AngloAmerican is one of the world’s largest mining companies. In one of their open coal mines in South Africa, they are using the Hitachi Electric Mining shovel. This machine is usually used 24/7. Every shutdown of the machine will decrease the efficiency and increase the costs of the machine. To be more efficient and reduce service and maintenance, a centralized lubrication system is mandatory on this machine to keep the bearings and bushing running.
AngloAmerican was using a small reservoir; this caused the customer to stop the machine often to refill the grease for the centralized lubrication system. This decreases the efficiency of the whole machine and costs a lot. Due to this “small” reservoir on the factory fitted Auto Lube System, the end user AngloAmerican in South Africa searched for a solution, together with Graco distributor FloSolve. Their solution was to create a customized grease thank with two Electric Dyna-Stars.
Up to 500 hours running time
The new reservoir that was created can storage up to 900kg grease. This is nearly 5 times bigger than the factory fit reservoir. Due to the significant changes, they can increase the running time of the system up to 500 hours before they have to refill the grease.
Warning signal to controller in the cabin
One Electric Dyna-Star is greasing the boom, while the other one greases the rest of the machine. The pumps are running every 3 minutes for maximum one minute. In case the pump cannot reach the needed pressure in one minute it will give a warning signal to the controller GLC4400 which is mounted in the cabin. Herewith the driver knows directly if there is something wrong with the lube system. Due to the bigger grease tank and the feedback from the pump to the controller they can run the machine more efficient, reduce service time, increase productivity and finally safe money.
The Electric Dyna-Star is an excellent choice due to the Tube-Tube-Fill and Vent Path decrease – no additional external hoses are needed which could break during operation which will result in a machine shutdown. Because of the harsh application they need a pump with high durability – especially the drive of the pump is a critical link. The Graco Advantage Drive was tested and used in our GMAX paint sprayers for already 10 years: The warranty claims of this drive was in the past 5 years 0.2%. Furthermore the Drive is lubed for live which increase the running time of the whole machine. The motor control of the EDS allows adjusting the speed and the current of the pump. This helps to protect the power circle of the electric mining shovel and makes adjustment easy. The built in LEDs show quickly if there is any failure and help to make a first troubleshooting.
Founded in 1926, Graco is a world leader in fluid handling systems and components. Graco products move, measure, control, dispense and apply a wide range of fluids and viscous materials used in vehicle lubrication, commercial and industrial settings.
