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November 2014

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THIS MONTH:• Next generation shaft boring• Efficient to order pump manufacturing• The MP2500: The largest cone crusher ever built• The net effect: Understanding how fuel and oil filters function M

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Mechanical Technology — November 2014 1

⎪ Comment ⎪

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Efficiency, power constraint and SA’s economic woes

At the opening of the South African Energy Efficiency Conference (SAEEC) at Emperors palace during November, I was intrigued by the mix of keynote addresses in the opening session. Eskom’s Andrew Etzinger presenting the electricity supply outlook – bleak

following a week of load shedding due to the Majuba coal silo collapse. Olu Soluade of AOS Consulting Engineers, a key player in the development of MTN’s new CSP-powered cooling plant, followed to wave the renewables and efficiency flag. Then Rob Jeffery, a stalwart economic analyst from Econometrix, took away the smiles with a reality check.

Eskom’s spending priorities have shifted away from funding demand side management (DSM) initiatives and towards the more ‘crisis-management ’ approach of Etzinger’s integrated demand management (IDM) department. One has to feel sorry Andrew Etzinger. We only hear from him during blackouts and that has made him one of the most infamous Eskom employees.

At the time of his SAEEC address he revealed that 8 000 MW of generation was out of service, about 25 % of Eskom capacity, and all 14 of the utility’s diesel-fuelled open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) were running – at generation costs of between R3.00 and R3.50/kWh. Eskom has been spending an average of R10-billion per year on diesel in an extraordinary and expensive effort to keep the lights on – a heroic effort, according to SAEE board member and session chair Hope Mashele.

The Majuba coal silo collapse of 1 November affected all six units’ coal conveyors and there-fore took 3 600 MW of generation off the grid. Since then, four units have been brought back up through extensive trucking operations – 15 trucks per minute are bringing coal directly to each unit. Etzinger estimates that it may take up to three years to rebuild Majuba and return it to full capacity.

While unforeseen, he says that Eskom is vulnerable to such events at any time. “We are under severe financial and capacity constraints and, therefore, any unscheduled outage is likely to cause load shedding,” he says, adding that energy efficiency is extremely important. Over the past 10 years, efficiency initiatives have taken 4 000 MW off the grid, without which “we could not have kept the system running.”

Any good news? The national grid is likely to be constrained for a further three to five years, but Medupi (Unit 6) will be synchronised on 21 December this year, and work on the Ingula Pump Storage Scheme has restarted after the accidents earlier this year.

Olu Soluade’s presentation was much more upbeat. The CSP plant success story at MTN’s Johannesburg head office uses 3,2 kW of electrical energy, 484 m2 of solar mirrors and an absorp-tion chiller to produce 330 kW of data centre cooling, giving a theoretical electrical COP of more than 100 – efficient indeed, and the payback period, according Soluade, is less than six years.

Rob Jeffrey, based on global statistics linking economic growth and electricity supply, pointed out some very stark facts. Simply put, he says “unless we increase electricity supply at competi-tive/affordable prices, we have two choices: drop our standard of living or reduce our population”. While domestic rooftop solar solutions “should be compulsory”, renewables are not going to be able to provide abundant or low cost energy. Instead, he says, as in all countries in the world, we should be maximising the use of our mineral resources, ie, coal, uranium and, potentially, shale gas, “if it is there”.

The oil price is currently below US$80, attributed to the ‘glut’ of shale gas from the USA. US oil imports are falling and that country’s domestic production is at its highest since 1965. This is clearly supporting an economic recovery in the US – a recovery that is not happening elsewhere. As Rob Jeffrey suggests, we have to explore the shale gas option.

I think Jeffrey’s comment about domestic solar solutions – and it was an incidental comment in his presentation – should be taken much more seriously. I find it frustrating that Eskom and municipalities are resisting efforts towards rooftop solar solutions. They argue that grid connected solar solutions – which reduce the need for expensive batteries – are not safe, would not reduce peak demand and, with customers paying less on current tariff structures, the network connection cost would have to be subsidised, effectively by other users.

The safety issue can be resolved with a simple equipment approval process and, in the light of OCGT having to be run almost continuously, the demand reduction associated with widespread use of rooftop solar power could be as significant as the 4 000 MW of industrial energy efficiency that has kept the worst of the load-shedding at bay for the past few years.

Domestic solar PV could help to relieve system constraints significantly.Peter Middleton

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⎪ November 2014 contents ⎪

ON THE COVER

10 12 18 34

Hytec Group and Bosch Rexroth JV for African growthTo cement Hytec’s position as a leading supplier and manufacturer of hydrau-lic and automation components and systems in Africa, Bosch Rexroth has acquired a 50% stake in the Hytec Group, which was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tesuco Group. MechTech talks to John Wingrove, CEO of the new joint venture (JV), and deputy CEO, Roland Keller, recently joined from Bosch Rexroth.

For more information contact:Willem Gijzelaar Marketing manager Hytec Holdings Group Tel: +27 11 979-4630 Cell: +27 83 325 8836 [email protected]

FEATURESSpecial report10 Next generation shaft boring In the light of the mechanisation drive in the mining industry, Murray & Roberts

Cementation with Thyssen Schachtbau and Herrenknecht of Germany have an-nounced the development of a next generation rodless shaft boring machine for shaft enlargement (SBE) – with so-called V-mole technology.

Proactive maintenance, lubrication and contamination management12 The net effect: Understanding how fuel and oil filters function Reuben Phasha, product specialist for Barloworld Equipment, the Caterpillar dealer

for southern Africa, talks about misconceptions as to how fuel and oil filters work and the special features that make Cat filters a better choice.

15 Equipment reliability: from red to green and available16 Maintenance strategies and the role of maintenance professionals

Materials handling and logistics18 The MP2500: The largest cone crusher ever built On 27 October at the company’s Vereeniging manufacturing facility, Metso Minerals

officially launched its new Nordberg MP®2500 cone crusher, which is the largest cone crusher ever manufactured.

21 Reliable SP cone crusher demonstrates aggregate potential22 Hydrocyclone optimisation for maximum processing efficiency24 Mopani copper mines get two more BMR winders25 Ground-breaking mine crane solutions27 45-years of crushing and screening in SA

Heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning 28 Two CSP plant controllers for Upington Schneider Electric DCS solutions will be responsible for controlling and operating

two CSP plants: the 50 MW Khi Solar One plant and the KaXu Solar One plant.29 Local specialist to retrofit 316 mine fans

Manufacturing technology 30 Cost effective locally made quality panels Customers looking for panels can experience the flexibility and cost competitiveness

that they would normally get from a very small operation, but with the assurance of knowing that products are supported by the full Zest WEG Group network.

31 New shredder basket system launched32 New tube benders overcome challenges

Innovative engineering34 Efficient to order manufacturing and Xylem’s new Emmaboda foundry Peter Middleton takes a tour of the Xylem factory in Emmaboda, Sweden and

talks to Lars-Göran Nilsson about the facility’s new foundry and the company’s manufacturing improvements.

REGULARS1 Comment4 On the cover: Hytec Group and Bosch Rexroth JV for African growth8 Industry forum38 Products and services40 Nota bene


http://www.hyhold.co.za/

4 Mechanical Technology — November 2014

⎪ On the cover ⎪

Rexroth’s roots can be traced back to 1795 with the es-tablishment of an iron forge in the Spessart region of Ger-

many. Over the centuries, the Rexroth family has acquired a water-driven forge in 1850; developed a new Cupola furnace for foundry work in 1930; and after World War II ended in 1945, were manufacturing cookware, pans, irons and machinery for butchers.

The company began to produce hydraulic components in 1952 and, following a move to its current home in Lohr am Main in 1965, added electric control technology to its hydraulics and fluid power offerings.

Mannesmann AG acquired Rexroth in 1968 to become Mannesmann Rexroth AG. Then in 2001, as a result of a global merger with the automation technology business of Robert Bosch

GmbH, Rexroth became Bosch Rexroth, a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch.

In South Africa, the Hytec Group has been a Rexroth distributor since the mid-1960s. “In 1976, we became the principle distribution partner for Rexroth in southern and South Africa and we remain the sole importer of the Rexroth brand into this country,” says Wingrove.

“We have enjoyed a long and close relationship and Hytec has modelled its business on the global best practices developed by Bosch Rexroth. Our ac-creditation by Bosch Rexroth as the only Certified Service Centre of Competence for Rexroth branded products in Africa attests to the strength of the relation-ship,” he says.

Hytec Holdings generated sales of almost R1-billion (about €63-million) in

To cement Hytec’s position as a leading supplier and manufacturer of hydraulic and automation components and systems in Africa, Bosch Rexroth has acquired a 50% stake in the Hytec Group, which was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tesuco Group. MechTech talks to John Wingrove, CEO of the new joint venture (JV), and deputy CEO, Roland Keller, recently joined from Bosch Rexroth.

The management team for the Hytec Group/Rexroth joint venture, from left: Roland Keller, deputy CEO; John Wingrove, CEO; Dr Karl Tragl, president of Bosch Rexroth; John Dunmow, Group financial controller; and Andrew Castle, Group financial officer.

One of four 20 t cylinders for Eskom’s Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme repaired and returned to service by Hytec Engineering.

Hytec Group and Bosch Rexroth JV for African growth

the 2013/2014 fiscal year and employs 675 people across its 32 operations throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In addi-tion to the Hytec Holdings head office in Kempton Park and HYSA, a centralised procurement and distribution ware-house, six Hytec Group companies will form part of the new JV:• Tectra Automation: specialists in

pneumatics, vacuum technology, electric drives, linear motion tech-nology and assembly systems from leading brands, including Bosch Rexroth and Schmalz.

• Hydraulic and Automation Ware-house (HAW): a supplier and dis-tributor of hydraulic hoses and fittings, mobile components and hydraulic-related accessories.

• Hytec/Afripower: incorporates the largest hydraulic component and systems supplier network in southern Africa. Hytec/Afripower currently op-erates 15 branches in South Africa, offering fully equipped service and repair facilities in all major centres.

• Hytec Engineering: a specialist in cylinder repair, design and manufac-ture with full machining, assembly, repair, testing and certification capa-bilities.

• Hytec Fluid Technology (HFT): a specialist filtration company that offers kits and tailored solutions for a range of filtration needs to main-tain mobile machines and industrial hydraulic installations in optimum condition.



Above: Tectra Automation specialises in automated assembly and handling systems such as this battery production facility.

Right: Hytec’s containerised diesel-driven hydraulic power pack, ideal for power-ing hydraulic systems in electricity- and infrastructure-deprived regions of Africa.

Hytec Group and Bosch Rexroth JV for African growth• Hytec Services Africa (HSA): HSA

supplies the entire Hytec range of products and services throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The company co-ordinates procurement from the other Hytec Group companies and manages on-site delivery.

A seventh group company, Power Team, the local supplier of hydraulics maintenance tools and equipment for heavy lifting, has been excluded from the Hytec/Bosch Rexroth JV and will now be run as a separate entity under Tesuco Group ownership.

“Strategically, the deal allows Hytec to forge closer synergies with a business partner with whom we already have strong ties, combining our comple-mentary activities to achieve greater performance and increase our market share in sub-Saharan Africa,” contin-ues Wingrove, “The best practice and technical knowledge that exists between the two businesses underpin what is a natural progression for business growth,” he says.

From the Bosch Rexroth perspective, according to Keller, “the acquisition is an important step to increase our presence in Africa, which, in turn, will allow us to better fulfil the needs of our customers. The acquisition brings together two premier organisations and reinforces our strong joint commitment to the African continent, combining the best talent to deliver world-class solu-tions to our clients,” he says.

“South Africa is the obvious gateway into the region and, with Hytec’s local knowledge, experience and proven technical expertise already available and in place in the region, this joint venture is an ideal springboard for African growth,” Keller adds.

Citing the breadth of Hytec’s offer-ing, he says that every one of the Hytec companies adds a range of inter-related brands to Rexroth’s hydraulics and auto-mation technologies: filtration products, hoses and fittings and vacuum technol-ogy, for example. “This will strengthen our ability to offer complete packaged solutions for fluid power and automa-tion applications. These complementary products and subsidiary equipment so-lutions further cement the already strong relationship,” he believes.

Also strong is the company’s local engineering expertise for designing, manufacturing, installing and commis-sioning tailored systems. An example is the successful completion of the design and installation of the cylinders, power packs and controllers for the sluice gates of the Roseires Dam in Sudan, which is Hytec’s largest ever single order contract. “Hytec’s complemen-tary brands and engineering, design and turnkey solutions, in partnership with the Rexroth name and strength in OEM-supplied equipment across Africa, offer a stronger partnership than either party could offer alone,” Keller suggests.

Wingrove adds that the expertise necessary for success in Africa is dif-ferent to that of developed economies. “Europe is more of an OEM market, while Africa is an end-user market, where service, repair and modification represent a major share of the business. Some 50% of Hytec Engineering’s cyl-inder business is in repairs.

“Africa has under-established and emerging markets and its people are not yet at high technical levels. Cylinder refurbishments and hydraulic system maintenance for mobile equipment, for example, are fast growing needs north of our borders due to growth in mining. In addition, we see opportunities in oil and gas, hydroelectric and conventional

power, as well as in general support industries,” he says.

Adds Keller: “We are also focusing on training for the whole range of hydrau-lic, automation and servicing skills. We have a fully equipped training centre in Spartan and our specialists are already travelling in Africa to present training courses – in Seychelles, Nigeria and Kenya,” he says, adding that “training is often overlooked, yet this is an impor-tant pillar for success going into Africa”.

A full time training manager was ap-pointed in 2007 and is responsible for in-house and onsite training and, where necessary, relevant technical staff will be pulled in for support. “This is going

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to be a big focus of the JV initiative,” reveals Keller.

All senior management for the new entity will be based in South Africa but, says Keller, “we can’t manage everything from here. We will be estab-lishing regional hubs in several African countries to further extend our reach.” The JV will be looking to set up local branches wherever it identifies enough opportunities to justify a long-term local presence. “We will establish regional distribution hubs with repair facilities suitable for a few neighbouring coun-tries, but wherever a local presence is justified, we intend to set up national branches,” he points out.

“Mobile off-road equipment used across Africa – tippers, loaders and graders, for example – come with factory-fitted Bosch Rexroth equipment, so we see a huge opportunity to service this equipment,” continues Wingrove, adding that several South African underground mining OEMs servicing the region have also standardised on Rexroth products, further fuelling the continents aftermarket and servicing requirements.

In South Africa itself, w i th Hytec a l ready achieving 29% market share, “we have agreed that there will be no immediate change,” Wingrove assures. “The 50/50 joint venture has been es-tablished as a tran-sition period and, if successful, Bosch Rexroth has reserved rights to purchase the remaining shares.”

Further integration with other Bosch Rexroth-owned companies, such as Hägglunds, is also going to be pur-sued. “While not directly part of the deal, Hytec has worked closely with Hägglunds for many years and the long-term intention is to deepen this relationship,” says Keller.

Wingrove reveals that the JV is already in the process of acquiring a 30 000 m2 piece of ground in Kempton Park with a view to relocating Hytec Holdings; Hytec Engineering, Hytec Afripower, Hytec Services Africa; and

HYSA, the central distribution cen-tre, onto one common site. “At the same time, we will prepare a site for Hägglunds, which is also likely to move after the JV has expired in two to three years’ time,” Wingrove says.

“The Rexroth vision is to be ‘No 1 in moving everything’. With this part-nership, a global drive and control company is merging with the hydraulic and automation market leader in Africa. Together we intend to conquer sub-Saharan Africa,” Keller concludes. q

Hytec Fluid Technology (HFT): a specialist filtration company that offers kits and tailored solutions.

http://www.webachutes.com/


⎪ Industry forum ⎪

Johannesburg-based DCD Rolling Stock is recognised as a leading manufacturer and supplier of locomotives, wagons and bogies to railway, mining and in-dustrial operations. DCD Rolling Stock general manager, Petrus Mulaudzi, notes that the most recent order for a 37-ton diesel hydrokinetic (DHK) Funkey shunting locomotive was made in late-2013 by a colliery in Botswana.

“The 37-ton DHK Funkey loco mo-tive is fitted with a 251 kW Cummins QSM11-L335 engine rated at 2 200 rpm and is coupled to an integrated Clark T4000 series torque convertor and transmission assembly. This provides it with enough power to regularly and consistently deliver vast quantities of coal from the mine site to a nearby coal fired power station,” he explains.

Mulaudzi reveals that DCD Rolling Stock has also received orders for its 24-ton and 35-ton DHK Funkey shunt-ing locomotives from clients operating across the mining and industrial pro-

Alstom’s work on Eskom’s Medupi power station in South Africa took a major step forward for Eskom’s target date for synchronisation in December 2014 with the successful completion of a site integration test (SIT) to validate and verify the Alstom-installed distrib-uted control system (DCS).

The SIT underlines that Alstom’s DCS, which plays a key role in the safe and reliable operation of the plant, is performing according to requirements and is now ready for commissioning of the new 6×800 MW plant’s Unit 6.

The SIT involves testing 70 000 hard-wired inputs/outputs and was completed on 5 September 2014. These included the connection of the control room workstation to the local area network

Johannesburg-based Osborn has se-cured its first export order for crushers and feeders for Malaysia to be employed in a new ferroalloys smelter. This sub-stantial order comprises two jaw crush-ers – an Osborn 36˝×23˝×1 300 mm double toggle jaw crusher and 22 Osborn IFE 650 mm × 950 mm electromagnetic feeders, reports area manager Douglas Mouton.

“Osborn’s long-standing reputation as a leading supplier of high quality equipment, as well as its competitive pricing, contributed to the company winning this order on open tender,” he says. “Osborn was able to offer the client a package deal that includes the elec-tromagnetic feeders, which are being supplied by our principal in Austria, IFE

Acquisition to strengthen presence in AfricaSKF South Africa, in its 100th year in South Africa, today signed an agreement to acquire Lincoln Lubrication SA (Pty) Ltd, a leading lubrication services provider on the African continent. The transaction is subject to rel-evant regulatory approvals.

Lincoln Lubrication S.A. has been a market leader in the supply of complete lubrication sys-tems and equipment for over 22 years. The com-pany’s three main product lines are automated lubrication systems, hose reels and grease guns, with a focus on grease-based systems.

The acquisition forms part of the SKF’s growth strategy to increase its business foot-print in Africa. “The agreement is a perfect fit and part of a natural progression that will take our lubrication offering to another level,” comments SKF SA’s MD, Ian Cilliè.

cessing sectors over the past five years. “All the locomotives are fitted with an integrated air and vacuum braking system that allows for braking on all types of wagons, as well as independent locomotive braking. They also incorpo-rate a metallic spring suspension and friction snubbers.”

Full instrumentation and safety circuits offer engine and transmission protection, while the power shift allows gear changes at full engine power and speed from any gear. “The cab and bon-net structure are fabricated from 3CR12 steel plate, offering excellent corrosion resistance and weatherproof protection.

DCD Rolling Stock’s most recent order for a Funkey shunting locomotive was made in late-2013 by a col-liery in Botswana.

Innovative shunting locomotive technology The driver controls are ergonomically lo-cated on both sides of the operating cab to facilitate optimum driver visibility.”

The Funkey locomotive has been available in South Africa since 1930 and has remained a market leading product ever since. “Rapidly develop-ing mining sectors such as Zambia and Ghana require highly durable, yet cost effective and simple locomotives for transporting ore. Having proven to be ideally suited to harsh African operating conditions over the past eight decades, the Funkey range of DHK shunting loco-motives are the ideal solution for new and existing operations,” he concludes.

www.dcd.co.za

Osborn secures export order to Malaysia

Osborn Obex vibrating pan feeders destined for Malaysia.

Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH,” he adds.The jaw crusher and pan feeders

will be manufactured at Osborn’s Elandsfontein facility and shipped to Malaysia’s Bintulu Port. “This is a significant order to a new territory, and we are excited about future prospects for Osborn in Malaysia,” Mouton con-cludes. www.osborn.co.za

Medupi control system ready for synchronisation(LAN) and central storage and control of the system software as well as the dem-onstration of the DCS’s ability to carry out fault finding. It also comprised the database access by an Eskom personal computer with Microsoft-based applica-tions, the verification of redundancies in the DCS systems and sub-systems and the verification of system interfaces such as the auxiliary boiler, the turbine control and protection system, and the boiler protection system.

“The success of the tests was a multi-national team effort,” says Alstom project director, Rafael Alvarez. “We drew on expertise from Alstom employ-ees around the world to solve challenges and to deliver for our customer.”

www.alstom.com

http://www.dcd.co.za/

http://www.osborn.co.za/

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⎪ Industry forum ⎪

In brief

FLSmidth has signed a memorandum of un-derstanding (MoU) with PT ANTAM (Persero), a diversified mining and metals company headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, to sup-ply design, testing and services for developing mining projects in and around Indonesia. The MoU was signed on 3 September 2014 by Tato Miraza, ANTAM’s president director and Thomas Schulz, FLSmidth Group CEO.

Aggreko, a world leader in the provision of temporary power and temperature control solutions, has supplied Australian titanium pro-ducer, Base Resources, with a 350 kVA power package for the Kwale Mineral Sands Mine in south-east Kenya. Brought in to supplement local grid supplies, the system was used to power the silt dam pumps, a process vital to the ongoing operation of the facility.

Johannesburg-based JLG and Magni aerial work platform and telehandler distributor Eazi Sales & Service has sold a JLG 800-AJ 26-metre working height rough terrain articu-lating boom lift and a JLG 260-MRT 10-metre working height rough terrain scissor lift to Barloworld Namibia. They will be used in as-sembling and maintaining very large mining machinery, a few of which weigh over 0.5-mil-lion tonnes and are 26 m high.

GEA Westfalia Separator, part of the GEA Group, has helped pelagic fish processing factory West Point Processors, in St Helena Bay, Western Cape, maintain its optimum production throughput, improve its process control abilities and increase product quality by installing a stick water separator and two whole fish decanters.

Elquip Solutions has reinforced its commit-ment to the tube and pipe industry through an agreement with Kent Corporation to supply its range of cost-effective and enhanced productiv-ity tube mill technology and strip preparation equipment.

Chevron Lubricants, a division of Chevron South Africa and operating in the country under the Caltex brand, has announced the opening of its first Havoline® Xpress Lube facility, at the Nuffield Caltex service station in Selcourt, Springs, situated in East Rand, Gauteng.

Atlas Copco has released a new compaction indicator for its LG500 reversible plate that measures the vibration patterns in the plate and shows how well the soil is compacted beneath the surface. The complexity of dif-ferent soil types makes quality compaction a challenge. Too little compaction and the soil may settle, causing structure failure. Over compaction leads to unnecessary machine wear and downtime and can also cause some soils to ‘crack’ under the increased pressure.

The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), have signed a memorandum of understanding that is aimed at sup-porting and coaching the engineering students at UJ who are recipients of GDID bursaries.

This tripartite initiative comes af-ter the GDID articulated the need to mentor first and second year students, since the majority fail to complete their qualifications as they are unprepared for the level of academic commitment required when studying engineering. This has been linked back to the need for stronger life skills support, and ECSA, as the custodian of the engi-neering profession in South Africa, has designed a pilot model for the support of students in partnership with both GDID and UJ.

“UJ has introduced a national first year experience (FYE) programme, because a student’s overall success is linked to how well they adjust aca-demically and socially within the univer-

Global leader in door opening solu-tions, ASSA ABLOY, has, over the past 20 years, expand-ed its world-class product portfolio through numerous acquisitions of pre-mium international brands. The acqui-sition in 2014 of Traka Africa as a specialist in the security field with a unique and innovative security product portfolio, was an easy and lucrative business decision.

Traka Africa was established in 2001 when a need for key control in the sub-Saharan market was identified. “From a choice of several systems, we selected the superior product and are delighted to be the official sub-Saharan distributor for the Traka key management system, which focuses on keying solutions for the mining, engineering and industrial sectors,” comments Quintin Boukan, ASSA ABLOY South Africa’s vice presi-dent for commercial sales.

Designed and manufactured in the UK, the Traka range encompasses: electronic key cabinets; electronic key boxes; key control and key manage-ment systems; asset control; truck data logging; access control; lockers; and associated software.

Whilst every market can benefit from key control, Traka Africa specialises, primarily, in the industrial, medical, aviation, defence, petrochemical and mining sectors. “Security breaches can significantly affect the smooth running of any business, which is why we take our clients’ requirements very seriously,” says Boukan. www.assaabloy.co.za

ASSA ABLOY welcomes Traka Africa to the family

ASSA ABLOY South Africa has acquired electronic key management systems specialist, Traka Africa.

ECSA, GDID and UJ sign memorandum of understandingsity environment,” says Angina Parekh, deputy academic vice-chancellor at UJ.

Says Nandi Mayathula-Khoza of the GDID: “The GDID is committed to creating and sustaining partnerships with universities in the province as it provides an opportunity to actively support first year students through life skills training, mentoring and coaching in study techniques.”

Adds Sipho Madonsela, CEO of ECSA: “This partnership is a true demonstration of organisations that are aimed at addressing problems that are undeniably visible in the academic environment. As ECSA, we are obliged to go beyond the regulatory function and add value to society.”

The support for students from the GDID will also be extended to grade 10 learners, who, through Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, will receive assis-tance in maths and science subjects. The MEC added that the programme would later be extended to other universities in the province, namely the University of Pretoria and Wits University. www.ecsa.co.za

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http://www.ecsa.co.za/


⎪ Special report ⎪

A renewed emphasis on mecha-nisation in the mining industry has seen the development of the latest shaft boring

machine for shaft enlargement (SBE) by Murray & Roberts Cementation and Thyssen Schachtbau, in conjunction with Herrenknecht, both of Germany. This represents the next generation of rodless shaft enlargement machines, the so-called V-mole technology. The SBE facilitates high sinking speeds of 6.0 m/day to 10 m/day and maximum safety for shaft boring by means of a pilot borehole. “The development is at a point where we have the confidence to market the technology to the mining industry and to announce that it is now available,” says Allan Widlake, Mur-ray & Roberts Cementation, business development director.

“I think it is quite timeous given that there is a refocus on mechanisation in the mining industry. That is where we believe this technology comes into its own, because we can guarantee a much higher confidence level in terms of scheduling and productivity,” he adds.

Thyssen Schachtbau and Murray & Roberts Cementation have been col-

laborating in a joint venture in terms of this technology since 1987, with the 972 m deep Shaft I B ventilation shaft at Oryx Gold Mine sunk using the SB VII shaft boring machine, with a diameter of 6.5 m. Prior to this pro-ject, the machine was overhauled and repurposed for hard rock applications, including the installation of six 132 kW electric motors.

Thyssen Schachtbau has been involved in more than 50 shaft bor-ing projects with a total depth of over 20 km and finished diameters ranging from 5.5 m to 8.2 m. The world’s deepest surface shaft sunk using the technology was the Primsmulde Shaft at Ensdorf in Germany in 2001-2002, with a final depth of 1 260 m and an internal diameter of 7.8 m. An astonish-ing peak performance of 35 m/day was achieved for Jim Walter Resources in Brookwood, Alabama in the US. This is still the world record holder for shaft sinking, with 494 m sunk with a 7.0 m

In the light of the mechanisation drive in the mining industry, Murray & Roberts Cementation with Thyssen Schachtbau and Herrenknecht of Germany have announced the development of a next generation rodless shaft boring machine for shaft enlargement (SBE) – with so-called V-mole technology.

The new generation shaft boring extender (SBE) used for the boring shafts from the top down through an advance hole. Above: cutter head. Right: Surface stage for backup and final lining of the shaft.

Allan Widlake, Murray & Roberts Cementa-tion, business development director.

Next generation shaft boring

diameter in only one month. At Anglo American’s Western Deep gold mine, a new type of cutter head was deployed for the first time at a depth of more than 3 000 m with a compressive strength of over 550 MPa.

Murray & Roberts Cementation has entered into “a lot of discussions with both mining houses and consultants locally. There are opportunities here in South Africa and across the border in the future with regard to the use of this technology.” This covers the full spectrum of commodities, including diamonds, coal and platinum. Widlake does not see the remoteness of many


⎪ Special report ⎪

Technical specifications of the SBEDrive power About 800 kWCutterhead speed 0 to 5 rpmTorque Maximum 3 300 kNmFeed force 12 000 kNGripper bracing force 36 000 kNDrilling stroke 1 000 mmMachine weight 350 t

Raise boring and shaft support operations are carried out simultaneously, with the SBE operated from a central control stand on the operator’s platform.

African mining operations as a con-straint. “A major benefit is that we use less people to realise a complete shaft system. Whereas this would normally require in the order of 150 people, the new technology reduces this require-ment to 75 to 80, literally halving the entire staff complement, from support to the actual people down the hole.”

Murray & Roberts Cementation and Thyssen Schachtbau developed this new technology due to a perceived need in the mining industry. “In brownfield operations, conventional raise borers have a limited shaft diameter and depth capability, especially for production and ventilation shafts. From a geotechnical point of view, if you use a raise bore technique in poor ground conditions, you run the risk of the shaft collapsing while the hole advances. The next gen-eration SBE guarantees shaft stability as the hole is supported during sinking,” Widlake explains.

Various criteria were highlighted during the development process. “We wanted to keep it easy to maintain and user friendly, with the most sophisti-cated electronics being confined to the laser guidance system.” Herrenknecht responded to this design challenge by incorporating components that had been tried and tested in modern tun-nel boring machines (TBMs). “It was a perfect marriage of elements. Murray & Roberts Cementation and Thyssen Schachtbau contributed operational and practical functional expertise, while Herrenknecht specified how the tech-nology would be put together.”

The system comprises three con-struction phases: The first is drilling a pilot hole by means of directional drill-ing. This is followed by enlargement of the pilot hole to an advance hole diameter of 1.78 m or 2.4 m by means of raise boring; and the third phase in-volves reaming the advance hole to the final shaft diameter from top to bottom. All cuttings produced are transported via the advance hole to the undercut level. This particular sinking method is conditional upon having an access drift available at the lowest part of the shaft along with sufficient debris clearance capacity for the excavated material.

There must also be continuous downcast ventilation for the duration of the sinking operation. Raise boring and shaft support operations are car-ried out simultaneously, with the SBE

being operated from a central control stand on the operator’s platform. The only limitation in terms of the boring depth is the pilot hole and not the shaft boring machine itself. As long as there is an undercut level for constructing a raise bored advance hole, the shaft boring depth is essentially limited to the maximum depth modern raise borers can handle.

Additional benefits include zero blast damage to the shaft side walls allowing for a cost-effective support system in the form of the concrete or shotcrete lining to be applied, reduced project costs and achieving the earliest possible commis-sioning date.

Widlake suggests that “now is the perfect time” to introduce new technol-ogy into the mining industry. “There is a different approach at the moment. Mining companies are looking for more certainty around their programmes and costs, and are looking for a safer outcome for projects. This equipment definitely fulfils that requirement. Tunnel boring technology has matured to a point where it is now extremely reliable, particularly in selecting compo-nents such as drives and bearings. It is

not as if you are reinventing the wheel in terms of the applied technology. It is literally comprised of standard off-the-shelf components from Herrenknecht.”

Once a unit has completed a par-ticular project, it can be disassembled and customised again for the next project. Looking at lead times from the manufacturing facility in Germany, Widlake says that, from a project award to actual deployment of the machine after the completion of the advance hole, there is more than sufficient time to build a new machine. “We consulted with Herrenknecht about advancing the engineering from where we are right now. We can do it all, from an order to when we need the shaft borer on site, final detailed engineering through to manufacture and delivery.” q


⎪ Proactive maintenance, lubrication and contamination management ⎪

One of the most widely misun-derstood areas in the realm of fluid cleanliness manage-ment is the role of fluid

filters. Among the most commonly held misconceptions is that filters are basi-cally all the same, with the difference in price due only to the profit margin of the filter manufacturer.

Other misconceptions are that a filter catches and holds all particles equal or greater than its micron rating; or that a filter catches only particles equal to or larger than its micron rating; or that filters that plug before the scheduled replacement are defective, whilst filters that don’t plug do a better job.

“In fact, there are huge differences in the performance and quality of dif-ferent filters,” points out Barloworld

Reuben Phasha, product specialist for Barloworld Equipment, the Caterpillar dealer for southern Africa, talks about misconceptions as to how fuel and oil filters work and the special features that make Cat filters a better choice.

Factory fitted on most Caterpillar machines are Cat Advanced Efficiency fuel and diesel engine oil filters that use synthetic blend media with a beta rating of 4.0 and a 22-micron absolute rating.

Above: Cat filters feature a unique fibreglass spiral roving design that keeps pleats stable and in place.Left: Spiral roving prevents flexing, which results in pleat failure – fatigue cracks or holes in the filter media – and the consequent release of contami-nants into oil, fuel, or hydraulic fluid.

The net effect: Understanding how fuel and oil filters function

Equipment group product specialist, Reuben Phasha, “and in order to ef-fectively manage fluid cleanliness, it’s essential to understand how filters work. Let’s start with their composition,” he begins. There are two basic opera-tions that turn filter media into a filter element: pleat-ing the filter media; and bonding end caps onto the pleated media. These are discussed below:

Media pleating and retentionFilter media is pleated to get the maximum amount of filter surface area in a confined filter size. The size and depth of the pleats determine the amount of filter media a filter contains. Low cost filters may contain only half the amount of media of a high quality filter.

The operating characteristics of some modern machines cause the fuel or oil flow to frequently start and stop and flow rates to fluctuate widely and rapidly. The resultant flow forces act on the pleated filter media and cause it to move. Over time, this can cause fatigue of the filter media, which produces holes or small tears. These holes or tears per-mit unfiltered flow to pass through the filter, resulting in accelerated component wear or premature failure.

Caterpillar filters used in systems with large variations in flow rates are constructed with spiral roving to pre-vent pleats from moving, which helps eliminate fatigue failures.

Bonding end capsOne of the most critical operations in Cat filter construction is bonding the end caps onto the pleated media to form a filter element. Properly designed and manufactured end caps completely seal the ends of the media to ensure that 100% of the flow passes through the filter media.

Bonding defects in poorly con-

structed filters permit flow paths for unfiltered fluid – and all defects that permit unfiltered flow to enter a machine will cause accelerated component wear and premature failure. Caterpillar uses moulded polymer end caps in order to completely seal the media and prevent flow paths around the media.

Filter performance: micron and beta ratingsMany medium and low quality general OEM filters are marketed by using a micron rating only. However, it is im-portant to appreciate that, while the micron rating between two different filters may be the same, the ability to trap particles according to their rating (or larger) varies dramatically.

The two main performance measure-ment criteria used by Caterpillar are: • Particle size, measured in microns,

that is, the direct ‘micron rating’. • Efficiency, measured in terms of the

number of particles of the rated size or larger entering the filter media ver-sus the number of particles passing through the media. This is referred to as the ‘beta rating’ of the filter. All Cat fluid filters are rated at ‘absolute’ (defined as beta level 75) or higher efficiency.



Beta level 75 equates to a filtration efficiency of approximately 98,7%. For exam-ple, in a labora-tory sample, for 75 particles of a specified size, say 5.0 microns or greater counted ‘upstream’, only one particle will be counted downstream in the oil. A beta rating of 200 only moves this performance up marginally to around 99,5%.

“An additional misconception about filters is that there is no particle removal efficiency for contaminants smaller than the micron rating,” Phasha adds. “However, an engine oil filter with a beta 75 rating of 35 microns will also remove particles as small as 15 microns with 50% efficiency.”

Factory fitted on most Caterpillar machines are Cat Advanced Efficiency fuel and diesel engine oil filters that use synthetic blend media with a beta rating of 4.0 with a 22 micron absolute rating, respectively, to deliver class leading efficiencies and maximum system life. q

Combating re-entrainment: spiral roving and acrylic beading

Among the most common misconceptions regarding filter per-formance is the assumption that once particles are trapped in a filter, they stay trapped. However, this is not always the

case when low-quality filters from some OEMs are used, which is why specifying the correct Cat filter and following set maintenance guidelines is so important for optimal system health and to counter the potential for re-entrainment, that is, the release of trapped par-ticles back into the fuel or oil. To maximise efficiencies, Caterpillar has developed unique filter element designs that incorporate acrylic beading and spiral roving in their construction.

Acrylic beads prevent pleat bunching, a common problem ex-perienced by some OEM filters that don’t incorporate this feature. When pleats bunch, the available filter area drops significantly. As a result, a filter can go into bypass, allowing contaminants to enter the engine or other component systems.

However, with Caterpillar’s acrylic beads, pleat spacing is rigidly maintained to maximise the surface area throughout the life of the filter. Maximum surface area means maximum filter dirt-holding capacity.

Meanwhile, Caterpillar’s spiral roving design keeps pleats from ‘moving’. Cat filters feature a unique fibreglass spiral roving design that keeps pleats stable and in place, allowing for better filtration. However, with some filter brands, these pleats are able to move or ‘flex’, which results in fatigue cracks or holes in the filter media that can release contaminants into the oil, fuel, or hydraulic fluid, cause engine or machine wear and, eventually, premature failure. q

The net effect: Understanding how fuel and oil filters function

Acrylic beads prevent pleat bunching, a common problem

experienced by other OEM filters that don’t incorporate

this feature.

http://www.engenoil.com/

http://www.metso.com/hosesystems



“There are many benefits to implementing a Filter Fo-cus filtration system, such as cleaner oil, reduction in

oil consumption, longer life of the lubri-cated components of the machine, and the added benefit of increased produc-tion capacities,” says Craig FitzGerald, COO at Filter Focus.

He says that some of the company’s satisfied customers include Kumba Iron Ore, Rand Refinery, Selmec and AfriSam.

Kumba Iron Ore makes use of Filter Focus filtration systems on its primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary crushers. Ramon Titus from Kumba Iron Ore explains that the oil consumption of the crushers was concerning as the total oil consumption per year was about 160 000 litres. “This rate of oil con-sumption was extremely costly, and we were forced to investigate the cause.”

According to Titus, it was discovered that the oil should be micro-filtered while in use, before it gets to the crusher, in order to improve the life cycle of the oil, socket liners and other components of the crusher. “The new filtration system was installed in April 2006,” says Titus.

“The Filter Focus filtration systems were installed at the primary crusher plant with great success. From March 2005 to March 2006, before the new filtration system was installed, the total oil consumption was 156 152 litres. Once the new system was in place, that dropped to 120 000 litres from April 2006 to April 2007,” explains Titus

Filter Focus was also chosen to execute a lubrication plan at Rand Refinery. Mechanical foreman, Richard Wilson, elaborates: “Filter Focus ad-dressed our current equipment, drained, flushed and changed seals and bear-ings where required, and initiated the lubrication plan.

“Since the introduction of the plan,

Above: Filter Focus filtration systems were installed at primary crusher plant.

Left: Filter Focus specialises in the development design and manufacture

of offline filtration systems.

Filter Focus oil and diesel filtration systems have been in use in the Vodacom Mozambique network since 2003 on more than 320 generators.

Filter Focus – a leading wear control expert specialising in the development, design and manufacture of offline filtration systems – offers clients a variety of tried and trusted products and services that guarantee customer satisfaction.

Equipment reliability:from red to green and available

Filter Focus has moni-tored the impact of the process on the plant and equipment, and implemented an auto-lubricating plan and micro-fine filter systems for the hydraulics,” explains Wilson.

He adds that since adopting this sys-tem, Rand Refinery has gone from 80% red indicators of problem equipment to 98% green and available. “Breakdowns on the plant have come to an end, and we are currently enjoying a higher level of equipment reliability,” says Wilson.

Three main Filter Focus products are used at Rand Refinery: LE Duolec, LE Monolec Hydraulic oil and LE Almaguard Vari-purpose grease.

“Even though the initial cost of implementation is costly, in the long run, there is added benefit to the cus-tomer through lower machine wear and reduced electricity consumption. By us-ing the Filter Focus filtration system, oil can be drained, filtered and re-used for more than 10 years, saving customers time and money.”

Selmec MD, H J Bolton reveals that the company has been involved with the maintenance of the entire Vodacom

Mozambique GSM network infrastructure. This has included

power, standby power, air conditioning, radio and transmission. “Filter Focus oil and diesel filtration systems have been in use in the Vodacom Mozambique network since 2003 on more than 320 generators.”

Bolton believes that over the years, the filtration system from Filter Focus has proven that it protects engines against contaminated diesel, and pro-longs the running hours with clean oil in the engine. “There are units currently running with 22 000 hours on the me-ter, and we have not yet had to replace an engine that failed as a result of oil.”

Furthermore, AfriSam maintenance clerk, Nicolene Crane, notes that the company “is happy with the results of the Filter Focus filtration system”. She adds that since the Filter Focus filtration system was installed, the maintenance lifespan on the Osborn 57H “has in-creased dramatically”. q



Reliability, in its mechanical sense, can be defined as ‘the probability of a device performing its functions ad-

equately for the period of time intended under the operating conditions encoun-tered’.

The role of the maintenance pro-fessional is to maintain equipment at peak operating reliability in the most cost-effective manner. Equipment manufacturers make machines for only one real purpose – to make money – and customers generally buy them for that same reason. The cost of purchasing a piece of equipment tends to be relatively fixed; however, the actual cost of operat-ing the equipment can be highly vari-able. The main aim of the maintenance department is to minimise downtime and the associated repair costs, thus ensuring that operating costs do not exceed income received.

Maximum output is now required from minimum input and this has resulted in reliability being optimised rather than maximised. This must be a strategic and discriminating process that considers both the cost of reliability and the consequences of unreliability. Companies that have achieved this optimisation have invested heavily in people and equipment for effective as-set management and fundamental to this is education throughout the whole company.

As technology has advanced, ma-chines have become more complex and expensive to build. Maintenance engineering has had to develop along with the technology. From being non-existent, maintenance has developed from a passive to an active philosophy. Pro-active maintenance techniques now give some organisations their only edge over competitors.

Vibration analysis is another cost-effective maintenance resource offered by condition monitoring specialist, WearCheck. Here, field service technician, Marcelle Symonds, takes a vibration reading.

Condition monitoring specialist, WearCheck, advises customers to select the optimum maintenance strategy for keeping equipment operating reliably and cost-effectively. Here, a technician examines an oil sample – oil analysis is well established as a cost-effective condi-tion monitoring technique.

Over the past ten years there has been a paradigm shift that has seen maintenance become almost synonymous with achieving reliability. The word ‘maintain’ (verb) is defined as: to hold, preserve or carry on in any state; to sustain, to keep up; to support, to provide with means of living; to keep order, proper condition or repair; to assert, to affirm, to support by reasoning, argument, etc.

Maintenance strategies and the role of maintenance professionals

John Evans, diagnostic manager for WearCheck

The evolution of maintenance philosophiesBreakdown maintenanceThis involves fixing things if, and only if, they break. This was common enough 50 years ago but with the current cost of equipment, labour and downtime it is no longer a commonly viable option; it is very cheap to implement but the consequences are dramatic. It should be pointed out, however, that all main-tenance philosophies have their proper place. Each piece of equipment should be treated on its own merits and the most cost effective (optimal) combina-tion of philosophies and techniques employed. The factory manager or workshop foreman does not schedule to have all the light bulbs in the plant replaced on a calendar basis; they are replaced when they blow – this is break-down maintenance and is the optimal strategy in this case.



Table 1: A comparison of the costs and typical roles of different maintenance strategies.

A typical graph showing how breakdown costs drop as maintenance costs rise. “The trick in opti-mising maintenance strategies is to get the right combination of maintenance philosophies and condition monitoring techniques,” suggests Evans.

Cost per hour Maintenance philosophy Human body parallel Technique requiredR500 Breakdown Heart attack Big budgetR360 Preventive By-pass surgery Machine replacementR220 Predictive ECG Oil analysisR3.00 Proactive Cholesterol monitoring Root cause analysis

Preventive maintenanceThis philosophy evolved because it was soon realised that breakdown mainte-nance was not the best way to look after most pieces of machinery in industry. Preventive maintenance involves the servicing, overhaul and replacement of items of plant based on a scheduled time interval such as operating hours/kilometres, or on a calendar basis. This was certainly a step in the right direction but problems arise because ‘mainte-nance intervals’ are based on averages. This means a percentage of machines will fail before receiving attention and a percentage of normally functioning units will be disturbed; there is a lot to be said for the maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

Predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance evolved from preventive maintenance for the reasons outlined in the previous paragraph. This is also where condition monitoring techniques come into their own because this philosophy involves using as many non-destructive testing methods as

wonderful if we could have a simple equation to determine the right balance, but you will probably find that the graph is different for each piece of equipment. q

is necessary to determine the health of a piece of equipment, then making maintenance decisions based on these results. This practice originated in the aircraft industry during the early 1960s and was known as maintenance ‘on condition’. Predictive maintenance is a reactive technique that delivers value when early warning systems can substantially impact on the severity of a failure event. It allows the user to reduce the severity of the failure and plan for maintenance activities.

Proactive maintenanceThis naturally grows out of the other three philosophies and is concerned with the analysis of all maintenance and condition monitoring techniques to determine what causes failures and how these situations can be prevented in the future. Root cause failure analysis is central to proactive maintenance and it is certainly the way of the future if organisations want to become world-class players. Oil analysis has one foot firmly rooted in the predictive camp, the other in the proactive camp. As its name suggests, this is a proactive technique and delivers value where the failure rate can effectively be reduced and is most productive where root cause of failure (RCFA) is identified and controlled. It allows the user to reduce failure rates and operating costs.

Proactive maintenance follows the basic management precepts of ISO 9001:2000 corrective action very closely. This standard asks a set of basic questions:• What went wrong?• What are we going to do to fix it right away?• Why did it go wrong? • What are we going to do to ensure it does not happen again?The trick in optimising maintenance strategies is to get the right combination of maintenance philosophies and condition moni-toring techniques. In order to be cost effective you cannot run a plant on total breakdown principles; over-maintaining equipment is not a solution either as the graph (above) shows. It would be

http://www.bearings.co.za/


⎪ Materials handling and logistics ⎪

According to Graney, the Metso Nordberg MP range of cone crushers has become “an industry benchmark” for sec-

ondary, tertiary and pebble crushing applications, as evidenced by its use in more than 300 crushing operations around the world. The latest evolution of the range, the MP2500 is some 40% larger in all three dimensions than its nearest sibling, the MP1250, and has output capacities of between 5 425 and 7 166 t/h with its closed-side setting at 63 mm and between 2 153 and 2 839 t/h when set at 25 mm. “Large cone crushers have been made before,

but nothing compares to this in terms of power (1 865 kW), size or capacity,” reveals Graney. “The head diameter is 3.3 m – a full metre larger than the MP1250 at 2.3 m – and the machine weighs 450 metric tons, nearly one-million pounds,” he says.

“This newest crusher, as well as being large, is a robust, heavy duty machine, purpose-built to deal with the toughest crushing applications on the planet. It will outperform any other cone crusher on the market.”

Why do you need a machine so large? “Due to declining ore grades, mining operations are having to process more

On 27 October at the company’s Vereeniging manufacturing facility, Metso Minerals officially launched its new Nordberg MP®2500 cone crusher, which, with double the capacity of the company’s MP1250, is the largest cone crusher ever manufactured. MechTech attends and summarises the launch presentation by US-based Kevin Graney (right), who is the product development manager for Metso Minerals Industries with responsibility for research and development of large (above 600 kW) mining cone crushers.

The first MP2500, the largest cone crusher ever built, under test at Metso Minerals’ Vereeniging manufacturing facility. This unit is one of two destined for a Zambian copper mine.

The MP2500: The largest cone crusher ever built

ore through their plants to maintain end-product targets. The high volume MP2500 answers that call. If a lot of ore has to be processed, there are two equip-ment options: either multiple pieces of smaller equipment can be installed or fewer units of larger equipment.

“The MP2500 can take the place of two MP1250s and fewer pieces of equipment translates into less mainte-nance. There are fewer liners to change, fewer heavy lifting operations; less use of heating torches and torque wrenches, and so on,” he argues.

The MP2500 has the largest avail-able feed opening. This offers a degree of flexibility with respect to the pri-mary crushing circuit. “The MP2500 cannot be used as a primary crusher but, because of its capacity to handle larger in-feed sizes, the output of the primary crusher can be set larger, which enables the overall crushing circuit capacity to be optimised more easily,” Graney says.

Also, the MP2500 completes Metso’s large crushing equipment line: “With this new cone crusher, we are now able to offer a crushing solu-tion that uses one Metso SuperiorTM 60-110E primary gyratory crusher, feeding one MP2500 secondary cone crusher, which then feeds one Metso HRC 3000 HPGR. And this line will provide a 60 000 t/day throughput for the plant, all with three pieces of equip-ment. No other company in the world can offer this from their own in-house equipment range,” Graney points out.

What is different about the MP2500? Graney says that because the machine is so large, “we have had to take a very close look at maintenance and service-ability”. Key innovations include: • A new socket design: “The socket

must be removed to take out the eccentric. The previous generation system required several techni-



For tramp iron handling, double acting tramp cylinders with tramp return cushioning have been used.

The hydraulic power pack for the MP2500.

A head assembly stand has been devel-oped for the MP2500 to hold and rotate the head assembly during maintenance and inspections. Right: A 3D model show-ing a head loaded on the stand.

The MP2500: The largest cone crusher ever built

cians with blowtorches to heat up the socket before it could be re-moved. It’s a laborious process. The MP2500 incorporates hydraulics to simplify this task. Fluid is pumped into the cylinders, which ‘pops’ the socket off the mainshaft. Easy and simple,” he explains.

• Newly-evolved locknut design: Historically, cone crushers had a nut that was tightened by using a heavy ‘wrench and sledge’. “On our MP range, we have been using a jack bolt system to tighten the nut, and we have taken this system one step further on the MP2500, where we use hydraulics to tighten the nut, before mechanically locking it down.”

• Lifting features have been incorpo-rated into many of the components as well as custom lifting fixtures to aid accessing and replacing compo-nents, such as the tramp cylinders. “We have taken the handling aspects of these large components into ac-count during design,” he points out.

• The lubrication system has three pumps, two of which are operating at any one time. “The third is a standby backup pump, and we offer a condi-tion monitoring service, whereby this unit can be tested so that it will work accurately when required.”

• The hydraulic power unit has been

more ergonomically designed. It has been elevated to allow more room to work on the components.

• An external backlash adjustment system has been incorporated so that the backlash between the gear and the pinion can be adjusted from outside the crusher.

• Two-piece, patent-pending main-frame design: “Because the crusher is so large, we have split the main-frame into two pieces to facilitate manufacturing, ease of handling and transportation.”

• For tramp iron handling, double acting tramp cylinders with tramp return cushioning have been used. “Previous generation tramp cylinders were single acting but, by using double acting cylinders, we eliminate the need for clearing jacks. This enables cushioning on return after a tramp event to limit the forces being transferred to the frame,” Graney explains.

• A patent-pending dual oil chamber counterweight: “This is a system that helps to retain lubrication oil inside the crusher, minimising leakage and harm to the environment.

“And because this is still a Metso MP crusher, it has all of the range’s standard features, such as: a steel sleeved ec-centric; a forged stub shaft head design; bronze bushings for the most adverse

environments; and a spiral bevel gear and pinion.

For serviceability, a purpose-de-signed head assembly stand has been developed to hold and rotate the head assembly during maintenance and inspections. “The stand can hold the head for mantle changers, rotate by 180º to do bushing changes, or by 90º to inspect the upper head.

To date, five Metso Nordberg MP2500 have been sold; two into Zambia and a further three are going to a project in Central America. “And, in Zambia, site service support personnel will be stationed onsite for a year from the date of commissioning, ready to respond to any issues on the ground,” Graney concludes. q

http://www.bonfiglioli.co.za/



The Enduron SP cone crusher is characterised by a unique and ingenious design, easily combining light weight, com-

pact dimensions and a robust frame to offer one of the most advanced cone crushers in the industry. Its innovative design achieves improved energy effi-ciencies, lower operating costs, reduced frequency of maintenance as well as increased reliability with varying feed conditions – a problem that has belea-guered many suppliers over the years.

“Enduron SP cone crushers range from 100 hp (75 kW) to 400 hp (300 kW), delivering one of the high-est production-capacity-per-feed ratios in the industry,” JD Singleton, process manager at Weir Minerals Africa, says. “Cone crusher adjust-ments and operations are fully automated, and a hydraulic adjustment and locking system allow adjustments under full load. The power of a high eccentric speed – up to 375 rpm – with a larger crushing stroke results in more tons per hour produced, compared to standard cone crushers. In fact, the SP series of cone crushers delivers 30 to 40% more capacity per hour than spring-type cone crushers, according to our data and operational analysis. In addition, the Enduron SP series of cone crushers has a high pivot point and increased mantle slope that result in a high-quality, cubi-cal product,” he explains.

“We installed the Enduron SP cone crusher on a turnkey basis and the customer has been impressed with the increased throughput, compared to other crushers in his plant; and the fact that a more consistent size range is being achieved.

“Based on this performance, we believe the Enduron SP cone crusher

JD Singleton, process manager at Weir Minerals Africa.

The first Enduron cone crusher to go on trial in an aggregate facility in South Africa. Left: The chamber of the Enduron crusher can be seen here during assembly at Weir Minerals Africa’s Alrode manufacturing site.

Reflecting on its commitment to expand its local crusher capability, Weir Minerals Africa recently commissioned the world’s first Enduron® SP cone crusher at a local gold waste rock aggregate plant. Early results indicate that this new technology has significant potential for smaller miners and aggregate producers alike, delivering all the performance characteristics these markets have come to expect of a crusher, but with improved reliability.

Reliable SP cone crusherdemonstrates aggregate potential

is going to prove extremely appeal-

ing to a lot of operations in the mining and aggregate markets. Having proved its proficiency in this local operation, we intend to roll this technology out to all the territories we serve through our 20 service centres scattered around Africa. These crushers are ideal for the African context, particularly in terms of preparing feeds for high pressure grind-ing rolls (HPGRs) or milling circuits, and to support aggregate specifications.”

Weir Minerals Africa plans to support these and other crushers in the Enduron range with local production. This in-cludes local manufacture of crusher liners at the Weir Heavy Bay Foundry in Port Elizabeth, incorporating proprietary technologies. As with other products in its comminution range, Weir Minerals Africa intends to become a full solutions provider in crushing technology, which is seen as an ideal complement to its greater comminution offering.

During a recent visit to South Africa,

Kurt O’Bryan, Weir Minerals’ global product manager for cone crushers and screens based in North America, commented that “no other company in the region has an aftermarket footprint that compares to Weir Minerals Africa”.

“This extensive footprint is the ideal vehicle to roll out and support our expanding Enduron range,” he says. “We’ve been operating and grow-ing the reach of our southern African service centres for decades and they are unmatched in terms of capability and excellence. We’re now expand-ing and leveraging this success story with the Enduron cone crushers and a number of other new products needed in the present market, which offer the same ‘Big Five’ features as our existing range, namely reliability, efficiency, low operating costs, high performance and aftermarket support.”

Wier Minerals’ Enduron line of com-minution equipment includes jaw and impact crushers, as well as screens and feeders. q



“Supplying only a cyclone is not good enough. You can have the best cyclone in the world, but if it is not

operating at OEM specifications, the end user will not see the benefits of the technology,” Ernst Bekker, product specialist, Multotec Group, says. “This is where an equipment supplier such as Multotec comes into its own, as it has the necessary expertise to assist both customers and end users in apply-ing sound operating and maintenance practices.”

He warns that it is necessary for mineral processing plants to take cognisance of this, and not to simply assume that the cyclone design itself will resolve any operational inefficiency. “However,” he says, “the situation is exacerbated further by a lack of proper understanding of maintenance practices such as condition monitoring together with insufficient skills to operate within the designed process limits.” In terms of hydrocyclones, he points to the indica-tors of normal operating parameters, and how to ensure optimal operation.

Firstly, Bekker says that all hydrocy-

clones must be equipped with a working pressure gauge. “It is surprising how often such a simple device is not incor-porated in a cyclone installation in an operational mineral processing plant.” The immediate benefit of the pressure gauge is that it indicates if there is any surging in the hydrocyclone feed. While surging can also be identified in the outgoing streams, these areas are not always accessible, which means that a pressure gauge is therefore essential for feed condition monitoring.

In addition, the reading on the pres-sure gauge will allow for a reasonably accurate calculation of the volumetric flow rate to the hydrocyclone which, in turn, will make it possible to calculate the mass flow rate. “Such data is essen-tial as it will indicate clearly whether or not the hydrocyclone is operating within its feed design parameters. Should the data indicate that it is operating outside its design envelope, remedial action needs to be taken in order to avoid material being misdirected to the incorrect product streams, with a run-on effect on the overall performance of the downstream processes, together with

Hydrocyclones equipped with working pressure gauges.

Hydrocyclone optimisationfor maximum processing efficiencyHydrocyclones, used for classification in mineral processing, must be correctly maintained to ensure they operate at peak efficiency. If this essential equipment is not optimised, mineral processing plants will be unable to resolve operational constraints in their systems.

the potential for increased wear and a concomitant loss of revenue,” Bekker explains.

For example, if the cyclone overflow in a coal processing plant is directed to a flotation circuit and the underflow to a spirals section, an inefficient hy-drocyclone will misdirect some coarse material to the overflow and some fines to the spirals. The flotation plant will be unable to recover the coarser particles, resulting in a loss of saleable coal via the flotation tails. The misdirected fines, which generally comprise a high ash content, will furthermore contaminate the product in the spirals circuit.

Bekker says it is not always possible to gauge the separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone by simply monitoring the underflow and overflow discharge. “Having a proper indication of the feed conditions to the hydrocyclone will make it is easier to determine if the cyclone is still operating within its designed envelope,” he stresses.

Another example where an inefficient hydrocyclone can cause problems is in milling circuits where coarse particle misplacement can lead to non-liberated material reporting to the cyclone over-flow while the misplaced fine material can be overground, resulting in recovery



The underflow discharge pattern of the hydrocyclone contains an immense quantity of information. “If the discharge pattern from the spigot resembles a solid ‘sausage-like’ stream, this indicates that the spigot is overloaded,”says Bekker.

losses and energy wastage. Basically, in any application where the hydrocyclone must perform a specific duty, inefficiencies can result in operational problems or cause revenue losses.

An additional advantage of having a pressure gauge on the hydrocyclone is to indicate whether or not it is operating within the correct pressure range. Low pressures result in inefficiencies while high pressures increase wear rates, with both scenarios having significant cost implications for the entire plant. In addition to relying exclusively on the pres-sure gauge, limited visual observation can be used to gain a preliminary understanding of the cyclone’s performance. This is important, as it will allow for early intervention without the need for extensive sampling regimes.

“The underflow discharge pattern of the hydrocyclone contains an immense quantity of information,” Bekker says. “If the discharge pattern from the spigot resembles a solid ‘sausage-like’ stream, this indicates that the spigot is over-loaded. The implication is that not all of the coarse material is being directed to the underflow. Whatever coarse material cannot be discharged through the spigot, will then flow to the cyclone overflow and subsequently be misdirected.”

If the discharge pattern is severely flared, then the spigot is under loaded, which means excess water with increased fines content being directed to the underflow. This is referred to as ‘bypass’ or ‘alpha’ water. The greater the quantity of bypass water, the lower the efficiency of the hydrocyclone. If the underflow discharge pattern is erratic, it could indicate the presence of a foreign object inside the cyclone or erratic solids’ feed concentrations to the cyclone, or even pressure fluctuations. Bekker adds that volume fluctuations are more easily identifiable on the overflow, as this is where the largest volume of water is directed.

“Multotec has a unique ad-vantage over other locally manufactured hydrocy-clones as it offers the only one of its kind in the industry to feature weep holes in the exterior wall of the cyclone. Should the liner become dam-aged, the material that finds its way between the liner and the cyclone shell will then ‘weep’ from these holes, indicating that the liner needs to be replaced. Unplanned stoppages can be avoided by tak-ing heed of such early warning signs. This feature also reduces the frequency of internal inspec-tions, as those cyclones without weep holes require regular inspection to assess the integrity of the liner itself.

Unplanned downtime is a reality in this scenario, as the material will not only damage the liner but the shell itself, at which time the efficiency of separation within the cyclone has already deteriorated significantly. Another issue result-ing in extensive liner damage is that the resulting turbulence will impact further on the classification efficiency,” Bekker concludes. q

A cluster of small diameter Multotec hydrocyclones.

http://www.atlascopco.co.za/



In the wake of the recent successful installation of a Blair Multi-Rope (BMR) winder at Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines’ Synclinorium shaft

in Zambia, FLSmidth will now supply BMR winders for the mining company’s two new shafts: the Mindola shaft at the Nkana mine in the Kitwe district and the new Mufulira shaft at Mufulira mine 25 km due north of Kitwe.

This is the highest value order FLSmidth’s Mine Shaft Systems busi-ness has received for BMR winders to date. The company has installed more than 90% of the world’s BMR winders and has been actively involved in their development since the first installations in 1959.

“With only about 50 BMR winders of this kind operating in the world, it is gratifying to be adding another four in a single application, bringing to five the number of these units in one country, whereas two years ago there were none,” says Wendy Norman, FLSmidth’s sales manager for Mine Shaft Systems in South Africa.

FLSmidth will supply identical equipment for both shafts, each of which incorporate a double drum BMR rock winder and a single drum BMR

Mopani Copper Mines get two more BMR windersFLSmidth, the mining industry’s undisputed leader in deep level hoisting, will supply BMR winders for Mopani Copper Mines’ two new shafts: the Mindola shaft at the Nkana mine; and the new shaft at Mufulira.

One of the FLSmidth double drum BMR winders for Mopani Copper Mines new shafts.

man/materials winder. The drums are almost identical for all four winders, each measuring 5.7 m in diameter with two 1.8 m wide rope compartments.

Also setting this order apart is the fact that this will only be the second customer where a Hooke’s joint appli-cation has been used in mine hoisting on the African continent, and the first for Zambia. The Hooke’s joint is a gi-ant universal coupling used on double drum BMR winders to link the two drums mechanically, without the use of gears to allow the drums to be angled towards the conveyance centres to im-prove rope fleeting angles. This system offers significant capital cost savings over electrically coupled winders. The cost of a BMR installation is offset by the higher tonnages that can be hoisted using twin ropes per conveyance.

FLSmidth, an industry leader in this technology which is unique to the African mining industry, installed the first Hooke’s joint in the early 2000s at a gold mine in Westonaria. Development work had been in prog-ress since the mid-1980s on the use of these joints in a hoisting application. At the Mindola and Mufulira shafts, the Hooke’s joint will allow the wide BMR

drums to be installed at an angle of 12° to each other, accommodating the drum centres without incurring any fleeting angle problems.

The company will begin delivering the equipment to Mopani Copper Mines in the last quarter of 2015, with instal-lation likely to commence in 2016. The drums are being made by a South African company and the drum shafts by an international supplier. Voith is manufacturing the Hooke’s joints for this application.

Once manufacture of the drum shafts is completed and following a trial as-sembly in South Africa, the Zambian government will send mining inspectors to examine and verify all the equipment before it leaves the country. Thereafter the equipment will be dismantled and transported on Superlink trucks by road to Zambia. Owing to their significant size, the drums will be sent in half sections. All the equipment necessary for this installation will be sent to the mine site in strict sequence, since the main components are too big to be stored on site for any length of time. The total weight of the components that will travel to the mine by road is in the region of 3 000 t, including electrical equipment such as transformers.

FLSmidth, the mining industry’s un-disputed leader in deep level hoisting, is focused on building the necessary skills and experience to become a one source solution in the mine shaft business world-wide, just as it is in the mineral process-ing and cement industries. This follows a formal integration of the company’s mine shaft systems capabilities in South Africa and Canada in 2012 to form a dedicated business unit within FLSmidth.

The mine shaft systems offering comprises two distinct product lines serving a common and unique sector of the mining industry – mine hoisting and mine shaft equipment technology – and draws on a spectrum of in-house engineering skills to offer customers a holistic solution. FLSmidth’s global pro-curement strategy allows the mine shaft systems team to source its equipment from all parts of the world, enabling it to secure the most competitive prices, while still delivering the quality products with which the company has come to be associated. q



Ground-breaking mine crane solutionsSouth Africa-based multi-national, Condra, reports on two notable crane developments for the mining industry, a first-of-a-kind mine pre-sink crane solution; and the US$2-million installation in Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine in Namibia.

Harnessing its experience in high-speed, highlift crane tech-nology, Condra has designed and manufactured a unique

structure for fast-tracking the pre-sink phase of new mineshafts. A prototype has been built and is currently under test and, while radically different from the level-luffing type of crane traditionally used for presinking, the prototype machine comprises a portal crane with a 25 t main hoist sufficiently fast to render feasible a period of just three months for a typical 50 m mineshaft pre-sink.

The portal frame additionally ac-commodates two stagewinders running parallel to the main hoist and at the same height, for raising and lowering the drilling stage.

Condra undertook research and devel-opment on its prototype during the second half of last year, designing the 25 t hoist unit so that it is able to deliver a lifting speed of 30 m/min, or almost eight times faster the 4.0 m/min usually required.

Besides hoist speed and frame layout, considerable research was also carried out on the drives and gearboxes, on cabin access, on remote operation, and on safety devices.

With a span of 24.4 m, a height of 15.1 m, and a below-ground lift height of 80 m, the Condra gantry has an impres-sive physical presence.

During an actual pre-sink, it will stand over the shaft mouth to facilitate the removal of excavated earth and rock in a kibble lifted by the portal crane’s 25 t high-speed hoist through a hole in the centre of the drilling stage, remaining in place until the shaft has been drilled, blasted, supported, cleaned and lined with concrete.

Condra chose a portal design for the prototype crane to allow it to be moved along rails to adjacent shaft sites as nec-essary. Such changes in location would take just a few days instead of the three to four weeks needed to move and pre-rig a level-luffing crane. In addition, the crane quickly tows a rail-mounted integral blast cover over the shaft mouth during blasting.

Quality control during Condra’s manu-facture of the prototype was strict. For ex-ample, the hoist was intensively checked

using magnetic particle inspection of the entire drum.

Germiston-based Condra is the only multi-national crane manufacturer head-quartered in South Africa, with a factory in Bulgaria and a worldwide distribution network.

Cranes for Swakop UraniumCondra has also completed one of the crane industry’s biggest manufacturing contracts for the past year, and an-nounced that the same customer, AMEC Minproc, has placed an order for another four cranes. The order was received in the same week that Condra despatched a 24 m span 50/50-ton maintenance crane with two 15 t auxiliary hoists, the final machine in AMEC Minproc’s initial order for seven.

The 11 cranes have a combined value well in excess of US$2-million, and are all for installation in Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine in Namibia.

The Husab project is an open-pit mine under development near Swakopmund on the west coast. The high grade, granite-hosted uranium deposit at this mine is Namibia’s largest, and the third-largest uranium-only deposit in the world.

Because of the large size of the

machinery at the mine, which has to be maintained, a number of Swakop Uranium’s Condra cranes have unusually large spans. The 24 m span of the 50/50 ton machine just completed is itself larger than that of the average maintenance crane, but earlier this year, Condra manu-factured two 40 t cranes with spans of 30 m for this mine, and two of the four machines in AMEC Minproc’s latest order are 20 t units with spans of 22 m.

The remaining six cranes in the clutch have spans of 20 m and less. All the cranes feature case-hardened gears, live-axle direct drives, squirrel-cage motors and adapted V-belt technology, all of which increase machine reliability and lower the overall lifetime cost.

Condra is currently expanding the range of its hoists designed around V-belt technology drives because of their low maintenance requirements. V-belt drives need no greasing or cleaning.

A company spokesman explained that performance delivered to the hoists by V-belt drives “is considerably superior to any alternative” in tough operational environments where routine maintenance is likely to be overlooked.

On the 50/50 t crane for Husab, Condra installed controls that include a selector switch connected to the main hoist drives, allowing synchronised move-ment of the two 50 t hoists to lift a load of 100 t, or allowing independent operation of each hoist to manipulate a load of 50 t.

Delivery of this machine to Husab took place by road over the first two weeks of September. q

Condra’s pre-sink portal crane. Condra chose a portal design for the prototype crane to allow it to be moved along rails to adjacent shaft sites as necessary. Such changes in location would take just a few days instead of the usual three to four weeks.

http://www.weldamax.co.za/



SPH Kundalila specialises in materials handling, crushing and screening, loading and hauling, rehabilitation and

other turnkey solutions. It has over 320 items of earthmoving equipment in its fleet and is the largest owner of Cat 950H front end loaders in the southern hemisphere. Its fleet is maintained to the highest standards by means of on-site workshops staffed by highly skilled technical personnel. SPH Kundalila also enjoys priority support from major OEMs such as Bell Equipment and Caterpillar.

“You would be hard pressed to find another mining services supplier with such a large capacity to take on critical outsourced work. We take pride in our ability to process and produce large volumes with our precise screening capabilities,” Jeremy Petter-Bowyer, SPH Kundalila managing director, says. It has the capacity to screen in excess of a million tons a month with screen apertures ranging from less than 35 mm. It has also screened low di-ameter material of 0.8 mm through its dry screening operations. An example of its innovation in this regard is the application of an air separator at a cli-ent’s site in Thabazimbi that effectively removes unwanted fines from aggregate products and sifts material that would otherwise be rejected, reducing it to the required specification.

SPH Kundalila also operates various crushers throughout the country, rang-ing from jaw to cone and vertical shaft impact (VSI) crushers. For example, it crushes up to 350 000 t of ore a month for Pilanesburg Platinum by means of a 57 t Metso L120 crusher and a 106 t Sandvik Crawlmaster with a capacity of 750 tph. It can crush rocks from just under a 1.0 m while the L120 can crush 800 mm rocks. In addition, SPH Kundalila has also partnered with sister companies and dedicated suppliers to design, construct and operate fixed crushing and screening plants.

SPH Kundalila has evolved into a significant player in the crushing and screening and materials handling sectors.

Established in 1969 as Saldanha Plant Hire for general plant hire and exploration drilling and later to mine limestone for Anglo Alpha near Saldanha in the Western Cape, SPH Kundalila has continued to expand its service offering and geographic base, and today, employs about 1 300 people. The top 12 management members boast in excess of a collective 200 years’ service, giving it access to some of the best skills and expertise available locally.

45-years of crushing and screening in SA

Another focus area is loading, hauling and materials handling as the backbone for SPH Kundalila’s mobile crushing and screening operations. “We transport high grade materials from open cast pits or stockpiles from underground shafts to the respective processing plants,” Petter-Bowyer says. SPH Kundalila processes about a million tons of raw materials a month.

“We prioritise and ensure the safety of our clients’ reefs by fitting tracking devices to the majority of our vehicles so they can be monitored constantly from a centralised control room. At West Driefontein Gold Mine in Carletonville we have specifically modified a Cat 980H wheel loader with a control master tele-remote unit. This remote loader is able to retrieve valuable raw material from a dangerous site not humanly accessible due to a risk of sinkholes. This is believed to be the first remotely controlled wheel loader ever to be deployed on a surface application in Africa,” Petter-Bowyer says.

“SPH Kundalila’s capacity to be in-novative has been pivotal in its quest to meet its clients’ needs.” For example at Thabazimbi it transported 17 000 tons of run-of-mine iron ore material down a 17° slope for a continuous

2.0 km without incident. SPH Kundalila achieved this feat by collaborating with Bell Equipment engineers to alter transmission settings to allow the en-gines to limit the speed of the load haul dumpers and prevent the brakes from overheating.

Another value added service offered is site rehabilitation, which is currently in high demand in the South African mining industry. “We recognise the ever increasing importance of minimising the impact on all aspects of the environ-ment and are committed to complying with the latest legislation in this regard. Our achievements include the success-ful rehabilitation of part of GoldFields’ South Deep Gold Mine as well as some of Driefontein’s rock dumps,” says Petter-Bowyer.

Looking to the future, he adds, “con-ducting business in the rest of Africa is one of our dreams. However, we do not want to rush in there and lose money.” In terms of future growth opportunities, SPH Kundalila is looking to provide turnkey solutions. “We want to do quite a lot more mineral processing and try and get into more ‘smart’ work. Turnkey solutions provide a unique opportunity in this regard as it is lower volume work but with higher margins.” q

⎪ Heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning ⎪


Schneider Electric, a global spe-cialist in energy management, has signed an agreement to design, install and manage

the distributed control system (DCS) for the two concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One, near Upington in the Northern Cape province.

These solar projects, which aim to contribute towards a clean energy future for South Africa by allowing the country to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel for power generation, spe-cifically coal, is owned by international developer, Abengoa, in conjunction with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Khi Community Trust.

Construction of the 50 MW CSP tower, Khi Solar One, was completed towards the end of 2013. It is 205 m tall and will be the first to operate across Africa alongside the 100 MW CSP parabolic trough plant, KaXu Solar One, which is the first to utilise this technology in South Africa.

Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One

Schneider Electric DCS solutions will be responsible for controlling and operating the 50 MW Khi Solar One plant – one of the world’s largest CSP tower projects and the first of its kind in Africa – and the KaXu Solar One plant – a 100 MW CSP parabolic trough.

The 100 MW KaXu Solar One plant will use Abengoa’s parabolic trough technology.

An artists’ impression of the the 50 MW Khi Solar One plant.

Two CSP plant controllers for Upington

both use advanced dry cooling technol-ogy, which means that they will use about a third of the water consumed by wet-cooled power stations and a fraction compared with irrigated farms, which draw water from the Orange River that flows through the province.

The power tower plant will also use superheated steam receiver technology to improve the generation performance. High pressure saturated steam can also be stored in accumulators, which are huge storage tanks situated on the ground. There is capacity for about two hours of thermal storage in Khi Solar One.

According to Pedro Moreno Valder-rama, renewables solution architect

at Schneider Electric, the saturated steam can be withdrawn on demand to be conditioned in an independent superheater and feed the turbine, al-lowing overnight power generation or during transient periods with cloud coverage. Serving the same purpose, in the case of Kaxu Solar One, is a full-load molten salt storage capacity of two-and-a-half hours.

“The Schneider Electric DCS solution will be responsible for controlling and operating one of the world’s largest CSP tower projects and the first of its kind in Africa. The Khi Solar One plant extends over an area of six square kilometres, with a solar field consisting of more than 4 000 heliostats of 140 m2 each,” says Moreno Valderrama.

He highlights that with the Schneider Electric DCS solution, both Khi Solar One and Kaxu Solar One’s plant opera-tors will have the ability to control and supervise all solar plant processes, including power block and solar field areas, in accordance with the most current technology.

“This will allow operators to manage the position of the heliostats and the solar power trough collectors in order to efficiently capture the sun’s energy over the entire course of the day, making the anticipation of climate conditions pos-sible and the conversion of solar energy more reliable and cost effective.

“A high precision sun tracking algo-rithm, implemented in our solar tracking controller, accurately positions the mir-rors and can be used for either single

⎪ Heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning ⎪


Local specialist to retrofit 316 mine fans

Local fan specialist and OEM, Mech-CaL, has been appointed by the Anglo Platinum group to install 316

of their innovative fans at seven of the group’s mines.

The official order came through in July this year but delivery and installa-tion of the fans has now begun and will continue until March 2015. According to Gavin Ratner, director and spokes-person for MechCaL, the mines that will now benefit from MechCaL’s technology include Dishaba, Tumela, Bathopele, Khuseleka, Thembelani, Siphumelele and Twickenham. MechCaL will be supplying close to 316 fans ranging from 22 kW, 762 mm fans to the standard 762 mm, 45 kW fans as well as a few of its 75 kW, 1 016 mm units for underground use.

MechCaL has become well-known for innovative designs and use of technology to manufacture fans for the mining indus-try. Their patented design is coupled with the use of lightweight materials to create fans that boast increased efficiency, opera-tional and energy savings, and lower mean time between failures. Ratner explains that the type of existing fans being used under-ground at these mines are cambered plate fan types that that are traditionally very inefficient. “At best they perform at 60% efficiency and have, in most cases, been refurbished numerous times, resulting in a degradation of performance,” he states.

It was this unique technology that

caught Anglo Platinum’s attention says Gerhard van den Berg, group energy engineer for Anglo American Platinum. “We replaced 36 fans at our Union Mine with MechcaL fans as part of an Eskom Demand Side Management project. The success of the project prompted the company-wide roll-out of MechCaL fans,” he says.

The fans installed at Union Mine were aerodynamically superior to the fans that were used previously and proved savings of 19 kW per fan when compared to the previous fans with the same service delivery. Van den Berg comments on MechCaL’s ability to problem solve for its clients in the field saying: “Whilst the initial fans were made in composite materials, MechCaL replicated them in

steel, providing a more robust solution while still maintaining significant power savings.”

MechCaL’s designs have been proven to provide 80% or higher efficiency in performance and deliver higher flow rates. This results in significant savings in power drawn from the electrical power grid. Added to this MechCaL has developed ad-vanced VSD systems, which incorporate intelligent control that enables ventilation on demand for secondary fans. These systems will actively control delivery to ensure optimal system savings through reducing – or at times increasing – fan delivery to ensure that the mines are properly ventilated at all times. According to Ratner, this will ensure that the correct flows, temperatures and gas concentra-tions are adhered to, and will optimise the efficiency of the entire system. q

(parabolic trough) or dual axis (helio-stats) tracking systems. All the needs for mirror tracking control are integrated into the same board, including fibre optic upstream communications, elec-trical protections and solid state relays, reducing the number of elements and simplifying the tracker control cabinets design for these projects.”

Schneider Electric’s DCS solution manages the Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One’s operations at three levels: the physical solar field elements and data acquisition; the communications network and concentrators along the solar field; and the main controllers for the plant operation.

As highlighted by Moreno Valder-rama, a programmable logic controller (PLC) application adjusts the position of each parabolic mirror according to the angle of the suns rays and the se-curity parameters to maximise energy generation. The system communicates

thousands of real time data among the mirrors, the three receivers on the top and the weather system to provide vital information for monitoring and control-ling the solar field. At the plant itself, the DCS manages data in a user-friendly in-terface to create an efficient system that streamlines plant operations alongside a data analytics platform for business intelligence purposes.

In addition to providing the tech-nology solutions, Schneider Electric’s highly skilled technicians, who hold vast experience in CSP plant technology, will remain on-site for the commissioning period to ensure a smooth start-up once the plant begins official operations in the near future.

Schneider Electric worked on its first CSP project with Abengoa in 2005. Since then the company’s solutions have been selected for different CSP plants technologies constructed by dif-ferent clients across Europe, the United

States, North Africa and the Middle East, with more than 1 800 MW and 30 commercial power plants operating with its solutions.

“It has become common knowledge that consumption of electricity is grow-ing disproportionately as industry and domestic systems require ever-greater amounts of energy. An advantage for South Africa is that is has an excellent climate, solar irradiance and numerous kilometres of roof space available, lend-ing itself to renewable energy solutions.

“Schneider Electric is committed to providing energy management and process automation solutions that are tailor-made for the country and the CSP business. The company is espe-cially pleased to play an active role in building South Africa’s green economy through the company’s solar solu-tions, providing green energy with zero carbon emissions,” concludes Moreno Valderrama. q

MechCaL’s fan designs provide 80% or better performance efficiency and can deliver higher flow rates.


⎪ Manufacturing technology and plant automation ⎪

Zest WEG Group, an African multi-national organisation, grows its footprint by match-ing customer demand with the

ability to provide consistent quality. A classic example of this entrepreneurial spirit is the establishment of the Zest WEG Group Small Works Facility in 2011, which has seen a tripling of demand since its inception.

“We identified a niche in the market for small specialised jobs that service the needs of many of our OEM custom-ers and end users. Most of these jobs are too small for large facilities, but

Johan van Niekerk (automation manager); Carlos Guilhas (small works manager); and Hannes van der Colff (small works supervisor). Zest WEG Small Works facility forms an essential part of the Zest WEG Group’s capability for producing high quality panels at a reasonable cost.

Olweto Mgoduka carries out final quality control inspection on stock items at the Zest WEG Group’s Small Works Facility.

A panoramic view of the Zest WEG Group’s Small Works Facility, which has expanded its manufacturing capability to include direct on line starters and star delta starters ex stock.

Customers looking for panels can experience the flexibility and cost competitiveness that they would normally get from a very small operation, but with the assurance of knowing that products are supported by the full Zest WEG Group network.

Cost effective locally made quality panels

too complex for small operations. It was apparent that there was a growing need for a quality, cost effective option for customers. This operation takes care of the supply of small panels, manufactured to the high standards of workmanship synonymous with all Zest WEG Group and WEG brands,” says Johan van Niekerk, manager drives and automation at Zest WEG Group.

The Small Works Facility forms an essential part of the Zest WEG Group capability by producing high quality panels at reasonable prices. “We are able to compete across the board with other players in this sector in terms of both pricing and quality. Catering for OEMs and end users, this facility is ISO 9000 accredited and all work is done according to these quality stan-dards,” says Van Niekerk.

Small Works’ capability includes any small electrical panels, such as those for direct on-line starters from as low as 0.55 kW, and up to panels for 500 kW VSDs. The facility caters for new pan-els as well as retrofitting, for example, where a customer wishes to retain the existing panel but also requires a fully populated and wired chassis plate.

“The success of the facility is based on the experience of the team and their comprehensive understanding of the wide diversity of technical requirements

in the market. Zest WEG Group per-sonnel bring extensive knowledge and expertise to the table and they are also able to leverage the broad global capa-bility base of WEG,” says Van Niekerk.

The facility has access to the full WEG range of switchgear and automa-tion products, which makes manufac-turing cost-competitive while, at the same time, ensuring that this local operation meets European and South African electrical standards. Support is available through the normal Zest WEG Group branch and service network throughout Africa.

The facility designs and builds a wide range of customised products such as PLC panels, water treatment panels, and panels for underground applications, including winder panels. In 2014 the manufacturing capability was expanded to include two ranges of standard products that are now avail-able ex stock, namely direct on-line



New shredder basket system launchedEdge Innovate recently launched a basket system for the Slayer XL and, with this new screen system, material is shredded to the required particle size in just one pass. The baskets come in various apertures from 50 mm to 250 mm, depending on the customer requirements and can be quickly removed or exchanged for different aperture screens.

Edge Innovate’s Edge Slayer can be employed as either a primary or secondary shredder due to its highly

robust design and superior resistance to difficult to shred material. The XL range can be supplied with up to 12 different shaft configurations, making the machine suitable for a huge range of applications. This, combined with impressive features such as tramp metal cycles and intelligent load sensing, insures against asset damage and downtime. With a high percentage of material processed by primary shredders not being resized to the required piece size, the new Slayer Basket system guarantees the operator the desired piece in just one pass, thus cutting down on production times and operating costs.

This new shredding chamber configu-ration comes with bolt-on tools with two cutting edges, (doubling tooth life) heavy duty pipe unit shafts and an optional tooth breaker bar. The cutting edges on the bolt of tools enable the Slayer Basket System to cut and shred. These characteristics allow the Slayer to process difficult to handle materials such as carpets, tyres and mat-tresses at a high throughput capacity but at low engine output.

With the recycling industry ever chang-ing and adapting to new regulations and stringent requirements placed on MRFs, adaptability is key. Whether it is process-ing C&D or domestic household waste, the Edge Slayer offers all-round capability. The Edge Slayer can be customised to provide the right tonnage at the desired pieces size. If pre-shredding is required, the basket mesh is simply removed. Ultimately, the Edge Slayer is a pre-shredder and second-ary shredder all in one.

Since 2009, Edge Innovate has imple-mented an aggressive product development

programme and has created a large product offering. The current range of equipment in the recycling sector includes:• Trommels, (tracked, wheeled and

static).• Material classifiers (used for the separa-

tion of light material from heavy mate-rial).

• Flip Flop screens (used for the separa-tion and screening of sticky waste).

• Modular picking stations (static and mobile).

• Fines separation plants. In addition to the recycling range, Edge also offers a range of materials handling equipment, which includes: • Tracked conveyors (up to 30 m/100 ft).• Tracked feeders (up to 30 m/100 ft).• Radial tracked conveyors (up to

30 m/100 ft).• Wheeled conveyors and feeders (up to

30 m/100 ft).• Truck off loaders.• Roll crushers (mobile and static).The basket system is the latest in a long line of innovations and product ideas that Edge has brought to the market. q

Edge Slayer basket configuration.

Slayer XL Transparent.

(From left) Thabo Mohala, Crispen Kilumba and Leonardo Zulu engaged in panel assembly at the Zest WEG Group’s Small Works Facility.

starters and star delta starters.“Zest WEG Group is known for the

exceptionally high levels of stock that it retains across all of its branches and the decision to manufacture and stock the two ranges of standard panels is in line with this philosophy. Any other non-standard or non-stock products are produced on request. This flexibility to accommodate unusual and diverse customer requirements provides us with a notable market advantage,” Van Niekerk points out.

The Small Works Facility business model has worked well for the Zest WEG Group and to cater for the demand that has arisen in the Western Cape region, the group established a similar facil-ity in January 2014 at its Cape Town branch. q



The availability of all-electric machines that can bend tubes and pipes to a new level of 225 mm in diameter has the

benefits of instant set-up and right-first-time precision bending for many applications in sectors that include shipbuilding; power generation; and oil, gas and chemical processing.

The new machine is believed to be the most powerful all-electric tube bender to be shipped, and the first of Unison’s new machines is destined for a naval shipyard. Until this development, the largest all-electric machines offered by most vendors could typically handle maximum tube/pipe sizes of up to seven inches/175 mm.

“We believe that the right-first-time manufacturing capability of our new 225 mm tube and pipe bending machine with its automated set-up, can deliver a return on investment very quickly through scrap reduction and operator time savings – probably within just two to three years,” says Alan Pickering of Unison.

“With this project Unison has also devised a novel electromechanical ac-tuation architecture that will allow the continued scaling of all-electric benders to even larger machines – and we are confident we can take the next step to 250 to 300 mm pipe sizes with ease,

with bend torques up to a million new-ton metres or more. The cost of tubing and piping at eight and nine inch diam-eters is so considerable that bending machines at this size level can process many millions of pounds worth of raw material a year. The savings in scrap alone for all-electric machines offering this kind of right-first-time precision can generate a return on investment very rapidly,” adds Pickering. “This is particularly true for users employing advanced alloy tubes for purposes such as corrosion resistance and lightness – where the value of single pieces is often measured in five figures.”

Unison’s new machine offers an advanced and highly productive alterna-tive to the hydraulically-powered ma-chines that are typically used today for bending large bore tubing and piping. Its all-electric bending motion – controlled by software-programmable, closed-loop servomotor axes – allows automatic machine set-up, and delivers extremely high accuracy and repeatability from batch to batch.

Unison has overcome many major engineering challenges to build this landmark machine – a process that has taken more than a year of R&D at its design centre.

The most critical of these challenges was finding a way of integrating the

New tube benders overcome the challengesA tube bending machine innovator, Unison, is moving the technology forward with the completion of a groundbreaking all-electric machine that is capable of bending tubes and pipes up to nine inches/225 mm in diameter.

Unison’s new machine brings the flexibility of all-electric pipe bending technology to large pipe sizes. Among many possibilities is the means to fabricate long and complex pipe shapes in single pieces.

Alan Pickering of Unison believes the savings in scrap that right-first-time all-electric bending can bring will generate a return on investment very rapidly.

servomotor power required to deliver the torque for bending large pipe sizes. For the first application, Unison’s new machine needs to be able to bend piping up to a maximum bore of eight inches with Schedule 30 wall thicknesses of over 7.0 mm (with an outside diameter of 8.65 inch or 220 mm). For this task, the machine has to deliver a maximum torque of 360 000 Nm. The challenge was met with novel power transmission architecture. Despite packing in all of this power, the machine also meets the first user’s requested low loading height of just 1 524 mm (60 inches), and can be provided with even lower loading heights down to around 1 200 mm, if required.

Another critical design challenge was keeping the bend head of the machine compact in order to fabricate intricate shapes without danger of collision. The mechanical design reduces the profile of the clamp and pressure dies and provides a large amount of free space around the bending head, to minimise the potential for interference and give end users a great deal of production flexibility.

The first example of Unison’s 225 mm machine architecture is over 12 m long, and allows users to load pipe lengths of up to 9.0 m in length, using either a clamped or hitch-fed arrangement. This allows long and complex pipe shapes to be fabricated in single pieces – providing another substantial cost-saving mechanism compared to the common practice of


A key advantage of Unison’s new tube bending system is the ability to program and control the action and timing of all the machine’s bending dies. This allows bending programs to be highly optimised for each particular application.

creating pipe shapes by bolting together shorter sections that have been further processed to add flanged ends.

In the first application, the bending capability is needed mainly for bending standard large-bore steel piping. However, the high torque also provides an extremely valuable capability for bending tubing made from specialist high strength and/or corrosion-resistant alloys – even with large wall thicknesses. This is vital for many of the other potential applications for Unison’s new machine architecture in areas such as offshore platforms and nuclear power plant construction.

Another aspect of this bending versatility is the ability to program and control the action and timing of all the machine’s bending dies. This allows bending programs to be highly opti-mised for each particular application, to achieve goals such as bending brittle materials, or retaining as much wall thickness as possible after bending.

Much of the tubing and piping in the 225 mm maximum size range of the new machine architecture can be extremely expen-sive. So, in addition to the precision of the electromechanical bending architecture, Unison is also making the new machine available with its revolutionary laser-controlled ‘spring back’ correction system, which accurately measures bend angles as they are fabricated, and automatically applies a correction to compensate for any spring back.

This right-first-time production process is ideal for many of the perceived applications that Unison foresees for the new machine. In target applications, such as shipbuilding and the fabrication of power generation and oil and gas processing plants and equip-ment, most parts have unique shapes or are fabricated in small batches. This means that routine scrap – something that is almost inevitable when setting up competitive hydraulically-actuated machines – is very high.

Buyers of Unison machines also obtain access to one of the most extensive portfolios of productivity-enhancing software tools for tubular metal fabrication. Covering the complete process from design and manufacture through to final inspection, the product range includes: TubeWorks, an innovative PC-based CADCAM solution for tubular metal fabricators; the powerful PC-based Unibend Office and Opt2Sim 3D simulation software for offline creation, test and validation of bending programs; and a unique calculator app for evaluating bending machine tooling. q

http://www.barloworld-equipment.com/


⎪ Innovative engineering ⎪

Xylem’s Emmaboda pump fac-tory can be traced back to a blacksmith, Peter Alfred Sten-berg, who bought a foundry in

the village of Lindås in Sweden in 1901 and began manufacturing moulds for the local crystal glass industry. In the early years, the Stenberg family also made boat engines and fire pumps, but were constantly on the lookout for new opportunities. In response to an advert placed in a daily newspaper by Hild-ing Flygt in 1929 – for a factory able to manufacture his ‘universal pump’ design – the Stenberg family began to transform the Lindås facility into today’s global benchmark OEM for pumps, and in particular, submersible pumps.

The Stenberg family remained share-holders until 1968, when they sold to

ITT. Then, in 2011, ITT split into three separately listed independent entities: ITT, Exelis and Xylem Water Solutions.

“To date, Xylem’s Emmaboda factory has produced 3.8-million Flygt pumps,” Nilsson begins. “Our current manufac-turing facility sits on 330 000 m2 of land with 111 000 m2 under roof. We employ 1 100 people, 70% of whom are blue-collar workers, with the bal-ance providing the shared financial and distribution network services for north-ern Europe. Women make up 23% of our workforce, which is about industrial average for Sweden but still very good for a heavy industrial operation. We also have low employee turnover (4.3%) and our low absenteeism is among the best in class for Sweden, which is excellent when you consider the social security

Efficient to order manufacturingand Xylem’s new Emmaboda foundryThe Xylem factory in Emmaboda, Sweden, is the principle global manufacturing facility for the company’s Flygt range of dry and submersible water and wastewater pumps and mixers. The facility recently installed a new automated foundry that increases capacity by 70% and slashes casting lead times from 31 to seven days. Peter Middleton takes a tour of the facility and talks to Lars-Göran Nilsson (right), Xylem’s Emmaboda site manager and managing director for manufacturing.

and national health benefits available to Swedish citizens,” he says, pointing to a slide of some key facts.

The site consists of a foundry for casting blanks; machining and as-sembly facilities; as well as perfor-mance testing, painting, packing and distribution workshops. In addition, a second site in Emmaboda houses the company’s own motor winding work-shop, facilities that are currently being integrated into the different pump as-sembly lines at the main site.

In addition, the versatility arising from the company’s ability to customise its motor designs has enabled Xylem to



Above: Cores are set onto the pressed bottom flask. Then the top flask is flipped and placed on top of the mould ready for casting.

Left: A view of Xylem Emmaboda’s new automated stator housing line for small and midrange sewage pumps. Two thirds of all of the motors used in Xylem pumps are produced in-house.

Centre: One of Xylem’s pump assembly stations. The Emma boda factory operates a lean Six Sigma produc-tion methodology and claimed five to six implemented improvements per employee for the year to July 2014.

Below: The new automated shaft line with three machining centres and an integrated handling robot for machining components for small and midrange pumps and mixers.

produce a hybrid induction/synchronous motor for use in pumping systems. Nilsson explains: “For most pumping applications, high torque is not required at start up. We can, therefore, retain the traditional cage and operate the motor as an asynchronous/induction motor during start up. But, by also including permanent magnets, we operate the motor as a synchronous motor when it is at its fixed running speed. This allows us to start a high-efficiency permanent magnet motor without having to use a VSD, an ideal solution for the smaller pump sizes. You can’t buy technology such as this on the open market,” he reveals.

Globally, Xylem operates out of distri-bution centres in Emmaboda, Memphis in the US and Metz in France; and has a manufacturing facility in Shenyang in China, Pewaukuee in the US, Buenos Aires in Brazil and Vadodara in India. “India is a new facility to help grow the brand in that region” Nilsson says.

The manufacturing challengeThe unit quantities and very large numbers of variants create a unique manufacturing challenge for the Em-maboda facility. “We currently offer 120 000 different configurations to industry-best lead times. In 2013, 20 500 different product configurations were used in production, which were supplied to 150 different countries –

and we still achieved industry-leading delivery times,” Nilsson says. “Adapting products to specifications by late cus-tomisation to order is key to doing this successfully,” he suggests, adding that some 17% of all products manufactured are not just customised, but engineered to order. That means the manufacturing requirement for ‘specials’ exceeds that for standard product.

The foundry extensionDuring August 2014, the foundry at the Emmaboda pump factory was extended and modernised to increase casting capacity from 12 000 t to 20 000 t per year. “We have a huge range of different components that need to be cast, which makes the foundry the heart and the bottleneck of our manufactur-ing operation,” suggests Nilsson. “Even for a common midrange pump such as the 3202, we produce castings for low, medium, high and super high pressure options; several different insert rings; and up to 70 different impeller variants, depending on the duty points specified,” he explains.

Nilsson says that the supplier of the state-of-the art moulding line in-stalled in the extended foundry was “a bit shocked”, because unlike usual customers in the automotive industry who make less than two set-ups per shift, “here, we routinely handle 20 to 40 different set-ups per shift” and “we



cast different alloys in the same line”.The moulding line automates the

preparation of sand moulds. Each component has a pattern that is used to press shapes into the two halves of a sand moulding box or ‘flask’. Some components also have a core, which is set onto the bottom flask as it moves down the line. The top flask is then turned over and placed onto the matching bottom half, and the mould is ready to pour. “Since we have such a huge range of different components that need to be moulded, this machine works hard. Some set-ups might be for a single set of pump components, while others might be for five or 10 units. So, at the heart of the machine is a changeover turntable that allows patterns to be changed on one set of presses while the other set is being used on the line,” he adds.

To justify the additional expense of the line, Xylem also needed to extend the component sizes that could be accommodated by the foundry. “We needed to be able to cast more of the larger parts, the impeller parts for the large Great and Grey 3001 range of pumps, for example. Some of the very large housings still have to be out-sourced, but most of the variations on the engineered-to-order large pumps come from the impellers.

“To maintain the production speed for small parts, while catering for the larger ones, we developed two different flask sizes. We use a deep flask to cast the big impellers, but to optimise our consumption of sand, we have chosen a second flask size with reduced depth. This lowers the total cost per part and overcomes potential bottlenecking at the sand processor,” Nilsson says, add-ing that the shallow flask has allowed cycle times for the smaller components to be reduced to 26 to 28 seconds com-

Above: A set of com-ponent patterns ready for attachment to the moulding machine.

Left: An assembly robot in use at the motor wind-ing workshop.

Below: The automatic Sinto moulding machine on the line is used to press shapes into the two halves of a sand moulding box or ‘flask’. This machine, along with a changeover turntable that allows patterns to be changed on one set of presses while the other set is being used on the line.



pared to 38 to 45 seconds on the old line. And the deeper, 1 100×950×450/450 flask extends foundry capacity for larger components, which contributes significantly towards the total capacity increase of 70%.

The foundry also has to cater for two dif-ferent materials, grey cast iron and, for an increasing number of impellers and insert rings, Xylem’s proprietary Hard Iron™. As well as the 14 t furnace for grey iron, the new foundry has integrated into the line a smaller furnace and pouring ladle for Hard Iron . “So we can simultaneously cast either material on an on-demand basis, without having to wait for metal changeovers. This maximises flexibility and productivity and puts our operation in a uniquely competitive position,” he points out.

The net effect is that lead times have significantly improved on larger engineered to order pumps, in some cases reduced by 24 days. “This also has a major impact on spares and inventories, because the capac-ity and lead time improvements allow us to manufacture any component to order faster than ever before; and lead times for large castings have been reduced from 31 days to 7 days,” says Nilsson.

These improvements could not have been realised without corresponding productivity improvements to the upstream machining and assembly processes. The Emmaboda factory operates a highly transparent lean Six Sigma production methodology and can claim between five and six implemented improvements per employee for the year to July 2014.

Notable additional investments include: • A new two-operation (turning and mill-

ing) machining centre for the company’s propeller pump workshop.

• Re-equipping and modernisation of the machine shop for small and medium pump housings, which are considered strategic components for late customisa-tion. The aim is – via a combination of accurate pre-order forecasting for cast blanks and rapid customisation from machining to assembly – to reduce lead times to 15 days.

• A new fully automated stator housing line where machining, washing and QC are fully automated for the entire range of stator housings.

• A new fully automated shaft line where three machining centres, integrated with a robot, machines raw shaft material into finished, high-quality shafts.

• A new N-impeller machining centre, which includes an induction hardening, balancing and de-burring cell.

• Special coating and packing facility for the large products that allows automated internal and external shot blasting of single parts, with a height of 3,5 m and a weight of 3.5 ton, before paint operation.

• A new lean assembly line for small sewage pumps. This line combines four previous assembly lines into one and, by adopting automation in a flexible way, allows inventories to be reduced by 20% and floor space by 60%, with significantly improved ergonomics.

“Both the extended foundry and the other initiatives we have implemented in Emma-boda over the past year enhance finished quality and reduce the lead times of Xylem’s product portfolio. In particular, we have im-proved our ‘built-to-order’ responsiveness, with delivery times that can match or better standard product manufacturing lines,” Nils-son concludes. q

As well as the 14 t furnace for grey iron, the new foundry has integrated a smaller furnace and pouring ladle for Hard IronTM into the line.

http://www.hornet.cc/


⎪ Products and services ⎪

Raising funds for the ALS Ice Bucket ChallengeEazi Sales and Service has taken the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to a high level. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), sometimes called motor neurone disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge invites people to dump a bucket of iced water onto someone’s head to promote awareness of the disease and to encourage donations for research.

Demonstrating the versatility of JLG Boom Lifts supplied by Eazi Sales and Service, Eazi staff took up this challenge in a way that only they could, at height.

The company challenges other plant and equipment companies in South Africa to do-nate money to a local ALS organisation.

www.eazisales.co.za

In situ flange-face repairCorrosive fluids, steam, crevice corro-sion and bimetallic corrosion can all result in flange-face deterioration and leaks. If a minor leak is not addressed at an early stage, it can rapidly develop into a larger loss of containment, down-time, health and safety hazards, and costly repair and replacement.

Conventional cut-and-weld methods of flange face repair involve hot work and require replacement flanges that may not be available in emergency situ-ations, especially at sites with limited access.

A more effective alternative is to keep a Belzona flange-face forming repair kit on site. Used in conjunction with cold repair technology materials, the Belzona flange-face forming kit includes all the equipment required to effectively com-plete a repair, eliminating the need for spare flanges of multiple sizes, saving time and avoiding hot work.

The kit contains six reusable plastic formers to repair the most common flange sizes found in the industry, as well as all the application tools needed for a quick and easy repair. Key benefits of this easy-to-use kit are that the form-

The flexibility of Becker ’s modular collision avoidance system (CAS) has proved to be a success story and contemporary CAS solutions are now more cost-effective. “Our systems are specifically tailored to the needs of customers’ vehicular and personnel inter-operational environments,” says Johann Smit, chief sales officer, Becker Mining South Africa. “These systems are delivered and maintained well within allocated safety system budgets.”

In many cases, low profile machines

operate in physically constrained sur-roundings, with limited visibility for ve-hicle operators. This common scenario, coupled with the increasing volume of production traffic and inevitable proxim-ity of personnel around these machines, creates circumstances conducive to injury, as well as life-threatening and fatal accidents.

Becker’s internationally patented tri-technology solution, with ‘critical’, ‘warning’, ‘caution’ and ‘safe’ zones, has been designed to leverage the maximum reliability, repeatability, redundancy and scalability for customers.

Becker’s third and fourth genera-tion CAS solutions remain in full scale production and are fully supported through extensive pre and after sales programmes. In addition to core ve-hicular equipment, these solutions are complemented by personnel tags, vehicle tags, infrastructure and self-test equipment, as well connectivity solu-tions to Becker’s extensive underground communication product portfolio.

The ability of the company’s latest generation equipment to record to a

black box and then report possible incidents to a centralised management information system – through the Becker Mining Systems communication networks – plays an important role in pre-emptive operational planning. This ultimately contributes to the avoidance of proximity-related accidents and collisions, as well as pinch and crush incidents. Tags installed on vehicles and personnel facilitate additional value-added functionality, such as tagging and tracking, as well as remote evacuation signalling.

In addition, Becker’s ability to com-bine the most appropriate technologies in high density packaging, such as the innovative TCT3 tri-tech cap lamp tag, has made the realisation of these mixed-mode detection technologies more affordable to customers.

Becker ’s CAS solutions may be implemented using only the traditional UHF ‘received signal strength’ proximity detector technology, or may include the earth penetrating electromagnetic and highly accurate radar technologies, as appropriate.

www.za.becker-mining.com

The detection of vehicles (vehicle to vehicle alert) and personnel (vehicle to person alert) is highlighted to the driver by changing the ambient lighting colour of the cabin with multicolour LED strips.

Fifth generation collision avoidance systems

ers can be re-used hundreds of times, and that neither cutting nor welding is necessary – cold repair technology ma-terials from Belzona are used instead. The kit is also very light, allowing easy transportation to areas with limited access.

A single kit kept on site will eliminate the downtime associated with sourcing new flange parts, and allow emergency repairs to be completed in-place with minimal disruptions to daily operations.

Belzona flange face forming kits are available from authorised South African distributor, AESSEAL.

www.aesseal.co.za

The Belzona flange face forming repair kit in use.

http://www.eazisales.co.za/

http://www.za.becker-mining.com/

http://www.aesseal.co.za/


⎪ Products and services ⎪

Thermal imaging reduces downtime and improves safetyMagnet – a specialist in the supply, implementation and support of electrical equipment, industrial instrumentation and automation – has intro-duced a thermal imag-ing service, designed to reduce plant break-downs, minimise costly re-pairs, optimise the production process and improve safety in the workplace.

“Thermal imaging technology has become a valuable diagnostic tools for industrial appli-cations,” says Brian Bilton, Magnet’s training manager. “By detecting irregularities that are usually invisible to the naked eye, thermal imaging allows corrective action to be taken before costly system failures or fires occur.

“Magnet’s new thermal imaging service forms part of a condition monitoring pro-gramme to determine when and where main-tenance is needed in electrical and mechanical installations and components. By using reli-able, non invasive thermal imaging instru-ments, which are able to scan and visualise the temperature distribution of entire surfaces of machinery and electrical equipment quickly and accurately, preventative action is taken in the event of a fault. What’s important for production plants, is that Magnet is able to perform inspections, even when systems are under load.

“The specialist service includes full ther-mal imaging of and accurate monitoring of temperature data for high voltage equipment, low voltage cabinets, motors, pumps and high temperature equipment, as well the detection of insulation losses.”

A small electrical problem can have far reaching consequences. As the efficiency of the electrical grid becomes low, more energy is used to generate heat. If left unchecked, this heat can rise to the point where connections start to melt and a fire can start.

Magnet is able to identify and locate a fault before costly problems occur and also advise exactly what needs to be fixed. This thermal imaging service – which extends from the examination of a fuse box, to the inspection of a large industrial installation – results in cost savings, reduced downtime and improved safety standards. www.magnetgroup.co.za

Goscor Lift Truck Company (GLTC) and Imperial Retail Logistics (IRL) – formerly TFD Network Africa – strengthened their ties recently with the delivery of two Doosan B25S-5 counter-balance electric forklifts, each with an innovative battery exchange system. A total of 45 forklifts have been bought from GLTC in the last 36 months.

An innovative fork-entry slot system, developed by GLTC Cape Town’s John Petrie on both these Doosan machines, enables an operator to drive a forklift into the side of the machines, lift the battery out with the forks and reverse out quickly and efficiently.

Petrie says that this system negates the need for the ‘block-and-tackle’ sys-tems, a delicate and time-consuming operation, which can cause damage to the battery tank, steering column, bonnet and overhead guard. “Storage of batteries is now made easier and safer by allowing a forklift to place bat-teries on racks or battery stands using standard forks,” Petrie says

In addition to the latest forklifts, GLTC provided a permanent technician on three of IRL’s sites in the Cape – and full battery and charger maintenance, leaving IRL to focus on its core business activities while its forklift operations

GEA Westfalia Separator Africa has re-cently launched the new CatFineMaster with intelligent control. This process is the first solution available on the mar-ket that ensures maximum reduction of dangerous catalyst fines (cat fines), and is set to revolutionise the off-shore drilling industry by adding new levels of efficiency to fuel composition.

Comprised of silicon and aluminium compounds, cat fines are used in the production of petrol and other fuels from

Innovative battery exchange system for electric forklifts

Goscor Lift Truck Company has delivery two Doosan B25S-5 counter-balance electric forklifts with an innovative battery exchange system to Imperial Retail Logistics.

are fully managed by GLTC’s efficient staff on site.

In order to compensate for the new battery tank design and modifications to the truck itself, the battery size has been slightly reduced. Instead of a 756 Ah battery, they are now using a 630 Ah battery. Each truck has two batteries in operation, so overall running time remains unaffected, the difference being the more efficient battery change-over system. Also, the Doosan B25s were delivered with multiple batteries because of the need for extended-hour usage at Freedom Way.

“Our aim is to lower the total cost of ownership of our equipment and this system goes a long way to achieving this,” concludes Petrie.

www.goscor.co.za

Efficient fuel processing reduces catalyst finescrude oil. The highly-abrasive nature of these fines, however, can cause engine damage and can result in total com-ponent failure in the refining process. The group has addressed this with the new CatFineMaster – the first process of its kind that is able to reduce cat fines while performing efficient and reliable fuel processing.

The new CatFineMaster, consisting of a separator as the core element as well as an adjustable feed pump, targets a cat fine concentration of less than 5.0 ppm and the removal of all particles larger than 3.0 µm. The adjustable feed pump provides optimum control of the flow quantity of the heavy fuel oil ac-cording to process requirements.

The CatFineMaster is equipped with IO control units designed for maximum ease of operation in which centrifuge regulation is easily monitored and con-trolled according to the specific process requirements of the application. The IO is also adaptable to a wide range of

functions within an application.The control unit also evaluates pro-

cess efficiency in order to optimise the operation. With IO, the concentration of cat fines can be measured remotely during operation by an analysis system that can be optionally integrated.

www.westfalia-sa.co.za

The new CatFineMaster with intelligent control.

http://www.magnetgroup.co.za/

http://www.goscor.co.za/

http://www.westfalia-sa.co.za/


⎪ Nota bene ⎪

Index to advertisers

Atlas Copco .......................................... 23Axiom Hydraulics .................................... 2Barloworld Equipment ........................... 33Bearings International ............................ 17Bonfiglioli ............................................. 20Crown ................................................. IBCEngen .................................................. 13Horne Technologies ............................... 37Hytec Group ...............................OFC, OBCM&J Engineering ..................................... 7Metso Minerals ..................................... 14SKF ....................................................... 6Thermamax .......................................... 26Xylem ................................................. IFC

Industry diary

December 2014MBA in Power Purchase Agreements10-12 December 2014, JohannesburgJasmina Jakimova, Terrapinn +44 207 608 [email protected]

March, 2015Nuclear Power Africa Congress, 201518-20 March, Midrand, SACarol van Niekerk+27 12 807 [email protected]

In September, at Electra Mining Africa in Johannesburg, Procon En-vironmental Technologies launched

a locally developed oily water separator called ProSpin.

The ProSpin oily water separator solution is based on HiPer hydrocyclone designs that use strong centrifugal forces to separate oil and other con-taminants from water. The product range includes pneumatic engineered solutions for 3.0 m3/h to 9.0 m3/h of oily water flow, as well as electrical engineered solutions dealing with flows from 3.0 m3/h upwards.

As environmental compliance and sustainability continues to play an increasingly important role in the African mining sector, Procon managing director Kuno Kerlen says that the innovative and cost effective ProSpin solution greatly assists mining operations in meet-

ing discharge limits. “It also adds value to the South African economy, due to the fact that it is manufactured locally,” he explains.

At the core of this advanced tech-nology is multi-port entry in the hy-drocyclone, which allows for greater separation, when compared to the older two-port entry hydrocyclone. Kerlen indicates that contrary to tangential or axial cyclones, ProSpin uses a mixed flow principle, which results in a sta-bilising and coalescing effect on the oil-water flow.

“All available pressure energy is converted in the rotating motion re-sponsible for separation. As a result, common negative effects in conven-tional cyclones, such as boundary layer disturbances and flow-destabilisation, are eliminated,” he says.

According to Kerlen, aero-engine fluid mechanics was used for designing the swirl element. “The shape of the swirl is such that the coalescence of light-phase droplets is achieved in the first section of the swirl element. In the second sec-tion of the swirl, stabilising ensures that the flow maintains stability without re-mixing the pre-separated flow.”

Finally, in the third section of the element, G-force is increased to avoid boundary layer separation and other losses in the specially designed tapered section. The total result is a cyclone that ensures the highest possible efficiency in combination with the lowest pres-sure drop.

ProSpin hydrocyclone technology is able to remove 95% of 10 to 15 µm oil droplets from the water. Greater hy-drocarbon removal can be achieved by combining Procon’s proprietary MyCelx

filtration and ProSpin oily water sepa-ration solutions. After using ProSpin, MyCelx is installed downstream to filter out the remaining hydrocarbons. Upon contact with MyCelx, oily pollutants in the air and water bond immediately and are permanently attached to the filter media.

MyCelx instantly removes 99.9% of hydrocarbon contaminants in a single pass, even at high flow rates. What’s more, the system is environmentally friendly, and never releases a hydrocar-bon chain once in contact with MyCelx. It permanently binds slightly soluble organic compounds and colloidal metals, and will not release pollutants due to its visco-elastic nature. This guarantees that Procon clients meet the national discharge standard of less than 2,5 ppm.

Kerlen reveals that the ProSpin solu-tion will be installed on the wash bays at two separate mining operations. “The high separation efficiency, low pressure drop, and low maintenance of the system are major advantages for local opera-tions. As a result, I am confident that ProSpin will gain measurable market share in the near future,” he concludes.

www.pro-enviro.co.za

Locally developed oily water separation technology

Africa Energy Indaba, 2015: At the heart of Africa’s energy futureThe global energy landscape is constantly changing as energy becomes a scarcer, more expensive commodity and the world becomes smaller and more environmentally conscious.

Presented by SANEA in association with WEC, and supported by the African Union and the NPCA, the African Energy Indaba has achieved the highest level of endorse-ment and support of any energy event on the continent. “We are exceptionally proud of our steering committee model, which has given our event the credibility and reputa-

tion it has achieved. With representation from the WEC, SANEA and the NPCA for the 2015 event, we are looking forward to greater African representation and in-creased delegate numbers at our February 2015 conference and exhibition,” says Liz Hart, managing director of Siyenza, the organisers of the event.

The two-day Energy Indaba will be held from the 17 to 18 February, 2015 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

[email protected]

Left: ProSpin’s CFD-optimised, multi-port hydrocyclone head removes 95% of 10-15 µm oil droplets from water.

Below: Greater hydrocarbon removal can be achieved by combining Procon’s proprietary MyCelx filtration and ProSpin oily water separation solutions.



http://www.pro-enviro.co.za/


http://www.crow.co.za/

http://www.hytecgroup.co.za/

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