Fast fix sweetens gear repair at British Sugar, Wissington

Related tags British sugar Gear Belt

When a crown wheel in a worm gear drive failed because of overloading on a crucial conveyor belt at British Sugar's Wissington plant in King's Lynn, Siemens Industry's Mechanical Handling Division sweetened the bad news by supplying and fitting a new unit within eight days.

The conveyor feeds limestone and coke into a kiln to purify the sugar at the plant. When the conveyor broke, two men and a shovel loader had to be hired to manually load the feeder 24 hours a day. The priority was to get things running again quickly. Any delay could have affected the start of British Sugar's next 'campaign' period. So British Sugar called in Siemens, which had supplied the original worm gear unit in 1997.

Siemens suggested a more energy-efficient, bevel helical gearbox which had considerably higher torque rating. The new unit had the same shaft diameter as the old one so that British Sugar could use the existing headshaft. Even better, the new unit offered 10% better efficiency than the old unit.

The new unit was selected and supplied within eight days of British Sugar's enquiry. But the biggest bonus for British Sugar was that the new unit cost less than a replacement unit.

Key contact

Siemens Industry Tel: 01274 657700