The UK's largest provider of power generation solutions used worldwide, has boosted production by installing a new powered roller transport system employing more than 50 David Brown geared motor units. The 700,000ft2 F.G. Wilson factory in Larne, Northern Ireland previously used a gravity roller system to transport generator sets that weigh up to 8.5 tonnes and are used by leading international companies including Caterpillar.
The factory has over half a kilometre of roller systems, and the company approached production transport and conveyor specialists Texam, which provides maintenance support for the plant, to upgrade the roller system.
Texam worked with F.G.
Wilson facilities engineer Garry Hayes to devise a system using powered rollers every 6 metres.
Each powered roller is linked to a David Brown Series C 0520 helical worm gear unit incorporating a 0.55kW motor, with one powered roller powering 12 slave rollers via twin double simplex sprockets and a 5/8 pitch chain drive.
The powered system is then able to transport the generator sets along the line at up to 10 metres per minute.
The David Brown gear units were specially modified to fit into the limited space beneath the line and operate at an extraordinarily low level on the roller conveyors.
More than 50 of the units are now installed and they have operated faultlessly since commissioning, according to John McGuigan, sales director at Texam.
He explains: 'In a highly competitive market a company such as ours has to be prepared to add value to the products we distribute and that invariably involves selling solutions, not just boxes.
In this case the customer required a solution that was innovative, cost effective and highly reliable, and we were able to deliver a substantial improvement over existing systems through the use of David Brown standard products modified to meet a specific need.' FG Wilson designs and builds both standard and customised generating sets with power outputs covering 5 - 2,500kVA.
The range of products includes everything from small standby sets suitable for domestic use, up to large units which are mini power stations in their own right, able to feed back into national grid supplies.
David Brown's Series C range of right angle helical worm gearmotors and speed reducers provides input power ratings up to 45kW and output torque up to 10,000Nm, with gear ratios of up to 60,000:1 Series C uses David Brown's patented standard motor connection (NEMA or IEC), and all units are dimensionally interchangeable with major manufacturers.
The range provides the option of fitting double oil seals, on input or output shaft as required and sizes 03 and 04 are lubricated for life.