Modern Mining November 2016

PRODUCT News

Improved belt tracking system uses ribbed lagging ing their full potential,” said Rudolf Beer, Engineering and Development Manager at Martin Engineering. “After creating a working prototype of the new design and testing it at our Centre for Innovation, we discovered that we had truly improved upon the technology and engineered the best tracker of its kind on the market.”

Martin Engineering of the US – which is represented in South Africa – has intro- duced a more effective return belt tracking system that uses high-quality materials for easier maintenance and a longer unit life. Building upon the standard crowned roller, the Martin® Roller Tracker™ uses a unique ribbed lagging made of durable polyurethane to increase performance and wear life. The roller does not come in con- tact with the belt edge, which means no fraying and excellent tracking for single- direction or reversing belts. The result is more centred cargo loading, less spillage and increased safety from the hazards of belt wander “Crowned tracking rollers have been around for a while, but we saw design issues that prevented them from reach-

of a single smooth piece of rubber or soft gripping material, to retain a hold on the belt and train it back into position. Being in constant contact across the entire sur- face of the belt caused the material to wear quickly, requiring frequent and expensive replacement. The Martin Roller Tracker improves upon this technology with ribbed lagging made from thick, rugged polyurethane. Covering the entire belt width using less surface contact, the ribbed design reduces lagging wear and improves resistance to better train the belt back to centre. With fewer working components than its counterparts and no contact with the belt edge, the Roller Tracker also has a smaller diameter of 190 mm (similar in size to other rollers), allowing it to react quickly is the geometry of the locking mechanism. The unique arrangement makes it possible to locate the components away from the abrasive flow of material. The system has been designed and field proven for a service interval of 3 000 hours, as compared to the standard system that requires adjustment as often as each shift. In addition to delivering greater uptime and lower maintenance costs, the system eliminates false trips – unplanned release of the dipper door – caused by dirt build- up or the need for shim adjustments. The result is fewer delays, consistent produc- tion and lower cost per ton. The LatchFree dipper system is currently available for Cat electric rope shovels with dipper capacities of as large as 49 m 3 . The system has proved its performance on a Cat 7495 HF loading Cat 797 trucks in the challenging oil sands of Alberta, Canada. “We’re giving it the best challenge – with the environment along with the volumes we mine every day – to test this product to the limit,” said Dino Colbourne, Maintenance Manager of Shell Albian Sands, during field testing of the LatchFree system. Caterpillar’s dealer in Southern Africa is Barloworld Equipment, tel (+27 11) 929-0000 to fluctuations in the belt path. Martin Engineering, tel (+27 13) 656-5135, website: www.martin-eng.co.za

Used for lower tension belts from 500-1 500 mm in width, running at a speed of up to 5 m/s, crowned roller trackers have a slightly larger diameter at the centre than at the edges. When the belt wanders off-centre, the assembly tilts to the opposing side and steers it back towards the normal posi- tion. By retaining a consistent path on the return side, the belt passes over the tail pulley and enters the loading zone cen- tred, delivering equal cargo distribution and reducing spillage. Previous designs had lagging made out

Dipper system reduces shovel downtime

The Cat® LatchFree® dipper system is claimed to be the first successful solution to the most common cause of rope shovel downtime. The system replaces the stan- dardmaintenance-intensive latch assembly with a durable steel link assembly mounted to the dipper back. The key to the design

Installation of the Roller Tracker is straightforward and service can be performed by a single person using a socket wrench.

Lighting towers provided to coal miner Pilot Crushtec International has supplied a further five free-standing TowerLight light- ing towers to Mpumalanga coal mining specialist Just Coal.

safely and efficiently around the clock. “Apart from their lighting performance (each unit can illuminate an area of up to 3 800 m²), they have impressed with their reliability and ease of transportation. The TowerLight telescopic lighting mast is regarded as a major safety feature and is easy to raise and lower. Previous experience with designs based on folding towers had proved them to be unstable, dangerous as well as prone to damaging the lights them- selves,” he says. TowerLight systems are compact, eas- ily transportable (most are supplied street legal for towing purposes) and driven by a Lombardini diesel motor with a 75-litre tank which ensures they can operate when and where required for an unbroken 24 hours without refuelling. Pilot Crushtec International, tel (+27 11) 842-5600

TowerLights offer a range of cost-effec- tive, environmentally sound, mobile and free-standing lighting tower solutions that enable mining and construction operations to work safely and productively throughout 24-hour working cycles. This is the second consignment to be supplied to the Middelburg-based cus- tomer, which has increased its TowerLight fleet size to a total of nine units. Pilot Crushtec International’s CEO, Sandro Scherf, explains that the results delivered by the coal miner’s first TowerLight VT8 units – purchased in 2014 – made them the natural choice for ensuring itsnewSpringForest open- cast mining site would be capable of working

46  MODERN MINING  November 2016