STARCLEAN Conveyor Belt Scrapers were introduced to the Australian market by PROMET in 2016.
In this industry, it is difficult to be an early adopter. You will always get the age-old question of “who else is using these?” and “can I see references?” The great thing is that we have references from around the world using this fantastic German solution. But someone had to be the first in Australia. That client is in the south of Western Australia and I can say that they haven’t looked back! As far as belt scrapers go, they are the best thing since sliced bread!
With about 24 conveyors ranging in width from 600mm to 2,400mm, transporting a variety of abrasive, sticky, muddy and corrosive material when mixed with the process water, their brief was simple; They wanted a scraper that was effective, simple to maintain, lasted without adjustment between their 3-weekly shuts, were able to be serviced in-house and had a very competitive total life cycle cost. The STARCLEAN solution excelled in every category and then some.
Originally the conveyors had a mix of 4 leading brands of scrapers installed plus some wash stations behind them with more scrapers, all in varying conditions. Due to their complexity and difficulty to maintain, their performance tends to degrade over time. You then get into an endless cycle where the wear on the scraper and belt increase as more carryback passes further degrading performance. To get the best out of the original scrapers installed, specialised technicians needed to be called upon which exponentially increased the total life cycle cost of the product. Scrapers are also typically not the most accessible component on a conveyor system, typically being behind gear boxes, under bearings and chute structure which makes it all that more difficult to service them effectively.
The client now has one brand of scraper, STARCLEAN, all the wash stations have been decommissioned and no water is added anywhere to help with the cleaning. It is not necessary. Some conveyors have only one STARCLEAN installed and producing perfect results. And lasting the 3-weekly shut cycle? Happy to say they last many months whilst maintaining high cleaning performance with just so much as a simple regular clean of the scrapers, whilst the belt is running and this too, can be done without water. The other benefit is that due to the maintained high performance, the scrapers’ blades last even longer than you would otherwise think.
STARCLEAN scrapers are extremely modular and versatile reducing spares requirements and even allowing you to change from polyurethane primary blades to tungsten carbide and vice versa, simply by removing the blade without tools and inserting the other ones. Fantastic if you get some belt damage and need to run clipped belts. You can still run the scrapers. The process is the same for inserting new blades when the old ones are worn.
STARCLEAN scrapers arguably have the fastest service time of any scraper brand with their tool-less blade change. Recently this site had every scraper cleaned, inspected and adjusted as necessary by one person in only 6 hours with no need for confined space, scaffolding or isolations.
The client has commented that they get asked if a particular belt has been changed because it is black and clean and they have replied, “No, we just have scrapers that clean now!” They perform so well that you literally have to do a double-take to make sure the conveyor actually has material on it! BACK TO BLACK!
The magic with the STARCLEAN systems is their simplicity. Whilst highly technical, the simplicity in which they operate and their serviceability allow them to be smaller, more refined and most effective. With a solution to suit all applications, even aprons, belt feeders and chevron belts, you will be amazed at the versatility of STARCLEAN!
STARCLEAN Scrapers in Action
STARCLEAN Primary Scraper in Action
Promethea is all about providing our clients with efficiency improvements and cost savings. Normally, to achieve better efficiency, gain longer life or operational savings, it inherently comes with an upfront penalty in the way of a higher capital outlay. Through Promethea’s Consult-Supply-Improve methodology and extensive network, we are able to achieve the aforementioned gains with an upfront capital saving!
