2nd Quarter 2013Electrical switching & drive systems & components
Despite a marked downturn in the South African platinum industry over the last year, SEW-Eurodrive has managed to secure work in both greenfield and brownfield projects in Mpumalanga. Nelspruit branch sales manager, Jonathan McKey says that even though South Africa saw a general decrease in the amount of work coming from the platinum sector; SEW-Eurodrive has maintained its workload as clients are starting to realise the benefits of the company’s modular system and combination options. “Since entering the South African platinum mining market in 2005, SEW-Eurodrive has secured a large share of the industrial gears and geared motor solutions market in the platinum industry,” he says.
He adds that SEW-Eurodrive products are being applied to all facets of mining, ranging from industrial gears that drive a mine’s conveyor system to the geared motors behind the mine’s processing plant. “The platinum industry has been applying SEW-Eurodrive products and solutions to a wide range of applications, including incline belts, as well as strike and overland belts. The wide selection of geared solutions ranges from 25 to 475 kNm, while the selection of variable electronic speed drives varies according to kilowatt and voltage requirements,” he explains. Furthermore, SEW-Eurodrive’s gearboxes, systems and technology are designed and built to withstand the extreme ambient conditions, high torque loads and long service life demanded by the platinum mining industry.
SEW-Eurodrive’s range of helical, parallel shaft helical, helical-bevel, Spiroplan and planetary gearmotors offer power levels from 0,06 to 200 kW with torque from 25 to 500 000 Nm, combined with closely spaced power steps. The gearmotors can be complemented by Movidrive drive inverters and Movitrac frequency inverters.
McKey says that clients in the platinum industry are starting to realise that a proactive system of maintenance and condition monitoring produces a higher level of reliability. As a result, many have adopted SEW-Eurodrive’s DUV10A diagnostic unit, which makes use of vibration analysis for preventive maintenance. It is the ideal sensor for the monitoring of anti-friction bearings. SEW-Eurodrive started fitting these units to its industrial gear power packs in order to monitor the condition of the gearbox‘s bearings at each gear stage. The company also offers a DUO10A sensor unit that monitors both the oil temperature and oil change intervals in the gearboxes.
The DUV10A diagnostic unit measures the structure-borne noise and uses this value to calculate the frequency spectrum. The unit uses this frequency spectrum to constantly evaluate the condition of the anti-friction bearings. The structure-born noise sensor and evaluation electronics are fully integrated in the diagnostic unit.
Looking ahead, McKey says that SEW-Eurodrive will maintain high levels of service to the platinum industry and continue to make greater inroads into the chrome, coal and gold mining sectors within South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
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