At Bauma 2016, SKF demonstrated its comprehensive range of solutions designed to enhance the performance and life of belt conveyor systems in mining. They perform a tough job in harsh conditions and there are large amounts of highly abrasive dust that can enter into machinery, mix with the lubricant inside, and cause accelerated wear and eventual failure of bearings, seals, gears, couplings and other rotating parts. Conveyors operate at fairly low speed and under high loads and sometimes at high temperatures placing high demands on the bearings, seals and lubrication. Their remote location can also make maintenance and health monitoring difficult. Together, contamination and lubrication failures account for more than half of all bearing failures in mining applications.
SKF offerings for belt conveyors cover the full asset life cycle, and include bearings, housings, seals, lubrication systems, maintenance solutions and reliability engineering. For example, visitors to Bauma saw several SKF design solutions for conveyors, including the SKF Three-barrier solution, housings, sealed SKF Explorer spherical roller bearings, and the new SKF Taconite seal.
The SKF Three-barrier solution is an environmentally friendly, cost-effective solution that is proven to extend service life of the conveyor pulleys. When installed, the solution provides the conveyor bearing with three layers of protection against contamination and greatly reduces the amount of lubrication required by up to 90%. This reduces maintenance costs.
SKF housings feature high-grade cast material and optionally ductile iron material, large ribs in the base and extra material around attachment holes to resist shock loads and minimise distortion of the base and bearing seat at high loads. The sealed SKF Explorer spherical roller bearing uses upgraded steel developed with a new, patented heat treatment process and is factory lubricated and fitted with integrated seals to protect the bearing. The result improves wear-resistance and sealing, offering more than three times the service life under poor lubrication and contaminated conditions.
For extreme contaminated conditions, the SKF Three-barrier solution is combined with the new SKF Taconite seal to block contamination entering the housing including high pressure water during maintenance. We refer to this as the “ultimate SKF Three-barrier solution”.
Maintenance and operations-focused visitors will also be interested in the SKF Idler Sound Monitor kit, part of the company’s growing range of sophisticated and easy-to-use machinery health monitoring systems. This hand-held condition monitoring tool detects early signs of idler roller failure, helps avoid belt damage and enables more cost-effective maintenance planning.
“The conveyor products at bauma are just a small sample of our wide variety of solutions and services for the mining belt conveyor,” says Keith Meyers, SKF’s Global Industry Manager Mining, Mineral Processing and Cement. “Our aim is to help our customers build reliability into their products from the outset, and support their operations and maintenance activities in a way that minimises downtime and cuts total cost of ownership.”