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Early warnings give Multotec wear products the edge
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To protect customers from unexpected failure
of their high wear equipment, Multotec has
provided innovative early warning systems
as standard features, and at no extra cost.
The simplicity of the systems makes them
both user-friendly and highly effective, says
Multotec Rubber MD, Spike Taylor.
“Screen panels, for example, need to be
replaced just before the metallurgical end-
of-life or before the apertures on the panel
are worn too much,” says Taylor. Multotec
Manufacturing has designed a wear indicator
into each panel, comprising four or five moulded
cavities below the upper wear surface.
As the panel surface is worn away, one
cavity becomes visible; as further wear takes
place, the second cavity is also visible, and so
on until all cavities are visible. The operator
knows that replacement must be conducted
or planned shortly, dependent on the number
of cavities that are visible related to the
thickness of the perforated screening area.
A major benefit is that by measuring the time
between the cavities becoming exposed the
change-out date can be accurately predicted.
For its cyclones, Multotec Process
Equipment designed a ‘weep hole’ in the
mild steel shell. If the rubber lining wears
through, the slurry will leak between the
lining and the shell, and escape from the
cyclone through the weep hole which is filled
only with a loose plastic insert. This means
the operator can inspect the cyclones while
they are operating.
To combat wear in ore transfer chutes and
similar applications, Multotec Rubber supplies
rubber wear plates; these now also come in
an early warning ‘Yellow Belly’ format.
“We have a yellow layer of rubber
immediately above the steel backing plate,”
says Taylor. “When the wear on the rubber
plate reaches the level of the yellow rubber,
the colour is easily visible during inspections;
this indicates that there is still some life left
in the plate but that replacement must be
conducted in the near future to avoid damage
to the backing plate.”
The early warning of a worn tile inMultotec
Wear Lining’s ceramic products comes in
the form of the ‘Green Dot’ tiles. “The tiles
have a central, multi-coloured cylindrical
plug bonded to the tile which acts as a
wear indicator,” he says. “The top, thicker
section is green while the lower section is
red. When the red ‘dot’ appears during a
maintenance inspection, the operator knows
that significant wear of the tile thickness has
taken place.”
b
Assembly of Multotec
Green Dot Tiles into
the Multotec Quick Fit
Panels.