What Is The Best Way To Slow Down?

Whether transport or conveyor technology, mining or crane construction, onshore or offshore: When using a braking system in an industrial application, it is not just about taming great forces. It is also important to withstand adverse environmental influences such as mud, moisture, storm, salt, freezing cold or scorching heat. When choosing the right braking system, it is important to take customer preferences into account in addition to the general conditions of the application. The question is: electromechanical or hydraulic system?

Hydraulic braking systems

The hydraulic brake systems are based on the classic disc brake and are available in both active and spring-operated versions. Floating caliper brakes offer the advantage of working largely without axial force, which prevents damage to the drive train - even in the event of installation errors or incorrect settings. The brakes generate clamping forces of up to 542 kN in the active and 1400 kN in the passive version. Their relatively low weight and compact dimensions enable a wide range of applications and at the same time keep the transport, storage and installation costs low. The high level of protection against the weather - thanks to complete encapsulation and integrated dirt wipers - and the maximum material use of the brake pads also reduce maintenance costs.

Picture gallery

Picture gallery with 16 pictures

Electromechanical braking systems

The electromechanical brakes are also available from KTR as either active or passive floating caliper brakes. Unlike their hydraulic counterparts, they generate their braking force in a purely electromechanical way and thus apply clamping forces of up to 65 kN in the passive and 1600 kN in the active version. In the active version, an electric motor drives a lever arm or a gear, in the passive version, on the other hand, it acts in the opposite direction and releases the brake. In the active version, the brakes are self-locking. This means that the power supply can be switched off when the brake is closed. If the power supply drops unexpectedly or is interrupted, the braking force is retained. Required maintenance work such as oil changes and oil disposal are not necessary due to the omitted hydraulics.

Whether hydraulic or electromechanical - the brake systems are designed so that they can be used as flexibly as possible, as can be found, for example, at the colliery in Walsum in Duisburg, in the Tonkolili ore mine in Sierra Leone or in the new tidal power plant off the north coast of Scotland.

Clutches and brakes

New brake for machine tool construction

Use at the colliery in Walsum

For example, hydraulic braking systems are used at the Walsum colliery in Duisburg. Coal mining was stopped there in 2008. But shafts with a depth of over 1000 m cannot simply be closed. They must be kept in the long term to prevent consequential damage that changes the landscape, such as leaching at depth or day breaks on the surface. To do this, a good 20 million m³ of water must be pumped out each year. Powerful submersible pumps and hundreds of meters of pipe are used. The long-serving shafts "Franz Lenze" and "Wilhelm Roelen" are already filled and equipped with three pipes each.

Additional information on the competence center for brakes

The brakes are designed and adapted in the "KTR Competence Center for Brake Systems" in the East Westphalian castle of Holte-Stukenbrock. At this location, KTR bundles all of its brake activities under the roof of KTR Brake Systems GmbH. In addition to the development and production of the brake systems, extensive tests and functional tests of prototypes and series products also take place here. For example, on a universal brake test bench for rotor and azimuth brakes, a tensile test bench, a vibrating table or even a low-temperature cooling chamber that enables tests at ambient temperatures down to –40 ° C.

Two submersible pumps are currently used for well water management at the Wilhelm Roelen shaft, and a third one is expected to be used from 2017. A special crane from Terex MHPS is used to lower the heavy equipment safely. In cooperation with Thyssenkrupp Mill Services & Systems, a two-girder double winch of the Demag brand with a load capacity of 250 t was specially developed and tailored to the conditions at Schacht Wilhelm. The lifting unit provides the infrastructure for the introduction of pumps and pipes. The next pipe section is put on about every 10 m, which means: Braking must be carried out safely between the intervals - even if it is raining, snowing or freezing. Two passive floating caliper brakes with a clamping force of 160 kN each are attached to the two winches of the crane system.The hydraulic disc brakes generally function as a holding brake and in the event of a fault as an emergency brake. They are closed by spring force and opened by hydraulics. A hydraulic unit is therefore integrated on each winch.

Couplings

Couplings in the endurance test

Content of the article:

• Page 1: What is the best way to slow down
• Page 2: Use in the open-cast mining of Tonkolili

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