INSTALLING HYDRAULIC POWER UNITS

CLIENT

Aggregate Industries

PROJECT

Hydraulic Power Units

LOCATION

Somerset, UK

THE BRIEF:

Commissioned by Aggregate Industries to install three 160kW hydraulic power units for the largest stone crusher in the UK.

the challenge

Derek Lane & Co were initially contacted by Aggregate Industries to investigate a hydraulic fault on a hydraulic power pack for a stone crusher at Torr Works Quarry in Somerset.

Our senior engineer attended the site, at short notice during a weekend, to investigate this issue. Within a few hours, it became clear that there was a problem with one of the three main hydraulic pumps being driven from three 160kW electric motors.

The pump performance was very low and not switching to the correct position. This was causing the crusher to unevenly lift its three feet, creating greater issues as the crusher is over six stories high.

The stone crusher is on track this year to have crushed six million tons of rock, and is mainly transported from site by 70 railway trains per week and taken to London for big construction projects in the capital.

the solution

After the initial fault-finding enquiry, our engineers were asked to attend a meeting at site to discuss their options. We were asked to investigate their system drawings and quote to install three new hydraulic power packs as our customer did not have a team in place to carry out a project of this scale.

We then had a window of two weeks, where the crusher could be shut down, to fit an auxiliary power pack and cap the main service lines to the hydraulic cylinders so that they could pressurise the lift cylinders with 70 bar pressure to give the crusher stability while crushing. This happened over an afternoon and they were back crushing later that day.

the outcome

The pump room was completely stripped and new flooring fitted to allow the three new power packs to be lifted into position and new pipework fitted. We had a one-day window to shut down the whole system and connect in the new auxiliary power packs to operate the leg stabilising pressure and the auxiliary conveyor controls.

Three of our engineers worked through the night to get the project completed, and to run and test the auxiliaries and commission.

This project was completed well within the initial scope and production disruption was kept to a minimum. Our customer has other projects planned for the future and we are now in a great position to grow further business.

What our client said

You thanked me for our custom; however, I would very much like to thank you for the efforts made by your team. Derek Lane & Co are highly skilled professionals with great attention to detail. They are very flexible in their approach and are very accommodating. They don't just look for the quick fix, they look to improve reliability and effectiveness. Their flexibility has enabled us to complete both large and small projects. Many thanks for your commitment and professionalism.

Matt Wilkins

MAINTENANCE MANAGER, AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES