https://www.miningweekly.com

Winders go mobile, open new market

28th March 2014

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

  

Font size: - +

The development of mobile rescue winders has created a new gap in the global mining mobility and underground transport market, reports Kempton Park-based engineering services company Winches & Winders (W&W).

Winders – drumlike apparatuses powered by an external motor – are used to coil rope, which, in turn, drives transport platforms, such as baskets, capsules or working platforms, down mine shafts or drilled bore holes.

W&W engineering director Bannister Erasmus says South Africa-based Mines Rescue Services South Africa (MRSSA) mooted the need for rescue winders in 2009, and subsequently contracted W&W, a division of Tech Edge Group, to design and build two variants of mobile rescue winders.

The self-propelled winders were to be used in rescue operations for the retrieval of trapped miners, as deep as 3.3 km underground.

“We formulated a few options and discussed what was required of these rescue winders before going ahead with research and development (R&D),” he says.

W&W then designed and manufactured two rescue winders, the deep-level (DL) and ultradeep-level (UDL) winders.

However, Erasmus notes that the development of both rescue winders may have caused the increase in demand for mobile winders that can be used in various mining applications other than rescue procedures.

He notes that mobile winders can be adapted for specific client-dependent applications, including shaft presinking, whereby a working platform, or stage, is lowered into a newly sunk shaft between 60 m and 90 m deep.

“During the presinking phase of sinking a shaft, it is common practice to install temporary headgear to facilitate the pre-sinking process. It would be easier to utilise a mobile winder for the presinking phase as opposed to a temporary headgear and winder. This could have valuable time and cost benefits in the presinking of shafts,” says Erasmus.

W&W COO John Bassill notes that a mining client has approached W&W to enquire about a mobile winder for use in such an application.

He adds that mobile winders can also simplify the task of shaft inspection and may also be used to haul equipment out of shafts.

Bassill tells Mining Weekly that the intellectual property of the mobile rescue winders is wholly owned by W&W and the designs are patented internationally.

Deep-Level Rescue Winder

Erasmus notes that the DL rescue winder, for use in collieries, has a lighter service requirement, compared with the UDL rescue winder.

The company, therefore, chose a Mercedes-Benz Atego 4 × 4 truck platform, owing to its compactness and off-road ability, enabling the winder to access remote areas.

A hydraulic drive system, powered by the truck’s engine through a power takeoff, drives the DL winder’s motor, which, in turn, drives a single-person rescue capsule to a depth of 1.2 km.

A Perkins four-cylinder engine is also available as a backup solu- tion, should the truck’s engine malfunction. “We included several aspects of redundancy as fail-safe measures – the addi-tional engine is just one of many,” notes Erasmus.

The DL winder operates at a speed of 0.5 m/s, has overspeed protection and is equipped with a fail-safe braking system. It is also fully licensed, in accordance with Chapter 16 of the Mine Health and Safety Act.

Ultradeep-Level Winder
The UDL winder uses a larger conveyance, which can carry up to five people at a rate of 1.5 m/s, and a rope that can lower a conveyance to 3.3 km.

This winder is mounted to a 3535 series Mercedes-Benz 8 × 4 four-axle truck platform, which also features off-road capabi- lity. The operator’s cabin can be hydraulically raised to provide the operator with improved visibility of the work area.

“Both winders are fully licensed to travel on South African roads without the need for special licences, permits or escorts,” says Erasmus, adding that the UDL winder is in the process of being licensed by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). “Most of the design features are similar to the DL winder’s, so there shouldn’t be any problems with the licensing of the UDL winder,” says Erasmus.

Challenges
W&W encountered a few R&D obstacles in the manufacture of the mobile winders.

“Our biggest issue was the coiling of the rope, owing to the compactness of the entire unit. This resulted in the sheave wheel being in close proximity to the drum, which created a large fleeting angle that complicated the coiling,” explains Erasmus. To overcome this, W&W engineers built in a coiling device to assist in rope coiling.

Another challenge that the team encountered pertained to hydraulic systems pressures. “These are typical R&D problems and we soon resolved them with no further hassles,” he says.

Further, W&W approached Mercedes-Benz to ensure the vehicle manufacturer approved W&W’s use of its truck platforms as rescue winders. “We obtained permission from Mercedes-Benz to install winders on their trucks,” says Erasmus.

Flexibility
Erasmus states that the mobile rescue winder can be used as a second egress winder in ventilation shafts if the main personnel shaft is compromised. This would be a more feasible option as opposed to installing permanent second egress winders to comply with DMR requirements.

He adds that brigadesmen of the MRSSA are trained to operate rescue winders to assist in mine evacuations countrywide.

“There is also the possibility that both MRSSA rescue winders might be used in other operations, or are situated in remote regions of the country at the time of need. They may even be deployed to other countries for international emergencies, which means that there would be no equipment available to help South African mineworkers. Therefore, we think it would be a good idea for mining groups to buy their own mobile winders that could be used for rescue purposes.”

Erasmus adds that emergency rescue organisations in Australia, China and Russia have approached W&W about its proprietary rescue winders.

Main Winders
W&W’s main focus is on permanent mineshaft winders, based on JK Fulton’s design originated in the 1900s.

“Technology has since advanced and we have developed at the same pace as the industry. Fulton’s winders are synonymous with ore and personnel haulage in the mining industry,” says Bassill.

Erasmus adds that W&W manufactures various winders, from a 37 kW machine up to a 2.5 MW machine, and drums that range in size from a diameter of 600 mm – including single- and double-drum machines – to production machines of 4.2 m in diameter.

W&W’s product offering includes prod- uction winders that assist in transporting ore, and service winders that assist in the transportation of materials and personnel.

The company also supplies friction-drive Koepe winders ranging from 800 mm to 4.2 m in diameter. These are used for various hoisting applications, including the driving of stage winders at low speeds with increased rope-pull capabilities.

W&W also designs and manufactures Fulton gearboxes, which are renowned in the mining industry for their robustness and longevity.

Market Share
W&W considers itself the market leader in the design and manufacture of winding machines of up to 350 kW or 1.8 m diameter.

“However, when it comes to larger machines, the bigger winder companies are inclined to dominate the industry, owing to their core focus on manufacturing larger winders,” says Erasmus.

He adds, however, that W&W offers “unique and tailor-made” winders for any application, and up to any size. “We take into account any client’s requirements, locally and internationally,” he says.

“We have the advantage of mobility because we are not bound by cumbersome corporate governance that larger companies could be subject to. Being privately owned, we are more flexible and adaptable, which is illustrated in our mobile winder offering that caters to clients’ specific needs,” he says.

In the past ten years, W&W has serviced clients throughout Africa, as well as those in Russia, the Philippines, the US and India.

W&W has also built and supplied winders to several hydroelectric power stations tasked with hauling powerstation machinery from the tops of dam walls to the power stations concerned and vice versa.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION