Cooperative Bulk Handling almost doubles its lifting tonnage with bucket elevator drives

Bonfiglioli HDO-Series Helical Bevel drives have been selected to help Cooperative Bulk Handling upgrade the technology and capacity in its Western Australia grain silos.

The HDO130 drives have enabled Cooperative Bulk Handling to almost double the total tonnage of grain being lifted from 250 to 480 tons.

Two Bonfiglioli bucket elevator drives have been installed over the last year, with an additional seven to be added progressively. “They come with an auxiliary ‘inching drive’ installed so that the bucket elevator can literally be inched through its cycle, which greatly improves maintenance and inspections,” explains Kris Jaryn, business development manager at Bonfiglioli. “An over-running clutch separates the drives, so that when the main motor is on, the inching drive freewheels,” he said.

Peter Schulz, manager at Powerdrive, the distributor that installed the drives, says the main function of the drives is to power the elevator that lifts grain from underground storage to the top of the silo, which means it is a significant advantage to productivity to be able to increase the load that can be carried each time.

HDO helical bevel drives from Bonfiglioli are suitable for compact, heavy-duty and low-maintenance installation on major materials handling and resources plant such as conveyors and feeders. The HDO130 produces torque of up to 69,500 Nm.