ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group, Siemens AG Process Industries and Drives Division, and ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions are concluding a cooperation agreement for the development and marketing of the Chevron Megapipe tubular belt conveying system, setting a milestone for a reduction in conventional heavy-duty traffic in opencast mining. High-strength ribbed pipe belts with an outer diameter of up to 900 mm are available as fabric or steel cord belts. They have low-elongation, high-strength carcasses and will enable the efficient conveying of ores and overburden over mine slopes with angles of inclination of 30 to approx. 50 degrees. The well-known advantages of the MegaPipe are retained, namely closed-trough transport of large mass flows up to 9,500 m3/h and lump sizes up to 350 mm directly from the primary crusher.

"Standard trough-shaped conveyor belts with and without ribbing, as well as smooth pipe belts, allow the transport of bulk material with angles of incline of up to a maximum of 30 degrees, depending on the material properties. In the future, the ribbed Chevron MegaPipe conveyor belt system will make it possible to create systems with angles of incline of up to 50 degrees. Steep-angle conveying for unbroken material in a range of between 50 and 90 degrees can be realized with a skip conveyor from ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and with Flexowell or Pocketlift systems from ContiTech for primary crushed bulk material," confirms Dr Franz M. Wolpers, head of the Materials Handling Division at ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, describing the steep-angle conveying opportunities for handling large capacities.

"To develop and market new technology, we need experienced and reliable partners which undeniably include ThyssenKrupp and Siemens. At the end of the 1980s, ContiTech and ThyssenKrupp further developed pipe belt technology in Germany and successfully implemented it worldwide. "In this consortium, we are now continuing the successful cooperation in the development of pipe belt technology," says Hans-J?rgen Duensing, Member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and Head of the ContiTech Division.

The design features of a Chevron Megapipe require high-performance drives with a so-called direct drive concept without the usual intermediate gearbox. The integration of these megawatt (MW) drive units on the head pulley of a conveyor system as well as their activation is resolved by Siemens. Initial feasibility studies have demonstrated a safe transmission of up to 8 MW.

"Our direct drive system for belt conveyors is the ideal drive for the Chevron Megapipe because on the one hand, the torque transmission can only be operated with a one drive pulley because of the belt profile on the carrying side and, on the other hand, a substantial gradient resistance must be overcome in the steep-angle conveying. The direct drive technology developed by us has already proven highly successful in various installations," says Norbert Becker, Vice President of Siemens Mining and Excavation & Transport and adds: "Siemens can also look back on a successful cooperation with ThyssenKrupp and Continental. For example, in 1985 the 3.8 km long ThyssenKrupp conveyor was installed at RAG Prosper-Haniel with two 3.1 MW AC Siemens direct drive systems. At that time, Siemens not only implemented the world's first direct drive system for conveyors but Continental also supplied the ST7500, the world's strongest conveyor belt, for RAG's underground conveyor ascending approx. 800 metres."

In addition to extra low loss conveyor belts and monitoring systems, the Chevron Megapipe belt is another product from the Conveyor Belt Group, which reduces investment and operating costs and increases the efficiency in mines at the same time. "In recent years, the Conveyor Belt Group has become one of the world's leading specialists in the continuous steep-angle conveying of all types of bulk material. We have managed to create a product that combines our expertise in the development and manufacture of conveyor belts for steep-angle and vertical conveying with our know-how of pipe belts and high-tensile steel cord conveyor belts up to ST10.000 to exploit the advantages of all three technologies for our mining customers," explains Dr. Michael Hofmann, head of the segment at the ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group.