Traditionally renowned for its mechanical conveyor belt fastening systems, Mato Products, part of the Multotec Group, has since 2016 expanded its product line to include a range of belt cleaners. The latest addition to the growing line is the MDP light-duty belt cleaner, which made its debut at Electra Mining Africa 2024, and is geared to address specific belt-cleaning requirements for aggregate operations.
As part of the rollout plan, Mato Products has identified a number of major quarries across various provinces in South Africa for trial purposes. This will allow customers to prove the concept before they purchase.
Size matters
Benjamin Sibanda, MD of Mato Products, tells Quarrying Africa that belt cleaners are not one-size-fits-all solutions and, for long, quarries have been compelled to work with whatever is available on the market, which results in poor cleaning performance and reduced wear life of their belt cleaners.
One of the primary considerations when designing the MDP range was the issue of correct sizing to meet the specific requirements for quarries. Generally, quarries run smaller conveyor systems with both smaller belt width and head pulley diameters, compared with their mainstream mining counterparts.
According to Sibanda, the width of the belt cleaner must match the width of the material path at the point of discharge from the belt. Equally, smaller head pulleys require smaller belt cleaners and blades to correctly fit their radius.
“With that in mind, the MDP comes with a solid blade with 120-185-mm blade height for pulley diameters between 150 and 500 mm, which perfectly fits the typical smaller head pulleys often found in quarry conveyors. The belt cleaner therefore fits perfectly around the head pulley to ensure constant contact between the blade and the belt for effective material removal over the life of the cleaner,” explains Sibanda. “Sizing the belt cleaner correctly to the head pulley ensures that it maintains the proper angle of attack on the belt, resulting in optimal cleaning performance and reduced wear life.”
Cost in mind
Given that quarrying by its nature is a cost-conscious industry that produces high-volume, low-margin material, the MDP casts special design focus on the reduction of capital cost, with several features that speak directly to that effect. “As much as quarries want to achieve the same belt cleanliness as mining, the operators often allude to the fact that their pockets are not as ‘deep’. We therefore designed the MDP belt cleaner with that in mind,” says Sibanda.
The biggest cost component in a belt cleaner, he stresses, resides in the end assemblies. To reduce the cost significantly, Mato designed the MDP with a one-sided tensioning system end assembly. Given the typical smaller size of the conveyor belts in quarrying, a one-sided tensioning end assembly system works perfectly fine with this belt cleaner.
“Having one instead of two tensioners reduces the cost of the belt cleaner significantly. To provide context, the cost of the two tensioners constitutes about 35-40% of the total capital cost of a belt cleaner,” says Sibanda. “It is, however, important to note that the MDP retains the same compression spring system as some of our larger belt cleaners in our range.”
Another cost cutting feature is that the MDP is designed not to clean the whole width of the belt – the belt cleaner only cleans the centre of the belt where conveyed material runs. According to Sibanda, most conveyor belts run material in the middle of the belt, leaving 50-150 mm of space on the outer edges. Maintaining blade-to-belt contact across the whole width of the conveyor belt therefore means that there is unnecessary cleaning action and wear over the 150 mm area on the outer edges of the belt.
“Oftentimes when this happens, the result is a ‘smiley’ blade, which calls for continuous shimming on the edge of the blade. We have therefore reduced our solid blade by 50-150 mm on either side. For example, if you are cleaning a 1 200 mm belt, we deploy a 1 050 mm solid blade, which targets the area that needs to be cleaned only. By taking this approach, we minimise both maintenance time and costs related to the shimming of the belt,” explains Sibanda.
To reduce maintenance costs further, the MDP belt cleaner adopts Mato Products’ slide-on and slide-off principle for easy installation and maintenance, while eliminating the need for special tools or training when maintenance is performed.
“The traditional approach of nuts and bolts takes a lot of time when replacing a blade. The drop-on, drop-off feature reduces maintenance and blade replacement time by close to 50%, potentially even up to 60%, thus improving uptime for the customer’s operations,” says Sibanda. “By reducing maintenance time, we can also service more belts or sites within the same timeframe, which is the main reason that we are always looking to improve on the current equipment we have.”
Correct belt cleaner
In cases where there is carryback, often the blame is laid squarely on belt cleaners. Sibanda stresses that for belt cleaners to effectively perform their duties, they must be ideally suited to the application at hand. Therefore, selecting the right belt cleaner calls for the careful evaluation of several different factors. If the rest of the components on a conveyor system are not spot-on, there are bound to be problems – lots of them, for that matter.
To help clients scope their belt cleaners correctly, Mato Products conducts what it calls the Conveyor Assessment Along the Length of the Conveyor (CAALC) concept. Through this process, a number of areas along the length of the conveyor are inspected due to their influence on the effectiveness of the belt cleaner.
The first area to look at, he says, is at the tail of the conveyor, to inspect components such as pulley condition, pulley leggings, return idlers, top idlers, troughing frames, the chute and the condition of the conveyor belt itself. It is also important to ensure that the belt is secured properly to avoid mistracking and ultimately spillage, which in turn leads to carryback.
Along the length of the belt is the second area to inspect. For example, there is need to check for carryback under the belt, which could push the conveyor belt up. Also check for ceased idlers or return rollers, which are central to accumulation of fines and ultimately carryback.
The third area to check is at the head, where a lot could go wrong, says Sibanda. For example, if the pulley legging is worn out or incorrectly installed, it is difficult for the belt cleaner to achieve the effectiveness that is desired. In addition, any vibration and unevenness of the drive pulley could also result in poor cleaning performance.
“After the CAALC process, we compile a report for the client with all our findings at the various areas along the length of the conveyor belt. Beyond the findings, we also give recommendations and the scope of what needs to be done to arrest any pitfalls along the conveyor system. We go beyond just the belt cleaners; in fact, we really add a great deal of value to the industry,” concludes Sibanda.
