Electricity + Control May 2017

DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR

Total South African Drive Solution for Kazakhstan Gold Mine

Rudi Swanepoel, SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa

One of the largest orders in the history of SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa for its MC Series industrial gear units for a gold-mining project in Kazakhstan, will see the assembly and supply of 31 of these units.

T he OEM won the order from a local specialist in the design and supply of equipment to the metallurgical industry. What made it such a unique project for the company was the low ambient temperatures that had to be accommodated according to the specification. These industrial gear units for mixing and agitating applications require high torque ratings and function under a wide temperature range. They feature a modular design with a specific housing concept to ensure an optimal solution for diverse applications. The low ambient temperatures in Kazakhstan meant that special oil tanks with heaters had to be fitted to the units. While this is avail- able as a standard feature, it is not a run-of-the-mill requirement. Other features that had to be installed as well included flow switches. The required loads of the application, which are considerable in terms of agitators, had to be met. The MC Series of industrial gear units comprises particularly compact helical and helical-bevel gear units. The torque range of the seven sizes is 6 kNm to 65 kNm. The parallel shaft design offers plenty of flexibility in system design, in addition to requiring remark- ably little space. This makes it ideal for a range of applications, from materials handling to transporting heavy loads, mixing, crane drives, and shredders. A version with Extended Bearing Distance (EBD) and reinforced output shaft is also available for more specific applications.

The collaboration with the client in fulfilling this order for Kazakh- stan represents a latest trend in the increasing internationalisation of projects. It sends a positive message about the manufacturing experience and expertise of this company, which is increasingly sought-after the world over. The MC Series is designed for a small torque range of up to 65 kNm, with special features such as limited space requirements and high availability. The gear units are suitable for horizontal, vertical, and upright mounting on the customer’s machine. The MC series is particularly suited for medium gear ratios. The modular concept includes a great variety of optional ac- cessories, including motor adaptors, belt drives, and backstops. Standardised applications solutions are available for bucket elevators, cooling towers, and agitators. The company’s EBD concept allows for stronger bearings within the gear unit itself, whichmeans that inmany

• Kazakhstan represents an important mining market for this company as it tackles projects outside its borders. • The low ambient temperatures in Kazakhstan had to be accommodated for this project. • For this type of project, it is important that customer-specific applications and tailor-made solutions can be provided.

take note

The Republic of Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country by land area, bigger than all of Western Europe. The country reportedly holds the second-largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves, as well as the third largest manganese deposits, and is number five globally in terms of copper reserves. The country is also said to rank in the top ten for iron and gold, and is a well- known diamond exporter. It also has the 11 th largest proven reserves of both petroleum and natural gas.

Electricity+Control May ‘17

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