Kinder Australia has developed a new belt cleaner to reach stubborn carryback on cleated conveyor belts.
Cleated belts play an important part in many grain, recycling, mobile quarrying applications. They stop free flowing materials from rolling back down the conveyor, and excel in high angle systems.
However, due to the cleated design, traditional belt cleaners aren’t effective. Without proper cleaning methods in place, carryback can quickly build up. This has a flow on effect and can cause all sorts of problems, from belt mistracking to material spillage.
To address this, Kinder Australia has developed the K-Cleatscrape Belt Cleaner. Fitted where a secondary belt cleaner would normally be installed, the K-Cleatscrape uses 20-millimetre wide polyurethane blades with stainless steel tips to reach stubborn carryback.
Bradley Owen, Mechanical Engineer at Kinder Australia, said the finger-based design allows the cleaner to go over the cleats without damaging them like a conventional spring-tension belt cleaner would.
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“Because the fingers are flexible, there is very little wear on both the cleaner and the belt, meaning you’re not going to lose tension over time,” he says.
“We’ve got experience with the design and can customise them as needed. Depending on the bulk material and geometry of the cleats, we can change the dimensions of the fingers, provide computer-assisted design (CAD) data, and more.”
K-Cleatscrape Chevron Belt Cleaners can change the hardness of the fingers to ensure they have the maximum cleaning effectiveness for cleats of all sizes. The unique design is compatible with mechanical belt splices and also ensures old and worn belts are not damaged, further extending the service life of the conveyor belt.
Owen says one of the only other cleaners that will work for cleated belts are electric brush cleaners, however these are generally only suitable for small cleat heights.
“These are electrically driven and generally tend to be bulkier, making them difficult to use in mobile situations where space is at a premium,” he says.
“Another advantage to the K-Cleatscrape is they don’t require electrical power making them easier to install.”
Currently, they will work on cleated belts up to 100 millimetres in height. Kinder Australia plans to expand the sizes of belts it can accommodate. Owen says the cleaner has been installed on a large belt 2600-millimetre-wide, but more commonly fits 400 to 1800-millimetre-wide belts.
“Innovation is basically what we do at Kinder,” he says. “For us, we always want to be at the forefront, bringing new products to the market.”
“That means finding new ideas and improving on existing ones to help solve problems the Australian bulk handling industry is facing.”