Processing operations quickly come to a halt without reliable gear units, which is why SEW-EURODRIVE ensures its units continue to perform in the most demanding scenarios.
Gearboxes sit at the heart of mineral processing plants. Applications such as crushers, semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills and apron feeders generate extreme torque and shock loads, placing gear units under constant mechanical stress.
That’s why industrial gear drives play a critical role in maintaining the reliability and performance of processing circuits.
SEW-EURODRIVE – a global leader in mechatronic transmission systems, motor control electronics and related technology – understands what it takes to design, build and maintain gear units capable of performing in the harsh conditions common to mining operations.
According to SEW-EURODRIVE national industrial gear product manager Guido Wagner, when gear units stop, so does everything else.
“They can be seen as a small, almost insignificant part of the processing plant in terms of capital expense, yet they are the most critical item in terms of reliability and productivity,” Wagner told Australian Mining.
“With this huge benefit-to-cost ratio, it makes sense to select the drive solution that is of the highest quality and reliability.
“You wouldn’t skimp on the cost of a pacemaker for your heart, would you?”
SEW-EURODRIVE industrial gear units are designed to excel in extreme mining environments.
“Apart from case carburised gearing and shot peening of the tooth root, modern gearing from SEW-EURODRIVE also features corrections to the microgeometry to equalise tooth pressures and remove stress concentrations based on the dynamics of the respective system,” Wagner said.
“In short, designs for application-specific gearboxes are optimised to the loads the application exerts on the gearbox.
“Due to the extreme torque density of modern gearboxes, lubrication and cooling are more important than ever, which SEW-EURODRIVE also specialises in.”
Gear drives are used across many stages of mineral processing, from crushing and grinding through to material handling and slurry processing. Gearboxes vary significantly depending on the demands of each application.
“There are variabilities ranging from the obvious through to more complex case uses, the torque to external loads such as radial loads, axial loads or bending moments over vibrations to thermal stresses,” Wagner said.
“These also may not occur continuously or consistently; they can be highly dynamic, and a load spectrum needs to be considered.
This is why it is of utmost importance that the gearbox supplier has a sound understanding of the application the gearbox is going into.
“Even a good gearbox, if selected incorrectly for the application, could fail.”
That’s why a gearbox supplier’s expertise and understanding of mineral processing is critical.
“You can have the most reliable equipment and things can still go wrong,” Wagner said.
“There is human error and other unforeseeable events that can stop operations in their tracks.
“With all the right measures in place, a drive can still sometimes fail, the heart can stop. This is when you want to be near the hospital.”
With seven sales and service centres across Australia, as well as a 24-hour hotline and $50 million in stock available at any time, SEW-EURODRIVE maintains a reliable and reassuring presence for its Australian customers.
“We are sure to be there when you need us,” Wagner said.
“Even if it’s not an emergency, if you just need the right advice and product for your plant, we have qualified engineers nearby ready to help.”
As processing plants look to improve their efficiency and reliability, SEW-EURODRIVE is drawing on its strong heritage of research and development to help operations optimise drive performance.
“Energy costs are skyrocketing and everybody talks efficiency with electric motors, but nobody considers the gearbox and the rest of the equipment,” Wagner said.
“Replacing old and inefficient gearboxes with modern, more efficient solutions will save you money in energy costs. It will not only save money and increase reliability but provide an opportunity to improve productivity.
“At SEW-EURODRIVE, we are at the forefront in the development of gear efficiency.
“If you have an ageing processing plant with inefficient gearboxes, it does not cost anything to talk to us to see how it could be improved.”
As operators continue to look for ways to get the most from their processing plants and maximise throughput, SEW-EURODRIVE works to ensure the beating heart of minerals processing keeps pumping.
This feature appears in the March edition of Australian Mining.