Posted to News on 25th Oct 2012, 00:00
Crusher downtime problem eliminated
A V-belt drive solution for heavy duty quarry minerals crushing has not only solved the downtime and repair problems, but also ensured a continuous, uninterrupted material flow.
>Downtime and maintenance was becoming a major problem at a particular quarry. The four V-belts configured on each crusher were not only stretching regularly, therefore requiring re-tensioning every two weeks or so, but they were also needing replacement every three to four months, which was resulting in a two hour plant stoppage each time a belt failed. This was causing plant operating efficiencies to drop drastically with a significant loss of aggregate output.
>The solution was to replace the crusher's original belts, with Optibelt's latest design in Red Power belts, a new, environmentally friendly and high performance V-belt that not only delivers up to a 50% higher power rating with 97% efficiency, but is also maintenance and re-tensioning free, throughout the full service life of the product.
>With crushers working up to 60 hours a week, another important benefit here was the ease with which Red Power belts could be quickly dropped-into any conventional V-belt drive unit, without having to make any modification to the crusher's existing drive arrangement or pulleys. This made for a quick, easy and low cost way of achieving multi-layer cost and productivity improvements on site, an advantage that was further exploited by the site engineering team to convert not only the remaining crusher plants over to the Red Power belt, but also all their exhaust fans, conveyors, rotary drum dryer and Bradley mills.
>Power measurements taken before and after fitting a set of the Red Power belts, revealed a significant drop in the power consumption. Where running on the original belts measured an average power consumption of 129.78kW, after conversion power consumption fell to an average of 123.03kW - a significant energy saving of 6.75kW, equalling a full 5.2% drop.
>V-Belts have suffered a lot of bad press over the years, where they have mostly been thought of as consumable items which are inefficient and high maintenance, with direct drive or synchronous belt alternatives, being promoted by some as more suitable and efficient. However, continuous advances in product design and materials technology which place Optibelt right at the forefront of belt drive solutions, mean that its recent V-belt specifications now deliver up to 97% efficiency levels, compared to 94% with conventional V-belts. They are designed to give a typical 25,000 hours - three years continuous 24/7 - maintenance-free operation before possible renewal, with no re-tensioning required.
>By contrast, a comparable timing (synchronous) belt can, in theory, deliver a slightly higher efficiency level of up to 98%, but typically has a significantly shorter design life of around 8-10,000 hours. Optibelt's new drive belts are also more protective and tolerant of plant overloads, shock loadings, vibration, heat, noise and pulley misalignment.
>Red Power belts are stocked in all of the common sizes, including SPZ, SPA, SPB, SPC and due to their market leading length tolerances, can be used in sets without the need to match belts. They can also be supplied as banded belts.
