DGC Africa has established a strategic alliance with GEOSERVEX (Poland), giving to industrial manufacturers across the African Continent access to an extensive range of specialised Rotary Kiln & Rotary Vessel Maintenance Services.
DGC Africa is a subsidiary of Dickinson Group of Companies that focus is on the provision of the Group’s range of specialist industrial services to the mining & minerals, metals smelting, sulphuric acid plants, mineral processing, oil & gas, chemical & petrochemical and power generation industries throughout Africa.
DGC Africa’s Mechanical Engineering Services consist of a comprehensive range of specialized engineering services including; mechanical project management, engineering, fabrication, and construction.
GEOSERVEX was established in 1978 by the transformation of Special Surveys Enterprise group of specialists, led by Ph.D. Boleslaw Krystowczyk. In 1983, B. Krystowczyk, as the first in the world, developed and implemented the technology of kiln alignment in dynamic conditions (during normal operation).
Since then, the term “Hot Kiln Alignment” was added to the global technical dictionary. The company has provided their specialist Rotary Kiln - Hot Kiln Alignment, Turnkey Repair & Replacement, Resurfacing of Tyre & Supporting Rollers and Ball Mill Services throughout the world.
ROTARY KILN & ROTARY VESSEL SERVICES
The alliance’s range of Rotary Kiln & Rotating Vessel Services includes installation of new plants, rebuilds, and the planning, scheduling, and consulting for shutdowns and major works on all types of rotary vessels including kilns, dryers, coolers, calciners, ball mills and rod mills. The services may be broadly classified as follows:
Hot Kiln Alignment; these will be described in more detail on this article
Plant Maintenance Services; these will be described in more detail in the next article. These services include the following:
Supervision & Trouble Shooting Services
Field Services
Resurfacing Of Tyre & Supporting Rollers
Capital Repair Projects
Ball Mill Services
Parts & Equipment
HOT KILN ALIGNMENT
The majority of problems associated with rotary kilns and vessels can be attributed to misalignment. As such, comprehensive hot kiln alignment significantly contributes towards rotary kilns’ and vessels’ ability to achieve maximum efficiency throughout their service life, whilst eliminating unforeseen breakdowns. Our Hot Kiln Alignment Services in association with our Routine Inspection Services are tailored to increase plant availability, reduce maintenance related costs and provide more optimal plant efficiency.
1. Comprehensive Kiln Inspection
Additional data are required from the plant to do an engineering study of the kiln. The following results has to be given by doing a comprehensive kiln inspection.
Current loads on piers.
Pressure on bearings.
Hertz pressures on roller-tyre contact.
Bending stress in the kiln shell.
Stress in the tyres.
Stiffness matrix, optimisation of kiln vertical axis position considering load distribution.
Preparation and submission of completed report including results of survey, short- and long-term recommendations for preventive maintenance actions.
2. Alignment
Kiln alignment has to be carried out during the normal operation of the kiln in order to obtain the most realistic information and data on the condition of the kiln without disturbing the clinker production. As a part of a preventative maintenance, kiln alignment identifies the actual cause of problems and provides recommendations for appropriate solutions. Our alignment approach is based on advanced measuring techniques and customised hardware and software. It is evaluated by experienced alignment specialists. Based on our experience and considering major root causes to all kiln failures, our alignment method aims to improve and ensures kiln availability by optimization of the Kiln Axis, Kiln Shel Ovality, Kiln Crank and Kiln Axial Balance.
3. Supplementary Measurements
Measurement of girth gear wobbling.
Measurement of thrust rollers position in reference to the kiln axis.
Checking kiln drive alignment (option – the kiln must be stopped for a few hours due to safety reasons).
General mechanical inspection of drive mesh, support roller bearings and shaft condition, lubrication efficiency, inlet and outlet sealing, thrust unit, adjustment equipment, covers and housing.
4. Final Report
When Hot Kiln Alignment has been carried out, our specialists provide a final comprehensive technical evaluation and analysis report, as well as recommendations for adjustments, repairs, spare parts, and optimizations. The report is an essential document to help production and maintenance departments plan future maintenance activities, such as ensuring that the right spare parts are available and, most importantly, avoiding unscheduled, costly shutdowns. The following information will be available in our detailed report for the high availability of rotary kilns and rotating vessels:
Actions to be taken as soon as possible.
Actions to be taken during the next kiln shutdown.
Actions to be taken for future activities.
What If HKA Isn’t Timeously / Routinely Done?
Some of the consequences of not timeously doing routine or planned alignment are summarised below:
Plant operating outside optimal conditions
Excessive and unnecessary forces on the vessel/kiln shell
Metal fatigue and cracking of tyre and shell
Deformation of vessel/kiln
Excessive stress on tyres and rollers
Undue wear on tyres and rollers
Unnecessary loads on the drive mechanism
Damage to end seals
Premature bearing failure
Frequent premature failure on the refractory lining
Advantages of the Geoservex HKA Method
After completion of kiln axis correction, we do cross check of kiln axis measurement.
Diameter measurement and calculation of tyre and support roller by using electronic instrument.
Surface wear profile measurement of support roller at 4-5 locations.
Measurement of support roller axis position and roller skewing.
Measurement of roller operating angle.
Kiln shell animation model and submitting in pdf format (unique full 3D rotating shell).
Calculation of under tyre clearance.
Measurement of axial deviation on drive station (Pinion to Gear box).
Measurement of thrust roller position with respect to kiln axis.
All the measured readings and its results are very high accuracy and manual error can be eliminated by using advanced survey instrument with software.
Output data can be cross check and evaluated by calculations.
