Sometimes we help our customers out with problems that they’ve been living with for years (or even decades). When a system within a plant is designed and built, our customers are often forced to deal with any of the headaches it causes. After all, if it isn’t fully broken, there often isn’t the time, money, energy, or resources to fix it. We use our expertise, experience, and access to the best brands out there to to provide our customers with solutions to problems big and small. In this case, we looked at one of their screw conveyors that was constantly jamming and had been causing problems for years.
Success Story: Screw Conveyors with Problems lead to Shaftless Screw System by Martin
Problem
The customer had an old standard shafted screw conveyor system they used to transfer chips and saw dust from their silo to their boiler. The system had been causing problems since its installation years earlier. Larger pieces of wood would get into the system and cause jams. Because of the jams, there was often damage to the equipment. Those large pieces of wood could become wedged against the trough cover by the shaft. These jams also caused wear, corrosion, and holes in the trough.
Solution
Instead of updating the screw conveyors, we proposed a shiftless screw system from Martin. The shiftless design allowed for larger pieces to pass through without causing jams (and therefore damage and downtime). The troughs are fully lined with Trivar liners to avoid wear and corrosion that can be caused by green sawdust, another concern the customer expressed. Further benefits of this solution include increased ease of carrying material up an incline, reduced reliance on an additional heat source, and extending the length of the primary feed screw to allow for second source material.
Savings Calculation
The total cost of the solution we proposed was $54,700, which is about 30% more than standard screw conveyors. This shaftless solution targeted many money-wasting problems like downtime, short product lifespan, and heating source expenses. Taking those things into consideration, our solution saved the customer a net total of about $7,000 by cutting the downtime, considerably increasing the lifespan of the parts, and allowing for that secondary heating source.
We increased the lifespan of the equipment and significantly cut downtime for our customer by proposing a shaftless screw system.
Want to learn more about screw conveyors with Martin? Watch the video below. Then contact us! We’ll help you implement the best system for your plant.