Aceptación de Cañas Facturadas en Komati Mill PDF
Aceptación de Cañas Facturadas en Komati Mill PDF
DC OLWAGE
Abstract conveyor system (see Figure 2) and also the aero-belt used for
conveying prepared cane on flat deck conveyor belts supported
The terrain of the eastern Onderberg lends itself to mechanical
by a cushion of air.
harvesting of sugarcane and consequent supply of billeted cane
to the Komati mill. The rock removal system developed by This equipment was installed and operated satisfactorily with
Transvaal Suiker Beperk was installed at Komati mill and oper- whole stalk cane. With the introduction of mechanised cane
ated satisfactorily with whole stalk cane, but was not suitable harvesting in the eastern Onderberg region cane began to be
for billeted cane without modifications. The challenge was to delivered as short billets instead of whole sticks. Billeted cane
modify the existing system to accommodate the billeted cane is cane cut in lengths of approximately 150 mm to 250 mm. The
with the lowest capital outlay and still maintain or improve the lenghts vary from grower to grower, depending on how his ma-
efficiency of the complete system. This paper covers an intro- chine was set up for his conditions. The consignments of the
duction to the TSB rock and sand removal system, the modifica- billeted cane are cut from burnt cane and are normally free from
tions to the system to accept billeted cane as well as foreign matter. This change in the physical size and consist-
observations on the changed performance of preparation equip- ency of the cane supplied to the mill had to be addressed by the
ment when handling billeted cane. technical personnel of the mill because the existing rock re-
moval system allows short lengths of cane sticks to be removed
Keywords: Mechanical harvested cane, billeted cane, rock re-
with the rocks and stones. These short lengths then have to be
moval system
reclaimed by hand to reduce losses. Accepting billeted cane
Introduction with the normal rock removal system would have resulted in
most of the load of the billeted cane landing in the reclaim sys-
Harvested sugar cane is transported to the Komati mill in cane tem, resulting in major chokes and the loss of cane. A new
trucks designed to off-load the cane by means of an hydraulic system or alterations to the existing system had to be engi-
tippler onto the feeder table. Since the cane receiving area was neered to accept the billeted cane.
designed without a cane yard, the harvested cane remains in
the transport trucks until off- loaded at the tippler. This opera- Pre-development trials
tion has advantages and disadvantages of which the advan-
With financial and time constraints it was agreed that the old
tages are in the majority. Once the cane is off-loaded, it is
system should be modified with the minimum cost whilst retain-
transported by means of a chain conveyor over the length of
ing the ability to accept billeted cane with minimal losses.
the feeder table ( see Figure 1).
It was decided to tip a load of billeted cane onto the existing
From the head of the feeder table the cane is fed over a rock
system without making any changes to the system in order to
removal drum onto the main cane carrier whereafter the process
observe the behaviour of the billeted cane over the rock re-
is fairly conventional, i.e. through the leveller knives and main
moval drum. This would give the design team a better under-
cane knives to the shredder. Although the process is mainly
standing of the practical implications of this “new” product.
conventional, some items different from most other sugar mills.
Video cameras were placed at strategic positions to record the
These include the rock removal drum and its associated reclaim
behaviour for later use in the design of the modified system .
The following observations were made :
Cane Picker ù
R5 R2 Rocks, sand,
R2 small cane SLOPING PLATE
Reclaimed cane t
R1
ROCK REMOVAL DRUM
ROCK REMOVAL
Cane
DRUM