MechChem Africa May-June 2021

Bespoke drive solution for local animal feed equipment Phillip Steyn of SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa talks about a custom-designed 6.0 t twin-shaft paddle mixer drive solution developed in conjunction with Dalein Agriplan for agricultural feed producer, De Heus South Africa.

H igh-capacity mixers for feed milling depend on drive technol- ogy that is sufficiently robust to provide reliable operation in demanding applications and challenging environments. When specialist feed-milling original equipment manufacturer, Dalein Agriplan, was tasked with designing a one-of-a-kind high-speed, high-capacity mixer for a leading South African animal feed producer, it knew where to turn for an experienced partner to help it deliver a unique precision-engineered solution. SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa was the obvious answer to its requirement for a custom-designed 6.0 t twin-shaft paddle mixer and drive system to replace the single- shaft paddlemixer systemused in the original installation. Because the client’s requirementwas for a 6 000 kg capacity mixer and Dalein Agriplan had not previously delivered an installation larger than 5 000 kg, SEW-EURODRIVE and Dalein Agriplan collaborated to develop a bespoke solution– theprototypeMPT6000H heavy duty twin-shaft paddle mixer. Given that this was a prototype and the engineers couldn’t rely on any previous data, the two companies worked hand-in-hand on the necessary calculations and specifications. SEW-EURODRIVE’s MAXOLUTION ® versa-

tile and adaptable modular service concept was seen as ideal for the design, implementa- tion and delivery of this bespoke systemsolu- tions and to achieve optimal implementation of the systems in practice. The aim was to design a mixer capable of producing the required level of torque, while running at optimum rotor speed for ef- fective product blending, as required by the client. Part of their challenge was to enable a 3.0 t batch of feed products to bemixed in 90 seconds, whereas this previously took around three minutes with the original single-shaft mixer. Tomeet these requirements for increased speed and mixing efficiency while process - ing a larger quantity of animal feed, SEW- EURODRIVE supplied two industrial gear- boxes with XT configurations. The XT gearbox forms part of the robust industrial X-series gearbox manufactured by the company inGermany. It is a coaxial bevel- helical industrial gearbox, creating a unique gearing systemwith shaft positions that allow it to utilise a twin-shaft mixer instead of a single-shaft mixer. For this project, the specific size of the gearboxes was calculated to deliver the required torque at the optimum speed. The two gearboxes are driven froma singlemotor using a dual-input coupling. Following installation of the mixer at

DaleinAgriplan’s client – animal feed supplier De Heus South Africa’s factory at Umlaas in KwaZulu-Natal – SEW-EURODRIVE in- spected the on-site setup of the gearboxes on themixer, whileDalein ensured successful startup and commissioning. “Although the bespoke design and en- gineering requirements presented certain challenges, arguably the greater test was navigating the supply chain process between Germany and SouthAfrica during the stricter levels of lockdown,” says Phillip Steyn, sales representative at SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa. “But, with agriculture being an essential service and SEW-EURODRIVE being an ac- credited supplier of essential services, inter- national shipments and local deliveries were completed on schedule,” he notes. Although the XT gearbox is sourced from Germany, spare parts are stockpiled locally and available at short notice to South African clients, along with the necessary technical support. The successful collaboration on the De Heus project continues a long history of co-operation between Dalein Agriplan and SEW-EURODRIVE. The former has been incorporating SEW products into its plants and projects for many years. “Because of SEW’s long-standing repu- tation – plus its local and global footprint, technical assistance and stock availabil- ity – many agri-plant suppliers specify only SEW-EURODRIVE geared solutions for their projects,” says Steyn. q Two robust SEW-EURODRIVE industrial X-series coaxial bevel-helical gearboxes were used to create a unique gearing system with shaft positions that allow the twin-shaft mixer to be driven by a single motor.

Dalein Agriplan and SEW-EURODRIVE have collaborated to develop a bespoke prototype of an MPT6000H heavy duty twin-shaft paddle mixer for agricultural food producer, De Heus South Africa.

32 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2021