The carryback was not only creating significant disruptions to their operation and productivity but also posed a major safety hazard for personnel walking around the site, given the wet, sticky nature of the conveyed material it presented a major trip and slip hazard.

A significant amount of time and money was spent cleaning up the sticky product from the conveyor structure and surrounds. Tthe site would require one vacuum truck, one skid steer, and two individuals manually shovelling carryback from the conveyor bin. This would typically take two 12-hour shifts to complete.

In addition, an average of 15 return rollers were replaced every six weeks during the shutdown, a task typically requiring approximately five hours to complete.

Carryback Before

The Solution

Fenner Conveyor’s Auditor approached Flexco’s territory manager to devise a solution together after inspecting the system. They found that the current cleaning systems were unable to handle the carryback because the tensioners were behind a guard, meaning maintenance were unable to tension the cleaners during operation and had to wait until the maintenance period every six weeks to adjust them.

Flexco and Fenner Conveyors proposed a new system CBS Continuous Blade Secondary Belt Cleaner and a MDWS Dry Wipe Heavy-Duty Secondary Belt Cleaner. A live-shaft hold-down roller was installed between them to stabilise the belt. They were then paired with an EZ-Air Tension Kit, providing air pressure to the cleaners, and a Flexco elevate IoT for each system, which provides real time monitoring, allowing for predictive maintenance.

Fenner Conveyors’ Whyalla crew completed the removal and installation with the supervision of Ian Kennedy, Flexco Territory Manager, and Paul Baker, Fenner Conveyors Conveyor Auditor.

“The support from Flexco was outstanding; together we were able to quickly design a solution, with Flexco providing invaluable insight on-site during installation to make the process smoother,” said Baker.