2016 – Muller Beltex

Inspection and overhaul of IGMA Amsterdam terminal elevator

About IGMA in Amsterdam
IGMA, a bulk terminal in the Port of Amsterdam, is engaged in the transshipment of bulk cargo varying from agricultural products to coal and minerals.

IGMA has more than 50 years of experience. The company employs trained professionals with a great deal of know-how and knows how to process bulk products. The most advanced technologies and equipment to successfully move cargo from a ship’s hold to barges, coasters and silos is used for this purpose. Safety comes first in this respect.

Muller Beltex has worked for IGMA for many years and is jointly responsible for the installations.

The work we performed
Elaborate inspections of the technical components of one of the floating weighing towers, a 36 MT Lemniscate crane with a capacity of 1500 MT/hour. The report showed that certain components required action in order to guarantee reliability; preventive and corrective maintenance.

Wear on the back of the bucket elevator belt was observed making the belt’s replacement a necessity. This was also true for the rubber pulley lagging of both drive pulleys. The crowning of the return pulleys, which was too much, exerted unnecessarily high forces and friction on the belt, as well as on the belt fastener and elevator buckets.

By preparing a suitable and thorough action plan, with a realistic time span for implementing the inspection report’s recommendations, it was decided to carry out the various activities in a single efficient stop.

The existing belts and both drive pulleys were hoisted to the lower deck using a telescopic crane. The pulleys were already equipped with Slide-Lag replaceable pulley lagging making it easy to replace them with new Slide-Lag rubber pads.

While this work was underway, a second shift started work on dismounting the return pulleys that were then machined down to reduce the crowning.

Once the newly lined drive pulleys were remounted, the new elevator belt was hoisted. At Muller Beltex the belt was provided with the right bolt hole pattern directly in the belt shop and one side of the belt was prepared to accept the belt fastener.

To enhance the belt’s durability, the new Maxi-Super elevator belt fastener was installed. This belt fastener is equipped with a replaceable rubber wear part that provides optimal support to the drive pulley, the belt and the fastener. The radius of the Maxi-Super elevator belt fastener has been designed for accepting the 1250N/mm elevator belt, securing that the belt ends will not bend off to drastically, resulting in stress on
this section of the belt.

The removal of the drive-/return pulleys provided an opportunity to replace the bearings in all housings with new bearings at the same time!

Once the return pulleys were reinstalled, the belts were made endless and adjusted to the right tension. The old elevator buckets were installed on the new belt, after which trial runs were conducted. When the weighing tower was re-commissioned, the installation was found to run more smoothly and quieter than before.

If you would like more information about this project or if you would like to know how we can help you, contact one of our specialists. They are happy to provide you with additional information.

Six tips for optimising your installation

This article provides 6 tips for making your installations reliable, durable and manageable. This will help extend the time between maintenance stops. The tips follow below; each tip is clickable.

1. The right people
Be sure that your staff consists of skilled people who are well-trained for managing and maintaining your installations. Due to a lack of knowledge and expertise, installations often are not optimally used and are prone to unnecessary stoppages, causing valuable production time to be lost. A good mechanic is capable of detecting problems at an early stage and to resolve them as quickly as possible. Our advice is that you do not economise on good people; they ultimately make the difference. By developing a maintenance protocol and by preventively maintaining your installations you reduce the probability of defects occurring during the production process.

2. To measure is to know
By frequently conducting inspections you acquire early insight into any dysfunctional system performance. Incorporating inspections into the maintenance protocol makes it possible to properly plan the execution of preventive maintenance. Unforeseen stoppages generally are the largest cost item. Due to production loss and the necessary ad hoc actions, the additional cost are anything but small. For example, the expensive overtime hours of your staff or temporary workers, and the delays incurred by trucks or ships because of the standstill in the flow of goods. Conducting inspections and acting effectively represents the first step towards preventive maintenance.

3. Inspecting and testing
Hi Rollers, chain conveyors and bucket elevators are enclosed systems. This means that not all of the activity within the installation is visible to the naked eye. On the other hand, heavy loads are often placed on these installations and they sometimes run 24/7 and at 500 MT/hour. In this situation it is important to measure activity carefully. High-risk conditions, such as misalignment, product spillage and wear and tear could form an explosion hazard.

By measuring the temperature of bearings you acquire insight into possible overheating of the bearings at an early stage. The PT100V3C bearing temperature sensor with a lubricating grease nipple was specially developed for precisely measuring universal bearing housings. Wear and tear, heavy loads, improper lubrication, etcetera, can cause a bearing to heat up to such an extent that it becomes a source of ignition for a potential dust explosion.

By installing a misalignment monitoring system, Rub-Block type RB200DN with a PT100 sensor, you immediately receive a signal as soon as the belt touches the sensor, which then transmits heat to the fail-safe PT100 sensor. This sensor is connected to the PLC system. This, combined with the bearing temperature allows you to control the wear and tear, overload or misalignment of the elevator belt.

Installing sensors that measure the flow of goods, sensors that monitor the installation, such as the bearing temperature, misalignment and slip, means that you will always be one step ahead of unexpected stoppages.

4. Enhancing durability and optimisation
The timely replacement of abrasion-resistant lining materials prevents permanent damage to and potential product spillage within the installation. Conducting checks enables you to make a sound assessment of the required activities. Frequently checking these areas enables you to make timely replacements. This generally makes it possible to schedule repairs in between costly production runs. Kryptane® / Blue-Ox ® abrasion-resistant polyurethane liners are noise-attenuating and also offer a wear reduction solution. The development of a replacement system enables you to quickly replace abrasion-resistant lining materials at each location as a means of minimising stoppages. By keeping a spare set in stock you avoid any surprises.

5. Smart investing and repairing wisely
When you invest in durability, you will save money over the long run. When you settle on lower prices you will save money over the short term. The potential business risks and the additional repair cost associated with this generally quickly wipe out any gains made this way. This is therefore not cost-efficient. Smart investing also means, for example, that when you require a new drive pulley you select one that comes with a replaceable pulley lagging. The lining protects the basic pulley and the elevator belt and can easily be replaced on-site using in-house staff. In addition, when there is a need to replace a bearing, it is smart to replace the bearings on both sides at the same time and to check the shaft for signs of wear and tear. When you replace only one bearing as a corrective measure, there is the possibility that you will need another stoppage to replace the second one a little while later. The cost of a bearing is insignificant in comparison to the labour and stoppage cost incurred to replace both bearings on separate occasions. When you acquire a high-quality conveyor or elevator belt, the probability is high that it will have a longer service life. You will then save on labour cost over time. By investing in the right fastener, the belt’s service life can sometimes be extended by many years. Furthermore, this prevents the pulleys from being damaged.

6. Good documentation helps in emergency situations
When you properly document your installation and the associated components and incorporate them into a maintenance plan, you will be able to act more quickly when unexpected problems arise. By means of keeping the right stock of spare parts and making a reliable prognosis you avoid the need for spending hours looking for the right part for the relevant installation. This also enables you to forward the right information to your supplier in case the supplier maintains this stock on your behalf. When you maintain precise information for each bucket elevator about the bolt hole pattern, the bucket, the fastener, length, breaking strength, etcetera, we can immediately get down to work for you and you avoid wasting unnecessary time looking for information.

With our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach, we help you save money over the long term and to reduce unforeseen operating risks. Contact a Muller Beltex specialist for an appointment. This does not cost you anything and you always leave that much wiser.

Overhaul of concrete mixing plants during the summer season

Many concrete mixing plants perform maintenance on their installations during the construction holiday. They aim to bring their plants back up to date so as to optimise performance in terms of capacity, as well as the service life of wear components.

Muller Beltex is regularly involved in this and first conducts an on-site inspection that in detail reviews the product overshoot area’s, chutes and bunkers, as well as the abrasion-resistant Kryptane® liners to determine whether it is due for replacement. The result is an inspection report with recommendations that also considers urgencies and the available budget.

That the elevator becomes dirty is a common occurrence, but there also is a great deal of wear and tear on the:
– Steel elevator parts
– Bucket elevator belt
– Elevator buckets
– Elevator’s inlet and outlet
– Pulleys and pulley lagging

Based on the inspection report, Muller Beltex looks after the maintenance, assembly and installation, archives the documentation in the proper files and ensures that the installation once again operates optimally. For additional information about our services, review our brochures by clicking on the button below or contact one of our specialists. They are happy to provide you with additional information.

GO TO BROCHURES

Muller Beltex workshops highly successful

During the past period, Muller Beltex conducted various workshops for the technical staff of various customers; OEM’s, technical service providers and end-users. Tailor-made programmes were developed together with these customers to set up the full-day or half-day workshops as efficiently as possible for the exchange of knowledge at the Muller Beltex Academy.

Aside from anticipating market demand for knowledge and support, the Academy also contributes to our knowledge position.

If you would like us to conduct a workshop for your technical staff in our knowledge institute, we would be pleased to set up a programme in consultation with you.

New equipment for inspecting your production process

Muller Beltex has many years of experience and global expertise in the bulk and processing industry. That is why, as a renowned knowledge and service provider, we are often approached by equipment manufacturers and end users who are encountering problems with their equipment.

For some time, Muller Beltex has taken a new approach to inspecting elevators, by using a camera with a recording function. The enclosed system of elevators offer the possibility to conduct observation quickly and in a cost-efficient way. By drilling a small hole in the elevator, the camera can be used at various positions to see what is going on inside. The recordings give a clear picture of the product flow and of any blockages, or other problems, as well as of the effects of any improvements that may have been made.

In the case of this specific elevator, a minor adjustment was needed to bring about an improvement. The footage shows that the product flow was being pushed too far to the right when it entered the elevator causing it to be unevenly distributed in the elevator buckets. The buckets were being emptied earlier than they should have been, causing the product to be “returned” in the up- and downgoing leg. As a result the elevator needed more time to run empty after each product charge. The product is discharged out of the buckets before it is supposed to.

The inspection footage throws light onto this situation. The solution was to move the product feed towards the centre of the inlet allowing more even filling of the buckets and better discharge, which greatly reduces the amount of product being “returned”. Further optimisation of the production process will be phased in with the introduction of other cost-effective measures whereby the maximum potential of the elevator will be reached. See the video footage of the inspection at the top of the page.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our specialists. They’ll be glad to advice you.

Launch of new elevator belt fastener at GEAPS 2016

At the GEAPS 2016 in Austin (USA), at the end of February, our partner Maxi-Lift, introduced our newly developed elevator belt fastener, the Maxi-Ultra. The design and development of this fastener was approached from a belt point of view based on clamping forces and friction. The direct reason for developing the new product was increasing safety in the clamp fastener.

This has resulted in a lighter fastener (which means the plant is even better balanced) that can be used on several types of belt from 630 N/mm to 1000 N/mm in the Polysur® range. The fastener is fitted with a replaceable NBR wear part to prevent belt wear and to ensure a quiet and smooth passage over the pulleys. All things considered, the fastener makes a substantial contribution to increasing the lifespan of the elevator belt.

For higher tensile strengths, the larger Maxi-Splice is available and for lighter belts, the CI and Gripwell fasteners provide the best solution.

If you would like more detailed technical information about the Maxi-Ultra elevator belt fastener, you can download the datasheet or contact one of our specialists. We will be happy to assist.

*Production has started and we will keep you updated about availability! We will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Longer lengths and wider elevator belts with new belt cutting machine

The processing speed of bulk goods has become increasingly important and the dimensions of elevators are getting bigger and bigger. The dimensions are changing in order to achieve maximum capacity. Muller Beltex is moving with this trend which is why we have introduced a number of modifications in our production process to meet this demand and provide you with even better and quicker service. The arrival of a new belt cutting machine means we are able to accurately manufacture belts measuring up to two metres wide and 300 metres long, according to requirements.

Using our unique CNC punching/drilling machine, we are able to punch an 1800 mm wide punching pattern in elevator belts of up to 1900 mm wide. All this means we are now able to offer you a seamless total package so that your order can be ready for assembly in the shortest possible time.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our specialists.

Increasing sustainability of concrete, sand and gravel plants

Concrete, sand and gravel are usually rough and sharp. When handling such raw materials, wear frequently occurs to various parts of your plant. To reduce cost and optimise service life, we offer the correct protection for increasing sustainability.

Muller Beltex offers the solution by applying high abrasion-resistant Kryptane® polyurethane liners in a range of “Shore A” hardnesses. These patented polyurethanes guarantee stronger, tougher and more elastic liners than other polyurethanes. This enables us to offer the right solution for a wide variety of wear issues.

In “Solids Processing”, Muller Beltex has shared its knowledge with regard to wear in bulk and processing industries. Read the full article by clicking on the “Article” button below. You can of course refer to our “Abrasion-resistant polyurethane liners” brochure (click on ”Abrasion-resistant…”). Or obtain individual advice on extending the service life and reducing the maintenance cost of your plant.

ARTIKEL SOLIDS PROCESSING

Increase your knowledge and expertise at the Muller Beltex Academy

In recent months, Muller Beltex has set up the “Muller Beltex Academy”, a knowledge and workshop institute in Pijnacker. We invite our business friends for discussion, training and exchange of knowledge. We use theory and practice as a basis on which to share our experiences. The Academy is also used to train our own employees & distributors and hold workshops given by our specialists.

Workshops on how elevators work, the application of process monitoring (including ATEX) of your plant, making elevator belts endless and the use and installation of Kryptane® for reducing noise and wear are among the available options.

The purpose is the joint enhancement of knowledge and transfer of expertise to maximise the potential of your plant and create a safe and durable workplace. We take you from theory right through to installation and carrying out correct maintenance, enabling us to help you extend the service life of your components. Please contact us for more information.

Archive

Yearly Archive for 2016