,600-hectare mining concession and 3700 million tonnes of mineral resources, plus 1000 million tonnes inferred.

The Sempertrans XCG cut and gouge compound at FQM’s Cobre Panama mine.

40 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

“The newly-developed Sempertrans XCG cut and gouge compound was a perfect fit for the first stage crushers.

The impact resistance is 20 per cent higher than in standard covers, while maintaining excellent abrasion resistance.

Across the site, Sempertrans supplied 43 kilometres of belt to the project.”

The company has also used its engineering expertise to develop novel solutions to environmental problems.

When Lafarge-Holcim wanted to expand its Barroso cement plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil, it needed a way to move cement across valleys and dense vegetation without harming the surrounding environment. Road transport was not an option, as it would require more than 40 trucks travelling on 24 kilometres of road. Instead, Lafarge-Holcim reached out to Agudio and Sempertrans to install an aerial conveyor system.

Called the Flying Belt, the system is suspended by four track towers. Standing on a ropeway 7.2 kilometres long and up to 32 metres high, the installation carries 1500 tonnes per hour of limestone and clay from the nearby quarry to LafargeHolcim’s cement plant.

It uses Sempertrans’ Metaltrans belt, which has a steel carcass construction with low elastic modulus to provide optimal elongation. This means the belt is supple and can stretch to fit the small radius curves on the pylon stations supporting it.

“The increasing demand for Sempertans conveyor belts. has led to a significant expansion of the production capacities at our plant in Belchatow, Poland,” Ullmann says.

“Building on Sempertrans’ strong technological advantage and respected reputation for quality, the next 50 years look very promising.”

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Air-supported conveyor technology now available in Australia bruks-siwertell.com Richard Sagar, Ammermann Pty Ltd richard.sagar@ammermann.com.au A PART OF BRUKS SIWERTELL GROUP bruks-siwertell.com

CONVEYORS

IKEA ingenuity Conveyor manufacturer Bruks Siwertell has its eye on Australia and is looking to expand into the country with two air-powered innovations.

The Tubulator is closed system made from a number of steel tubes with an air-supported belt inside.

TWO MAJOR SWEDISH BRANDS, Bruks Holding and Siwertell AB, officially merged in May of 2018.

The newly formed company, which has a significant presence in the United States, Europe and Asia, has begun to capitalise on the increased synergy.

Magnus Rundqwist, Bruks Siwertell’s Global Director of Bulk Sales, says the combination of Siwertell specialist knowledge of ship unloaders and Bruks’ extensive experience in biomass materials handling has allowed the company to provide complete bulk handling solutions.

Now, the company is targeting Australia as its next growth market and is planning to significantly build up its presence in the country through its flagship conveyor products, the Tubulator and The Belt Conveyor.

The Tubulator is an air-supported belt conveyor, built as a closed systems of steel tubes. Inside the tube, a rubber belt runs at high speed on top of an air cushion created by a number of fans.

Rundqwist says the system has a number of benefits for industries handling low density materials, such as for wood processing plants, sawmills, paper mills or pellet plants.

“The Tubulator can handle almost any low-density material, whether its cement, shredded waste, grain, sugar or coal.”

Because the system uses a cushion of air instead of idlers, there is no product

42 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

degradation and it can handle fragile material much easier while creating less dust in the process. As a result of its totally enclosed construction, the dust that is created does not become an environment or safety hazard, a key benefit for ports handling potentially explosive dusts.

With less inertia and friction to combat, the Tubulator can reach angles that would not be possible to traditional idler conveyors.

“The Tubulator is sectioned into 12-metre-long pipes, designed to fit into a 40-foot shipping container,” he says.

“And because of its significantly reduced weight and structural integrity, it can even be installed over existing equipment with up to 80-metre free spans.”

The first Tubulator was built more than 30 years ago, and multiple have

already been installed in Australia at paper manufacturing sites.

As part of the company’s expansion into the Oceanic region, the company has unveiled a new product that builds on the Tubulator’s design.

Rundqwist says customers had been asking for an air-supported conveyor that could incorporate features of both the Tubulator and conventional conveyor design for some time.

Simply named ‘The Belt Conveyor’, the system combines the Tubulator’s air-cushion technology with a standard belt conveyor, but instead of using a pipe, The Belt Conveyor uses a formed pan to support the belt.

In addition, Rundqwist says Bruks Siwertell has made great use of ‘Swedish Ikea ingenuity’ when it comes to efficiently ship the system internationally.

Like the Tubulator, The Belt Conveyor has a modular design that can carry a wide variety of materials. Third party components, like weigh scales, metal detectors, magnets and material sensor areas can all be incorporated into the design.

“Bruks Siwertell has installed more than 620 Tubulators around the world, but it is a niche product for certain applications,” he says.

“The Belt Conveyor was developed to be more flexible operating on higher density materials using standard belts and standard parts.

The Belt Conveyor combines the Tubulator’s aircushion technology with a standard belt conveyor.

CONVEYORS

Automated bulk bagger boosts business An American manufacturer attributes its growth to automation, choosing Flexicon bagging systems to help take it to the next level.

O’FALLON CASTING, BASED IN Missouri in the United States, is a major manufacturer of thin-walled, nonferrous investment castings.

The investment casting process can be labour intensive. It begins with a wax pattern, which is identical in shape to the final casting. This pattern is dipped into a slurry, which partially drains away.

Next, the slurry-coated pattern passes through rotating vessels, called drum sanders, each of which coats the pattern in a different type of sand. After the slurry hardens, the wax melts away and is replaced with a molten metal to make the casting.

As the wax patterns move through the slurry and sanding steps, they consume the fine powder used to make

Robot dips wax patterns in the slurry vessel before sanding.

44 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Once the bag spout is secured by the SpoutLock clamp ring, the Tele-Tube telescoping tube applies constant downward tension as the bag empties and elongates to promote complete discharge and contain dust.

the slurry — called flour — and three varieties of sand.

For years, operators had replenished the slurry vessel and drum sanders by hand, carrying and emptying 23-kilogram bags into them. In 2007, O’Fallon began buying the materials in 1360-kilogram bulk bags and adding them automatically by machine.

For this, the company chose equipment from Flexicon, which supplied four BFC bulk bag dischargers and a combination of single-run and interconnected flexible screw conveyors.

One discharger-conveyor system is devoted to delivering flour to the process, while the other three deliver sand to four drum sanders.

Bulk bags are delivered to each discharger by forklift and then loaded into the frame using a hoist and trolley that travels on a cantilevered I-beam.

Next, a Spout-Lock clamp ring on top of a tele-tube telescoping tube is raised

pneumatically and secured to the bag spout. This contains airborne dust and maintains continual downward tension on the bag as it empties and elongates, promoting discharge from the bag.

While each sand variety flows freely from the bulk bags and hopper, the flour tends to bridge, according to Matt Cavins, metallurgical engineer. As a result, the flour discharger includes two additional mechanisms to promote flow – Flow-Flexer bag activators, which raise and lower opposite bottom edges of the bag into a V shape, and a vibrator mounted on the hopper wall.

“Those features were major considerations for us,” Cavins explains.

“We wanted to make sure that it was discharging from the bulk bag smoothly and that there wasn’t a lot of dust created where the hoppers are.”

One of the benefits of receiving the sand and flour in larger bulk containers is efficiency for O’Fallon’s

Bulk-Out model BFC bulk bag dischargers unload three varieties of sand which flexible screw conveyors transport to the drum sanders.

operation. It supplies the powders to multiple locations from a common bulk materials location.

To achieve this, flexible screw conveyors automatically transport the materials through openings in the walls to the slurry vessel and drum sanders. Since the design of the flexible screw conveyors is suited to

complex equipment layouts, the series of conveyors allows the Flexicon bulk material handling system to feed the powders to varied locations. In O’Fallon’s layout, powder use points are anywhere from 2.1 metres to 13 metres away from the bulk bag dischargers.

The material conveyance is automated which helps further enhance

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efficiency. These additions are weightbased, with a scale beneath each vessel signalling a programmable logic controller when to start and stop the conveyors.

O’Fallon uses about two bulk bags of flour per day, and each of the sand lines consumes about two bulk bags per week. Cavins says the materials are heavy and abrasive, and the conveyors handle them well.

“We really haven’t had many issues.

It’s been almost 10 years in operation now, at least on the sanders, and we’ve replaced maybe one drive, and that’s on three systems with multiple drives,” he says.

“Two conveyor tubes have been replaced in that 10-year span. The polymer tube on the flour conveyor is more prone to wear than the steel tubes on the sand conveyors...but it’s really not enough to switch to a steel tube.

“We have more uptime and a safer working environment.”

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Wireless adjustment via Bluetooth with smartphone, tablet or PC. Compatible retrofit to all plics® sensors manufactured since 2002.

CONVEYORS

Pilbara drives Flender’s WA expansion With more than 1200 drives installed in the WA mining market, Flender Australia is expanding with a new, purpose-built facility.

IN THE PILBARA REGION OF Western Australia, it’s not uncommon for summer temperatures to exceed 45°C. On top of this, the red dust and abrasive ferrous product common in the iron-rich region is often fine and can interfere with machinery.

These conditions are what Flender’s SA and SE model of conveyor belt drives are made for.

Joe Bruford, Flender’s Head of Sales, explains the drives were designed to operate in extreme ambient conditions, using highly efficient ribbed housings and axial fans specially designed with air-guide hoods to ensure air flows evenly over the entire housing.

“Cooling systems represent additional risk potential for many mine operators, as they include pumps, fans and instrumentation that all require additional maintenance and power supply,” he says.

“One part of the solution lies in an extended housing surface, a second and more significant part in optimised air conveyance flow. It ensures that the ambient air is guided directly over the

A render of Flender’s upcoming WA facility.

housing as much as possible. Flender has invested a great deal of development work in the fluid mechanics behind this.”

“We’ve also got the biggest rightangle bevel helical drives on the market.

We can go above three megawatts from our standard range. This stems from our advanced spiral bevel gear design which offers the most efficient solution at the lowest noise levels”.

Flender, a subsidiary of Siemens, has been supplying gear drives for the Australian mining industry for decades, installing its first in the 1970s, with some still in operation from that time.

The designs have been improved over the years, and are part of the company’s standard range, purpose built for conveyor belt applications.

The company’s products have proved popular for Australian bulk handlers, with around 1200 drives installed in the Pilbara region alone, in addition to more than 2000 Australia wide.

To ensure the company could continue to meet increasing customer demand, especially in the mining and wind energy sectors, it announced it

Joe Bruford, Flender’s Head of Sales.

would be expanding in WA with an advanced, 3500-square metre facility.

Kareem Emara, CEO and Managing Director at Flender Australia, says that relocating to Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate will allow Flender to centralise operations and get closer to customers in Western Australia.

“We have been growing exponentially the last few years and now have the biggest installed base in mining and wind turbine gearboxes compared to any other OEM in Australia,” Emara says.

“Regardless of where we are, being close to our customers is the cornerstone of our business model. Western Australia has been an excellent market for us in the recent years. It’s only natural for us to reinvest in this key market and be where our customers are to offer them the combined brains trust of over 50 facilities worldwide through this new state-of-the-art centre.”

The facility will include a 1.5-megawatt test bench, along with the tooling required for tooling, maintenance and assembly. It will also be the site for the company’s local engineering and sales team, supplementing offices in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Rockhampton.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 47

CONVEYORS

Staying safe around belt conveyor danger zones Recognising hazards is a key step toward preventing conveyor-related injuries. Dan Marshall, a Process Engineer for Martin Engineering, tells ABHR about some of the most common risks to avoid.

A CONVEYOR IS TYPICALLY A massive, complex and extremely powerful system. It is usually constructed of rubber belting, set on rolling idlers, wrapped around large steel drums at each end and driven by a high-torque motor. As a result, a conveyor presents enough danger zones that the entire system should be considered a hazard.

The belt In most applications, a conveyor belt moves at a relatively constant speed, commonly running somewhere between 0.5 and 10 metres per second. An Olympic sprinter has a reaction time of about 0.18 seconds (roughly one-fifth of a second) when poised at the starting line and totally focused on the race. If this athlete becomes tangled in a conveyor belt traveling 1.5 meters per second, the person would be carried 0.27 meters before even realising what has happened.

A conveyor worker would likely require a longer time to react to a hazard, meaning they are likely to be pulled further, increasing the potential to strike many more components, or be pulled farther and harder. Most conveyors are engineered with the ability to start remotely. The system may go from dormant to active at any time at the push of a button. This quick transition can catch a worker off guard, leading to serious injury or death.

“When a conveyor belt is moving, there will usually be more tension on the carrying side,” Dan Marshall, Martin Engineering Process Engineer says. “If the conveyor is merely stopped and deenergised, that tension may remain in the belt in the form of stored energy.”

Marshall says a system under tension will always try to approach equilibrium,

48 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

or in other words, will try to release the energy. This release likely comes in the form of a pulley slip, which occurs when the belt slides around the head pulley to equalise the tension. The distance the belt will move is proportional to the amount of tension stored and the belt’s modulus (elasticity), possibly several metres. If a worker is on the belt or close enough to be pulled in during this sudden release of energy, injuries can occur.

When performing maintenance or repairs, procedures for lockout/tagout/ blockout/test-out should always be followed when working on a stationary conveyor, and systems should be equipped with anti-rollback devices (also known as backstops) on the head pulley.

Many of the moving parts on a conveyor belt system are rotating components. These parts include idlers, drive shafts, couplings, pulleys and A belt conveyor is a large, complex and powerful system.

The system “There’s a simple rule of thumb regarding conveyors: If it’s moving, don’t touch it,” Marshall says.

“The most common way to prevent inadvertent contact is with suitable guarding that renders the moving components inaccessible.”

speed sensors. Items rotating at a high speed pose the risk of entanglement or entrapment.

“All moving machine parts should be guarded with adequately constructed, properly installed, functioning and wellmaintained guards,” Marshall says.

There are many pinch points on

Belt conveyors move massive amounts of material, often at very high speeds.

a conveyor, components that the belt actually touches or comes near, including the drive pulleys, snub pulleys, idlers, stringer, chute walls and deflectors. If a worker’s limb travels with a conveyor belt, it will meet one of these components and become trapped between the belt and the obstruction.

The same thing can happen with a tool, which can pull a worker into the entrapment faster than the person can let go.

“Effective fixed guards should be absolute in their protection.

Workers should not be able to reach around, under, through or over the barrier separating them from moving components,” Marshall adds.

Many of the fatalities around conveyors have happened when a worker was cleaning fugitive material from the structure or components of a conveyor system. The process of cleaning may put a worker in proximity to a very dangerous machine. The need to shovel, sweep or hose off accumulations puts the worker within arm’s length of the conveyor, and often closer.

Airborne dust can also cause numerous health risks, ranging

from material build-up in the lungs to explosions. Categorised as either respirable or inhalable according to particle size, dry, solid dust particles generally range from about 1 to 100 microns (µm) in diameter. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, inhalable coarse particles are 2.5-10 µm in size. They are typically caught by the human nose, throat or upper respiratory tract. In contrast, fine respirable particles (under 2.5 µm) can penetrate beyond the body’s natural cleaning mechanisms (cilia and mucous membranes), travelling deep into the lungs and causing long-term or chronic breathing issues.

While it’s virtually impossible to prevent all fugitive material from escaping a conveyor structure, taking practical steps to minimise it as much as possible helps reduce the dangers it can introduce. When clean-up is necessary, performing the job while the conveyor is running should not be an option. Operators concerned with the cost of lost production from stopping a conveyor to clean need only consider the consequences of an accident to confirm the wisdom of this rule.

“Using new and emerging technologies, even poorly performing conveyors often don’t need to be replaced or rebuilt, but merely modified and reconfigured by knowledgeable and experienced technicians installing the right modern equipment,” Marshall says.

“Specialised conveyor training and trusted resources from global suppliers are helping to raise operator awareness to make conveyor systems cleaner, safer and more productive.”

Belt clamps can be as small as two bars or as large as a giant vice.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 49

CONVEYORS

Belt cleaning: Just deal with it Bradley Owen, a mechanical engineer at Kinder Australia, explains why and how to keep a conveyor belt clean.

WHY SHOULD WE EXPEND ANY TIME or effort into cleaning the belt? After all, it’s only going to become dirty again.

The root cause of common conveyor issues can often be traced back to ineffective belt cleaning. Spillage from carryback soon becomes a safety hazard if left unchecked and can be costly for maintenance crews to remove. Build-up of bulk material on return rollers has a negative influence on belt tacking.

Belt cleaning is fundamental to prolong the life of a conveyors most capital-intensive component – the belt.

Today’s belt cleaning marketplace is filled with a plethora of belt cleaning solutions to suit every application, so there are no excuses for accepting poor belt cleaning performance.

Unfortunately, there is no cleaning solution on the market that can remove 100 per cent of carryback from the belt.

The best belt cleaning solutions utilise a combination of different products that have been thoughtfully selected based on the demands of the application.

Ultimately, this is a balance of the cost of belt cleaning products and the cost savings due to addition belt and idler life as well as the time savings created for maintenance teams and reduction of potential down time.

Pre-cleaners, primary, secondary and tertiary cleaners The common types of cleaners on the market can be broken down into three categories: pre-cleaners, primary and secondary cleaners.

Primary cleaners remove the majority of carryback material on the belt, typically around 60 to 80 per cent.

The primary cleaner is not designed to assist with material discharge and should only remove product that has adhered to the belt.

As the name suggest, pre-cleaners are installed before a primary cleaner and are used to remove extremely cohesive or wet materials. Typically, these do not contact

50 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Heavy duty tungsten carbide pre-cleaner in application with cohesive and wet product.

(Photo provided by Tecnipak)

the belt and help extend the life of the primary cleaner.

Secondary cleaners are tasked to remove the finer carryback that remains on the belt after passing through the primary cleaner. Tertiary cleaners are installed further downstream of the head pulley and take the form of brushes, spray systems, beater rollers and self-cleaning return rollers.

It is worth noting that in some applications, multiple secondary or tertiary cleaners may be installed. The number of cleaners boils down to the properties of the bulk material and level of cleanliness desired.

The overall duty of the application needs to be considered when the model and number of belt cleaners to install on a conveyor. Pulley diameter, belt width, belt speed, material throughput, abrasiveness and cohesiveness of the conveyed product provide important insight into the required duty of the cleaner. These parameters are not fully independent. For example, high capacity conveyors will

generally utilise larger pulleys, wider and faster belts. The rigidity of the cleaner mainframe, range of tension adjustability, size and material of the blade all need to meet the demands of the application.

Head pulley diameter is the key factor dictating the height of the blade or length of suspension arms depending of the design of the cleaner. Blades that are too small tend to either ‘flip through’ after a certain amount of wear or the free space between the pulley face and blade will fill with the bulk material. Once the cavity is filled, wear on the blade accelerates leading to premature failure.

A blade that is too large is typically designed for heavier duty environments.

This may lead to excessive wear to the belt, a consequence of the extra tension, friction and heat that is associated with heavy duty belt cleaners. This friction introduces additional unnecessary load to the drive unit.

The ideal blade length should match the burden width of the bulk material.

It does not take much imagination to

Spiral cleaning return roller.

understand how a blade that is not wide enough will not deliver the desired results. The reverse is also true in that cleaning performance can diminish quickly over time if the blade length is too long, particularly with softer material blades. The leading edge of the blade wears at a quicker rate in sections that are removing the abrasive carryback. The outer edge of the blade that is scraping the relatively clean belt edge will wear only minimally. As the centre section wears, blade pressure on the belt reduces and cleaning performance is directly affected

as a result. Many types of blades can be trimmed to size after installation to suit the burden width. This can be particularly helpful when selecting a cleaner and the burden width is not yet known.

A well-designed belt cleaner creates constant contact pressure along the length of the blade. Most cleaners on the market use a form of spring tension system at one or both ends of the cleaner to press the blade onto the belt. The key consideration here is that blade pressure reduces as distance from the tensioner increases.

Systems with one tensioner are generally sufficient for smaller belt widths. Larger belts widths will require dual tensioners to avoid an undesirable pressure gradient across the length of the blade.

A few systems manage this tension loss more effectively than others. An example of this is some designs that apply the tension load in-board of the belt edge in order reduce the pressure differential. Other styles of tensioners are also available. Pneumatic and hydraulic tensioners automatically adjusting to compensate for blade wear and apply a constant force to the blade throughout its life.

Crowned pulleys require cleaners that specifically allow the blade to

conform to the crowning profile while maintaining tension across the width of the belt. Usually, this is accomplished by using a series of short segmented blades. Single piece polyurethane blades can conform to the taper of the crown, however, segmented polyurethane is the better option.

Most belt cleaners are designed to clean the belt while operating in one direction only. Some blades are designed not to damage the belt when operated in reverse. In these situations, two systems can be installed, one at each end of the conveyor. Other blade designs are strictly for one direction of travel and can damage the belt cleaner, belt or splice if operated in reverse.

Common blade materials Blade material selection is generally made based on the condition of the belt, splice type, belt speed, material abrasiveness and desired blade life.

Polyurethane has many favourable properties making it well suited to a large range of belt cleaning applications. Good abrasion resistance, high flexibility and low friction coefficient translate to good blade life and minimal abrasion wear of the belt. The high flexibility reduces the

Notice little wear on extreme left edge compared to burden width.

This installation would benefit by using a short length blade.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 51

CONVEYORS

Return roller with retrofit “shaker discs” designed to remove material by vibrating the belt.

chance of belt damage occurring from an incorrectly tensioned cleaner. Both over-tensioning and under-tensioning has its own associated issues, however polyurethane gives a larger margin for error compared to carbide or ceramic tips.

Tungsten carbide tipped blades are commonly specified for applications where a higher level of abrasion resistance and thus longer blade life is desired. The lower wear rate translates to a slower loss of tension overtime as the tensioner relaxes to fill the void created by material loss of the blade.

This reduces the frequency of blade changeouts and re-tensioning. The maximum permissible belt speed for a tungsten carbide tipped cleaner is generally higher than polyurethane.

However, some formulas of polyurethane work successfully on belt speeds in excess of seven metres per second.

An alternative option to tungsten carbide blades are alumina ceramic chips.

Alumina ceramics are incredibly hard and are used as wear liners in extreme sliding abrasion applications. In belt cleaning applications this means the wearing surface maintains its geometry providing excellent life with same benefits as tungsten carbide.

Mechanical belt splices and fasteners such as repair staples are incompatible with carbide and ceramic belt cleaners due to the relatively low impact resistance of both materials. Hot vulcanised splices

52 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

are a necessity when specifying either of these types of cleaners. Polyurethane blades are compatible with hot vulcanised splices and some mechanical fasteners.

Edges of belt repair patches are less likely to be lifted as a polyurethane belt cleaner passes over the repaired section compared to a carbide or ceramic cleaner.

Other considerations The condition of the conveyor belt cover is commonly overlooked as a selection criterion for belt cleaners. Cuts, gouges and abrasion accumulate over the life of the belt result in an irregular surface that is difficult to clean. Fugitive material amasses in cavities created by impact damage at transfer points, groove lines from skirting and general uneven wear caused by material abrasion.

Carbide and ceramic cleaners are often too stiff and may have little effect on belt cleanliness if the belt surface is uneven. These cleaners are best suited to brand new or undamaged belts.

Polyurethane blades are much softer than carbide or ceramic blades and are much more effective on older belts where the surface has become uneven. As the blade wears, the polyurethane conforms to the belt surface and maintains its cleaning effectiveness over the life of the blade.

Brush type cleaners provide very good cleaning efficiency for heavily damaged or rough top belts. Motorised brush cleaners are most effective, however

non-powered brushes installed at an angle to the belt direction provide an economical alternative.

Conveyors with chevron belts are more difficult to keep clean as traditional “scraper” type cleaners will damage the belt. Speciality scrapers designed specifically for chevron belts are available. Generally, these utilise very thin segmented blades which have a high degree of lateral flexibility. These thin blades allow the chevron to pass without damage. Brush cleaners with thin flexible nylon bristles are effective on belts with a small chevron height, typically less than 10-millimetres tall. Taller cleats create difficulties cleaning into the corners and can generate too much heat when cleaned by a motorised brush. Return rollers with offset lobes can be employed to vibrate the belt and “shake off” the carryback. Also known as a beater roller, these can be used on deep pocket belts.

There may arise a situation where it is advantageous to remove carryback further downstream or away from the head pulley.

In these cases, polyurethane return rollers with spiral flutes angling towards the centre of the belt act as rotating cleaning blades. Spiral rollers can be installed on Vee-return systems. However, frames should be designed such that removed material does not build up. Shaker rollers and brush type cleaners are also viable option in these situations. Furthermore, these options do not require a vulcanised splice or good belt cover condition to operate effectively.

It’s important to remember that all belt cleaners require frequent inspection and regular maintenance to perform optimally over their lives.

Cleaners should be positioned thoughtfully so that displaced material is directed back into the product stream or into a bin for easy housekeeping.

Any reputable belt cleaner manufacturer will have numerical and empirical data which to make belt cleaning recommendations.

They will be able to provide specific technical information regarding suitability and installation their products. Recommendations made by the manufacturer should be adhered to in order to maximise the cleaner’s performance.

No matter the application, there is a belt cleaning solution to suit.

INTERNATIONAL

talk

Bulk outside of the box STEVE DAVIS In his regular BULKtalk column, Steve Davis considers the basics of bulk handling that sites often struggle with.

He shares his insights gained from more than 30 years in bulk materials handling.

Steve has worked in bulk handling for 30 years, for both resource companies and professional engineering firms, in Australia, South Africa, the Middle East and Canada.

His experience encompasses such commodities as iron ore, coal, potash, phosphates, petcoke, sulphur, sands and grain.

Steve Davis, Senior bulk handling expert at Advisian, has been involved in projects around the world and seen issues and concepts not often considered in the Australian bulk materials handling world.

THE WORLD OF BULK materials handling is made up of diverse materials and situations, often dictated by environment.

However, there are some common issues that occur on almost every site. Encrustation from spillage, carryback and dust build-up is one such example I have seen on almost every facility I have been to in recent years.

Some plants have so much encrustation that the structural integrity must be questioned. In many, the structures only had flat surfaces and spillage traps, and there is no access to remove the build-up. In others, there is so much dust that there is a serious risk of secondary dust explosion.

Early in my career I worked in a British steelworks where a large roof collapsed due to dust build-up, and recently in South Africa I was concerned for my safety just walking the site.

We need more thought in our designs and more care in our maintenance practices and the data used to determine them. Learning from how other organisations around the world have moved to address these issues can prove valuable.

Travels in Canada and Russia Australia transports about 1.5 billion tonnes of coal and iron ore via rail each year. Generally, once loaded, it is relatively easy to unload.

However, spare a though for northern hemisphere countries where ores, concentrates and coal commonly freeze solid in transit. The result can be 100-tonne ice blocks in railcars. There are some interesting additions to the train unloading process, which is almost always by rotary tippler.

Methods for managing frozen ores include thaw stations where railcars stand for a period surrounded by radiant heater elements and block breakers where the ice block is tipped onto a grid and a moving rotary hammer device chops the block up. We chose the rotary hammer for an iron concentrate port terminal in Quebec.

54 | Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Encrustation poses safety issues to bulk handling sites.

Insulating railcars using plywood is common with polyurethane being investigated as a potential alternative. This is often combined with antifreeze sprays as the train departs. We also included the plywood liner for our railcars.

Alternative methods exist that use or propose mechanical systems to break up the ice cube, from the use of a jackhammer, through to explosive propelled harpoons over the railcar.

Further to frozen railcars, stockpiles can also freeze. High turnover stockpiles are less likely to encounter this problem, but if the stockpile stands for a few weeks, a thick solid frozen crust can form. This does not appear to be a problem for front-end loaders, but bucket wheel reclaim must consider break out loads in more detail.

In some parts of the world, such as those located above the Arctic circle, the seas freeze for at least six months each year. Mines, however, continue to operate all year round.

At an installation on Canada’s Baffin Island the result is a very large stockpile at the port and high rate reclaim and loading equipment to store 12 months production and load to ships in three to four months. A small fleet of ice breaking cargo

temperature, effective head and humidity. Reclaimers that are specified for free-flowing granules can struggle to reclaim the matrix.

Watching scraper reclaimers juddering though the stockpiles of apparently loose granules is uncomfortable and warns of potential failure.

Material properties

In the northern hemisphere, coal often freezes in transit.

ships takes ore from the port.

One lesson learned during my first visit to Fort Mac in Alberta, midwinter is to ensure the workspaces at these sites are fit for the climate.

Where the temperature drops below -30°C, multiple layers of clothes led me to resemble the ‘Michelin Man’.

Standard maintenance access in Australia would be too small for these conditions. Walkways would need to be at least a metre wide. In addition, to account for the heavy gloves, equipment comes with much larger handles. Enclosures are provided with heating to maximise potential activities in the short times allowed in these temperatures. Cold weather carbon steel alloys are mandatory for all structures and platework.

Another lesson I learned from the cold was at a mine producing concentrates in Northern British Columbia, Canada. The road out is frozen for many months, meaning there is no access to transport. The solution was to bag the concentrate into one-tonne flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBC) and store them in such a way that they froze solid in a slightly constrained shape. As soon as the road opens, the big ice blocks are loaded up and shipped out, with defrosting taking place at the destination.

Heat can also present challenges to catch the unwary. In Australia, we import sulphur granules as there is no viable local source. Typically, granules

can be a little dusty but handle well.

Granules have some unusual properties related to phase changes that affect bulk handling. Granules are produced with a surface temperature of approximately 65°C, and then the temperature increases as sulphur experiences a phase change.

In a stockpile the temperature might reach 100°C or more and gradually cool over many days. Much of the world’s sulphur is a by-product of Middle East oil and gas production, where summer temperatures can reach 50°C and above. This does not assist cooling.

Under the right ambient conditions, the granules in the stockpile form an adhered matrix. Factors involved are time,

In Australia, the bulk handling industry often tests only one or two coarse ore samples for materials handling properties. This is then used to design a materials handling facility for a large non-homogenous ore body for a life span of years.

The same properties are also used for all sub fractions of the ore. The cost of testing and difficulty in getting representative samples is the justification.

I have seen projects where test work has been completed and ignored, or not completed at all. I’ve seen others where multiple tests have been completed but not consolidated into any real guidance. These options have resulted in poor handling outcomes that could have been designed out.

Imagine not making nameplate capacity on start-up and the cost of coaxing a facility to operate and all the downtime through all the diverse changes in 20-plus years.

Some organisations are using regular in-pit ore testing results

Significant changes in the material handling properties can occur in different temperatures.

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 | 55

INTERNATIONAL

Different environments can change how a material will flow in a system.

to predict and blend material flow properties to reduce blocked chutes and the like in the process plant. This is proving effective in reducing downtime.

Temperature Oilsands have interesting properties when temperature is considered.

Temperatures in the mine areas vary from -40°C to +35°C. The higher temperatures do not thaw in ground sand, but as soon as it is mined and crushed, we see significant changes in material handling properties.

Frozen or warm is generally ok but there is an interim sticky phase over -4°C to +10°C. In the typical 9000-tonne storage bins, we can see the crushed sand vary between difficult (heated and aerated bins to get flow) and so free flowing that the bin can empty in seconds onto the floor. Typical materials handling testing is at 20°C, so would you consider additional testing at other temperatures for this and similar applications?

are reduced and the rail schedule is impacted. In some situations, this will limit the total capacity of the rail system.

When transferring wet ore by ship, we often see the bottom metre or so of a hold is just wet sludge. This can be so bad that the ship cannot be fully unloaded and is returned with up to five per cent residual material. The wharf and conveying equipment will also likely be covered in spillage from trying to unload as much as possible.

Much of the water is added by random sprays that are used to wet ore on conveyors and elsewhere to manage dust emission. Surely, we can manage dust more effectively and reduce the amount of water added.

Reagents Reagents are commodities generally used in laboratories for making chemical reactions. But what if your reaction in Australia requires more than 200 tonnes per day?

It turns out that the reagent is produced in a different hemisphere with no regard to handling properties and packaged in 20-kilogram packs. The reagent, like many, is hygroscopic. We needed to assess how to get 10 containers per day to a remote location, and the transport system is complex: truck, train, ship, truck, barge.

The barge operates infrequently

so we must store the reagent for up to a month in a hot and humid climate.

We want to use container liners for 20-tonne loads, with FIBC as a backup plan.

The original concept was to test the reagent for the standard suite of handling properties and design assuming these would sustain through travel and storage. After some discussion we completed material tests in a climate chamber and with simulation of vibration and storage.

The conclusion was that the reagent would form a 20-tonne solid block by the time it was needed, so no conventional system could meter the discharge. This allowed us to source an unconventional method that manages the discharge simply.

I am sure there are more diverse materials and situations when it comes to bulk materials handling, and I hope that my experience might drive material flow testing considerations beyond the suite of room temperature flow test that provide valuable data, but sometimes not enough.

A final experience is a potash storage building in Russia. On the outside, a standard steel sheeted building, on the inside, a completely wooden structure. I was told that this material is more cost effective and less prone to corrosion than steel, yet all other structures were steel framed.

The photos don’t do it justice.

Moisture Transporting bulk with water often creates unloading and storage problems, such as stockpile collapse.

Extra water also increases the cost of transport of the ore through displacement.

For example, 10 per cent moisture is 20,000 tonnes of the average cape size ship capacity that has no value.

Wet ore in railcars can separate and create havoc when unloading in the dump station, unloading rates

56 | Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

A potash storage building in Russia.

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ENERGY

Life beyond the head pulley Grant Wellwood, General Manager for Jenike and Johanson, explains how to master mechanical energy usage to reduce electricity costs and engineer better performing systems.

A . Thanks “Flummoxed”, glad to read

What happens to the total mechanical energy of the flowing material between one point in the value chain and the next?

Q. MY ORGANISATION IS MOVING towards zero emissions and I was recently tasked with conducting a site energy survey. I was quite surprised by the magnitude of plug energy required by our conveyors. I never really thought about it before, but apart from the amount of energy we consume just moving material, what bugs me is that the ore often ends up static on a stockpile or as a feed for another conveyor, so where does it go? Although it’s been a while, I still recall that the first law of thermodynamics energy is that energy is conserved. As an example, we have one conveyor that travels at three metres per second and delivers 8000 tonnes per hour of bulk material through a transfer chute to another belt six metres below.

While I understand how energy dissipation plays out with furnaces and hydrodynamic systems, what happens to the plug energy in the case of bulk solids? Is there any way to recover some of this energy in a useable form to help contribute to our zero emissions objective and therefore make my management happy?

Yours Sincerely, Flummoxed

58 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

you are a conscientious member of an organisation focused on understanding and reducing its environmental impact. In most mining operations, materials handing is the major energy draw. For example, Terry Norgate and Nawshad Haque found that in relation to their model iron ore operation, 92 megajoules per tonne or 60 per cent of the total energy demand come from “loading and hauling” activities, therefore making it the prime target for improvement.

Within such operations, conveyors like the one you described are an efficient means of transporting and in many cases elevating, bulk materials, especially at high volumetric rates. As such, they are a familiar and critical element within many bulk solid handling systems so let’s take a closer look.

Your question can be rephrased as “what happens to the total mechanical energy of the flowing material between one point in the value chain (discharge from the head-pulley) and the next (dropping into a bin, or stockpile or wagon, bag or perhaps as in your case directly onto another conveyor)?” This critical yet unassuming function in the value chain is colloquially referred to as a “transfer point”.

While the plug power of the conveyor system will always be higher (to overcome the friction of running the conveyor-empty), there is always mechanical energy associated with the flowing solid that needs to be managed in the transfer. Using the elevation of the underflow belt in your example as the datum and applying the equations for power, there is around 140 kilowatts of total mechanical energy (130 kilowatts of potential energy and 10 kilowatts of kinetic energy) that needs to be dispersed within this transfer point, between the end of the head pulley and the underflow pick-up point below.

KE (W) = 1/2 m.v2-Equation 1 PE (W) = m.g.h-Equation 2 where: m = mass flowrate (kg/s) v = aggregate velocity (a vector quantity involving both speed and direction) of the bulk solid (m/s) h = vertical drop under gravity (m) g = gravitational constant (9.81 m/s2) W = power in watts (J/s or kg m2/s3) This is actually quite a lot of energy that needs to be continually dissipated beyond the head (or drive) pulley. Given the first law of thermodynamics holds, where does this energy go and what does it mean for the performance of your organisations value chain?

Within each transfer point there is a wide range of outlets (sinks) for the incoming mechanical energy including: • Heating (particles, sliding surfaces) and work done by heat-evaporation, heating air • Mechanical displacement of air • Noise • Attrition and abrasion of the bulk solid particles • Abrasive wear of the sliding surfaces • Driving segregation and stockpile movements • Vibration and elastic deformation of the infrastructure • Hard loading damage of the receiving belt conveyor (where applicable) • Driving compaction • Driving adhesion • Driving abrasive blasting of static material • Changing flow direction • Recovery via useful mechanical work In most situations, the exact profile of mechanical work sinks at a transfer point will be some mix of these options determined by design and applicationspecific considerations. It is important to always consider life beyond the head pulley. Regardless of the operating circumstances, the issue of mechanical

Figure 1: Infrared thermograph showing dissipation of mechanical energy into wear plate as temperature increase.

energy dissipation/management should not be left to chance, as it can hold your operating freedom to ransom. It requires careful and considered engineering focus, informed by a system view of all the components involved in order to get the best profile for the application.

For example, if the bulk solid is dusty and fugitive emissions are an issue, the transfer needs to be designed with abrasion minimisation and displaced air movement in mind.

In the era of abundant and cheap energy, the primary sink for total mechanical energy within a transfer point has been wear. Depending principally on the geometry of the transfer, the wear-based energy sink can be associated with that of sacrificial (wear) surfaces. Or, if material properties permit and degradation of the bulk solid is not an issue, autogenous protection is afforded when moving particles impact on a layer of the same material (for example a “rock-box”, funnel flow).

In the case of engineered wear surfaces, a key consideration is the rate of wear in service.

Rotables While wear plates designed to be regularly replaced represent a viable management option, premature failure between scheduled maintenance shutdown can be very costly. In this regard, there are some energy related issues to be aware of: Elevated operating temperature Due to friction, wear plates operate at an elevated temperature sometimes 100 to 150˚C above ambient. The higher the rate of wear, the higher the plate temperature (Figure 1).

Although operating temperature is seldom a consideration when selecting wear plates (outside extreme applications like kiln or smelter liners), abrasive resistance is generally a function of temperature. Therefore, it is something that should be taken into account when designing the geometry of your transfer system to accurately determine the riskfree service interval.

As it was only ever intended to qualitatively rank wear plates, accelerated wear tests that use a recycling sand applied at ambient temperature are not able to predict wear rate under service conditions (Wellwood, 2019). However, quantitative testers capable of emulating elevated operating conditions and generating a realistic wear rate are available. Reliance on qualitative, ambient temperature-based wear results can be a trap for the unwary in terms of service life estimation and competitive procurement testing.

Impact vs sliding abrasion Particles within the flowing stream are essentially projectiles, so depending on the geometry and operation of the system, there can also be an impact dimension to wear plate life. Impact effects can be different depending on the type of surface or liner being used with the bulk material.

For example, a ductile metal liner often experiences rapid wear from low impact angle and high velocity situations. A ceramic liner on the other hand experiences rapid wear from near perpendicular impact. This material is often not tough and experiences brittle fracture leading to failure.

Hidden consequences of over-rating throughput A common misconception when it comes to the operation of bulk materials handling systems is that the elements in the value chain, like transfer chutes and the wear surfaces within, are invariant to throughput. However, when we look at things from mechanical energy perspective, we can see why this is not the case.

Say your asset’s economic optimisation model flags an attractive increase in overall profitability in

exchange for a 10 per cent increase in throughput. In the case of the elements in the study system you provided, this would probably be achieved by increasing belt speed. But how does it play out in terms of total mechanical energy beyond the head pulley?

At the new condition of 8800 tonnes per hour with belt speed of 3.3 metres per second, the total mechanical work of the flowing solids increases by 12 per cent to 157 kilowatts. If the primary energy sink is wear plates in the transfer chute, the increased rate of abrasive wear could mean failure between scheduled maintenance shutdowns. The impact of such an event would almost certainly negate the throughput value gains (and probably then some) making the change in operating point a false economy that should never have been executed.

However, it is possible to quantify wear rates for a given material wear surface combination. These findings can then be incorporated into Discrete Element Method (DEM) models to predict flow patterns, service life and facilitate ‘what if?’ analysis in relation to the use of wear as a sink for mechanical energy.

In practice, mechanical energy dissipation is just one of the impacts of throughput change. When it comes to bulk material handling, everything is connected, and decisions need to be taken holistically. The emergence of digital twins featuring DEM elements offers the potential to change scenarios in the virtual world before being enacted.

This approach has many benefits but critical to its success is giving transfer points a process identity.

Transfers as critical control points?

Bulk material transfers do not involve value increasing transformation (chemical or physical), which are the exciting aspects that most engineers are trained to deal with. This fact of life, combined with a lack of awareness in terms of issues like mechanical energy transformation, means that no-one takes accountability for the performance of transfer points beyond the basic requirements.

With no individual or discipline accountable, transfer point engineering

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 59

ENERGY

Figure 3a Modelling of geometry and layout options for a turbine energy recovery device (used with permission).

tends to slip through the cracks during the detailed design phase only to emerge in the form of intractable performance issues during operation.

To remedy this situation, a simple technique known as Flow Analysis at Critical Control Points (FA@CCP) has been devised (Wellwood, 2020). Critical control points are defined as physical places in the value chain where there is an “aggregate velocity” (velocity) change, typically a transfer point (e.g.

Figure 2).

A strategic tool, FA@CCP is based on establishing formal flowsheet identities for elements like transfer chutes and provide accountability for performance. Based on the extremely successful Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) framework, FA@ CCP helps avoid baking-in problems by ensuring elements like transfer points are seen for what they are – a network of interdependent flow nodes whose individual and collective performance is critical for overall performance. Giving transfer points a flowsheet identity helps ensure they are considered as part of the detailed design process and ahead of executing every change.

60 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

Recovery While most of the total mechanical energy sinks listed above represent loss from the process, hence waste, there is an opportunity to recover at least some of the total mechanical energy in transfer points.

For example, the inclusion of a mechanical device in the path of the moving material to harness mechanical energy, much like in the manner of a waterwheel (See Figure 3a), could be an option. This approach has been pursued with the support of a European grant and is currently being piloted (See Figure 3b).

In terms of technical feasibility, the results to date, such as those found in Michael Prenner’s Solid State Material Driven Turbine in 2019, appear encouraging and for many high-volume operations, seem worth pursuing in terms of value proposition.

Assuming the wholesale electrical power price is $100 megawatt hours and a recovery efficiency of 55 per cent, the avoided electrical energy cost-based return from an investment from this one transfer point would be around $70,000 per annum. Of course, meaningful

utilisation of this recovered electrical energy requires careful consideration.

For example, could it be used to help drive conveyors in the vicinity or perhaps power dust collection at the transfer point?

While electrical energy is still relatively cheap, it is generally agreed that the current price does not reflect the cost to the environment and that this needs to change in the future.

Getting ahead of the curve could be well worth considering and a good social and financial investment. If your operation is constrained by the power available from the grid, the recovered power can be used to generate more product/revenue, increasing its value to you.

In terms of the total mechanical energy dissipation profile, the inclusion of a recovery device reduces the load on the wasteful sinks, the impacts of which in many cases would be more valuable than the avoided power savings.

Additional, less tangible process benefits here could include: • Reduced particle segregation and degradation • Less dust • Less noise

• Soft loading effect at a receiving belt conveyor (where applicable) • Reduced wear rates • More latitude in terms of managing particle trajectory • Tolerance of changes in cohesiveness • Rotable change out (compartment liners) during operation to reduce/ avoid a complete flow shutdown • Reduced breakage and segregation • Reduced energy/environmental footprint For many operations there is a need to demonstrate that our scarce resources like energy, are being used efficiently, with both the social licence to operate and environmental footprints becoming a key consideration.

This is an evolving area and there has been some interesting work done, however solutions like this need to be considered holistically from a life cycle perspective. The approach is perhaps better suited to very high throughputs (15,000 to 20,000 tonnes per hour) as the capital cost of the recovery device will scale sub-linearly while its installation

ndlingreview.com

Figure 3b Prototype mechanical energy recovery device (used with permission).

infrastructure will be insensitive to installed capacity, giving good economies of scale.

A well-considered and engineered transfer point can help minimise undesirable outcomes like dusting, particle attrition and wear. By using tools like Discrete Element Method analysis,

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3

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it is now possible to explore transfer point designs in the virtual world and reduce risk and maximise utility ahead of detailed design and fabrication. In cases where the amount of total mechanical energy to be dissipated is large, in-line devices that recovery energy in the form of electrical energy may be feasible.

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TECHNICAL PAPER

A case study of stacker chute analysis using DEM and scale modelling

result, DEM simulations are often computationally intensive. Scale modelling has also been used for analysing material flow in the chutes operation [3].

The chute wall are Scale typically madehasofalso result, DEMduring simulations are often computationally intensive. modelling Perspex to allow flow visualisation.

As the frictional factor for the Perspex in the model and the liner analysing material flow in the chutes during operation [3]. The chute wall are typic Perspex allow flowbe visualisation.

As the frictional factor forextent the Perspex in the mode on site might be different, there maytotherefore some discrepancy between the of build-up on experienced site might different, there therefore be discrepancy between theof model and that on site.

The may build-up in thesome model is indicative ofthe theexte Transfer chutes may be a small orobserved low-costinpart a system, but they canbeeasily become a costly bottleneck and observed in the model and that experienced on site. The build-up in the model is ind areasstudy, whereexperts build up would be expected to occur in the full scale. maintenance nightmare. In this case from TUNRA Bulk Solids model a stacker chute in a stacker areas where build up would be expected to occur in the full scale.

reclaimer using Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) and scale modelling.

The objective of this study isThe to analyse flow in analyse a stacker chuteflow in in a stacker for objectivematerial of this study is to material a stackerreclaimer chute in a stacker Guinea Bauxite Export Project.

DEMBauxite and scale modelling have to ensure an efficient and an Guinea Export Project. DEM andbeen scaleused modelling have been used to ensure THE PERFORMANCE OF BULK reliable atransfer separate that can undergo a blockage. stacker/reclaimer for the Guinea reliable transferaofspillage the bulkinor material without or blockage.

Inofaddition, analysis of entity the bulk material without Inspillage addition, analysis qualitative handling plant depends on all range forces observed in reality.

Bauxite Export Project. DEM and scale chute wear will also be conducted. chute wear willofalso be as conducted.

equipment that comprise the modelling have been used to ensure an These forces typically include gravity 2. Chute Configuration and Operating Parameters system operating efficiently without efficient and reliable transfer of the bulk and contact forcesand withOperating other particles 2. Chute Configuration Parameters Presented in Figure 1 is the concept model of the stacker chute for transferring mat inwalls, Figure is the concept model of the material stacker chute forspillage transferring material an def interruption, and poorly designed Presented without or which blockage. and as 1well as cohesive incoming and tripper conveyor to an outgoing boom conveyor, includesfrom a curved transfer chutes often become a In addition, analysis ofacaptures qualitative chutestream adhesive if the bulk solid is and incoming tripper forces conveyor to an outgoing boom conveyor, includes curvedthe deflector, shuttle hopper/chute, lower chute.

Thewhich curved deflector entire as it dis costly bottleneck and maintenancehopper/chute, wear has also been conducted. cohesive nature. headcurved pulley, deflector and then to converge the stream to allow compact delivery offrom the mate andinlower chute.theThe captures the entire stream as it discharged nightmare even though the chute the head pulley, Calculations and theforces, shuttlethe hopper/chute.

The chute incorporated chamfers corners as a means and thenfor to the converge stream to allow compact delivery of theinmaterial stream to of itself may appear to be only a small or resulting displacements, are made likelihood of fines build-up occurring in the area. the shuttle hopper/chute. The chute incorporated chamfers in corners as a means of reducing the low-cost part of the plant for every particle at very small-time likelihood of fines build-up occurring in the area.

Transfer chutes are mostly employed steps throughout the simulation. As to direct the flow of bulk material from a result, DEM simulations are often one conveyor belt/feeder to another, computationally intensive. often via a three-dimensional path.

Scale modelling is also used for Commonly used transfer chute analysing material flow in chutes analysis methods include continuum during operation. The chute walls are mechanics, Discrete Element Modelling typically made of Perspex to allow flow (DEM), and scale modelling. In some visualisation. As the frictional factor for cases, more than one approach is used the Perspex in the model and the liner to ensure trouble-free operations. on site might be different, there may be The continuum method has been some discrepancy between the extent Figure 1: Configuration of the stacker Figure 1: Configuration ofchute the stacker chute developed based on granular dynamics of build-up observed in the model and Modelling was conducted using the speeds and the combinations of luffing and slewin and uses measured properties such that experienced on site, but thechute. buildChute were configuration and1,operating the stacker The parameters outlined in Table where all the dimensions, s as bulk density, internal friction and up in the model is indicative theflow rates inparameters material of mass the paper refer to actual. wall friction. A general assessment of areas where build up would be1: expected Presented Figure chute 1 is the concept Figure Configuration of theinstacker 1: Modelling Parameters for stacker chute transfer functionality could be obtained to occur in the fullusing scale. the speeds and theTable model of the stacker chute Modelling was conducted combinations of luffing andfor slewing angles of Parameter Unit Value within hours.

The objective of this study to transferring material from an incoming the stacker chute.

The parameters wereisoutlined in Table 1, where all the dimensions, speeds, and Throughput t/h However, the analysis of dispersed analyse material flow in a stacker chute tripper conveyor to an outgoing boom 7,500 material mass flow rates in the paper refer to actual.

Tripper Conveyor Speed m/s 5.4 material stream and build-up in the Tripper Conveyor Inclination Angle ° -13 chute is difficult using continuum Table 1: Modelling Parameters for stacker chute Boom Conveyor Belt Speed m/s 5.4 approach and relies on many Parameter Unit Value Boom Conveyor Inclination Angle ° 10.5 assumptions. With the advancement Horizontal Angle t/h between Tripper and 7,500 Throughput of simulation techniques, DEM has ° 90 Boom Conveyor m/s Tripper Conveyor Speed 5.4 become increasingly beneficial in Tripper Conveyor Inclination Angle ° -13 solving industrial bulk solids handling 13th International Conference on Bulk Materials Storag 9-11 Ju problems.

Boom Conveyor Belt Speed m/s 5.4 DEM is a numerical method that Boom Conveyor Inclination Angle ° 10.5 can be used to simulate the flow of Horizontal Angle between Tripper and ° 90 granular bulk solids. The basic principle Boom Conveyor is to model each individual particle as

13th International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling and Transpor 9-11 July 2019, Queensland, Au

62 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

scale validation of the DEM model. This is typically achieved by comparing the D

it is not designed to model wear and build-up. As the frictional factor for the Perspex in the model taken from in the form of photos, videos analysis. and the wall linersite on site might be different, there might be and some throughput discrepancy between the extent of build-up observed in the model and that experienced on site. Therefore, the build-up in the model is An important aspect chute design is the toknowledge of scale. the relevant bulk solid indicative of the areas where of build up would be expected occur in the full

f this study, the modelling parameters within the DEM software are chosen based on The scale model of the stacker chute was constructed and set up to replicate the system configuration the inmeasured flowinvolved properties of the bulk material, bulk density, wall fric asof shown Figure 2, which the correct angles, speeds and scalede.g. distances. friction. The material is bauxite. Standard flow property testing was performed for t conveyor, which includes a curved a direct shear tester. The internal strength of the bauxite sample indicated an effectiv deflector, shuttle hopper chute, and lower chute. friction of approximately 55-60Âş, while the bulk density was approximately 1400 The curved deflector captures the friction angle was 35-40Âş, and angle of repose testing revealed an approximate angl entire stream as it discharges from 40Âş. In the DEM simulation of chute, the complete particle size distribution of the m the head pulley, and then converges the stream to allow compact delivery be used as the computational costs associated with the simulation of real cases are of the material to the shuttle hopper/ chute the bulk material was modelled with a PSD ranging from 38 mm (spherical) to chute. The chute incorporated chamfers in corners as a means of reducing the particles.

likelihood of fines build-up occurring in the area.

4. Scale Modelling Modelling was conducted using the Scale modelling of the chute allows verification of the overall performance speeds and the combinations of luffing determines any potential problems with the design. The model dimensions, veloci and slewing angles of the stacker chute.

The parameters are outlined in Table 1, parameters used for the modelling should be correctly scaled so that the validity where all the dimensions, speeds, and results can be ensured. As the governing forces for the material flow in the chut material mass flow rates refer to actual.

Firgure 2: Stacker chute scale model set up

gravitational forces, the Froude dimensionless number was selected to scale the sy scale andbulk model system.

As such, the similarity the DEM modelling as the density, wall friction, and chute between thebetween full-scale (fs) full-scale and model (fs) and m Figure 2: Stacker scale model set up In this study, the DEM software Rocky Inwas friction. exercise, the top size of bauxite (m)was systems wastoachieved: achieved: theinternal scale modelling selected represent approximate 1:8

was used to model the flow in the chute.

Standard flow property testing was scale material.

For the scale modelling, the bauxite sample was prepared at a predetermined moisture ���� ���� This software utilises a hysteresis linear performed for this material (bauxite) level to represent the properties of full size. During physical � �modelling =� �of the transfer chute, a belt ��������� ��������� spring model for the normal force using a direct shear tester. The internal �������� ���� the sample was dried in cut sample of the bauxite was taken and weighed to validate tonnage.

Then, interactions and an elastic-frictional strength of the bauxite sample indicated an oven to determine the moisture content of the bauxite. force model in the tangential direction. where an effective of internal friction of g is the Where V is the material velocity V is theangle material velocity (m/s), gravitational constant (m/s2), and D i Rolling resistance is implemented while 55 to 60 degrees, while (m/s), g is the gravitational constant 5. Results and Discussion (m).approximately Gravitational constant was the same for the full-scale (fs) and model (m) syst Simulation adhesive forces between particles and 5.1 DEM the bulk densityResults was approximately (m/s2), and D is a size dimension (m).

3D DEM simulation ofper the flow undertaken to assess the flowwas mode walls and cohesive forces between 1400 kilograms cubicthrough metre. the Thechute wasThe gravitational constant theand likely The scaling factor of 0.125 was selected for modelling.

Then, the calculated flow velocities through the transfer.

Figure 3 show the bauxite flow through the stacker chute at a veloci particles and particles are included wall friction angle was 35 to 40 degrees, same for the full-scale (fs) and model of 7500 whentesting the luffing angle was degrees the slewingbased angle was degrees. wasand 0.353 . The modelled tonnages can-13also be and determined on90the scaled size through a simple constant force model.throughput angle of t/h repose revealed (m) systems.

The DEM simulation image snapshots presented approximated general flow behaviour and The correct calibration and selection an approximate angle of repose of 35 The scaling factor of 0.125 was effectively given approximate insights into the visualization of a three dimensional flow through of DEM parameters is one of the most Thetochutes 40 degrees.

In the DEM selected for modelling.

Then, the were made ofsimulation Perspex to allow flow visualisation.

It shouldthebe note stacker chute.

After the material impacted with the deflector, small amount of slow moving important steps in this simulation of chute, the complete particle size calculated velocity scaling factor wasmaterial parameters used inrelatively transferhigh modelling ensure that the modelled trajectories and flo was observed due to the impact angle and small between the can deflection method and a great deal of research has distribution of the material could not 0.353.

The spacing modelled tonnages also and to those in full-scale.

Therefore, allowsused assessment of bauxite pulley.

Material hang-up did notcosts occurthe formodelling material parameters inon thethe analysis.

Then, thetrajecto been conducted in the field. This has head be used as the computational be determined based scaled size material stream impacted the centre rear wall of the shuttle hopper/chute, which would help achieve led to the development of laboratory associated with the simulation would be and velocity.

13th throughput International Conference central loading on boom belt.

DEM results showed that for the given of 7500 tph and Materials characterisation tests which build upon very high. Therefore, the bulk material The chutes were made of Perspex on Bulk 9 material properties the stacker chute operated without any material choking or blockage. the well-established test procedures for was modelled with a PSD ranging to allow flow visualisation. The th bulk solids handling applications. from 38 millimetres (spherical) to 100 parameters used in Storage, transfer 13scaling International Conference on Bulk Materials Handling and Transportation 9-11 July 2019, Queensland, Australia While the validation of the millimetres (shaped) particles. modelling ensure that the modelled simulation results can sometimes trajectories and flow patterns equate be achieved by employing bench Scale modelling to those in full-scale. Therefore, the scale model tests, in some cases the Scale modelling of the chute allows modelling allows assessment of bauxite opportunity is presented to use full verification of the overall performance trajectories and flow, but it is not scale validation of the DEM model. in operation and determines any designed to model wear and build-up.

This is typically achieved by comparing potential problems with the design.

As previously mentioned, the frictional the DEM model to data taken from The model dimensions, velocity and factor for the Perspex in the model site in the form of photos, videos and throughout parameters used for the and the wall liner on site are likely throughput analysis. modelling should be correctly scaled different. Therefore, there might be An important aspect of chute design to ensure the validity of the modelling some discrepancy between the extent of is the knowledge of the relevant bulk results. As the governing forces for build-up observed in the model and that solid flow properties. In this study, the material flow in the chute are experienced on site, and the build-up the modelling parameters within the inertial and gravitational, the Froude in the model is indicative of the areas DEM software are chosen based on the dimensionless number was selected to where build up would be expected to interpretation of the measured flow scale the system from the full scale and occur in the full-scale. properties of the bulk material, such model system. As such, the similarity The scale model of the stacker chute

Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020 І 63

TECHNICAL PAPER

was built in-house in TUNRA Bulk Solids’ facilities (University of Newcastle), and was constructed and set up to replicate the system configuration as shown in Figure 2, which involved the correct angles, speeds and scaled distances.

In the scale modelling exercise, the bauxite top size was selected to represent an approximate scale of 1:8 . The bauxite sample was prepared at a predetermined moisture level at which the flow behaviour of the material corresponds to that of full size. During physical modelling of the transfer chute, a belt cut sample

of the bauxite was taken and weighed to validate tonnage. Then, the sample was dried in an oven to determine the moisture content of the bauxite.

DEM simulation results

Figure 4: Material cross-section profile onboom boom conveyor Firgure 4: Material cross-section profile on

3D DEM simulation of the flow through conveyor the chute was undertaken to assess the From the DEM simulations, it is also possible to extract contours of wall s flow mode and likely flow velocities The DEM simulation image snapshots qualitative impact and shear wear comparisons.

The wear contours of the chute are through the transfer. Figure 3 shows the present an approximate general flow 5, which were averaged over all particle contacts on the chute surfaces analysed o bauxite flow through the stacker chute behaviour and provide insights into the the simulation. The colour range for the wear contours shows the relative magnitud at a throughput of 7500 tonnes per hour visualisation of a three-dimensional flow still represents the highest magnitude for the wear contours). The impact and s when the luffing angle was -13 degrees through the stacker chute. presented were and the slewing angle was 90calculated degrees. in the following After themanner: material impacted the deflector, a small amount of slow-moving • Shear intensity: Is the product of the relative velocity and th material was observed duetangential to the relatively transferred between eachhigh particle and the boundary at the point of contact. T impact angle and small spacing indication of shear damage of the surface. between the deflector and head pulley.

Then, the stream impacted the and the norm • Impact intensity: Is the product of material the relative normal velocity centre rear wall ofatthe hopper/ between each particle and the boundary theshuttle point of contact. This is a qu which would help achieve central of impact damage of thechute, surface and loading of support structures and idle loading on the boom belt.

In practice wear is known to be dependent on both shearthat, and for impact DEM results showed the interactions, h given and throughput 7500wear tonnes which the two mechanisms interact developoftotal is per complex and wit hourAs andsuch, material properties, unable to be accurately quantified. the analysis of the wear performance in operated without any limited to relative comparisons stacker betweenchute different designs or conditions. material choking or blockage.

In the steady state time period Low Intensity considered in the simulation, the material cross-sectional profile on the boom belt shows that the material was loaded centrally and evenly so as to avoid mistracking issues.

From the DEM simulations, it is also possible to extract contours of wall surfaces indicating qualitative impact and shear wear comparisons. The wear contours of the chute are presented in Figure 5, which were averaged over all particle contacts on the chute surfaces analysed over the duration of the simulation. The colour range for the wear contours shows the relative magnitude of wear. For example, red represents the highest magnitude for the wear contours.

The impact and shear wear metrics were calculated in the following manner: •S hear intensity – the product of the (a) Impact wear relative contourtangential velocity and(b) Shear wear cont the Figure 5: Wear contours on the stacker chute – DEM tangential force transferred between each particle and the boundary at the Conference on Bulk Material point of contact. This13isth International a qualitative indication of shear damage of the surface.

• I mpact intensity – the product of the relative normal velocity and the normal Firgure 3: Flow through stacker chute -DEM modelling Figure 3: Flow through stacker chute – DEM modelling force transferred between each particle

In the steady state time period considered in the simulation, the material cross-sectional profile on the boom belt shows that the material was loaded centrally and evenly so as to avoid mis-tracking issues.

64 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

•

indication of shear damage of the surface.

Impact intensity: Is the product of the relative normal velocity and the normal force transferred between each particle and the boundary at the point of contact. This is a qualitative indication of impact damage of the surface and loading of support structures and idlers.

In practice wear is known to be dependent on both shear and impact interactions, however the way in which the two mechanisms interact and develop total wear is complex and with current research, unable to be accurately quantified. As such, the analysis of wear performance in DEM is currently limited to relative comparisons between different designs or conditions.

Low Intensity

High Intensity

observed. The material profile on the receiving belt showed the material was loaded in a central manner during the steady state time period. Thus, the scale modelling results of flow modes and burden profile on boom belt compared well with DEM simulation.

Conclusions In this study, analysis of a stacker transfer chute for transferring material from an incoming tripper conveyor to an outgoing boom conveyor has been performed by way of a case study incorporating both DEM and scale modelling. The analysis indicated that, for the given throughput and material 5.2(b) 5.2 Scale Scale Modelling Modelling Results Results (a) Impact wear contour Shear wear contour properties, the chute would operate 5: Wear on the stacker chute – DEM Firgure 5: Wear contours Figure on the stacker chutecontours – DEM without any material choking or blockage.

Investigations into the material flow onto th 13 International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling and Transportation July 2019, and the boundary at the point of contact. bauxite sample was loaded9-11 into the Queensland, Australia the receiving belt indicated that it would This is a qualitative indication of impact loop system and all the conveyors be expected to be loaded in a central damage of the surface and loading of were started. During modelling of the manner. The DEM simulation results of support structures and idlers. stacker chute, it was expected that the flow modes and burden profile on boom In practice, wear is known to be moisture of the circulating bauxite would belt compared well with those based on dependent on both shear and impact slightly fluctuate due to evaporation. scale modelling. interactions. However, the way in The recorded variation of ±0.5 per cent which the two mechanisms interact and moisture content was considered to be This article was originally published in develop total wear is complex and, with reasonable. The material flow through the 13th International Conference on current research, unable to be accurately the transfer chute was observed for a Bulk Materials Storage, Handling and quantified. As such, the analysis of wear luffing angle of 10.5 degrees and slewing Transportation ICBMH 2019 Proceedings. performance in DEM is currently limited angle of 90 degrees.

Permission has been given to ABHR to to relative comparisons between different The scale modelling results indicated republish. designs or conditions. that the stacker chute would be able to handle the throughput of 7500 tonnes Authors: Bin Chen, Xinghua Zhao, Chao Scale modelling results per hour (as referred to actual) without Ma, Minghui Lu, Guannan Qiao, Hainan For the scale modelling analysis, the any blockage. No material hang-up was Wu, Alan Roberts

Scale ale Modelling Modelling Results Results

Figure 6: Material flow through the stacker chute - scale modelling

Figure Figure 6: Material 6: Material flow flow through through thethe stacker stacker chute chute - Scale - Scale modelling modelling

Before Before thethe scale scale modelling modelling testtest of the of the chute, chute, thethe bauxite bauxite sample sample waswas loaded loaded into2020 into theІthe loop system. system Th Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 65loop all all thethe conveyors conveyors were were started. started.

During During modelling modelling of the of the stacker stacker chute, chute, thethe moisture moisture of the of the circulat circu bauxite bauxite would would slightly slightly fluctuate fluctuate duedue to evaporation. to evaporation.

TheThe variation variation of ±0.5% of ±0.5% moisture moisture content conten w

MEMBER PROFILE

MEMBER PROFILE:

Tom Stahura In each issue, ABHR profiles a member of the Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling (ASBSH).

We speak to Tom Stahura, Accounts Development Manager at ESS Engineering Services & Supplies.

I am a member of ASBSH …

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Is ongoing - assisting in solving issues to improve our customers’ plants with cost-effective solutions.

My current position is …

Working for my father and uncle in Western Pennsylvania. The Stahura Company distributed a wide range of products to the mines, steel mills and paper industry.

One of our clients had a conveyor that would start-up in the morning and run perfectly until 8 am, at which point it would start tracking off to one side, loaded or unloaded, until noon and then run the rest of the day in the correct alignment. This happened every sunny day – Yes, the sun warmed up one side of the belt and caused the belt to mistrack. A cover over the belt solved the problem.

More broadly, the biggest challenge is determining which hardware to apply in each specific application. Variables to be considered include the space available, performance variables of the systems and most importantly, the maintenance mentality of the client.

I am currently researching …

I am inspired by …

How to apply the Internet of Things to our products, to achieve optimal performance through remote monitoring and control.

People who have the ‘can do attitude’ and work through issues to success.

I love my current work …

Is to problem solve - never throw anyone under the bus.

Accounts Development Manager for the West, which covers a range of responsibilities for areas including for sales, manufacturing, site services, product applications, and overseas sales. I also support our internal and external training (for ESS productspecific training and broader site issues training), industrial trade shows and presentations.

I got into bulk handling …

Because it gives me the opportunity to problem-solve creatively, to achieve a win-win outcome for our clients and our company.

In my role, it’s essential to …

Listen, ask questions, listen, and check information in the development of a successful outcome on internal and external issues.

The project I am most proud of …

Is my kids.

66 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: July/August 2020

The toughest challenge I’ve solved was when …

The most valuable lesson I have learned …

My plans for the future are to …

Continue to be an asset to my company and customers, contribute to safer, cleaner and efficient bulk material handling solutions.

When I am not working, you will probably find me …

Sliding down the white stuff on the big hills, turns are optional.

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