B2DH-12-C rticle No LP Type Size d l G l l kg Solid Bevel-helical gear reducers B2

Flender/Flender Gear Units/Bevel-helical gear reducers B2

n- trol systems. Mining | MineralsFocus 2/2 Author: Christian Dirscherl, christian.dirscherl Siemens Flender siemens HB series gearbox Advantages of gearless drives In the future, for mining companies it will be more and more important to re- duce energy consumption and increase reliability. Therefore, gearless drives for conveyors can be an interesting alterna-tive for power requirements above 2.5 MW. The investment costs are simi- lar or even less compared with conven- tional geared solution. Furthermore, solution with gearless drives offers several advantages compared with the traditional arrangement with high-speed motors and gear reducers.The drive size is no longer limited by the available gearbox size, so for the required drive power demand only one drive per drive pulley is neces-sary. This, in turn, decreases the number of drive pulleys. If gearless drive systems instead of conventional drive system with two drives per drive pulley are used, some 2 bearings and 4 couplings per drive pulley can be saved. The necessary drive power demand can be made available with only one drive per pulley. As result, electri-cal components such as converters and switchgears are not needed and the -house can be of smaller dimensions. By eliminating series of mechan-ical and electrical components, availability automatically increases and less maintenance is required. Drive stations with gearless drive system can be built more compactly. This is especially the case in drive stations in tunnels or underground applications. With the possibility to increase the drive power demand per drive pul- ley, longer belt conveyor systems are conceivable, and the number of drive and transfer stations can be reduced. The efficiency of the entire system increases 3 to 4 percent, since gear and other losses are eliminated. The maintenance needs of the drive system are also lower. Gear maintenance activities alone ac-count for up to 5 percent of the original investment costs.Fewer spare parts an