Pit & Quarry, October 2013
Train and maintain Automatic belt alignment solutions help prevent material spillage and eliminate the need to constantly monitor alignment BY CAROL WASSON T odays top belt training technologies are proven solutions that minimize maintenance manpower They are automatic solutions that continuously keep the belt aligned allowing the crew to attain that coveted set it and forget it attitude After all who wants to continuously adjust and monitor a belt especially when the one moment you walk away is the one moment that the belt rips One of the best belt tracking solutions is the automatic return training idler which provides continuous alignment centering the belt and reducing or eliminating any belt damage says Jarrod Felton vice president of sales marketing and engineering for Superior Industries Automatic return training idlers are particularly effective for operators of portable equipment or mobile track mounted equipment They are an ideal choice in a variety of tough applications or in applications where self aligning idlers do not fit Return training idlers can be applied to either high or low end belts he says Felton points to a couple of recent in the field examples where the automatic return training idler is a welcome alternative to costly maintenance time and labor For example Centex Materials of Buda Texas is a major limestone operation that operates a two mile long overland cable belt conveyor that negotiates low radius curves as it conveys material from the primary crushing circuit to the wash plant Constructed in 10 sections with the An automatic return training idler provides continuous belt alignment Belt misalignment can cause considerable material spillage during material transfer as well as premature belt wear as seen here eighth section being more than 1700 ft long this major cable conveyor system is in constant motion There were constant alignment issues that required a crew to continually monitor the system by driving back and forth all day to check for potential mistracking Manual adjustments to the idlers were required every other day On the occasions that problems were not caught in time belts were damaged Automatic return training idlers were installed every 100 ft on section eight and were installed in varying intervals on the remaining sections As a result the operation is not experiencing alignment issues on the overland system They no longer need to monitor the system on a daily basis and the maintenance crew can be assigned to 44 PIT QUARRY October 2013 www pitandquarry com
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