Gearboxes aid aluminium production
A
David Brown Engineering product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Mar 15, 2006
Gearboxes deliver increased power and torque at aluminium mill yet occupy the same footprint as the existing gearboxes while reducing installation downtime.
David Brown Engineering is helping with a cold mill upgrade which is a part of Dolgarrog Aluminium's multi-million pound investment programme.
Dolgarrog Aluminium's business plan has delivered an evolution of the product mix requiring the rolling of harder and more demanding heat-treatable aluminium alloys for the aerospace industry.
As a result, David Brown is engineering gearboxes to deliver increased power and torque yet occupy the same footprint as the existing gearboxes while reducing installation downtime.
Installed in 1965, the original cold mill was for soft alloy production and an assessment performed in 2003 identified the potential increase in delivered mill power of 127% from 660 to 1500kW.
This meant upgrading the gearboxes on all three primary drives - the uncoiler, mill stand and recoiler.
Three David Brown units were designed for mounting in the precise configuration of the original gearboxes, but incorporate technology that ensures they require less maintenance and are easier to maintain.
Modelling predicts that the upgrade will result in a 20% increase in productivity and a 10% improvement in material yield.
In addition, the simultaneous installation of a modern AC drive, automatic gauge and flatness control combined with an improved roll coolant system will allow the mill to produce quality strip rolled products.
Yet the upgrade not only addresses plant capability and product quality; another of the primary objectives was to build business sustainability by addressing plant reliability.
The existing gearboxes were estimated to be close to the exponential portion of the failure probability curve having completed some 1.6 x 1010 stress reversals after 40 years of service.
Hywel Thomas, Engineering Director at Dolgarrog Aluminium, said: "Following the impressive retrofit on the hot rolling mill back in 1999, I was pleased last year when David Brown won the new contract for the cold mill refit".
"The new boxes were successfully commissioned in our New Year shut-down period and now supply twice as much power from the same footprint as the original gearboxes".
"Using the same mountings meant it was a tight squeeze, but the upgrade is proving to be a great success".
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