SUPPLYING HYDRAULICS FOR GIANTS

With a capacity to handle up to 10 000 tons of material an hour,
the Sandvik stacker reclaimer to be used by the National Ports Authority
at Saldanha Bay, is possibly the largest in Africa.

The tender for the supply of hydraulic systems, on what is believed to be one of the largest iron ore stacker reclaimers in southern Africa, has been awarded to Hytec by Sandvik Materials Handling. The tender, valued at R1.5-million, demonstrates the company’s ability to deliver reliable components and solutions to some of the largest materials handling applications in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This is by far the biggest stacker reclaimer that we have ever worked on. The machine will be used in the Saldanha Bay port, by Sandvik’s end client, the National Ports Authority, to stockpile and reclaim iron ore for onward shipment,” enthuses Klaus Marggraff, Systems Sales Manager, Hytec. The stacker reclaimer is capable of handling 10 000 tons of material an hour and features a monumental boom length of 60m. “We have supplied complete hydraulic solutions for the luffing system, which controls the height of the conveyor boom, as well as the hydraulics for the tripper car , the bypass chute and the stacking and reclaiming system,” continues Marggraff. The entire hydraulic system is powered by two 132kw electric motors, which drive two electronically controlled hydraulic pumps.

“The most challenging aspect of this project was to ensure the smooth control of the luffing system. The potential problems are evident, with such a large scale machine, any shudders or vibrations will be transmitted down the length of the boom, which will result in an inefficient machine. The Hytec team met the challenge head on, and made use of its extensive industry experience to carefully select the correct hydraulic components for the job. We supplied a primary control for the hydraulic pump which is responsible for the acceleration and deceleration of the boom. The solution that we provided not only solves the original challenge, but has also proved to be highly energy efficient,” says Marggraff.

Hytec has made extensive use of its industry experience in the field of stacker reclaimers to provide a reliable and durable solution for Sandvik Materials Handling. The scale of the project involved has demonstrated Hytec’s core capabilities as a provider of efficient hydraulic solutions regardless of the task at hand.