Berendsen Fluid Power designed and manufactured a customised hydraulic power unit for a planned expansion of an international gold mining operation.

The Customer

  • The project lead for the international gold mining operation was a Brisbane based Engineering Consultancy firm, who have clients within the global mineral processing sector

Job Specifications

  • Design, manufacture and supply of a hydraulic power unit to power a number of Knife Gate Actuators which control and regulate the flow of slurry into a gold processing plant
  • Supply of the interconnecting hydraulic hose assemblies, tube, fittings and loose valves between the hydraulic power unit and the actuators
  • Maintain compliance in accordance with all specifications, schedules and site conditions

Why Berendsen?

  • Through securing this business Berendsen successfully tendered against an international field of fluid power organisations
  • Berendsen had a proven track record of delivering hydraulic systems with this client for similar international mine expansion projects
  • Berendsen’s competitive position was greatly enhanced with the depth of our in-house professional engineering services

Solution

  • A turnkey hydraulic power unit comprising of redundant 50cc Denison vane pump-sets coupled to 37 kW NEMA frame electric motors
  • Custom designed 3m x 2m x 2.5m enclosure with lockable personnel access doors, bunded drip tray, tine slots and lifting lugs
  • Danfoss Power Solutions Automation controls system designed by our in-house controls engineer
  • Integrated Weidmueller I/O connector module and Profibus interface within the control system to communicate with the site DCS system
  • An array of monitoring sensors including supply and return oil pressure, fluid temperature and fluid level monitoring
  • Danfoss Power Solutions solenoid directional control valves with flow control modules for actuator speed control
  • Standby oil reticulation loop with a Dynacool fan-blasted oil cooler and return filtration
  • Local HPU isolation panel with pressure monitoring gauges and individually lockable hydraulic isolation valves
  • Comprehensively modelled drawings including hydraulic schematics, electrical schematics, general assembly models and fabrication drawings
  • Detailed operational documentation including an assembly plan for the interconnecting tube and hose assemblies to be installed on site

Project Challenges

  • The controls system was required to be operated remotely through the site DCS system only, without a local HPU control interface to facilitate testing
  • A tight project deadline and lengthy component lead times due to the made-to-order international specification, tropic proofed NEMA frame electric motors used on site, operating on a 460V@ 60Hz supply power
  • Components were required to be capable of operating continuously in an environment containing a high concentration of fine, abrasive dust and caustic slurry mist

Project Outcome

  • Project was delivered on time and on budget
  • Completed system met or exceeded all requested specifications
  • A comprehensive testing process ensured the system operation was verified before being packed for export, and delivered