Drive engineering company SEW-Eurodrive believes that it is gaining measurable success in South Africa’s coal mining industry, following an order for nine units of its self-aligning invertible X-Series underground drive packs, which will be operational from this month at a coal mine in Gauteng.

“Having achieved substantial success in the platinum mining industry between 2005 and 2010, we made a decision to move into coal mining, where we are currently supplying our X-Series units to underground mining operations,” says SEW-Eurodrive sales and engineering GM Conrad Pilger.

He adds that with previous mining projects, the com- pany supplied its units for surface mining. With opportunities in underground coal mining arising since 2010, the company has moved towards designing gear units applicable to underground mining.

“The main area of application for the X-Series is conveyor systems. In this context, the gear units perform a reliable service in driving conveyor belts and the transport of the coal. The South African branch of SEW-Eurodrive boasts a dedi- cated engineering department that assists customers with the complete drive package and custom-designed solutions,” he points out.

Meanwhile, SEW-Eurodrive engineering manager Greg Perry states that its customers benefit from the fact that they can obtain the complete, and fully assembled, drive package from a single source, while a large local stockholding allows for shorter delivery times and increased flexibility.

“We completed the underground invertible drive pack design in July, which specifically caters for African underground mining conditions,” explains Perry, adding that, as a result of high temperatures underground, the drive pack is designed with a built-in fan that gives the drive an effective cooling system, which is suitable for underground operations.

“With space already being limited underground, the gearbox on the drive pack is also built with two mounting positions, which allows it to be inverted, depending on which side it needs to be mounted on. This decreases operational costs, as fewer gearboxes are needed in storage on the mine’s facility as the gearbox can be inverted. Also, it decreases downtime as less time is needed to change the drive pack should an incident occur,” highlights Pilger.

Perry believes that the ability of SEW-Eurodrive to design various drive pack units to suit specific operations of the customer sets it apart from its competitors.

“The units that we are supplying for this coal mine, in particular, will be a replacement of the unit it had previously. This required us to design the couplings of the unit in such a way that our unit can fit into the mine’s operation and serve the desired purpose,” he outlines.

Pilger stresses that the com-pany’s Drive Academy, which was established in 2011, also sets the company apart from its competitors. The SEW-Eurodrive training centre aims to provide its customers with profes- sional training of an international standard, where it assists its customers in doing maintenance on the units themselves. By being self-efficient in the event of a breakdown, the customer can apply preventive maintenance, which limits downtime and productivity.

“The training allows the customer to have full control over the purchased products and ensures that the products keep working the way they were designed to work. Most importantly, the customer’s plant keeps running at its highest product- ivity,” says SEW-Eurodrive communications GM René Rose.

She notes that, since the opening of the Drive Academy in 2011, more than 500 customers have been trained and the demand for training continues to increase. The company offers electronics courses and geared motor maintenance and repairs training, which are both well attended. SEW-Eurodrive also provides the convenient option of on-site training, where it sends personnel to assist customers at their own operations.

“Although the labour unrest has severly impacted on some mining sectors in South Africa, coal remains a lucrative market which we are only just beginning to tap into. With this in mind, the company is confident that it can expand its reach not only in South Africa but also in developing markets that include Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” concludes Pilger.