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Staff Writer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.australianmining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Treotham-1024x637.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Port of Esperance. Image: Southern Ports<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treotham worked with Southern Ports to deliver boosted efficiency to its Esperance ship loader.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Western Australia\u2019s Port of Esperance is a busy place, with more than 13 million tonnes of trade passing through the port last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Esperance is a well-traversed path for Australian miners, with iron ore and spodumene joining nickel as the port\u2019s major exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When dealing with this kind of tonnage, even the slightest inefficiencies can have an impact on trade. That\u2019s why the Port of Esperance\u2019s custodian, Southern Ports, looks for solutions it can count on to reduce inefficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treotham<\/a> national sales manager John Sharp was brought in by Southern Ports to design a solution that would keep the port running smoothly while offering cost savings and boosting worker safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had been to the site a few times and saw the opportunities to improve the system that supplied power to the ship loader,\u201d Sharp told Australian Mining<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTreotham\u2019s priority is to develop solutions that work, so we put together a new custom-designed system that would get the loader running more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system, called a belt tripper, was incorporated onto a conveyor in order to \u201ctrip\u201d the material off at specified locations between the terminal pulleys. The material is then discharged onto another conveyor that loads the Port of Esperance\u2019s ship-loader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A belt tripper can be in a fixed position or travel continuously at a constant speed for layered stacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the port\u2019s case, as the ship-loader was moving, it caused the energy chain to move from where it should be, disrupting the ship-loading operation and requiring it to be stopped until the energy chain was put back in its trough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treotham supplied Southern Ports with a marine-grade aluminium guide trough, energy chain and cable management system with anti-lift protection used to power the loader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharp said the biggest challenge was determining where the energy chain should go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe ultimately decided to put it in the gallery, meaning we could simply put brackets on the existing conveyor structure, making installation quicker and more efficient than alternative locations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treotham turned to long-time partner igus for a 105m energy chain that was used to get the power needed for the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When igus first began developing its energy chain solutions, it saw great potential in an area that it felt had been somewhat overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working from its extensive testing facilities in Germany, igus uses different construction methods within the cable materials to find those that work best. Its portfolio now contains tens of thousands of chains divided up into family groups, with the E4 family known as the most \u2018heavy duty\u2019 solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key feature of these chains is their flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor the Port of Esperance\u2019s solution we used water hoses, fibre optics and high-voltage igus Chainflex cables,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cIf you think about the market for high-voltage cables, they\u2019re around on every street corner at a transformer, but they\u2019re not flexible, so they\u2019re for static installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen when you look at high-voltage cables for continuous motion, not many companies actually produce this; it\u2019s quite a feat of engineering to build such a high-voltage cable designed to continually bend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharp said using the igus energy chains for the Esperance project led to something of an eye-opening development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen the chains are moulded, tools can wear out over time,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means it\u2019s possible to build a chain that\u2019s no longer straight because of the different lengths of each side part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat igus did with the E4 was make left and right sides interchangeable, so there\u2019s just one tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis streamlines the stock holding, and also makes for a better-quality product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n igus energy chains are designed to withstand extreme push and pull forces, a critical element in bulk material handling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such is the reliance on the energy chain\u2019s durability, most systems integrating them don\u2019t shut down until a \u2018catastrophic\u2019 failure. When a failure does reach a catastrophic level, the downtime caused by damage to the chain or the system can be excessive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why Treotham\u2019s Esperance solution included a \u2018push\u2013pull detection system\u2019 (PPDS) that triggers a signal to operators when forces on the chain are becoming too great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe PPDS is a mounted sensor that measures force continually,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cIt can be configured to meet the needs of the operator when excessive force is detected, whether that be a warning or an automatic controlled stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system\u2019s safety features were put to the test when a ladder was left against the new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe ladder hit the chain, which proceeded to stop completely rather than continue and risk causing a catastrophic failure,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cThe customer was extremely pleased to not have the damage and downtime that would have ensued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treotham\u2019s expertise allowed Southern Ports to explore a unique solution to the issues it was facing with its ship-loader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The end result delivered not only improvements to the tripper but also reduced installation costs in a collaboration between Treotham personnel and Southern Ports\u2019 own in-house technicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a huge benefit to be on the ground, implementing the Esperance solution in-person,\u201d Sharp said. \u201cWith a team of two fitters and two electricians from Southern Ports, we fitted the system in five days. I\u2019ve seen similar projects that were sub-contracted out and snowballed into taking more than 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s always fun working with a customer that can operate in-house for these kinds of solutions and bring in our team to create a group of like-minded experts to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This feature appeared in the October 2024 issue of Australian Mining<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.australianmining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-09-at-2.04.57%E2%80%AFPM-181x300.png\")
Image: Southern Ports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.australianmining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-09-at-2.05.38%E2%80%AFPM-254x300.png\")
Image: Southern Ports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n