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PRODUCT News
44
MODERN MINING
April 2017
Rockwell Automation sub-Saharan Africa
was contracted by Eco Projects, a Rockwell
Automation Namibian systems integrator,
to supply equipment to power borehole
pumps in Windhoek, Namibia.
The borehole development is the first
phase of a 17-month plan designed to
alleviate the critical water supply shortage
experienced by the city due to drought
conditions. Rockwell Automation’s scope
of work was to engineer and deliver eight
Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 753 low voltage
AC drives varying from 132 kW to 250 kW.
The PowerFlex drives are needed to
automate the pump systems that transfer
water from the boreholes to various reser-
voirs in the municipal area. “To make sure
our drives could safely and adequately
power the submersible pumps installed at
depths of 150 to 250 metres, we made use
of CP Automation, a global member of the
Rockwell Automation Partner Network, to
engineer the correct sine filters,”says Pieter
Briel, Industry Account Manager, Rockwell
Automation.
“The VFD and sine wave filter combina-
tion allows themotor to run at continuously
adjustable speeds and the torque is adapt-
able to varying mechanical loads. Due
to the significant cable length from the
Rockwell Automation equipment powers borehole pumps
Borehole water flows freely from one of the recently com-
pleted boreholes in Windhoek.
PowerFlex 753 drives to the motors, it was
necessary that sine filters also be installed
to reduce the parasitic capacitances that
result from such long cables lengths and
result in reactive power.”
The Rockwell Automation order was
placed in the latter part of October 2016
and delivery took place during November.
Eco Projects was responsible for total elec-
trical installation including construction
of switchboards, installation and commis-
sioning. Six boreholes were commissioned
in December 2016.
“Providing the equipment quickly and
to spec enabled our systems integrator to
successfully implement the project within
the three-month designated period. They
had excellent support from suppliers, local
engineering consulting firms and other
supporting contractors,” Briel concludes.
Pieter Briel, Rockwell Automation, tel (+27 13) 752-8253
Safety and reliability come first for Rand-Air
Improper equipment operation and lack
of equipment maintenance are major con-
tributors to injuries at mining sites. In most
cases, these injuries are avoidable. That is
why it is so important to improve equip-
ment reliability as this is one of the most
effective and direct methods of enhancing
safety. Regardless of its effectiveness, no
safety programme can mitigate hazard-
ous maintainability on poorly-designed
equipment.
The solution to this is simple – using
equipment that is reliable with improved
safety. Rand-Air, a market leader in porta-
ble compressed air and power generation
rental, has been servicing the mining indus-
try with portable compressed air and power
generation rentals for the last 41 years.
The company has seen the advanced
steps taken over the years at mining sites
such as the implementation of check-
lists, motivational talks, heightened
emergency response plans and new safety
programmes. While all of these are funda-
mental in reducing injuries, what they fail
to address is the issue of reliable, well-main-
tained equipment.
Rand-Air understands that a mining
operation exists by virtue of its equipment
and personnel which is why the company
is invested in taking away the hassles
of the maintenance of equipment. “Not
only is reliable equipment essential to the
enhancement of safety, it is also guaran-
teed to hold tolerances better – which helps
raise consistency and quality,”says Bongani
Thobela, Quality Manager, Rand-Air.
“It seems obvious but the best way
to improve maintenance safety is to use
safer equipment. It is our mission at Rand-
Air to provide the mining industry with
equipment that is not only of the highest
standards but that is safe and well-main-
tained at all times to mitigate safety risks.
By leasing equipment from Rand-Air,
our customers are guaranteed top qual-
ity machinery that is reliable and safe,” he
continues.
With an extensive fleet of over 700 Atlas
Copco compressors and generators, Rand-
Air has a strong presence in South Africa
with a spread of 10 branches and agencies.
Rand-Air, tel (+27 11) 345-0700