Tag Archives: conveyor belt cleaners

Mato ready to show off new primary, secondary conveyor belt cleaners at Electra Mining

Mato is set to unveil a range of new belt cleaners at Electra Mining Africa 2022, in Johannesburg, in September, using the platform to highlight plans to expand its supply footprint.

Having been founded with a specific mandate to manufacture and supply mechanical conveyor belt fastening systems, Mato Products, a Multotec Group company, says it has become a household name in belt lacing equipment and clip fasteners. The two product ranges remain the company’s bread and butter, confirms Managing Director Benjamin Sibanda.

However, when Sibanda took the reins at Mato, initially as General Manager back in 2015, one of his immediate tasks was to diversify the company’s offering, which prompted the move into belt cleaning systems. To mark its first foray into this market, the company displayed its first units at Electra Mining Africa 2016.

In 2019, Mato landed its first major contract to supply and maintain belt cleaners for a leading colliery in the South African coal region of Emalahleni. This was immediately followed by another major contract, this time at a Botswana colliery for both the plant and underground operations. Since then, the company’s belt cleaning range has gained significant momentum in the market, particularly in the coal sector.

Going forward, however, the focus is to further grow the supply footprint into other commodities beyond the mainstay market of coal. The plan has already been put into action with a recent contract to supply a gold mine in Gauteng, South Africa. Elsewhere, the company is due to sign a major belt cleaning contract with a Botswana-based diamond mine, which will represent its largest deal to date.

“We have traditionally enjoyed major success in the coal market, but we believe that now is the time to expand into other commodity areas such as gold, diamond, iron ore and platinum,” Sibanda says. “To achieve this, we will pivot Multotec’s existing footprint into areas we have never been before.”

The market expansion strategy will be buoyed by a range of new offerings to be displayed at Electra Mining, which is scheduled to take place at the Johannesburg Expo Centre from September 5-9.

“Our main focus this year will be nothing else but belt cleaners,” Sibanda says.

One of the new offerings on display will be the MDP & MTP primary belt cleaner, which replaces the locally made MCP3-S model. Initially, it will be imported from Mato Australia, the manufacturing hub for the Mato Group, but, following Mato Products SA’s recent appointment as the group’s second manufacturing hub, the new primary belt cleaner will be produced locally.

Unlike the old MCP3-S which used the spring tensioning system, the new MDP & MTP comes with a compression spring.

The downside of the spring tensioning system is that, over time, it gets fatigued, especially in tough ores with heavy vibrations. Once you lose the spring tensioning, Sibanda says, the belt cleaner is deemed ineffective.

“Instead of pulling in the blade onto the drive pulley system as the means of tensioning, the compression spring now allows us to compress the blade onto the drive pulley,” he said. “This approach offers a longer life, even in applications with heavy vibrations.”

Another new offering making its debut is the MUS3 secondary belt cleaner, designed to fit in small and restricted conveyor areas where limited space is available. It is also suitable for reversing conveyor belts such as feeder belts or belts which have roll back.

Completing the new line-up will be the MUS2 Duro, an upgraded version of the MUS2, which has a parallelogram designed into the cushion. This facilitates a constant blade angle attacking the material flow allowing automatic adjustability within the cleaner for when belt thickness varies.

“Previously, the MUS2 had a buffer and the tungsten blade separate from each other,” Sibanda says. “This presented major problems, especially in aggressive applications with high vibrations. As part of our own local design improvements, the tungsten tip is now moulded onto the buffer as one unit and has been implemented for the range globally as the best version, making the MUS2 Duro a more robust and long-lasting belt cleaner than the previous MUS2.”

ASGCO cleans up conveyor belts with U-Scrape

ASGCO has announced the latest addition to its line of Secondary Belt Cleaner products for bulk material handling applications.

The U-Scrape™ Secondary Cleaner’s, unique ‘U’ shape design conforms to the return side of the belt, which allows the blade to maintain the maximum pressure in the centre of the belt where the majority of the carryback material builds up, according to the company.

The blade is offered in two options: solid urethane, or with tungsten carbide tips embedded in urethane. With its curved U-shape blade, the U-Scrape blade tips are in constant contact with the belt to provide the highest cleaning efficiency, especially in tough applications.

The U-Scrape belt cleaner is primarily intended for use in conveyor bulk material handling applications in the following industries: aggregates, recycling, wastewater treatment, pulp & paper, coal, coal-fired power plants, chemical processing among others where carryback and spillage needs to be eliminated.

Martin Engineering’s tips for cleaner, safer and more production conveying

Martin Engineering, a supplier of bulk material handling solutions, is urging mining companies to take another look at their conveyor belt cleaners and devise a strategy that can reduce operator and operational risk, as well as overall operating costs.

The company says: “Given the number of conveyor-related accidents that occur during routine maintenance and cleanup, every bulk material handler has a vested interest in technologies to help reduce hazards and prevent injuries.

“Seemingly mundane tasks such as adjusting belt cleaners and removing spillage often require employees to work near the moving conveyor, where even incidental contact can result in serious injury in a split second. Further, spillage can contribute to the risk of fire by interfering with pulleys and idlers and by providing potential fuel. Even worse, in confined spaces, airborne particles can create the right ingredients for an explosion.”

The buildup of fugitive material can occur with surprising speed, according to the company.

“As the table below illustrates, spillage in an amount equal to just one sugar packet (about 4 g) per hour will result in an accumulation of about 700 g at the end of a week. If the rate of escape is 4 g/min, the accumulation will be more than 45 kg/week, or more than 2 t/y. If the spillage amounts to just one shovelful per hour (not an uncommon occurrence in some operations), personnel can expect to have to deal with more than 225 kg/d of fugitive material.”

Reducing carryback

Although there are several belt cleaning technologies available to conveyor operators, most designs in use today are blade-type units of some kind, using a urethane or metal-tipped scraper to remove material from the belt’s surface, according to Martin Engineering.

“These devices typically require an energy source – such as a spring, a compressed air reservoir or a twisted elastomeric element – to hold the cleaning edge against the belt. Because the blade directly contacts the belt, it is subject to abrasive wear and must be regularly adjusted and periodically replaced to maintain effective cleaning performance.”

The ability to maintain the proper force required to keep the blade edge against the belt is a key factor in the performance of any cleaning system, the company said. Blade-to-belt pressure must be controlled to achieve optimal cleaning with a minimal rate of blade wear.

The company said: “There is a popular misconception that the harder the cleaner is pressing against the belt, the better it will clean. Yet, research has shown there is an optimum range of blade pressure, which will most effectively remove carryback material. Increasing tension beyond this range raises blade-to-belt friction, thus shortening blade life, increasing belt wear and increasing power consumption – without improving cleaning performance.

“Operating a belt cleaner below the optimum pressure range also delivers less effective cleaning and can accelerate blade wear. A belt cleaner lightly touching the belt may appear to be in working order from a distance whereas excessive amounts of carryback are being forced between the blade and the belt at high velocity.”

This passage of material between the belt and the blade creates channels of uneven wear on the face of the cleaner, according to the company, with these channels increasing in size as material continues to pass between the blade and the belt.

The company continued: “A common source of blade wear that often goes unnoticed – even with a properly installed and adjusted cleaner – is running the belt empty for long periods of time. Small particles embedded in the empty belt’s surface can create an effect like sand paper, increasing the wear rate of both the blade and the belt. Even though the cargo may be abrasive, it often has moisture in it that serves as a lubricant and coolant.

“Another potential source of wear is when the cleaner blade is wider than the material flow, causing the outside portion of the cleaning blade to hold the centre section of the blade away from the belt. As a result, carryback can flow between the belt and the worn area of the blade, accelerating wear on this centre section. Eventually, the process creates a curved wear pattern sometimes referred to as a ‘smiley face’ or ‘mooning’.”

As urethane cleaner blades wear, the surface area of the blade touching the belt increases, according to Martin Engineering. This causes a reduction in blade-to-belt pressure and a corresponding decline in cleaner efficiency. Most mechanically-tensioned systems, as result, require periodic adjustment (re-tensioning) to deliver the consistent pressure needed for effective carryback removal.

“To overcome the problem of the blade angle changing as the blade wears, a radial-adjusted belt cleaner can be designed with a specially-engineered curved blade, known as CARP (Constant Angle Radial Pressure),” Martin Engineering said. “With this innovative design, the changes in contact angle and surface area are minimised as the blade wears, helping to maintain its effectiveness throughout the cleaner’s service life.”

Air tensioning

New air-powered tensioning systems are automated for precise monitoring and tensioning throughout all stages of blade life, reducing the labour typically required to maintain optimum blade pressure and extending the service life of both the belt and the cleaner, Martin Engineering said.

“Equipped with sensors to confirm that the belt is loaded and running, the devices automatically back the blade away during stoppages or when the conveyor is running empty, minimising unnecessary wear to both the belt and cleaner,” it said. “The result is consistently correct blade tension, with reduced power demand on start-up, all managed without operator intervention.”

For locations lacking convenient power access, one self-contained design uses the moving conveyor to generate its own electricity. This powers a small air compressor to maintain optimum blade pressure at all times.

Maintenance

Even the best-designed and most efficient of mechanical belt cleaning systems require periodic maintenance and/or adjustment, or performance will deteriorate over time.

Martin Engineering said: “Proper tensioning of belt-cleaning systems minimises wear on the belt and cleaner blades, helping to prevent damage and ensure efficient cleaning action. Belt cleaners must be engineered for durability and simple maintenance, and conveyors should be designed to enable easy service, including required clearances for access. Service chores that are straightforward and ‘worker friendly’ are more likely to be performed on a consistent basis.

“The use of factory-trained and certified specialty contractors can also help ensure that belt cleaner maintenance is done properly, and on an appropriate schedule. Further, experienced service technicians often notice other developing system or component problems that can be avoided if addressed before a catastrophic failure occurs, helping conveyor operators avoid potential equipment damaging and expensive unplanned downtime.”

The company concluded: “By setting the cleaning goal necessary for each individual operation and purchasing a system adequate for those conditions, as laid out in CEMA standards, it’s possible to achieve carryback control and yet obtain long life from belt cleaners.

“The bottom line is that properly-installed and adjusted belt cleaners help minimise carryback and spillage, reducing risk and overall operating costs.”