Kinder Australia has designed a range of equipment to promote flow, prevent blockages and ensure production remains stable.
Poor chute design, moisture content, or changing conditions can cause blockages.
Flow problems like this not only reduce productivity, but they can lead to material surges, spillage, and damage to nearby equipment.
Finding the right solution to prevent these flow problems can be a little tricky, according to Tim Storer, a field application specialist at Kinder Australia.
He told ABHR about several factors that need to be taken into consideration, including particle size, moisture content, impact strength, abrasion, and chute shape.
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“When customers approach us with an issue, we ask them for information about the application. Working closely with maintenance personnel and seeing the system running are some of the best ways to find out what is needed,” he said.
“Flow solutions are a different beast when compared with something like wear liners. A wear liner has one job: it’s a sacrifice part that extends the life of surrounding equipment.”
“Flow solutions need to do a range of things – protect the structure, be easy to work with, and ensure the material flows through at a stable, easy-to-predict rate. There should be no loss of production, extra cleaning or surging.”
Kinder Australia has developed a wide range of solutions to address common issues like bridging, caking, ratholing and wear.
On the lighter end, Kinder Australia provides the K-Slip Low Friction Liner. The rubber backed ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) liner is ideal for applications that involve fine particulate materials. Although these materials present minimal wear, there can be issues with how the material flows.
Fine, non-abrasive particles that have passed through the crushing and grinding circuit may be required to flow through complicated shaped chutes where there is restricted head room. With a conventional low-friction material, it can be difficult to install these complicated transition and confined points.
For more wear-intensive applications, Kinder Australia provides the K-Slide Low Friction Liner. The UHMWPE material can be supplied in a range of grades, thicknesses, and sheet sizes.
Storer said the company can even cut the material to size using precision computer numerical control (CNC) machining with counterbored or countersunk holes if required.
When a higher level of wear protection is required, Kinder can supply its proprietary Kryptane urethane wear liner, engineered to meet the demands of specific materials.
“In some cases, hang-ups aren’t creating blockages – excessive abrasion is,” Storer said.
“Simple to install, the K-Superline Polyurethane Lining System can solve the issue of sliding abrasion, impact damage, sticking material, excessive corrosion, and even loud noise from constant material impact.
“Compared with traditional steel, it is 85 per cent lighter. This provides a huge advantage when it comes to installation and maintenance.”
Long lasting anti-wear protection and greater tear resistance are built into the Superline system to ensure maintenance remains relatively minor.
The latest addition to Kinder’s range is the K-Floshield, designed to solve violent material situations. The system is an extreme impact- and abrasion-resistant wear liner solution that uses a pre-polished, high-strength chromium carbide top layer fused onto a mild carbon steel base plate.
The pre-polished top layer can withstand extreme abrasion and is ideal for applications where material carry back and wet or sticky conveyed material is a major concern. The combined polishing action delivered by the top layer and the highly abrasive bulk material qualities delivers a low co-efficient of friction and reductions in surface scratching.
Storer said these properties further aid the slipperiness of the wear liner and minimise the incidences of hang ups and blockages.
“Going back a few years, we saw that we would need to expand and grow our range of flow solutions, especially in the heavier industries, which is why we introduced the K-Floshield,” he said,
“We’ve had amazing feedback from customers about our entire range.
“We’re holding more stock for different application due to the increasing demand.
“They’re often most impressed by how easy the liners are to work with. We’ve heard great feedback about the K-Slip and the K-Slide – customers have reported a massive improvement in uptime and maintenance.”
Kinder’s field application specialists work closely with customers to ensure they are getting the best fit. In his role, Storer frequently visits sites to see how the liners are operating, and to see if there are other problems that Kinder could solve.
The business also works closely with its distributors to provide technical support around Australia and internationally.
Storer said the company plans to continue growing its range to fit into more industries.
“We are forever learning from the industries we serve,” he said. “The more sectors we can serve, the more our understanding and offering can grow.
“Understanding our clients’ sites and applications is vital for us to grow.”