Capital Equipment News June 2017

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Early warnings give Multotec wear products the edge

To protect customers from unexpected failure of their high wear equipment, Multotec has provided innovative early warning systems as standard features, and at no extra cost. The simplicity of the systems makes them both user-friendly and highly effective, says Multotec Rubber MD, Spike Taylor. “Screen panels, for example, need to be replaced just before the metallurgical end- of-life or before the apertures on the panel are worn too much,” says Taylor. Multotec Manufacturing has designed a wear indicator into each panel, comprising four or five moulded cavities below the upper wear surface. As the panel surface is worn away, one cavity becomes visible; as further wear takes place, the second cavity is also visible, and so on until all cavities are visible. The operator knows that replacement must be conducted or planned shortly, dependent on the number of cavities that are visible related to the thickness of the perforated screening area. A major benefit is that by measuring the time between the cavities becoming exposed the change-out date can be accurately predicted. For its cyclones, Multotec Process Equipment designed a ‘weep hole’ in the mild steel shell. If the rubber lining wears through, the slurry will leak between the lining and the shell, and escape from the

Assembly of Multotec Green Dot Tiles into the Multotec Quick Fit Panels.

cyclone through the weep hole which is filled only with a loose plastic insert. This means the operator can inspect the cyclones while they are operating. To combat wear in ore transfer chutes and similar applications, Multotec Rubber supplies rubber wear plates; these now also come in an early warning ‘Yellow Belly’ format. “We have a yellow layer of rubber immediately above the steel backing plate,” says Taylor. “When the wear on the rubber plate reaches the level of the yellow rubber, the colour is easily visible during inspections; this indicates that there is still some life left

in the plate but that replacement must be conducted in the near future to avoid damage to the backing plate.” The early warning of a worn tile inMultotec Wear Lining’s ceramic products comes in the form of the ‘Green Dot’ tiles. “The tiles have a central, multi-coloured cylindrical plug bonded to the tile which acts as a wear indicator,” he says. “The top, thicker section is green while the lower section is red. When the red ‘dot’ appears during a maintenance inspection, the operator knows that significant wear of the tile thickness has taken place.” b