Integrating a hydraulic truck tippler with a SamsonTM surface feeder provides an economical and flexible solution for the intake of coal from high-cube road trucks for fuel to the new kiln line at Cementos Argos plant at Cartagena in Columbia, writes Barry Woodbine of the Aumund Group.
The SamsonTM 1600 Series installation will receive roadborne coal from large highway trucks providing a buffer holding capacity and controlled rate discharge directly to an overland conveyor. However, the trucks are not reversing to the receiving unit in-line and tipping in the usual way using their own hydraulic tipping gear. In this case, the trucks drive over the unit and are tipped on an integrated platform along with a hydraulically operated truck buffer to ensure the trailer is properly positioned and to eliminate any risk of truck movement with the platform fully raised. The tipping operation may be automatically controlled using a system of level sensors and positional detectors to avoid over-charging the SamsonTM entry section, whilst maintaining best possible unloading rate and fast truck release combined with maximum safety in operation. Furthermore, the truck drives over the horizontal entry section of the receiving unit and continues in the same direction eliminating the delays often associated with reversing these extremely large high capacity road trucks.
To facilitate the drive over arrangement, an opening door, able to support the fully loaded truck, is provided above the SamsonTM entry and raised when the truck has passed the entry. A traffic lamp system is included on the incoming truck ramp to ensure the truck does not attempt to enter the system till the drive over door and platform are fully lowered and the ongoing conveyor and associated handling equipment is running and able to accommodate the truck contents.
For this application the massive SamsonTM 1600 Series has a potential holding capacity of 120 tonnes and able to swallow the entire truck contents easily if the unit is running empty. With a discharge rate of 400tph (tonnes per hour), the unit is rapidly cleared of coal feeding simply into an intermediate feed boot of the associated overland conveyor system. Drive is transferred to the SamsonTM head shaft via tandem reduction gears and direct coupled hydraulic motors sharing a common power unit mounted to a fully enclosed plant room servicing both the receiving unit and the tipping platform plus associated drive over doors.
The drive-over-doors concept was pioneered by B&W at the Rugby Cement new works expansion back in 1997 where three units were supplied handling a combination of coal, petcoke and clay based on the SamsonTM 800 Series sub-floor feeders. Using the driver doors eliminated the need for grills to support the truck as it passes over the entry with no risk of consequent bridging or blockage particularly when handling wet and sticky materials in relatively larger lump sizes.
With more than 600 units operational worldwide, the B&W SamsonTM is now an established solution for the intake of solid fuels, such as coal and petcoke, at cement, power and paper plants for example, plus exotic alternative fuels and biomass used to substitute coal to reduce the plant carbon footprint. Thanks to the wide apron belt design the receiving unit is able to handle a range of alternative fuel types such as vine prunings and, at the other end of the scale, sewage sludge for example with dry solids content down to around 20%. This flexibility in operation, being able to switch easily from one fuel to another, plus surface installation eliminating any deep pits or underground hoppers is a very attractive proposition especially for plant upgrades and addition of biomass fuels to an existing power plant.
Cementos Argos S.A., with headquarters in Medelli´n, Colombia, is the largest producer in Columbia and the fifth largest cement producer in Latin America exporting to 27 countries. In addition to cement, its interests include aggregates, mortar, ready-mixed concrete, lime and other minerals. The new line at Cartagena will increase the group cement production capacity by 5,250 tonnes per day and includes a new kiln with five stage pre-heater plus clinker cooler and vertical roller mills for the finished cement all supplied as a package by FLS of Denmark through their US project center, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
 
ABOUT THE AUMUND GROUP
The Aumund Group is long established and well respected in the cement industry delivering world class materials handling and storage solutions from the quarry through to the finished cement silos and at every stage between. In particular for the reliable handling of hot clinker Aumund is a major supplier, incorporating a unique blend of engineering excellence and technical innovation to deliver the absolute reliability demanded in the modern mega cement plant. The manufacturing companies, Aumund Fo¨rdertechnik GmbH, Schade Lagertechnik GmbH and B&W Mechanical Handling Ltd. are consolidated under the umbrella of the Aumund Group along with Aumund Logistik GmbH. In conjunction with the headquarters of the manufacturing companies, the global business is supported in eight locations in Asia, Europe, North and South America by own subsidiaries plus worldwide by an extensive network of agents covering four continents with equipment operating in over 100 countries.
 
 
Samson at UK power plant
A good example is the Kingsnorth power plant operated by E-ON in the UK where a recent SamsonTM installation receives various types of biomass fuels which are injected into the main plant coal stream. Kingsnorth is a 1,940MW dual-fired power station with the capability to burn biomass material, which can substitute up to 10% of the coal consumed. Typically the biomass used is an agricultural co-product which is sourced from the UK and Europe. At Kingsnorth the SamsonTM intake was shoehorned into the existing plant using screw conveyors to meter and convey the biomass from the SamsonTM and discharge to a vertical bucket elevator and onward handling system.