MechChem Africa July 2017

⎪ Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals ⎪

Special services for the sugar industry

BMG’s KZN field service team has been involved in a number of field service projects in the local sugar industry during recent off-crop seasons, as well as dealing with urgent breakdowns in sugar mills and refineries.

A recent field service project com- pleted during the previous off- crop season was a turnkey in situ replacement of diffuser head shaft bearings and the complete refurbishment of themultimisalignment couplings drivingeach end of the head shaft. “BMG’s design and installation teamfaced many challenges during this project, including the lack of engineering drawings required for the manufacture of replacement com- ponents. This meant bearing sleeves could only be final-machined after the extraction of components, some of which had been in operation for approximately 20 years,” says Chris Johns, BMG’s regionalmanager forKZN and Swaziland. “Restricted space for moving enormous components added to the difficulties of the project. Due to the extended reach of the head shaft, it was not feasible to employ the conventional approach of using mobile cranes. Instead, support structures were specially manufactured and placed under the 126 t head shaft and used to jack the shaft up and out of the pedestals, allowing the team access to replace the 900 mm bore diameter bearings. “BMG coped with extremely tight time- frames to manufacture replacement compo- nents and complete the project, which also involved the installation of new bearings and adaptor sleeves, as well as new keys and connector arms for the couplings,” according to Johns.

BMG’s field service team also recently at- tended to a failure on a mill gearbox in KZN, where the coupling box had seized, causing ex- cessive axial loading on the final drive bearings, resulting in failure of these bearings. The complete mill gearbox had to be dis-

BMG’s specialist services to the sugar sector include bearing and gearbox inspection, bearing and chain refurbishment, large size bearing assembly and alignment and balancing, as well as customised product design.

mantled, all gearing dressed and damaged components repaired. Scope of operations also included fitting and mounting of all bearings, re-assembly of the gearbox and alignmentandblueingofallgearing.BMGsup- plied new bearings, adaptor and withdrawal sleeves, seals and grease for this project. Other recent breakdowns in the sugar industry involved attending to a Dorstener mill gearbox in Swaziland and a shredder failure in KZN. BMG is committed to providing engineer- ing solutions and technical services that opti- mise productivity, tomake a difference to the efficiencies of every sugar mill and refinery. A wide range of products, selected espe- cially for the sugar industry, is available from BMG, throughout Africa. These components include carrier and diffuser chain, knife and shredder bearing housings, customsprockets and gear couplings, as well as steam gaskets, heat exchangers and hydraulic tools. Diffuser andmill gear boxes, in addition tomill lubrica-

BMG’s KZN field service team has been involved in a number of field service projects in the local sugar industry during recent off crop seasons, as well as dealing with urgent breakdowns in sugar mills and refineries. tionandhydraulic systems, forma critical part of this range. BMG’s specialist services to the sugar sector include bearing and gearbox inspec- tion, bearing and chain refurbishment, large size bearing assembly and alignment and balancing, as well as customised product de- sign. BMG also offers a trouble shooting and maintenance service, condition monitoring and training. q

Linear motion systems meet demands of advanced engineering BMG’s linearmotion systems and associated products are designed for high speed, high precision performance, to meet the rigorous demands of technologically advanced engineering.

“With the growing trend for companies to move away from manual machine operation to specialised mechanisation as part of cost saving programmes, BMGhasmade a substantial investment in expandingour product range tomeet specific demand ineconomical andhighly complex applications,” saysRouff Essop, generalmanager, bearings, BMG. “BMG’s qualitybranded linearmotionproducts have been carefully selected for excellent accuracy and smooth linearmo- tion, easy integration, energy saving and environmental protection.” BMG’s linear way products include linear guides, runner blocks, rails, ball screws, bushings and shafts, designed for use in diverse applications, including OEMs, the machine tool sector, automotive

Linear rail and block slide units from BMG’s linear way products range.

plants, design houses, packaging, beverage plants, robotics, brick and glass manufacturing, paper, pulp and wood industries, as well as for measuring systems. q

July 2017 • MechChem Africa ¦ 11