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PRODUCT News
74
MODERN MINING
January 2017
Barloworld Equipment Southern Africa
has unveiled a state-of-the-art robotic
system that has modernised the way the
refurbishment of track shoes for Caterpillar
bulldozers is done.
The robot has effectively replaced the
manually driven and monotonous process
of refurbishing the track shoes with an
automated, end-to-end mechanism that
requires little human involvement.
The technological advancement in
refurbishing track shoes will significantly
reduce refurbishment costs for clients,
improve product quality, and cut the turn-
around time it takes to rebuild track shoes,
thereby generating financial benefits for
customers through reducing downtime.
“Before the robot was introduced, it
took five days for two people to manually
refurbish the tracks for a D11 bulldozer.
The robot does the same work in 20
Valve supply company extends its range
Afrivalve, part of the eDART Group of
Companies, has further expanded its range
to now offer the Gemü Valve and Control
Systems range in the mining and metal
refining sectors in Africa. This further com-
plements the eDART slurry control valves,
C-Tech knife gate valves, Red Roc pinch
valves and the AVI range of industrial valves.
Gregor Hopton, GroupMarketingManager
of Afrivalve, has over 20 years of experience
selling the Gemü range in South Africa and
knows – he says – the quality and reliability
that the brand offers. This gives Afrivalve the
ability to offer a complete valve solution typi-
cally from mill discharge all the way through
the process to the final refined metal.
The Gemü range includes metal body
valves, metal body lined in thermoplastic (or
fluoropolymer lined) and full thermoplastic
valves. Full bore and Weir type diaphragm,
butterfly, angle seat, globe and solenoid
valves are commonly used in the mining sec-
tor. Both abrasive and corrosive applications
are catered for in the wide range of materials
of construction.
In-house expertise within the eDART
Group includes mechanical, instrumen-
tation, process and design engineering.
Control valve sizing and specialised valve
training courses are also offered within the
Group.
Afrivalve, tel (+27 11) 791-1411
Robotic system speeds track shoe refurbishment
hours, with one operator.
“There are many competitors
in the market that provide the
same service. It’s very impor-
tant for us to be faster and more
price-competitive than our com-
petitors,”said SeanWalsh, Senior
General Manager at Barloworld
Equipment.
People now do 5 % of what
they used to do manually,
reducing exposure to heat and
potential injuries, as the robot
does the welding and also han-
dles materials (steel bars) used to
refurbish bulldozer track shoes.
Now the Barloworld Equipment opera-
tors can focus on the more complex tasks
they are trained for.
Currently the robot refurbishes track
shoes for D9, D10 and D11 Caterpillar
bulldozers. In future, it will have the capac-
ity to refurbish track shoes for D7 and D8
Caterpillar bulldozers.
“We can repair track shoes and the
track links, enabling our customers to get
a second life on their machines. When the
machines are parked due to inactivity or
breakdowns, our customers lose money.
The short turnaround time will reduce
downtime for our customers to enable
them to make money,” said Schalk Burger,
Service Manager at Barloworld Equipment.
The robot, nicknamed ‘Tokolosie’, has
two arms. The first arm (the gripper) spe-
cialises in handling materials, cutting
worn-out grouser bars from track shoes
and placing new grouser bars onto the
track shoes. The second arm (the welder)
specialises in welding the new grouser bar
onto the track shoe.
When the ‘gripper’ has completed its
task, it hands over the rebuilt track shoe
to the‘welder’to weld the new grouser bar
firmly onto the track shoe.
The two arms work in a synchronised
mechanical manner and take 14 minutes
to complete the whole refurbishing pro-
cess for a single-track shoe. They then
repeat the process in 14-minute cycles.
Previously workers had to use the
oxyfuel cutting system to remove worn-
out grouser bars from track shoes. A new
grouser bar was then manually welded
onto the track shoe. However, re-grousing
a track shoe is impossible if the wear on the
grouser bar is beyond 80 %. If the grouser
bar is beyond the minimum wear rate, the
entire track shoe has to be discarded as
refurbishment cannot be done.
“The price of re-grousing was more
expensive than the price of competitors’
new track shoes. Now we can re-grouse
more cheaply than our competitors,”
explains Burger.
Tokolosie was developed by ABB
Robotics, a leading Zurich-based supplier
of industrial robots and robot software.
The development of the end-to-end re-
grousing system started in October 2014
and the robot was delivered to Barloworld
Equipment’s facility in Middelburg, in May
2016 for installation and commissioning.
“As Barloworld Equipment, we would
like to extend our gratitude to our
Middelburg team and ABB for a job well
done in designing and commissioning the
robot. The commissioning of the robot is in
line with our strategy of improving safety
for our staff and customers. We aim to
achieve zero fatalities and a less than 0,05
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate by 2020.
“The reduction of human involvement
in the refurbishment process will go a long
way towards helping us achieve our safety
objectives. The end-to-end re-grousing
process will reduce human involvement
in material handling and reduce the expo-
sure of humans to heat and accidents,”said
Lesibana Ledwaba, Divisional Executive
Director for Strategy, Risk & Operational
Transformation at Barloworld Equipment.
Barloworld Equipment, tel (+27 11) 929-0000
Currently the robot refurbishes track shoes for D9 (seen here),
D10 and D11 Caterpillar bulldozers.