Kinder Australia’s range of transfer point optimisation products have helped quarries significantly reduce dust and increase productivity.
A Victorian quarry maintenance team was quick to notice a decrease in production at its site.
A transfer point located under a tertiary crusher was a source of constant, excessive material spillage and dust emissions. Material turbulence was generating massive amounts of dust during the tertiary crushing process, which was ultimately escaping and causing significant emissions from the conveyor belt system.
With a 2.5 metres vertical impact drop height from the cone crusher and material lump size of minus 60 millimetres, there was evidence the conveyed material was pooling and not moving in the direction of the belt.
A combination of conveyor belt sag and inconsistent conveyor idler profiles had given way to ineffective skirting systems, which further aggravated dust emissions and ongoing spillages at the quarry.
Neil Kinder, CEO of Kinder Australia, says the core of bulk handling operations involve transporting materials from one conveyor belt to another, while avoiding spillage, damage to the material and conveyor belt, making the transfer point a critical component of an effective conveyor system.
“By closely identifying, evaluating and optimising existing belt loading, handling plants can reduce many unpleasant on-site issues and address the safety issues of dust emissions. This process also leads to improving and extending the service life of the conveyor belt,” he says.
The maintenance team reached out to Kinder Australia, which recommended they overhaul the conveyor system by fabricating a new tail section and installing a K-Impact Belt Support, K-Sure Belt Support System and the K-Ultra Seal Skirting System.
Kinder’s K-Sure Belt Support System has been designed to provide stable support for a troughed conveyor belt by reducing the number of rotating conveyor components. It also eliminates belt edge sag, helping increase the effectiveness of the skirting seal.
Belt sag is often caused as a result of too few idlers being installed at the loading point. K-Sure helps to correct this by using the existing conveyor idler frames and load carrying the centre conveyor roller. Wing rollers are then placed by the support system’s universal adaptor brackets and low friction polymer support rails.
Mr Kinder highlighted the K-Impact Belt Support’s modular system’s assistance in stabilising the load at the transfer point, which in turn improved material containment while avoiding additional maintenance and labour costs.
“The key to measuring efficiency of transfer points involves maintenance teams to continually monitoring and assessing the conveyor system before and after the load transfer point and making any necessary adjustments”, says Mr Kinder.
The K-Sure Belt Support System has also been used to address ongoing belt sag issues at a quarry in Ormeau, Queensland. The quarry produces around 400,000 tonnes per year and handles greywacke with gritty characteristics.
Weight pressure of the transferred material loading was causing major conveyor belt sagging issues between the supporting rollers, which allowed material to spill through the gaps between the skirting and conveyor belt and get caught between them, causing permanent groove lines on the belt’s top cover.
The conveyed material was also causing dust emissions requiring containment, which used up valuable labour resources to. The K-Sure Belt Support system’s low friction ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene slide surface bars instead of rollers and lack of moving parts helped minimise maintenance. It also meant there was no requirements for replacing rollers in the foreseeable future.
Recent additions to Kinder Australia’s product line include the K-Dynamic Belt Support and K-Flexal Elastic Belt Support system, which have been engineered to allow for better absorption of energy to provide an even weight dispersion of the bulk material. Cost advantages from this include an improved wear life for the conveyor belt and its components and a reduction in maintenance.
Kinder Australia is equipped with a team of Application specialists, who have highly technical industry knowledge. They can provide in-depth evaluations and recommendations on transfer point design optimisations and help bring about measurable productivity and profitability enhancements for quarries.
“Kinder Australia has over time developed an excellent reputation and established a proven history of designing transfer points and engineering solutions that resolves our customers’ most challenging bulk materials handling problems effectively,” Mr Kinder says.
“We have also created opportunities for further productivity gains, through extension of production assets, minimising shutdowns and labour resources.”