Conveyors, Transfers, Chutes

Bruks Siwertell’s IKEA ingenuity in belt conveyors

Conveyor manufacturer Bruks Siwertell has its eye on Australia and is looking to expand into the country with two air-powered innovations.

Conveyor manufacturer Bruks Siwertell has its eye on Australia and is looking to expand into the country with two air-powered innovations.

Two major Swedish brands, Bruks Holding and Siwertell AB, officially merged in May of 2018.

The newly formed company, which has a significant presence in the United States, Europe and Asia, has begun to capitalise on the increased synergy.

Magnus Rundqwist, Bruks Siwertell’s Global Director of Bulk Sales, says the combination of Siwertell specialist knowledge of ship unloaders and Bruks’ extensive experience in biomass materials handling has allowed the company to provide complete bulk handling solutions.

Now, the company is targeting Australia as its next growth market and is planning to significantly build up its presence in the country through its flagship conveyor products, the Tubulator and The Belt Conveyor.

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The Tubulator is an air-supported belt conveyor, built as a closed systems of steel tubes. Inside the tube, a rubber belt runs at high speed on top of an air cushion created by a number of fans.

Rundqwist says the system has a number of benefits for industries handling low density materials, such as for wood processing plants, sawmills, paper mills or pellet plants.

“The Tubulator can handle almost any low-density material, whether its cement, shredded waste, grain, sugar or coal.”

Because the system uses a cushion of air instead of idlers, there is no product degradation and it can handle fragile material much easier while creating less dust in the process. As a result of its totally enclosed construction, the dust that is created does not become an environment or safety hazard, a key benefit for ports handling potentially explosive dusts.

With less inertia and friction to combat, the Tubulator can reach angles that would not be possible to traditional idler conveyors.

“The Tubulator is sectioned into 12-metre-long pipes, designed to fit into a 40-foot shipping container,” he says.

“And because of its significantly reduced weight and structural integrity, it can even be installed over existing equipment with up to 80-metre free spans.”

The first Tubulator was built more than 30 years ago, and multiple have already been installed in Australia at paper manufacturing sites.

As part of the company’s expansion into the Oceanic region, the company has unveiled a new product that builds on the Tubulator’s design.

Rundqwist says customers had been asking for an air-supported conveyor that could incorporate features of both the Tubulator and conventional conveyor design for some time.

Simply named ‘The Belt Conveyor’, the system combines the Tubulator’s air-cushion technology with a standard belt conveyor, but instead of using a pipe, The Belt Conveyor uses a formed pan to support the belt.

In addition, Rundqwist says Bruks Siwertell has made great use of ‘Swedish Ikea ingenuity’ when it comes to efficiently ship the system internationally.

Like the Tubulator, The Belt Conveyor has a modular design that can carry a wide variety of materials. Third party components, like weigh scales, metal detectors, magnets and material sensor areas can all be incorporated into the design.

“Bruks Siwertell has installed more than 620 Tubulators around the world, but it is a niche product for certain applications,” he says.

“The Belt Conveyor was developed to be more flexible operating on higher density materials using standard belts and standard parts.

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