King Rollers reduce conveyor noise
Smiley Monroe’s King Rollers have been proven to reduce workplace noise on enclosed high-speed conveyors, with the potential to install the rollers at coal mines and other energy-intensive operations.
The King Rollers were tested at Irish Salt Mines’ Kilroot site in Northern Ireland.
The 1200 mm wide, 120 m long reclaim tunnel conveyor running at 2.85 m/s, which is housed in a reinforced concrete tunnel below Irish Salt Mines’ storage facilities, transfers salt onto the shiploading conveyor. As part of their ongoing efforts to reduce workplace noise, ISME asked Smiley Monroe for their suggestions on how this could be achieved in the tunnel. Smiley Monroe recommended replacing existing steel idlers with polymer King Rollers, and since the customer had been using these successfully on their shiploading conveyor for several years, this action was quickly implemented.
50% noise reduction
Jason Hopps, Surveyor and Health & Safety Officer with Irish Salt Mines, said: “I’m delighted with the performance of Smiley Monroe’s King Rollers, which have reduced noise levels significantly in our reclaim tunnel conveyor. After replacing steel return and trough idlers with King Rollers, independent tests recorded greater than a 50% noise reduction. We’re now actively replacing all remaining steel return and trough idlers on this conveyor with Smiley Monroe’s King Rollers.”
Solving problems
Keith Stevenson, Smiley Monroe’s Product Manager for King Roller, added: “We originally recommended King Rollers because of their robust design, which is ideal for coping with humid and corrosive environments, such as salt, zinc and potash mines. Unlike a steel idler, our anti-corrosive King Roller won’t rust and it’s triple labyrinth sealed bearings are proven to increase service life. In this case, however, it’s the added benefit of quieter running which results from King Roller’s polymer construction that has helped solve Irish Salt Mines’ workplace noise problem.”
As sole supplier of conveyor belts and onsite vulcanising service to Irish Salt Mines for almost 35 years, Smiley Monroe is very familiar with the harsh conditions in which their customer’s conveyor idlers operate. Irish Salt Mines are now using Smiley Monroe King Rollers on all of their surface conveyors, as hanging garlands, drop-in type end supported troughing sets and return idlers.
The King Roller offers mining companies long service life, uptime, and health and safety benefits. The equipment is also up to 50% lighter than a tradiational steel idler, meaning it is easier to handle and can reduce a conveyor’s power consumption by up to 14%. This, in turn, can help businesses reduce CO2 emissions and operating costs per tonne of material produced. With ever-increasing costs in running plants and vehicles, King Rollers can assist energy-intensive operations, from quarries and mines to cement works, in making sites more energy efficient.
Smiley Monroe, a market leader in the production of Hot Spliced ‘endless’ conveyor belts and CNC cut rubber parts for the mobile crushing, screening and recycling sector, was recently named by the London Stock Exchange Group as one of Britain’s 1000 most inspiring companies.
Edited by Sam Dodson
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/17032014/king_rollers_reduce_conveyor_noise_pr24/
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