Steelmakers Corus had been experiencing problems with its 42" edger drive system at its Port Talbot site. The existing gear units were only providing 41 RPM when a drive speed of 59 RPM was required. Hansen were called in and provided a new split drive gear system running the rollers at 59 RPM.

When the gears failed, it left Corus vulnerable to transfer bar loss, due to large section gaps in the rollers preventing delivery of the slabs to the down stream process.

Mr Craig Dummer Corus' area engineer said that "They were experiencing heavy vibration and ultimately, damage to the gear units."

Mr Dummer said that "As the Hansen solution was to split the drive, utilizing a matched pair of gearboxes, it is now far more economical than the original concept with a larger single gearbox."

The operation now runs smoothly with higher efficiency units in place.

(Sourced from eurekamagazine.co.uk)