DALRYMPLE BAY
Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) undertook a major upgrade to their facility recently. In that upgrade 4 major Subcontractors were used on various stages of the project.
ESS supplied equipment on each stage of the project and worked closely with the overall project manager, Connell Wagner, and each individual subcontractor to ensure our equipment was specified correctly, drawn in, installed and commissioned to ensure the equipment achieved the maximum efficiencies required to meet the stringent performance criteria laid down by DBCT in conjunction with Queensland Ports Corp.
The Queensland Ports Corp, is very concerned about the environmental issues of the facility due to its location in a very sensitive area adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef.
The equipment supplied by ESS, in the main part Belt Cleaners, was of totally Stainless Steel constructed XHD Primary Cleaners followed by multiple HD Durt Tracker Secondary Cleaners.
The configuration of the individual cleaners were confirmed following close cooperation between the ESS engineering department, led by Terry Thew in close liaison with Engineers from DBCT.
Feeder BF6 - Dalrymple bay coal terminal
Following commissioning and operation of the equipment carryback tests were undertaken to confirm that all systems were operating within the required performance criteria.
All systems on the main belts were certified as operating in excess of the requirements.
After several months operation it was noticed that on two feeder belts, Belt No BF6 and BF7, a totally unacceptable high level of carryback was being generated.
ESS evaluated the problem which was only being experienced on these 2 belts, and discovered the problem being generated by a very wide, slow, high tonnage feeder belts. These unusual operating conditions generated very high level of carryback.
The sheer volume of the material not falling into the main material flow, having to be scraped of by the cleaning system literally pushed the cleaners away from the belt rendering them unable to clean with the level of efficiency required.
ESS engineering department worked on a solution and within 14 days installed a trial system on belt BF6.
The cleaning system developed for this application comprised of the new CARP design XHD Precleaner followed by the new InLine secondary cleaner which has been designed for those particularly difficult cleaning applications.
CRP XHD Primary Cleaners
The patented design of the CARP XHD primary cleaner blade provides a constant cleaning angle and area of blade contact of the belt surface throughout the entire life of the blade.
Its robust design ensures efficient carryback removal in the toughest cleaning application This allows the correct cleaner pressure to be applied when installing the blades without having to readjust throughout the blade life.
CARP XHD Primary cleaner
Inline Secondary Cleaner The Inline Secondary Cleaner
InLine secondary cleaner follows the CARP XHD Pre-Cleaner. Whilst the pre-cleaner does most of the work taking of the majority of the carry back, in heavy duty applications the balance of the removal of the carry back requires a robustly designed InLine cleaner.
An important feature of the Inline cleaner is the blade cartridge which allows blade change out and service to be undertaken whilst the belt is in operation (On approved sites). The Inline cleaner has the ability to shed the material whilst continuing efficient operation without the need of troublesome rubber or plastic shrouds
Air Bag Mounts
The Air Bag mounts shown are installed on the InLine cleaner on belt BF6.
If air is not available, a spring tension version can be supplied. Both types provide the correct tensioning throughout the life of the cleaning element. This reduces service frequencies whilst still maintaining cleaning efficiency.
WARKWORTH COLLIERY
Extreme levels of spillage and dust emissions had long plagued ROM1 and ROM2 conveyors at this NSW mine. Clean up costs were high, equipment damage from being buried in moist coal fines was constant, and worker safety was compromised.
Design, installation and commissioning of an ESS Transfer Point System virtually eliminated spillage and dust emissions from each of these conveyors. Return on investment was measured in months.
COMALCO, WEIPA
Belt Size: 1800mm
Belt speed: 4.25 metres / second
Volume: 3000 to 5000 TPH
Tracker Return Roller: Lagged (Diamond pattern)
One of our clients had a tracking problem that was so bad, they had 13 Belt Tracking devices from various companies on the belt. The Belt was constantly tripping out, especially in the wet season. ESS audited this belt and came back to the client with 2 proposals.
- To totally realign the conveyor structure, Pulleys and idlers, as the conveyor was literally all over the place. Total cost $422,500
- To remove the existing 13 Belt Tracking units and replace with 4 Martin Trackers - Total cost = $20,000
The 4 Martin Belt Tracking units were installed on the conveyor to replace the 13 existing belt tracking units which were not functioning. In the months prior to installation the Conveyor had tripped the belt drift alarm regularly and tripped the belt drive out on numerous occasions.
Installation was reasonably difficult due to the height above ground requiring the work be done with the assistance of a crane and specially constructed scaffold as a work platform. Safety was considered paramount from the outset of the job with the whole conveyor barricaded to protect others and safety harnesses worn at all times.
On start up the Martin Tracking units tracked the belt back to Centre as soon as the conveyor started, requiring only minor adjustment the next day. Since then the belt has tracked consistently well requiring no further adjustment, in direct contrast to the history of belt down time and maintenance labour used to manually track the belt.
In the 2 months prior to installation of the Martin Tracking Units, the conveyor accrued 48 hours down time directly attributed to belt drift. At a conservative cost estimate of $20,000 per hour of down time, this amounts to $960,000.
This is a pay back period of One Day.
And we now have one very happy client.
BLAIR ATHOL COAL
BC02 and BC03 conveyors are located under large rotating breakers handling ROM coal. Positive pressure generated from the breakers and material displacement combined with the "pump action" of suspension idlers to produce dust and fines emissions of unacceptable levels.
Investment in an ESS Transfer Point System incorporating belt support systems, new skirt plates, new skirt seals and dust control seals virtually eliminated the dust emissions. Again, return on investment was extremely short.