Belt misalignment and spillages are 2 of the most common problems we found since 1941 of serving companies in heavy industry such as manufacture of food products, mining and quarrying, and so on. The heavy industry is the backbone of a nation and UMS played a vital role in pivoting the growth through building our expertise to serve corporations of all sizes.
Our products and solutions have been used across heavy industries such as cement plants, fertilizer plants, power plants with a focus to improve efficiency and while reducing unforeseen downtime. One of the most common reasons belt misalignment happens is the lack of regular maintenance. Let’s explore a few case studies to illustrate this common issue and also provide you a troubleshooting guide below on how to conduct regular maintenance in your plant.
Misalignment & Spillages Problems
One of the conveyors at a Cement Plant in Perlis, Malaysia, carrying heavy materials, started experiencing problems. The belt ran askew and spilling material all over the sides of the conveyor. Besides that, misalignment was also causing belt edges to wear against the conveyor structure, reduced lifespan and increased spillage along the conveyor.
It’s fairly common for material spillage to occur if belt alignment is not resolved. These problems not only impacted the material handling efficiency and increased the labor in housekeeping, but also required more frequent components replacement cycles thus increasing the maintenance cost drastically.
Solution – Flat Return Tracker
- Maintenance-free
- Operates in all conditions
- Reliable performance
The Tru-Trac ® Tracker has proven itself to be both robust, reliable, long lasting and provide effective performance in all conditions.
Above is an image of a belt after installation of Tru Trac Flat Return Tracker.
Result
After installing Tru Trac Flat Return Tracker, we managed to solve the misalignment and spillage issue. And we continue to observe over 17 months (June 2019 to November 2020), we noticed the belt lifespan has extended as the belt edge remains undamaged.
The spillage problem has disappeared on both sides of the belt and the workers are spending less time adjusting the belt and cleaning up around the belt. The material build up is greatly reduced, and the environmental concerns are gone. The plant has significantly reduced its amount of unplanned downtime, while ensuring safe production and improved plant efficiency. Most importantly, UMS has helped the client reduce maintenance frequency as well as reducing maintenance cost.
Above is an image of the Tru Trac Flat Return Tracker in action.
We can safely conclude that Tru Trac Flat Return Tracker has proven to be a high-quality tracker promising excellent performance!
Conveyor Belt Tracking Troubleshooting
When you start to notice damages at the edges of the belt, you need to perform a little belt alignment troubleshooting.
Here are some of the potential problems:
- Conveyor structure
- Rollers caking
- Pulley lagging
- Off centre loading
Semcor has written a post on Conveyor Belt Maintenance & Common Conveyor Belt Problems which has more details on the troubleshooting.
If you want to know how to choose a conveyor belt, check out the article we have written previously.
Learn how you can also keep your processes at peak performance with UMS Holdings! Our professional team of engineers and specialists are ready to serve you with our expertise in industrial processes and system solutions.
If you would like to evaluate your belt conveyor system, our experts can help you find the right solutions for your industrial or manufacturing facility. Reach out to us and we’ll get back to you the soonest!
—————
UMS Holdings Bhd is one of Malaysia’s oldest and largest distributors of high quality genuine parts for hardware and engineering solutions. Our expertise to serve focuses on increasing efficiency and reducing downtime with quality equipment, automation, professional installation process and prompt after sales services.
