World's highest capacity sizing station gears up

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 16, 2003

The world's highest capacity mobile sizing station has just been commissioned in Australia, and it features no fewer than four Flender Power Transmission gear units.

The world's highest capacity mobile sizing station has just been commissioned in Australia, and it features no fewer than four Flender Power Transmission gear units.

Manufactured by world leader in mineral sizers, MMD of Derbyshire, the fully mobile sizer station is capable of processing over 10,000t/h of overburden, and can rotate through 270 degrees.

It has a slewing discharge conveyor and an apron plate feeder, which can be raised when the unit is moving.

The whole unit weighs 1760t, and its slewing elevating discharge conveyor is mounted on a turntable.

The unit is also mounted on tracks, which allow it to move in conjunction with the large rope shovel feeding the unit.

This in turn discharges on to an existing belt conveyor system.

Flender has supplied a total of four of its high-performance FZG bevel helical gear units, two in sizes B4 DH25m for the apron plate feeder drive, one B3 DH11 for the transfer conveyor drive, and one B3 DE15 for the discharge conveyor drive.

It was important to manufacturer MMD that all components on the massive station could be bolted together, rather than attached to a central frame, so that everything could be separately transported as a normal road load.

Clive Spencer (Managing Director - Projects) from MMD commented: "For the world's highest capacity mobile sizing station MMD needed components that would maintain economic dependable production from suppliers with a reputation for standing behind their products.

Flender provided modern drive systems for the apron feeder and conveyors, taking into account our wishes for more service safety and economic efficiency.

Furthermore, Flender is an international leader in the field of power transmission technology, and an expert in the entire drive train, with all Flender drive components backed by more than 80 parts and service support outlets worldwide".

The apron plate feeder drives comprise the FZG B4DH25m gear units, shaft mounted with shrink discs and fitted with Flender Neupex flexible input couplings.

There are special sealing arrangements on the input and output shafts, and the units are mounted on bedframes with motors.

Also mounted on each bedframe is an air-blast oil cooler, and each of these two assemblies weighs more than 25t, excluding motors.

The one-off unit for the transfer conveyor drive consists of the FZG B3DH11 bevel helical unit, shaft mounted with shrink disc and fitted with a Neupex flexible input coupling.

There is a special sealing arrangement on the input/output shafts, and the unit is mounted on a bedframe with motor.

The discharge conveyor drive is also a one-off unit, comprising a Flender FZG B3DE15 unit, shaft mounted with shrink disc.

It is fitted with Neupex flexible input coupling, with special sealing arrangement on the input/output shafts.

This unit also has an increased area housing to allow for high temperatures, and is mounted on a bedframe with motor.

All the Flender units were designed to cope with ambient temperatures ranging from -10 to +45C, and 24 hours per day duty for this demanding application.