Gears and gearboxes for the sugar industry

David Brown Gear Industries has secured an order to supply two gear units to the Ushukela Milling Gledhow sugar mill on the KwaZulu-Natal North coast

The Gledhow mill was experiencing frequent failure problems with their existing Citroen Bevel/Helical and DBGI size 14inch RHV 7.5/1 Cooling Tower Drive Gearboxes, and called in Benoni-based gear specialist David Brown.

Seeking an updated product suitable for this long-standing customer's particular application, David Brown offered G16308.0 heavy duty units for the cooling tower.

The gearboxes are mounted in a very hostile environment at the top of the cooling tower with the output shafts directly coupled to an impeller.

This order for Ushukela Milling follows the successful installation by David Brown of two G14308.0 gear units at their Umfolozi sugar mill.

These are working very satisfactorily, and Ushukela Milling was prompted to undertake a similar installation at its Gledhow mill.

David Brown offers gears and gearboxes for most applications within a sugar factory.

It has the capacity to assist the industry in all improvement, refurbishment and expansion projects - in terms of both design and manufacturing and on site technical services.

The company has worked with the South African sugar industry for more than 60 years.

While the choice of David Brown Series G units offered improved reliability, additional value has been added on this project with the design and careful installation of an oil level monitoring facility which required the precise horizontal alignment of the unit and an access point through the cooling tower wall to ensure a true reading is given.

By monitoring the condition of the units the customer can avoid possible failure and the consequent downtime costs that this would generate.

The draught created by the fan assists in cooling the water that cascades down the sides, but the major hurdle to overcome was that the drive units cannot be accessed to check the oil level while the tower is in operation.

This had been a major factor in the failure of previous units.

Fanie Swart, Sales Director for David Brown Gear Industries in South Africa, reports that "The first unit ex/G00077 has been installed and commissioned at the mill, and is operating successfully.

The second unit will be installed in January 2008.

An order for a third gear unit may be in the pipeline".

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