COOL SOLUTIONS

TO A HOT ISSUE

flender.com
COOL SOLUTIONS
TO A HOT ISSUE.
The transport of bulk materials makes heavy demands
of the drive system, as belts and drives are mostly
subjected to rough ambient conditions. Premium gear
unit manufacturer Flender has in its portfolio three
unrivalled standard gear unit series based on helical
and bevel-helical gear units.
In particular, it succeeded in ramping up
the increasingly important thermal rating
by approximately a further 20 percent.
The world’s population is growing – and
with it the need to be able to produce
valuable minerals and other resources
as efficiently as possible. Against this
background, bulk material conveyor
technology is further gaining importance,
so an unmistakable trend towards higher
transport performances is becoming
apparent. The big challenge is to develop
economical drive solutions to this problem.
Anyone manufacturing conveyor belts for
worldwide operation in partly inhospitable
environments knows what heavy demands
Mother Nature makes. As well as efficiency
and quality, the thermal rating is decisive.
Flender is therefore applying its decades of
know-how to developing gear unit solutions
that, firstly, deliver lower power losses and,
secondly, can transmit high power outputs.
B3SE gear units meet this requirement
without the need for external cooling. These
come in ten standard unit sizes and can be
used for drive tasks with very high power
requirements – including as multiple drives.
2
Up to 3,000 kW without external cooling
The latest generation of these helical and
bevel-helical gear units, whose market
launch Flender is pressing ahead with on
a broad scale in 2019, shows what is at all
possible. Up to a range of between 2,500
kW and 3,000 kW, depending on ambient
conditions and gear unit design, external
cooling systems can be dispensed
with. The reason for the unusually high
thermal rating of these gear units is a
further increase in efficiency and heat
dissipation.
Just the extension of the housing surface,
in conjunction with the redesign of the
air guide cover featuring a fan that is
independent of the direction of rotation,
ensures approximately 20 per cent more
heat dissipation. On top of this come
optimisations of gear unit design for
reduction of power loss, so enabling
torques of up to 490,000 Nm to be
standardly transmitted with the B3SEs.
The result is that in practice there are
situations where because of the high
thermal rating of the new gear units
one unit size smaller than before can
be selected. If the mechanical system
permits, users also profit from this
technically and economically improved
solution.
Test rig confirms theory and practice
As simple as the result sounds, the
development of the new B3SE gear
units is still pragmatic in detail. For
this purpose, Flender has invested
in a high-performance test rig that
intensively supports its own research and
development department. It enables gear
unit solutions with a rated mechanical
output of up to 2,000 kW to be tested under
actual practical conditions. Gear units are
analysed on it thermally, resulting in real
detailed improvements in the case of the
new B3SE gear units.
At the same time a test rig of this kind
provides the basis for testing calculation
and simulation programmes used in gear
unit and drive solutions for consistency of
theory and practice. In this respect, too,
users profit from the gear unit
manufacturers’ decades of experience.
Because the huge standard modular gear
unit system enables gear unit experts to
carry out application-specific adaptations,
so offering users the big advantage of
short delivery times. The high level of
standardisation further underscores the
service-friendliness of Flender’s gear unit
solutions.
Easy gear unit selection thanks to
electronic assistance
An example of further benefit in
combination with software is the use of
Flender’s configurators Flender’s new
swing-base configurator by which
complete drive trains can be configured in
the same way as integrated drive systems.
The gear unit manufacturer is thus
underscoring its core expertise as a gear
unit constructor and drive specialist.
Electric motor, coupling, gear unit, cooling
systems, supports – all must be perfectly
coordinated. Starting theoretically from
the conveyor belt project, users Flender´s
specialists can with the help of the
software select from Flender’s different
modular product kits or standard portfolio
and so use the German gear unit
manufacturer’s know-how to realise their
own customer´s ideas. The decisive
advantage: total technical drive solutions
can be developed fast and be incorporated
into users’ customers’ own engineering
designs with the help of 3D data and
dimensioned drawings.
B3SE gear units described here form just
one of many solutions in the Flender
repertoire, which is extremely extensive,
standardised and optimised to meet
specific applications. Basically three series
are distinguished for equipping bulk
material conveyor belts with drives.
Alongside the new conveyor belt drives of
the E series, which operate satisfactorily
without external cooling, even in especially
hostile environmental conditions, there is
the extremely compact A series as well as
the high-performance gear unit solutions
of the H series generating torques of up to
1.4 million Nm and outputs of up to 4,500
kW. Common to all of these is that users
profit qualitatively from decades of
experience and because of this premium
manufacturer’s high level of in-house
production even project-specific designs
are also rapidly possible.
From compact plug and play through to
high-performance system solutions
Wherever space is tight, that is where the
A series, with its biggest feature, its
compact overall design, really comes into
play. After all, not every mine offers
enough space for complicated measuring,
alignment and fitting work. This gear unit
solution, comprising a motor, a coupling
and a gear unit, is delivered ready to fit and
need not be laboriously aligned on site.
The reason for a plug and play of this kind
is the patented self-aligning system
thanks to which the gear unit is very easy
to handle. It need only be plugged in and
the torque then be absorbed by
a torque arm. In short: flexibility with
regard to location, fitting, available space
and commissioning is the common
denominator that had priority during
development of the A series.
By comparison, the H gear unit series for
highest possible outputs and torques is
being developed very application-
specifically on the basis of standard
component parts. 28 unit sizes here offer
the economic and technical flexibility
for putting together the total package
project-specifically. Here too, the wide
standard range in conjunction with
Flender’s great experience gives valuable
support because, as well as the gear units
and couplings, the company also builds the
cooling systems itself. This has the
advantage for users that during the
project-specific design of a total solution
3
 not only in the area of gear units and gear
teeth and during torque transmission,
but also during thermal adaptation
further optimisations can be undertaken.
Conveyor belts function not infrequently in
tropical heat or Siberian cold, so perfectly
coordinated total solutions are one of
the most important prerequisites for
the necessarily high availability of bulk-
material conveyor belts. On top of this, air
or water-type oil cooling systems open
up the possibility of individual pressure
lubrication for high-speed rolling bearings
or for heavily loaded gear teeth and/or of a
cleverly designed oil management system.
Plug and play also plays an important role
in the H series, enabling the complete
drive solutions to be fitted on base
frames, designed by Flender project-
specifically and delivered ready to fit.
The standard portfolio for application-
specific drive solutions that Flender
can deliver anywhere In the world is
extremely comprehensive and so one
of the company’s important unique
selling propositions: cooling and heating
systems, add-on flywheel masses, braking
systems, special air filters, auxiliary drives,
backstops, couplings with and without
torque limitation, special shaft sealing
systems to prevent abrasion damage
in dust-laden ambiences, measuring
systems, condition monitoring – and much
more.
4
Conveyor systems profit from experience,
quality-consciousness, in-house
production level
The German Bocholt-based gear
unit manufacturer Flender’s aim is
to bring its decades of experience in
gear unit construction into line with
users’ industry knowledge. Continuous
detail improvements and continuous
optimisation of the standard modular
gear unit system form the framework
which users all over the world profit
from. It is precisely in the case of bulk
material conveyor systems that are mostly
exposed to harsh ambient conditions that
high-quality and perfectly designed drive
solutions show positive effects in the area
of performance capability, availability and
service-friendliness.
The new E series of conveyor belt
drives fitted with high-efficiency cooling
systems and so improved thermal
characteristics shows yet again what is
possible. Complementarily to this conveyor
technology profits from the compact
standard gear units of the A series and
H series for maximum drive outputs
of up to 4,500 kW. This means that in
practice, users can choose from a huge
range of standard solutions and so plan
their projects conveniently. More still, for
requirements that go beyond the normal
there are specialists in Bocholt that also
supply project-specific answers.
Figure 1. Bulk material
conveyor belt systems are
subject to the harshest
ambient conditions. Drive
and gear unit systems must
meet the most stringent
requirements, which Flender
satisfies with three standard
series.
Figure 2. Flender’s new B3SE helical and bevel-gear
gear units have been further-optimised to enable a
22 per cent higher thermal rating.

Figure 3. The especially compact gear units of the A series

constructed from Flender’s standard modular system
can, as plug and play solutions, be operated flexibly and
conveniently. The patented self-aligning system means
that no laborious adjustments are necessary.

5
Figure 4. The standard drive solution of the H series was developed
for maximum outputs of up to 1.4 mill. Nm or 5,000 kW. With the H
series, constructed from standard components, Flender satisfies
project-specific requirements.

Figure 5. As a specialist in gear unit construction and drive

technology, for five decades Flender has concentrated intensively
on developing the latest high-performance solutions. Conveyor
technology is also profiting from this to a high degree.

6
Further information on the subject of conveyor-belt drives:
www.flender.com/conveyorbeltdrive

Further information on the subject of gear units:

www.flender.com/gear-units

Further information on the subject of couplings:

www.flender.com/couplings

Further information on the subject of service:

www.flender.com/service

FLENDER BY YOUR SIDE

All sectors of industry and raw-material extraction know Flender drive
technology and the people behind it as highly capable and reliable.
They require a flexible, forward-thinking partner for consulting and
development that is at the same time a globally positioned, committed
business partner. This is how we understand our mission. We want to
stand at our customers’ side under the name Flender, as part of the
Siemens corporation.

Flender GmbH
Alfred-Flender-Straße 77
46395 Bocholt
Germany

Subject to changes and errors. The information given in this document

only contains general descriptions and/or performance features which
may not always specifically reflect those described, or which may
undergo modification in the course of further development of the
products. The requested performance features are binding only when
flender.com they are expressly agreed upon in the concluded contract.