Coal Age

MAR 2013

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VDMA Drive Technology: A Worldwide Reputation for Reliability Several of Germany's big-name suppliers of industrial drives have become virtually synonymous with the technology worldwide. Reliable drives are essential throughout the mining cycle, from shovels in the pit to mills, pumps and fans. Two of the VDMA mining branch's new member companies, Maschinenfabrik Völkmann GmbH and AEM-Anhaltische Elektromotorenwerk Dessau GmbH, have interests in the drivetechnology sector. Völkmann is an engineering firm that carries out structural fabrication and produces hydraulic systems, together with overhauling and repairing industrial gearboxes. It also provides repair services for Voith Turbo, handling work on fluid couplings for the European market. AEM produces slip-ring and squirrel-cage electric motors for use in applications such as conveyors, crushers, mills and pumps, as well as three-phase synchronous generators for power generation. Electrification and Automation for Materials Handling Located in Cottbus, ABB's main technology center for material handling has its roots in the local lignite-mining industry, which still plays an important role in German power generation. The center is part of ABB's mining business unit, which serves the mining and minerals-processing industry worldwide with electric and automation systems, and mining-specific products. In addition to providing lifecycle services to the local industry, its focus is as a sub- supplier to mining-equipment manufacturers such as Tenova Takraf, Sandvik, Joy Global, ThyssenKrupp and FAM. Large open-cast mining operations throughout the world have used ABB control and drive systems for decades, with ABB being one of the leading suppliers of electrification, automation, control and drive systems for the full range of mining equipment. This includes bucket-wheel and bucket-chain excavators, spreaders, stackers, reclaimers, crushers, shovels, draglines, belt-conveyor systems, belt wagons and stockpilers. The company says its equipment has been proved to withstand extreme conditions—dust, severe vibration and temperatures ranging from -50°C to plus-50°C—in more than 1,000 large mining machines during the past 50 years. Its standard AC multi-drive installations have been mechanically reinforced to make them suitable for the mining sector. In 2012, ABB won an order for an automation system at a new 60 million mt/y-throughput iron ore distribution hub on the west coast of Malaysia that will distribute ore shipped from Brazil to steel mills in the Asia-Pacific region. Its system will automate the materials-handling process, including stockyard management, with autonomous operation for maximum efficiency and personnel safety. The company is also working on export terminal projects in eastern Russia (with Tenova Takraf) and in Colombia with Sandvik. With the growing trend for "greener" mining, energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important, especially for long-distance materials transport. ABB is now cooperating with Tenova Takraf to ABB upgraded the drives on this BWE at Vattenfall's Welzow-Süd mine in eastern Germany. VDMA 44 VDMA MINING SUPPLEMENT • 2013

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