The Project
WGA developed the design of a rail-mounted travelling hopper that can accept multiple products either from a large mobile harbour crane (MHC) or from the ship’s smaller cranes, then feed the product onto the existing Blast Furnace Wharf conveyor at a controlled rate. The products handled by the hopper are limestone, dolomite and coke.
WGA took the project from concept phase through to detailed engineering design.
Technical Solutions
Various constraints governing the design were taken into consideration, such as the reach and height of the ship’s cranes at low tide, the size of the large MHC grab, and the layout of the wharf conveyor and existing crane rails.
The existing rails along the wharf were supported on piled footings constructed in several phases, so a detailed analysis was undertaken by WGA to confirm maximum allowable wheel loads for the new hopper.
The final design included a double hopper with twin belt feeders, mounted on a motorised bogie arrangement that could travel along the wharf to suit the location of the ship’s cranes. The design conformed to AS4324.1 “Mobile equipment for continuous handling of bulk materials”.
A battery pack (UPS) was included in the design to provide power to the hopper travel drives, thus removing the need for cable handling and also providing functionality in the case of power failure.
Client Focus
In the study phase a report was produced for the client including a cost estimate, schedule and risk assessment. Constructability and maintainability were key considerations in the design.
In the detailed design phase WGA developed the final detailed design and produced tender packages for SIMEC to obtain market pricing. WGA worked closely with the client and provided tender technical evaluations for all vendor equipment.
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