High quality gear units supplied to Rio Tinto through Bellingham Engineering have won Bonfiglioli Transmission Australia the prestigious Bulk Handling Award for 2014 in the category of Excellence in the Application of Gears, Motors or Drives.
The rugged and durable Bonfiglioli A 05 2 and A 90 4 Helical Bevel Gear Units provide 1.1 and 7.5kW of power respectively to traverse hoists, which allows Rio Tinto to lift up to four pieces of rail at once, greatly increasing their operational efficiency for their Rail Capacity Enhancement Project in Karratha, Western Australia.
“This was an interesting project for us, as the gears had to be designed to withstand extreme conditions such as high heat and cyclones,” Bonfiglioli Australia managing director Malcolm Lewis said.
“It’s a pleasure to receive this award, which would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the team here at Bonfiglioli.”
Bonfiglioli, which is this year celebrating 25 years in Australia, prides itself on engineering services including those provided by its Drive Service Centre (DSC).
The DSC – operating throughout Australasia – combines local engineering skills with the global resources required to tailor larger, sophisticated and efficient drives to the needs of individual customers.
The A Series units selected for the Karratha project have a wide ratio range (with up to four reduction stages), allowing one gear unit to be used where previously two were needed, saving customers space and cost. Operating efficiencies are enhanced by high performance helical bevel gear pairs, which also give the units significant energy savings.
They are also innovatively designed for lower noise levels by locating the bevel gear pair on the second reduction stage of the gear motors. In addition to this, the monobloc universal housing offers optimum sizing and perfect gear alignment, which adds to the total noise reductions of the units.
The A series units are functionally designed with a large ratio range of up to 1700 to 1 in a single gearbox with four reduction stages. Depending which A Series unit is used, power outputs range from 0.09–55kW, with torques from 150-14,000.