Voith has a long engineering tradition in the mining industry and its name is synonymous with reliability, robustness and efficiency. Rethinking its supplier approach was the next natural development step to be made to offer more value-added services to
customers.
Thus, Voith drive packages today offer not only lower acquisition costs and an easier commissioning, but also the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry.
In recent times the company has added not only new products but also many new services to their portfolio. The holistic concept starts with the engineering services for full-driveline solutions and the optimisation of existing drivelines.
Voith designs and engineers complete drive solutions for mining their extensive knowledge, skills and technical expertise. Among other components, their offered drive packages include motor, gearbox, connecting coupling, base frame and a control unit.
The determination of the most appropriate drive system for the operation is based on customers specific requirements.
Engineering of entire drivelines is only the beginning of long-term partnerships with the customer.
The tailor-made service packages include not only classical repair and maintenance but also preventive service. The technology group has put its focus now on efficiency with their newest developments, the digital mining tools of the BeltGenius family, Alex and Eric.
Belt conveyor systems
The company has recently launched its new TurboBelt 500 TPXL fluid coupling. This fill-controlled coupling is the first model in the new TPXL family, which combines the advantages of the proven hydrodynamic drive principle with intelligent control technology. The integrated controller
makes it possible to adapt the output torque of the coupling exactly to the start-up parameters of the belt conveyor system.
In addition, Voith’s engineers have been able to considerably reduce the
dimensions of the new coupling. The TurboBelt 500 TPXL only requires half the volume of conventional coupling types for the same force transmission.
In addition to the operational advantages, this new series of couplings offers attractive procurement and operating costs.
Alignment
Belt skewing, excessive energy consumption and high spare part costs are the result when belt conveyors are not properly aligned. When excessive wear occurs, complete belt sections have to be replaced. BeltGenius Alex detects any misalignment of the belt and helps the user increase the lifetime
of their mining equipment, leading to significant cost reductions.
Alex is Voith’s ALignment EXpert, detecting potentially wasteful issues in idler
installations. Newly designed 3D sensors allow an extremely high accuracy level for a maximum benefit.
With BeltGenius Eric (Efficiency & Reliability Intelligence Control) from Voith, users can boost efficiency and slash system downtime by evaluating digital simulations of entire conveyor systems during operation. The best thing is that these models calculate the relevant forces with accuracy better than 99% – predicting failures before they happen.
Maintenance costs
With the remote service data helmet, Vocus, operators can easily receive equipment information from a centralised Voith specialist and exchange details via pictures, drawings and sketches. Since there is no need for the expert to be present on site, operators can save time and money by identifying issues via a digital application. The worker at site is therefore able to act like the extended arm of the expert and will be guided by him accordingly.
Furthermore, the equipment can be used to assist repairs, measurements and individual trainings.
Voith Turbo
www.voith.co.za
