BEUMER Group has responded to the changing demands of dry bulk customers with two new products that leverage its existing expertise in pipe and troughed belt conveying technology.
Speaking at a recent virtual media event, Andrea Prevedello, CEO of BEUMER Group Austria, announced the new additions under the U-Shape conveyor family.
Leveraging the advantages of pipe conveyors and troughed overland belt conveyors, the U-Shape conveyor enables an environmentally friendly and efficient operation in port terminals, BEUMER Group said. The design allows the implementation of more narrow curve radii than a troughed belt conveyor with higher mass flows than a pipe conveyor, all with dust-free transport, the company says.
The company explained the hybridisation of the two: “The troughed belt conveyors allow high mass flows even in case of heavy and robust materials. Their open design makes them suitable for coarse materials and very large volumes.
“The pipe conveyors, on the contrary, present other specific advantages. The idlers form the belt to a closed tube protecting the material transported against external influences and the environment from emissions such as material loss, dust or odours. Partition plates with hexagonal cuts and idlers in a staggered arrangement keep the tube shape closed. The pipe conveyors allow the implementation of more narrow curve radii and larger angles of inclination than open troughed belt conveyors.”
With requirements changing – the quantities of bulk materials growing, the routing becoming increasingly complex and environmental considerations rising – BEUMER Group found the need to develop the U-Shape conveyor.
“In this solution, a special idler configuration brings the belt in a u-shape,” it said. “Thus, the bulk material reaches the discharge station. An idler configuration similar to that for the troughed belt conveyor is used for opening the belt.”
Bringing together the advantages of open troughed belt conveyors and closed pipe conveyors, conveyed material is protected against external influences such as wind, rain or snow; and the environment against possible material loss and dust.
Within the family are two products that offer higher curve flexibility, higher capacity, bigger lump size allowance, no spillage and reduced power consumption, according to Prevedello.
The T-U-Shape conveyor is a U-shape conveyor designed like a normal troughed belt conveyor, but comes with a 30% reduction in width, allowing the ability to take on tighter curves, Prevedello says. This looks to have many applications in tunnelling applications.
The P-U-Shape conveyor, as the name would infer, is derived from the pipe conveyor, but offers 70% higher capacity with the same width and 50% higher lump size allowance, Prevedello says, explaining that it could allow BEUMER Group to consider the use of pipe conveyors in space-constrained environments.
New installations will obviously be targeted as part of this new product launch, but Prevedello says there are both greenfield and brownfield application possibilities with these new conveyors.
The T-U-Shape conveyor had more ‘new’ installation opportunities in tunnelling applications, he said, with the tight turning radii benefits allowing for small installations in tunnels.
With many ports shifting focus away from coal and handling different materials, the P-U Shape conveyor’s increased capacity and higher lump size flexibility could be of benefit in brownfield applications, he added.
“The ports are facing the challenges of dealing with new materials, so adapting what they have is important here,” he said.