South Korea: Voith has reported on a contract to engineer and install a belt conveyor drive and controller system for SsangYong Cement’s Donghae plant. Changes made by the engineering firm to two belt conveyors from the main limestone quarry to the plant managed to double the production of the quarry.

The engineering company installed new drive trains on the longer 12.8km SB500 belt conveyor, one of the longest single conveyors in the world. The installed power is now 2 x 1.2MW at the head and 1 x 1.2MW at the tail of the conveyor. The existing drives from the longer conveyor were used to double the number of drive trains on the shorter 2km SB200 conveyor. The new configuration of the SB200 drive system consists of 4 x 600kW installed power at the head equipped with new gearboxes. A Voith TurboBelt DriveControl system was also installed to reduce the start-up time of the longer conveyor by half, from originally over 10 minutes. The system includes active-load sharing, belt conveyor control, slip detection and remote service capability. It is also expected to extend the belt lifetime by reducing the mechanical stress as well as the dynamic impacts.

“Due to this retrofit project, we were able to reduce the working hours of plant workers, achieved cost savings, and a flexible operation is now possible. Thanks to Voith’s technical support and efforts, the plant will enjoy sustainable operations providing value to its community, its owner, and the employees,” said Dukgi Lee, General Manager of the plant.