⎪ Minerals processing and materials handling ⎪
Left: The first and most significant advantage of Mato’s diagonal tail pulley cleaner is that it is easy to install. Right: MATO Unique (MU) secondary cleaners are located beneath the belt, behind the primary, to remove stubborn material from the underside of the belt.
these are a part of our offering. But we believe our new diagonal design is often a better solu- tion,” advises Sibanda. The first and most significant advantage of our diagonal tail pulley cleaner is that it is easy to install. “It is mounted on the channel beams. An installer uses a hydraulic punch to drill two holes on either side of the channel sections of the structure before bolting the cleaner into place. The diagonal blade then rests on the belt under its own weight. The blade floats up and down to accommodate a splice or mechanical belt joint, allowing the cleaner's diagonal blade to continuously re- move material from the underside of the belt, channelling it to one side of the conveyor,” explains Benjamin Sibanda. The system does not require tensioning; it is corrosion-resistant; provides even wear when correctly sized; and includes adjustable limits that engage when the polyurethane blade material reaches 85-90% of its wear life, preventing belt damage from direct contact with the blade's mounting plate. Primary cleaners The primary cleaner on a conveyor belt, which sits on the drive pulley beneath the discharge stream, handles about 90% of carry-back ma- terial. Correct positioning of this belt cleaner is critical. It must sit against the pulley below the main material flow to redirect any carry- back material into the discharge stream. “A primary belt cleaner is typically mount- ed at 15 degrees below the centre on the drive pulley, to protect the blade and to ensure op- timal angle of attack is achieved, but we have developed templates to ensure that installers can position them optimally,“ says Sibanda, adding that on an enclosed transfer chute, a cut out hole on both sides may be required to pass the cleaner shaft through for position- ing, installation and inspection purposes. An installation manual with templates makes it
very clear where the chute needs to be cut, where the blade must be and the required angle of attack. The blade is made from poly- urethane material with proprietary additives that are self-lubricating and outperform any other cleaner blades on the market, in both wet and dry conditions,” says Sibanda. “For underground conveyors, we supply these as overlapping segmented blades 150 wide with a range of different heights, making it easy to install a blade to match any pulley diameter. In addition, for primary cleaners on surface conveyors, we manufacture solid blades in lengths from 450 to 2 100 mm. “The other nice thing about our MATO blades for primary cleaners is the slide-on, slide-off replacement feature, which signifi - cantly reduces downtime. By removing one pin, the blade can be slid off, and a new one slid into its place,” he says, adding that the blade-shape design offers high performance, particularly for belts with mechanical connec- tors or splices. Self-adjusting contact with the belt is achieved using either a tension or a compres- sion spring, depending on the client’s needs. Compression springs offer longer life, though, because repeated blade contact with joints can subject tension springs to cyclic fatigue.
for all types of splices, thanks to a secondary cleaner design that prevents hard contact with raised connections. “Our MUS series has a slide-on cushioned blade for easy installa- tion and maintenance to minimise downtime, while ensuring that all blade alignments are 100% true across the entire conveyor belt width,” he adds. While Mato can offer all traditional bolt-on blade types, from MCS 2 to MCS 6, Sibanda is particularly proud of two unique types: the MATO Unique Secondary 2 and 3 (MUS2 and MUS3). “The MUS2 secondary cleaner, for exam - ple, has a unique parallelogram designed into the cushion that gives the cleaner flexibility to float just above the belt while maintaining a constant blade attack angle. This gives auto- matic adjustability for when the belt thickness varies and for belts with mechanical fasteners, particularly when a tungsten impact blade is used,” he explains, adding that the MU2 with a tungsten blade offers excellent performance on vulcanised belts. Additionally, MATO’s patented M-Track mounting system offers the same simple slide-on, slide-off method for replacing the one-piece cushioned blade on the crossbeam. “Belt cleaners enhance safety, reduce belt maintenance requirements, and extend equip- ment life. Drawing on our experience with mechanical fasteners, we have now designed a high-performance range that outperforms traditional solutions. We also offer compre-
MATO Unique (MU) secondary cleaners
Secondary cleaners are located beneath the belt, behind the primary, to remove stub- born material from the underside of the belt. “There is a lot of vibration in these areas; the conveyors can be huge, typically running at very high speeds. Our secondary cleaners are designed to handle these conditions due to their heavy-duty construction, providing an extremely high level of cleaning,” notes Sibanda. Most notably, the blade shape, even with a hard-metal blade, is belt connector-friendly
hensive on-site assessment services for conveyor belts of any kind, which we call MATO CAALC, to make the benefits of our solutions clear to operators,” con- cludes Benjamin Sibanda. www.multotec.com/ en/mato-conveyor-belt- cleaners
Click here to watch a video that shows how Mato belt cleaners work.
January-February 2025 • MechChem Africa ¦ 7
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