The ambient environment surrounding a jetty conveyor is abundant in harsh aggregators that can place long-term strain on industrial components. Not only must they content with airborne pollutants such as dust and other course particle matter, but the ocean salt promotes rust and the build-up of grime at an accelerated rate.
In 2005, a key customer in the grain industry approached BSC to replace an old, generic pin/rubber coupling on their conveyor apparatus, which had failed during a ship loading. The timing of the breakdown resulted in extensive downtime cost and product loss, which motivated the customer to seek a new solution with greater reliability in the challenging conditions.
“When dealing with product such as grain, you can’t afford to delay shipment, or put a pause on operation for that long,” Russell Randal said, national account manager for Agriculture at Motion Australia. “At that time, the customer came to us with a sense of urgency. They wanted an immediate solution, but one that would serve them best in the long run.”
According to Randal, the original specification was to install a new coupling unit that could be quickly and easily changed out to avoid downtime in the future. BSC recommended the Timken QF1000 and QF500 Quickflex Couplings, which were installed between the motor, gearbox and conveyor drum situated on the incline and decline jetty conveyors.
Fast forward ten years to 2015, when the BSC team conducted a routine site visit, only to realise that these couplings had never been changed, yet were still successfully running at full capacity.
“It was just astounding,” Randal said. “The original urethane inserts were still in perfect condition. There was minor rust on the coupling body exterior, but that is to be expected after such long-term exposure to salt air.”
“A decade of use without any costs of replacement or servicing demonstrates just how premium the Timken product is,” he furthered. “We say that they’re durable enough to face the harshest operating conditions, and this result is a testament to that promise.”
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