The Hazemag Roller Screen is the next generation of roller screens. Image: Hazemag
European manufacturer Hazemag believes many Australian quarries could benefit from installing a roller screen.
Traditionally, the roller screen has been the domain of limestone producers due to its ability to handle sticky and difficult material.
However, a new generation of roller screens is being developed to help quarries with more than just a sticky situation, especially if they want extra versatility.
“We’re seeing a lot of inquiries at the moment for the roller screen because in the rainy season and winter time, quarries can get flooded with water, and the material can get quite sticky, so they need something that can be used in the dry and wet season,” Hazemag and allmineral managing director of Australia Teddy Craies told Quarry.
It is a familiar story for Craies and project and service engineer Jaco Botha when they visit quarries, especially around the Victorian and eastern coast markets.
When winter strikes and the seasonal conditions worsen, their productivity drops as their equipment struggles to handle the change.
The Hazemag Roller Screen can help quarry operators handle different weather conditions, raw material consistencies and specification requirements.
The Hazemag Roller Screen has a separation surface area featuring disc-fitted rollers. The polygonal-shaped rollers help transport, circulate, and loosen material for the downstream equipment. Fines pass the gaps between the rollers while coarse material is conveyed from the screen to the screen overflow.
Compared to a vibrating screen, the Roller Screen from Hazemag is non-vibrating, which is helpful in specific operations like limestone, clay stone, natural stone, and gypsum.
Hazemag has heard from customers that their roller screens have become an effective pre-screening tool.
“We’ve heard from a few Australian quarries when they’ve approached us about the roller screen, the main reason is their crushers and chutes are getting clogged up during winter,” Craies said.
“The roller screen, in installations across South East Asia and PNG helps the crusher do the job and helps operations in terms of variance in materials and the season and optimised energy utilisation.
“It helps the crusher perform better.”
The Hazemag new generation of roller screens, with gap setting adjusted for product size primary 70mm to 120mm and secondary 20mm to 70mm, is available to the quarrying industry.
This enables operators to adapt to changing requirements and suit material specifications easily. It can handle difficult material, which means less wear and reduced energy consumption for downstream equipment.
“You can put it in front of your primary crusher because it can handle quite a big lump size compared to a conventional vibrating screen,” Jaco Botha said.
“Putting it in front of the primary crusher enables you to get away with a smaller crusher because you’re dealing with smaller sizes.”
Hazemag’s Roller Screen can benefit other machines with a quarry’s downstream set-up.
“This helps the crusher do what it is meant to do and crush the bigger material, not crush things that don’t need to be crushed,” Craies said.
“When you compare it to a vibrating screen, they can’t handle the lump sizes and volume (like a roller screen).
“The roller screen helps pre-screen material which optimises the crusher’s lifespan and the production and energy consumption as well.”
In a traditional vibrating screen, which has two oscillating screens, these types of materials can adhere and bake onto the screen. This enhances wear and the need for maintenance.
The Hazemag Roller Screen has none of this movement, and each roll is equipped with scraper elements to ensure an enhanced clean.
“Each roller has a scraper which helps to scrape and move and then breakdown the separated materials to help get them moving forward,” Craies said.
Hazemag has designed its roller screen with a modular design, available in modules of four or six shafts. The roller screen’s modular nature enables customers to place extra steps between the individual modules.
All Hazemag’s shafts are solid core but can be altered to fit the customer’s application. For example, the welded three-bow disc design is better suited to heavy-duty applications, while the form-locked join design is more versatile.
The roller screen drive system and disc arrangement are selected based on the customer’s application. The chain-link system is where one geared motor drives several shafts, and the individual drive system is where each shaft is driven by a geared drive.
“We can customise it to the customer’s requirements to their needs and application,” Craies said.
“We use all the information, including what the customer is trying to achieve and what their current set-up and footprint are, and we will do some testings to find the best solution for them.”
Hazemag’s updated HAZconnect system enables site managers and operators to access data on all Hazemag machines including the Roller Screen.
The digital maintenance platform enables operators to perform preventative maintenance using detailed data insights from the dashboard on HAZconnect.
“It brings information about the machine to the operator, and they can adjust the settings and gives them control,” Craies said.
“This kind of preventative and digital maintenance lets them reduce downtime.”•
For more information, visit hazemag.com
