GEARLESS MILL DRIVE

CHALLENGUES

Lower ore grades

Bigger mills and optimized grinding solutions to reach business objectives

Potential increase in CAPEX

Need for reliable, maximum throughput and robust grinding solutions

Remote locations

Extreme environmental conditions (high altitudes, temperature variation,

seismic activity)

THE SOLUTION

Our GMD eliminates all mechanical components of a conventional mill drive

system, such as ring-gear, pinion, gearbox, coupling, motor shaft and motor
bearings: By mounting the rotor poles directly onto the mill, the mill itself becomes
the rotor of the gearless motor. The motor is fed by a fuse-less cycloconverter
that is connected to the MV network through three special cycloconverter
transformers. Additionally a small excitation converter is required to supply the
poles excitation via the slip rings to the rotor of the gearless motor. Typically knife
switches (off-load manual disconnection switches) are installed directly at the
motor for both the stator and rotor circuit, to make a visible disconnection before
entering the motor for maintenance purposes.

This robust solution is designed to fit your individual site and

maintenance requirements to ensure optimal grinding operations.

FEATURES

The mill is the rotor

Elimination of couplings, gearboxes, pinions and ring-gear

Mill local control panel

Frozen charge detection

Frozen charge remover function

Controlled rollback

Automatic positioning

Power-ride through

Advanced monitoring
 Variable-speed

BENEFITS

Process and operational benefits

Provides maximum throughput

Provides highest availability for your grinding mill

Robustness of system allows for operation under the most extreme

environmental conditions (high altitudes, varied climates, remote locations)

Operator can react to changes in ore characteristics due to variable-speed

Process optimization leads to a more efficient use of grinding power

Maintenance benefits

Easy maintenance and direct communication with drive via mill local control
panel (MLCP)

Reduced maintenance time

Quick return to operation with frozen charge remover

Minimized unplanned downtime due to advanced monitoring and remote

service features