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TLT-Turbo

TLT-Turbo Africa reports on major PGM mine ventilation installation in South Africa

Environmental, Mine ventilation, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, , , ,

In a move that it says marks a significant technological advancement in the mining industry, TLT-Turbo Africa has announced the successful implementation of a major ventilation project within the Platinum Belt of South Africa.

TLT-Turbo Africa says its latest project emphasises its role as a leader in mining equipment provision, with the project, completed in two phases, including the installation and commissioning of bespoke bifurcated surface fan stations, each with a dual-stage 220 kW fan system. Designed to operate continuously, these fans address the high pressure and efficiency demands characteristic of underground mining operations, according to the company.

Complying with noise restrictions to minimise the impact on nearby communities was an important achievement for the project, the company noted.

Additionally, the use of TLT-Turbo Africa’s standardised, modular A&B Fan range highlights a shift towards streamlined manufacturing processes that, it says, significantly reduce lead times and promote local availability of spare parts, thus ensuring swift maintenance and repairs.

Katlego Nchabeleng, Sales Engineer at TLT-Turbo Africa, said: “Our ventilation solutions are engineered to ensure the safety, health and wellness of mining personnel while facilitating better underground conditions and ease of maintenance. These installations epitomise our approach to delivering quality and sustainable advancements in mine ventilation.”

With eco-design at the heart of their operation, TLT-Turbo Africa’s fans exemplify their alignment with global environmental standards, focusing on energy-efficient solutions that contribute to the broader environmental imperatives of the mining industry, it says.

The company’s ongoing projects include a notable initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a forthcoming installation of modular mine fans in South Africa.

TLT-Turbo Africa addresses mining ventilation market need with new fans

Environmental, Mine ventilation, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , ,

TLT-Turbo Africa has extended its current auxiliary and booster fan range to include variants that, it says, are able to provide flexibility to clients on all underground ventilation performance requirements.

Following the launch and market success of the TLT-Turbo Auxiliary and Booster Fan (A&B) range for the mining industry launched in 2019, TLT-Turbo Africa noticed a trend emerging of mining companies focusing on energy efficient solutions for ventilation. Based on enquiries received from numerous existing and potential clients, TLT-Turbo identified a gap in the mining ventilation market as demand increased for fans in the size range between 1,600 mm and 2,000 mm diameter.

Vusi Madlopha, TLT-Turbo Africa Head of Sales & Business Development, said: “With the mining sector starting to move away from large-scale, end-of-life surface fan installations to smaller, more scalable and movable ventilation installations, it became clear to us that this niche will become more and more relevant in the future. TLT-Turbo Africa decided to bridge this gap in our offering by extending our current standardised A&B fan range to include 1,800mm and 2,000mm variants.”

The same design methodology and aerodynamic concepts on which the A&B fan range was based were taken on board to develop these larger fan products, TLT-Turbo said. Standardisation was also one of the main criteria for the development of the new fans to ensure a globally cost-effective supply chain of product components. This was achieved by using the same blade, impeller, and stator design from the A&B fan range.

“To enhance product robustness and performance, we included features of the TLT-Turbo Modular Mine Fan range which includes fans ranging in size from 2,000 mm to 3,150 mm,” Madlopha explained.

Stephan Viviers, Engineering Specialist at TLT-Turbo Africa, goes on to explain what makes these new fans exceptional from design and product development aspects.

“The standard design features include a horizontally-split fan casing to allow for larger foot mount motors to be installed and to make international transport of components possible within normal sized marine containers,” Viviers said. “All fans in the range are designed to operate in 50 Hz and 60 Hz applications with a 2-pole motor at 3,000 and 3,600 rpm and with a 4-pole motor at 1,500 and 1,800 rpm.”

The Booster fan range is supplied as standard with in-situ blade pitch angle adjustment brackets, according to TLT-Turbo. The full range of fans can also be supplied with optional temperature and vibration sensors, as well as an Anti-Stall Unit. The fans are fully Variable Speed Drive (VSD) compliant and, thus, can be integrated into any Ventilation on Demand system. A large range of duty points can be achieved at high efficiency by varying the blade pitch angles, as well as the solidity of the impeller, the company says. Fans can also be installed in series up to three stages to achieve higher pressure requirements allowing the client more flexibility.

TLT-Turbo Africa recently completed the build and supply of the first MC2000 for the Australian market.

Madlopha described this fan as a “top of the range South African manufactured product in terms of size and performance”. The fan’s highest duty point was designed to deliver a volume flow of 90.0 cu.m/s and 4,000 Pa of total pressure at an air density of 1.2 kg/cu.m and VSD setting of 110%. This particular unit was intended for a force draft application and included an aerodynamic conical inlet as well as an outlet diffuser to allow for further static pressure recovery.

Viviers concluded: “Having this size product as a standard offering in the mining industry is of huge global significance based on the direction that mining developments are taking with dynamic scalability at the heart of ventilation. Mining contractors are also interested in a product that can allow them to use more smaller, and modular fans for underground booster applications. This enhancement of the TLT-Turbo product range will shorten lead times and capital costs to our customers’ growing applications.”

TLT-Turbo launches new range of ‘superfans’ for mine ventilation

Environmental, Mine ventilation, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , , ,

TLT-Turbo GmbH has redesigned its auxiliary and booster fan range to improve both efficiency and cost-effectiveness for ventilation applications in the mining industry.

The development of the new fan range concept began in early 2015, according to the company.

Following a global study to gain an understanding of the market requirements, the range was defined in mid-2017, with the fabrication of the first units taking place shortly thereafter, the global ventilation fans and systems manufacturer said.

Michael Minges, Technical Director at TLT-Turbo Africa, who headed up the fans’ designs, said: “The development of the auxiliary and booster fan range would not have been possible without the input of clients. This ensured that we focused on key market-driven requirements including energy efficiency, noise reduction, cost-effectiveness and turnaround time.

“To sell these products, we needed to ensure close customer relationships and visibility. We are striving to change the industry’s mindset on the use of such fans to ensure proper fan selection for the ventilation required. In optimising mine ventilation, efficient, high-quality auxiliary and booster fans can add as much value as surface fan installations.”

TLT-Turbo started commissioning of the first iterations of the fan range towards the end of 2017 within the Sub-Saharan market through its Africa office. From there, it based the development of the various fan sizes of the new range on market interest.

The fan range is being rolled out in phases. The preliminary testing at sites located in Sub-Saharan Africa has been launched successfully. The next phase is globalisation as the new range will be rolled out in the USA, Canada, Europe, Russia and Australia.

Following this, product supply and support will be extended to TLT-Turbo offices in South America and India. In the interim, though, Minges said these fans can be supplied to clients worldwide from TLT-Turbo Africa.

Minges said as energy efficiency is one of the main drivers of industrial equipment usage, and minimum efficiency requirements on certain equipment are often legislated, TLT-Turbo identified the need and opportunity in the market for “more efficient mining fans compared to what is currently in use”.

The new designs include several innovative additions to enhance performance in order to provide “exceptional” underground ventilation, the company said.

“The fan range was developed using the latest in engineering flow technology which allowed TLT-Turbo to improve the aerodynamics, and thus the efficiency of the fans. A unique stator design and aerodynamic fairings, all manufactured from wear-resistant composite materials, resulted in improved efficiencies and reduced noise levels.”

Meanwhile, the modularity of the fan casings allow for quick and easy assembly with interchangeable ancillary fan parts, according to the company.

“The motor mounting, in coherence with a machined impeller track, ensures low and controllable blade tip clearances for improved performance and efficiencies,” TLT-Turbo said. “Pad mount motors are used for all fan sizes and help reduce vibration levels in the axial direction of the motor significantly which leads to longer motor bearing life and lower maintenance requirements.”
Minges said all possible measures are taken to ensure the highest quality and best possible performance of every fan supplied by TLT-Turbo.

“All fans are ISO 5801 tested unless the client agrees to type testing on higher volume orders,” he said. “We ensure the client quoted performance is met before the fans leave the factory. Test certificates on both raw data and calculated performance can be provided on request.

“Fan efficiency is determined with the performance test and this quality check ensures we deliver on what we promised the client. Clients are regularly invited to witness the performance tests to sign off on acceptance. The fans also come with pressure ports that can be hooked up to a calibrated handheld measuring device to measure performance in-situ.”

In addition to performance and efficiency, ease of maintenance was also a major consideration in developing the new range.

The modularity of the product design and the interchangeable standardised parts allows for quick turnaround time on parts supply, according to the company.

“For example, we only have two blade types for the full product range and generally only one motor barrel per fan size accommodating various motor sizes and types,” Minges said.

“Standardisation on the product is the key to successfully managing maintenance and repair as it allows ample supply of spares for companies certified to do the repair work. The design track record has indicated a longer mean time between failures than previous products.”

TLT-Turbo Africa has received a number of orders for these fans since the end of 2017. These orders include South Africa clients seeking a solution for deepening a gold mine and for Kamoa Copper in the DRC as an exclusive supplier.

Minges said: “The feedback that we have received, thus far, has been that the fans are meeting our and our client’s expectations. I am proud to say that one EPC consultant used the phrase ‘superfan’ to describe the new range and indicated that he has not heard a fan of this size so quiet before.”

Newly consolidated TLT-Turbo Africa looks for international opportunities

Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mine ventilation, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , ,

Following the launch of the TLT-Turbo Africa, in the June quarter of 2018, Germany-based ventilation firm, TLT-Turbo, has concluded the consolidation of several South Africa-based operations to become, it says, the continent’s first and only complete, turnkey mining, energy and industrial ventilation solutions provider.

TLT-Turbo Africa Managing Director, Luther Erasmus, said: “Over the past two years, the TLT-Turbo Africa board, under the global leadership of TLT-Turbo, has worked towards the complete integration of product, service and project capabilities. Our objective was to provide our clients with an absolute turnkey approach to ventilation solutions.”

TLT-Turbo Africa will capitalise on TLT-Turbo’s global reputation as a leading provider of advanced ventilation and process fans on a global scale, it said. The company manufactures radial and axial flow fans for virtually any industrial application.

“One of our main objectives, following the complete consolidation of TLT-Turbo Africa’s operations, is to produce and distribute a full range of ventilation products for the mining, industrial and power markets for South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. In future, our product lines will be based on the TLT Global group’s unique, proprietary ventilation solutions,” Erasmus said.

To enhance TLT-Turbo Africa’s service offering, LH Marthinusen (LHM), a division of ACTOM, has been appointed as the group’s authorised service partner. LHM will be responsible for the maintenance and refurbishment of the full range of TLT-Turbo fans, as well as the distribution of spare parts on an exclusive basis in South Africa and on a non-exclusive basis in 20 other sub-Saharan countries.

LHM will provide routine maintenance services on both new and installed TLT-Turbo products, such as the 36 large induced draft fans at Majuba, Medupi and Kusile power stations, other installed surface and process fans, as well as its range of auxiliary fans, axial flow and centrifugal fans. LHM has been given full access to the design expertise of TLT-Turbo’s engineering team allowing them to perform service and efficiency upgrades on third-party fans for TLT-Turbo clients as well.

TLT-Turbo Global Managing Director, Rainer Redinger, said consolidating the company’s Africa operations opened opportunities to service a broader local and international client base. “It will see us benefiting from a larger supply and services footprint with global support infrastructure from TLT-Turbo and its parent company PowerChina Corp,” he said.

In 2019, TLT-Turbo Africa will focus on the expansion of its SSA footprint, which will lead to future investment for the expansion of TLT-Turbo Africa’s projects offering and manufacturing facilities to support the expected growth in the SSA mining industry and industrial applications, Erasmus said.

“Our solutions have been field proven to provide holistic ventilation solutions that are able to meet the challenges of the African market. Our high efficiency designs are able to outperform other products on the market while achieving significant power savings and reducing CO2 emissions,” he explained. TLT-Turbo Africa will also deliver turnkey project installations, engineering and civil services to meet the most demanding customer requirements.

“This complete offering provides clients with a single source for design, development, distribution, product support, and customer service. Seamless integration of all the above elements means maximum client value and assures our clients that they are being supplied a quality product along with the highest level of long-term product support. This is also consistent with our TLT approach that offers our clients the best total life cycle cost solution,” Redinger concluded.