Canadian Biomass • MayJune 2018 • Equipment Spotlight

A new powered conveyor belt tracker from Martin Engineering delivers immediate and continuous precision adjustment of hard-to-track reversing conveyors, helping operators reduce spillage and extend the life of belts and other system components. The robust unit has demonstrated greater durability and longer service life than previous designs, translating to a reduced cost of ownership. Versatile enough to run on 110V / 220V power or a plant’s existing compressed air, the Martin Tracker Reversing can even be specified with the company’s unique Roll Gen System, which uses the kinetic energy of the moving belt to produce a supply of electricity.

KEITH Manufacturing Co. introduces the newest accessory for its Walking Floor self-unloading system for trailers. The Electric CleenSweep tarp system “sweeps” out the residual material as the trailer unloads. It eliminates brooms and manual tarps, reducing the risk of injuries. A working sweep system is the best way to ensure drivers never climb into the trailer, which presents several safety concerns, including strains and falls. Payload cross contamination is minimized and the lightweight system takes up virtually no payload. It is also easy to install and operate, with the battery charging off the trailer’s power.

Consisting of a fixed belt conveyor with a tripper car moving on rails located on the conveyor frame, this design from Cintasa Americas is a good option for distributing material to various intermediate points between the conveyor pulleys. Material is distributed on either one or both sides of the conveyor by an electric or pneumatic by-pass to select the discharge side. Conveyor width, height, capacity and transport speed depends on the product and specific needs of each installation. In addition, a reversible conveyor can be installed on the tripper to distribute material at greater distances, creating more volume of stock.

Samson Materials Handling specializes in the design and manufacture of bulk materials handling equipment for surface installation including truck reception, ship loading, stockpiling and unloading of dry bulk materials into ecological import hoppers. The handling of biomass-derived fuels can pose a challenge for plant engineers as the material characteristics can range from light and dry to heavy and cohesive. Samson equipment provides specific body and entry designs to fit the plant and material with flexible side seals to prevent spillage and waste and a buffer holding capacity to enable continuous high performance.

Since 1972 Action Equipment Company, Inc. manufactures heavy duty vibratory screening and processing equipment for the efficient handling of bulk materials in the wood products, biomass, and recycling industries. Action’s line of vibratory conveyors, hog in-feed conveyors, chipper infeed conveyors, and screeners are custom built to fit tonnage and space requirements. Options such as screens, in-line magnets, air knives, and/or metal detection are available. Screen options include perforated plate, wire mesh, patented flip-flow VIBRA-SNAP Screen, and TAPER-SLOT Screen. Action offers both unbalanced and balanced units, the latter minimizes the vibration to a foundation, depending on the structural needs.

ProcessBarron Bark/Biomass Drag Chain Reclaim Conveyor design features hightorque and a low speed drive system for uninterrupted reliable operation. High amounts of torque and chain pull are required for hogged bark/biomass reclaimer applications for uninterrupted reliable operation. ProcessBarron uses a heavy-duty drag chain that is reverse barrel that was specifically designed for wood waste/biomass (bark, sand, dirt) applications where high erosion protection and high stress requirements are necessary. Another design feature is the tail section and tail shaft assembly, which is designed with a radiused pan that lifts up material that has spilled onto the return pan and returns it to the carrying side (i.e. self cleaning).

The ASGCO Pro-Zone is a modular conveyor belt load-zone system designed to minimize and control dust often surrounding the receiving belt. A standard Pro-Zone system is comprised of our Slide-N-Roll bed combined with a set of aluminum or steel walls, internal seals, and a 20-degree pitched lid. Accessories consist of an optional chute incorporated into the load zone lid, dust curtain(s), back plate, inspection door, canoe liners, and cross supports. ASGCO offers 4-ft (two supports) and 5-ft (three supports) lengths, as well as engineered customization. Less dust, product spillage, and belt wear means less maintenance and increased productivity!

Warren & Baerg Manufacturing, Inc., is a manufacturer of cubing systems, grinding systems, and conveying systems for agricultural, biomass, industrial waste, and alternative fuel industries. The company’s conveyors come in standard widths of 24, 36, and 48 inches. Standard inclines are 30, 35, and 45 degrees. Warren & Baerg also customizes these conveyors to different widths, lengths and inclines at various degrees. The types of conveyors manufactured are drag chains, troughing, roller chains, slider beds, top feed and bottom feed. A current focus for the company is heavy duty mill quality top or bottom drag conveyors.

The Brunette SmartVIBE Vibrating Conveyor is a uniquely simple vibrating conveyor. Utilizing a patented torsion bar system, Brunette has eliminated all coil springs from the conveyor. The design optimizes low cost maintenance and maximum up-time efficiencies and is fully balanced. The conveyor maximizes throughput with a secondary trough, and even adjust feeds speeds with the use of a VFD without having to stop for rebalancing. The Brunette SmartVIBE is suitable for many industries including sawmilling, biomass, recycling, pellet manufacturing, plywood, OSB, food processing and agro industries. Available in different widths and lengths complete with size specific screening options and metal detection.

Wolf Material Handling Systems offers versatile Under-pile Reclaimer platforms that automatically reclaim and evenly meter all wood fuel products including: granular, chipped, hogged and even tubground fuels. These robust and innovative designs include low profile offerings that can be incorporated into almost all new or retro-fit applications. Engineered with ease of maintenance in mind these systems are engineered to provide easy access to wear parts and include a slow speed chain design with VFD drives to further reduce wear. Other standard offerings include hardened chains and heavy-duty frame construction that allow “drive over” capability and provide years of service.

The heart of Optimil EDEM brand heavy duty vibrating conveyors for feeding, screening, fibre handling for sawmills, engineered wood, and pellet plans is a rugged coil spring/ eccentric shaft drive assembly. While simple in design these Optimil/EDEM coil springs are noted for outstanding performance, and the unique EDEM design claims the lowest horsepower requirement of any drive on the market. Power is provided by a premium efficiency, TEFC electric motor and standard V- belt drive. Each conveyor is custom designed and engineered to suit the customer’s exact requirements. All EDEM vibrating conveyors are available in both unbalanced and dynamically balanced configurations. EDEM patented Magnet Trap conveyors are used to remove smaller pieces of iron and steel (tramp metal) before they reach the metal detector. The system only shuts down to remove the larger pieces. The result is increased productivity and the elimination of damage caused by an attempt to alleviate shutdowns when the operator reduces the sensitivity of the metal detector.

The Peterson TS4280 Tracked Stacking Conveyor is an innovative conveyor, which can often eliminate the need for a wheel loader. Fed by a large hopper, the generous 42-inch wide (107 cm) conveyor can easily keep up with horizontal grinders or screens. The 80-foot conveyor length can stack materials up to 35 feet high (1,100 cm). The TS4280 Tracked Stacking Conveyor is powered by a fuel efficient, 58-hp Kohler diesel engine. The engines are Tier IV compliant with no DPF for lower maintenance and operating costs. The TS4280 allows continual operation while conveying the material away from the feeding machine. This eliminates the need for double material handling with traditional wheel loaders, which can make a significant difference to the bottom line. TS4280 is easily repositioned with the powerful tracks to extend the pile or move to the next site. The machine can be setup in just minutes. The safe, simple hydraulic controls ease unloading, moving, setup, and tear down. The folding head section and optional folding tail, creates a compact travel position that reduces transportation length.