The Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) is having to expand its capacity from 60 Mtpa to 85 Mtpa in a bid to meet increasing demand for seaborne coal.
DBCT is located at the Port of Hay Point, 38km south of Mackay in Queensland.
It exports approximately 42 million tonnes of coal annually, 6% of the world’s seaborne coal trade.
In March 2008, a milestone was reached as phase one of the expansion was completed increasing export capacity to 68 Mtpa.
Hägglunds hydraulic drives played a significant role in the expansion project.
In 2004, one of DBCT’s reclaimers collapsed and needed to be replaced.
Until then conventional electromechanical drives were in use throughout the site.
The collapse of the reclaimer prompted the owners of the DBCT to revisit their drive strategy for the site. DBCT’s site and technical manager for 7X expansion Peter Wotherspoon said the Hägglunds hydraulic drive has a couple of inherent advantages over a conventional electromechanical drive solution.
“Important for the reclaimer application is the torque control and associated safeguards against overload which keeps the hydraulic drive going when the existing machines on site with electromechanical drives stop. The reclaimer’s peak capacity is almost 6000 tonnes per hour so every minute counts. The electromechanical motor driving our previous reclaimer had regular unscheduled stops,” he said.
“Another huge advantage of the hydraulic drive for this application is the fact that the weight of the drive at the bucketwheel end of the boom is significantly less than that of a conventional electromechanical drive. This allows the machine manufacturer to build a lighter machine and generally a lighter machine is a less expensive machine overall.”
DBCT’s Hägglunds hydraulic drive reclaimer went into operation in August 2006. But that was only the beginning. By March 2008 there were 4 stacker/reclaimer drives and 3 belt feeder drives up and running as part of the completion of stage one.
“For variable speed applications hydraulic drives are the winners,” Wotherspoon said.
“So far we have chosen Hägglunds for five belt feeders and four yard machines (two reclaimers and two stacker/reclaimers) — all to commence operation by the end of 2008. Most are brand new machines expanding our capacity, on a few we are replacing existing electromechanical drives.”
Hägglunds Drives
07 3255 5266
info@se.hagglunds.com
www.hagglunds.com