Dear Mr. Moerman,

Power, I believe, of Rockdale maybe 5 x 600 hp. THe height difference is nil. There are approximately nine undulations.

I errored on the tonnage which I believe now to be 1089 t/h metric. The belt speed is close to 7.11 m/s. THe length is closer to 20 km than 19. I was reading from a early concept that I did have access to.

Maybe, Krupp can offer more details.

Curragh's installed power is client confidential until commissioned. The net lift is about 192 m (+/-). Still locating the head pulley arrangement. It does not affect the design.

What is your affiliation? ■

DEAR moerman

Some of the long distance convyors ars as follows

Lafarge Surma Project in India/Bangladesh.

960t of crushed lime stone

BELT RATING St 2500 - 6/6

BELT WDTH

BELT LENGTH 17 km

Zimbabwe Iron a Steel Co. (ZISCO)

Year of commissioning 1996

500 tph capacity

Bridge stone ST 888

Caaryy side spacing - 5 m

Return side spacing- 10 m

. DRIVES 4x250 kw VFD DRIVES

CHILE

Total conveyor system – 12.7 km

Longest flight- 5.63 km

Capacity- 8700 Mt/Hr

Speed- 6 m/sec

Belt- St –7800

Motor – 2x2500 KW VFD control

SILBY COAL MINES UK

YEAR OF COMMISSINING –1983

CAPACITY- 2500 t/hr

WIDTH- 1300 mm

Speed 8.4 m/sec

Length- 12.2 km

Lift- 800 m

Power- 10100 kw

KALTIM PRIMA (INDONESIA) COAL

YEAR OF COMMISSINING –1991

CAPACITY- 2000 t/hr

WIDTH- 1000 mm

Speed 5.3 m/sec

Length- 13 km

Lift- nil

Power- 2000 kw

CHANNAR (AUSTRALIA) IRON

YEAR OF COMMISSINING –1989

CAPACITY- 2200 t/hr

WIDTH- 1050 mm

Speed 4.1 m/sec

Length- 10 km

Lift- nil

Power- 2100 kw

M.I.C.A.R.E. (MEXICO) COAL

YEAR OF COMMISSINING –1985

CAPACITY- 900 t/hr

WIDTH- 900 mm

Speed 4.6 m/sec

Length- 9 km

Lift- nil

Power- 2100 kw

Quintette (Canada) Coal

YEAR OF COMMISSINING –1983

CAPACITY- 900 t/hr

WIDTH- 1050 mm

Speed 8.1 m/sec

Length- 7.2 km

Lift- -524

Power- -2600 kw

with reagards

AR SINGH ■

Dear Mr. Moerman,

You are making study on the largest lengths of overland conveyors. Mostly, you may not get this from single individual. The best course for you would be to write to few leading companies in this business and get their list of installations. Such installation list generally forms a part of marketing literature and it happens to be open for the public. You will be able to know the various lengths being installed by such companies. There are very few companies who have got specialization in conveyors of unusually large lengths.

Just to give you an example, M/s Krupp literature mentions that they installed 100 km long conveying system in Sahara, long time back. This conveying system has flight length up to 11.7 km. Subsequent to this there could be installations by them or by other companies where length is still more.

I do not have concise record of installations by various companies.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science and Application Design for Belt Conveyors.

Author of Book : Belt Feeder Design and Hopper Bin Silo

Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.

Email : parimul@pn2.vsnl.net.in

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25882916 ■

Just to add to the above.

Installation 2005

Belt width = 800 mm

Belt length = 34000 mtrs approx

Conveyor length = 17 klm

Phoenix Germany / India supplied the Belting

Nilos was the major onsite contractor for installation and splicing. ■

That's not correct, the Lafarge Surma Valley system has both horizontal and vertical curves. ■

I made a posting on this that was deleted. I hope it does not find its way back.

Energy consumption became an issue with the design of Channar in 1987. Prior to this investigation, there was a lot of effort to understand power consumption but in the wrong direction as noted by the many doctor-of-engineering dissertations from Hanover Univ. None of these were based on viscoelastic properties except for Jonkers and Spaan. None of the power equations used the principles of Jonkers and Spaan rubber master curve viscoelastic models except CDI. So how will this listing of overlands help determine the migration to power efficient conveyors using low rolling resistant (LRR) rubber?

The Channar belt cover was specified to incorporate a low rolling resistant compound. CDI formulated a energy equation, 1985-1987, based on the work of Jonkers and his teacher Spaan in Holland. The Channar belt achieved DIN f = .0105 at start-up in 1989 and f= 0.0083 at the end-of-life when the second flight was replaced in 2004. The client did not want to be the first to apply the prediction of LRR. The German auditor stated the motor sizes needed to be increased by more than 10%.

The age of enlightenment began at Rhinebraun/Hanover University and at CDI at about the same time in the late 1980's. Rhinebraun abandoned its quest when the LRR rubber compounds, formulated in Germany, did not stand up to their abrasive conditions.

To date, with all the research into rubber compounding and results of applying low rolling resistant compounds, there is too much hype and not enough understanding by many who make claims. Ask how the results of their claims are made or verified.

There is one number that stands above the bark: kW/ton/km/yr. We call this the Power Index (PI). This exclude lift losses. This is the only value that matters except for the cold weather rating. PI is the true cost of operating ownership.

Today, there are a few clients who are demanding LRR compounds. They seldom compare between manufacturers to obtain the overall best product for the dollar spent. The differences between manufacturers are extreme. The PI can be more than 100% from best to worst.

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19 km Rockdale, Texas:

The longest troughed flight to date is Krupp's Rockdale, Texas at 19 km commissioned this summer 2005.

C=900 t/h

v = 7 m/s

CDI was not invited to bid this design.

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20.3 km Curragh Australia:

The world's longest troughed flight in construction is Curragh, Eastern Australia at 20.3 km designed by Conveyor Dynamics, Inc. and Barclay Mowlem

C = 2500 t/h

v = 7.5 m/s

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14 km El Abra where CDI was the design auditor

Has two flights with the longest at 9 km downhill with an installed power = 7200 kW operating at 5.9 m/s. This conveyor is a power hog. The Din factor (f) is very high due to its fabric top/bottom reinforcement fabric construction

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14 km Middleburg CDI designed with EL Bateman

Longest flight is 9 km

Powered by 4 x 315 kW with 3 @ head and one @ tail

Profile: 22 m up then 77 m down then 19 m up yielding a net 36 m down.

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12.2 km Selby, UK, installed about 1984 using both a Cable Belt and REI troughed belt. Cable belt was only 10 km long

THe belts were power hogs.

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You can probably find most of the details on our website. ■

Dear Mr. Moerman,

I have written about the power draw as have the references you site. None of your references do convert the measure of rubber viscoelasticity into conveyor power.

Conveyor Dynamics, Inc. has, through my numerous publications, given general details on rubber viscoelasticity based power theory vs measured. We do not publish the specific details which are considered intellectual property.

I am curoius on your company affiliation. I can provide more than is published. You provide your company details and I will give you further assistance.

The Power Index (PI) is a term given my me to describe the net yearly expected power draw for a given conveyor. This takes into account the full spectrum or histogram of temperature conditions and operating hours for design, nominal and empty operating conditions. Sincce CDI is the only company worldwide which can provide the PI factor, it has not been given public notice. We offer the value to clients to compare ownership cost between belt manufacturers and the compounds nominated for a project.

Note, CEMA, DIN and ISO do not give credit for rubber compound performance. Specifically, rubbers do considerably differ above zero degrees Centigrade.

We recently made a comparison where this factor exceeded 2:1 total cost of ownership between mfgr 1 verses mfgrs. 2, 3, and 4. Power cost as well as equipment cost and structural costs totaled to a savings that exceeded the cost of belting. ■

Dear Mr. Moerman:

The project at Rockdale was the installation of 40.6km of 36" wide ST900 ContiTech conveyor belt. It has both horizontal and vertical curves.

Belt Maintenance Group installed and performed the hot vulcanized splices for this project this past spring.

The general contractor was ThyssenKruppRobins. The owner was Alcoa. ■

Dear Mr. Moerman,

I did the dynamic analysis and control philosophy on MICARE for Kaiser Engineers in 1980. This was my second dynamic analysis system performed to predict control of an overland. It was commissioned shortly there after. ■

These 2 systems must be very close to the same length.

From my understanding

Rockdale - 36 rolls x 1129 mtrs = 40644 mtrs

Tape length - 39,765 meters.

Curragh - 40 rolls x 1009 mtrs = 40360 mtrs

Tape length -

There could be variations in the roll lengths and spare belt could also have been supplied in the above rolls.

If we are talking World records could anyone clarify the actual final belt tape length for the Curragh overland. ■

Study of the Long belt Conveyor (LBC) at Lafarge Surma conveyor may be the most suitable for analysing the problems of such conveyors. The terrain, extreme weather conditions, unsuitable social environment in that area and the problems of logistics are aplenty in this conveyor. Further the conveyor is also of unique design. We have completely supplied all the Idlers and Frames for this project and have designed and manufactured these items taking special note of the conditions. Some of the salient features of this conveyor is that there are no training (Self aligning) Idler sets used in this conveyor. Further the design of idlers for curved portion of the system was also unique.

The other long belt conveyors may be found in Neyveli Lignite corporation Limited, Tamilnadu, India, where the conveyor is of 2400mm Belt width and transporting Over burden in the open cast lignite mine. The idlers are of very heavy duty and the largest of them are of 219.1 mm Dia with 6318 bearing.

K. R. Giridharan

Kali Material handling Systems

Kumbakonam, India

Tel:+91-435-2443089

email inf@kalimhsonline.com ■

Dear Bruce,

THe Curragh tape length you quoted is without spare belt. It does have the splice and other construction allowances.

Another longer conveyor belt has now been bid, and will likely be adjudicated in the coming 2 months. ■

Hi there Moerman..

There is a nice long conventional overland conveyor here in South Africa, for which I recently did the dynamic analysis so we were able to upgrade it from 2000t/h to 3000t/h of coal.

It was originally built by Krupp about 15 years ago and is over 12km long.

It has a horizontal curve, and now does 6m/sec (previously 4m/s)and has an St 3150 belt, most of which is the original one.

Good luck

LSL Tekpro ■

Hello everyone,

An old post in this thread from Mr. Arsingh (Mar 2004) informs some of the long distance conveyors around the world including our overland conveyor.

I am posting for a slight correction of the information and a revision as a result of the successful upgrade we carried out two years ago.

Overland Conveyor

PT KALTIM PRIMA COAL (INDONESIA)

Year of Commissioning: 1991

Capacity: 4200 t/hr

Width: 1100 mm

Speed: 8.48 m/sec

Length: 13.1 km

Overall Lift: 9 m

Installed Power: 4000 kw

I was told by someone that ours is now the fastest overland conveyor around the world. However, someone else told me there is an overland conveyor in Germany and one in South Africa that are running faster than ours.

Appreciate if someone could inform if they have knowledge of any overland conveyor running faster than 8.5 m/s.

Regards, ■

Posted: 16th August 2005 10:46 "Conveyor Velocity"

Vinicius Calheiros

Registered: Aug 05

Location: Brazil, Jundia-SP

Dear Vinicius,

What is your definition of high velocity and is it a belt conveyor?

There are conveyors that run at, by some standards, high speed:

1. Selby Incline ...................... 8.4 m/s installed in 1980's

2. Lachammer Coal Pit ........... 10.0 m/s cross pit conveyor 1990's

3. Kaltim Prima Coal .............. ~ 8 m/s 13 km overland 2003?

4. South Africa (power strip) .. to 12 m/s, normal 7 m/s pwr plant

5. Many in Europe and Austria > 7 m/s coal and bauxite

I am not aware of any high speed study report. There are many factors that require engineering analysis including vibration problems, power consumption due to encroaching on the rubbe'rs glass transition zone ( appearance of cold weather behavior).

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I believe the Alcoa Pinjara overland has been increased to about 9 m/s.

CDI in association with Laing O'Rourke just commissioned the Curragh 20.3 km overland, which is running at 7.5 m/s.

As a side note, CDI did the design audit work for Rio Tinto and BHP for KPC in 1990.

Did the new German belt achieve the low rolling resistance it advertised in the bid phase? It does not appear to be so. ■

Dear Lyle,

To my knowledge, the largest power delivered to one pulley was on the Selby trough belt with the following details:

1. capacity .............. 2500 t/h

2. speed ................. 8.4 m/s

3. belt width ........... 1200 mm (from memory)

4. power ................ 10,300 kW

5. pulley diameter .. 2500 mm with no lagging

6. wrap angle ........ ~180 degrees (from memory)

The rest will require a PO. ■

If you are seeking to stress (fatigue) analyze the lagging and the lagging has a grooved pattern (herrigbone or diamond), then the problem is quite a bit more difficult than analyzing the stress in a panel of rubber.

We have evaluated grooved lagging where the lagging has begun to fail at the apex of the groove. The rubber is torn as it enters the contact or is released from the contact zone. This is not easily analyzed by elementary methods.

The rubber modulus is highly non-linear in compression and moderately non-linear in the range of shear and tensile action for the expected loading.

I would be curious on how you plan to tackle this. We developed FEA modeling of the conditions. There are critical thicknesses of grooving, grooving shapes, and bottom belt cover gauge. The groove collapses under heavy compression and shear. You must define the nature of stresses under this state of operation to obtain meaningful results.

Good Luck in your pursuit. ■

Dear Mr. Moerman,

Just an update on your request. Some details will be published in the comming 2007 Australian conference at Newcastle Univ.

Curragh has been running since April 2007. Updating the statistics:

Length ........................ 20,300 m

Lift ............................... 68.3 m

Nameplate power ........ 4250 kW

Compare transport cost in tons/km/kW/hr with say Alcoa, Rockdale, Texas:

Curragh = 2500 t/h / 20.3 km / 4250 kW = .029 t/h / km / kW

Rockdale = 900 t/h / 19.3 km / 2780 kW = .017 t/h / km / kW

Thus, for the same length, tonnage and power Rockdale can only haul 56% of Curragh.

To be fair, they are different conveyors with different design criteria. Some of these detail are not known.

Nonetheless, the owner should consider the performance of the machine he buys to evaluate both CAPEX and OPEX. ■

What happened to the Metso Cable Belt for Anglo Coal's Dawson or Lake Lindsey in Australia? I thought these were due to be commissioned in April of May of this year. I would be Metso's first long overland under the new logo. Anybody hear about their progress? ■

Dear Mr. Moerman,

Can you share with the forum, what you have found in you study of power consumption on overlands? ■

Mr. Brown,

I offer this belated comment:

There are many cases of rubber lagging degradation and tear failure at the apex of the diamond grooves due to high shear stress fatigue.

Many have noted on the poor performance of ceramic tiles failing due to adhesion flex fatigue for similar reasons.

These conditions are more evident on high powered and high torque conditions. Adequate design and specification of lagging groove geometry, lagging thickness, their compatibilities along with rubber properties, are necessary. ■

Roymec has completed a 15.9km single flight overland conveyor for Anglo Coal Zibulo Colliery, South Africa, in December 2009. I believe this is now the longest single flight conveyor in Africa (Please correct me if I am wrong).

Material Coal

Bulk Density 850 t/m3

Nominal Capacity1 750 t/h

Length 15.9 km

Lift -16.9 m

Belt Width 1200 mm

Belt Fill 76%

Belt Speed 4.71 m/s

Power (Absorbed)2 286 kW

Power (Installed)3 000 kW

Drives 6 x 500 kW

Drive Configuration2 x Head, 1 x Tail

Horizontal Curve 15 000 m radius

Horizontal Curve 25 000 m radius

Horizontal Curve 36 000 m radius

Belt Class ST 2500

PS. Mr Nordell, I visited Zimbabwe late 2009 and the Zisco belt apparently fell into disrepair and is not operational anymore. ■

Dear Mhel,

Thanks for your update and keen interest in long overland conveyors. I offer a comparison between Roymec 15.9 km installation and 20 km Curragh in Australia commissioned in 2007.

Installation ....................................Anglo Coal Zibulo Colliery.......Curragh North

Material Coal

Bulk Density 850 t/m3

Nominal Capacity .................................. 1750 t/h ........................... 2500 t/h

Length .................................................. 15.9 km ............................ 20.03 km

Lift ........................................................ -16.9 m ............................. 63 m

Belt Width ............................................1200 mm ............................ 1200 mm

Belt Speed ........................................... 4.71 m/s ............................ 7.5 m/s

Power (Absorbed) ............................... 2 286 kW ............................ 2750 kW

Belt Rating (ST-N/mm).......................... 2500 N/mm ........................ 1500 N/mm

Power (Installed) ................................ 3 000 kW ............................ 4250 kW

Power (kW)/ Ton/Km corrected for lift ..0.082 ............................... 0.050

Rolling Resistance Difference ............... 100 % ............................... 61 %

The 39% lower kW/ton/km difference is in the rubber rheology.

I did analyze the Roymec design with your specifications. I found, by analysis, using a good Natural Rubber (NR) compound, Roymec power draw = 2262 kW compared to 2286 kW. This is within 1% of your notation. The result is highly dependent on the operating temperature and belt cover thickness. I used 7 x 5 mm top and bottom.

Comments? ■

To my knowledge the Long Belt Conveyor of Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd in Bangladesh, between Meghalaya, India and Chhatak, Bangladesh is the longest single flight overland conveyor belt. Nevertheless, in the Middle East massive construction engineerings are being done and as I was watching Mega Structures on National Geographic (or Discovery?) the other day, they were mentioning some conveyor belt to carry sand, as far as I remember, that was based on rails. Cannot recall what the length was.

However, the details for Lafarge's one in Bangladesh-India terrain are as below:

Capacity (nominal) : 800 t/h

Capacity (peak) : 960 t/h

Belt speed : 4 m/s

Belt width : 800 mm

Length : 16833 m

In India : 6833 m (1500 m in hills, 5333 m in plain land)

In Bangladesh : 10000 m (totally in plain land)

Lift : 59 m

Maximum slope : 14°

Sky radius : 1200 m

Ground radius : 500 m

Horizontal radius : min 4000 m, max 30000 m

Moisture content : limestone 4%, shale 16%

Idler diameter : 159 mm

Carrying idler spacing : 3000 mm and 4000 mm

Return idler spacing : 6000 mm, 7000 mm, and 8000 mm

Other idler properties : All idlers conventional with fabricated bracket

no self aligning idlers used

carrying idlers are with 3-roll 35° trough angle

return idlers are with 2-roll 10° trough angle

Conveyor belt : 800 ST2500 with 6 mm/6 mm cover grade DINX

25 kg/m belt weight

belt rip detector provided at loading zone

pre and post scrapper with elastomount installed

belt turnover arrangement installed in head-end and

tail-end of conveyor

Drive : One tail-end drive motor of 630 KW, 1500 rpm

two head-end drive motor of 630 KW, 1500 rpm

Gear box : Helical

Power supply : Separate supply at head-end and tail-end from diesel

generator

Couplings : High speed coupling, reslient type

Slow speed coupling, geared type

Brakes : No brake provided for any drive

Take-up : Horizontal gravity type

16.5 t + 9.0 t take-up weight

34 m take-up travel

take-up protection through capstan arrangement

motorised winch used for winding up of take-up weight

Standard used in design: ISO5048, DIN22101

Site conditions : Ambient temperature: max. 37 °C, min 8 °C

rainfall: maximum in one day 986 mm, average 65 mm

per day wind speed: maximum 195 km/h

The document is available at this URL from page 45-48. Click

Hope it is useful. ■