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  • Overhauls and Refurbishments

NEPEAN Longwall

Overhauls & Refurbishments

Panline

Your panline overhaul is in experienced hands when you choose NEPEAN Longwall for your overhaul. As a designer and manufacturer of longwall panlines our team is a great choice for the overhaul of your panline. Experience and deep understanding of the requirements of the product contribute to ensuring you receive your panline back ready to operate reliably for millions of tonnes. Whether it is a simple chain groove repair or complete deck and spill tray replacement our team is up to the challenge. Working with our partners in fabrication, we are able to supply replacement haulage and connectors.

If your longwall system requirements have changed and the spill trays require substantial modifications or improvements, our engineering design team can assist you with the solution. As the panline ages, many customers choose NEPEAN for more complex overhauls including building up and machining the dogbone clevises or replacing the deck plates.

NEPEAN Longwall utilise proven materials and processes and include full VED documentation with traceability of all components and quality inspection of all welding.

AFC Drive

The overhaul of the modern AFC Drive requires specialist workshops with heavy lift cranage capability. NEPEAN Longwall’s workshops are set up for the overhaul of AFC Drives and our team is experienced in all aspects of the design, manufacture and overhaul of the longwall AFC Drive. Our specialist gearbox shop is able to overhaul the transmission and our heavy fab facilities will replace the decks, repair clevises, replace wear strips and overhaul the carport. NEPEAN Longwall will overhaul the 1:1 gearbox and the sprocket with our specialist technicians and access to quality replacement parts from our overseas suppliers.

With our electrical capability, we can deliver your drive fitted out with all required J-Boxes, Cables and field devices ready for service.

BSL
The Longwall Beam Stage Loader (BSL) forms an essential part of the coal clearance system and is the connection between the Armoured Face Conveyor (AFC) and the longwall belt system. Longwall roadways usually provide limited room for all the equipment that is required to run the BSL and manage the longwall and consequently, specialised knowledge of the BSL and its adjacent components (The Maingate drive, Crusher, Bootend) is required for its overhaul. NEPEAN Longwall has over 20 years experience in designing, manufacturing, modifying and overhauling the BSL.

Our workshops have the capability to handle all the parts of the BSL and the electrical capacity to run the BSL drive and the crusher. Our overhauls finish with a mini-build including the MG cube which allows the chain and flights to be run in the BSL as well as the crusher to be test run. These run tests are essential to ensure that the BSL arrives at the longwall face with the conveyor fully operational and the crusher rotor balanced and vibration free.

Our deep knowledge of conveyor design and fabrication is utilised in the BSL overhaul and we are able to undertake complex tasks such as;

  • Replacement of deck plates (including in the crusher, convex and concave sections)
  • Building up of castings and dogbone pockets
  • Rebuilding of crusher rotors and replacement of elements
  • Rebuilding of the tensioning system
  • Overhaul of BSL sprocket
  • Replacement of BSL chain & flights with FASING chain and flights.

NEPEAN is also experienced in the design and modification of the BSL to include:

  • Upgraded drive units
  • Scrubbers
  • Lubrication and hydraulic oil tanks
  • Waste oil storage tanks
  • Dump Valves; Accumulators; Monorail Removal Platforms and Rail Storage Bins
  • Allowance for DCB mounting
  • Toolboxes; Firefighting Depots
  • Hydraulic pumps
  • Strata control devices
  • Floor clean-up ploughs

Bootend

The longwall Bootend is a very specialised piece of equipment whose design is usually extremely constrained by height and width considerations. NEPEAN Longwall has over 20 years of experience in the design, manufacture, modification and overhaul of longwall Bootends and can confidently undertake your Bootend overhaul. Many of our customers have engaged us to make improvements to the BSL/Bootend transition and to improve the loading characteristics of the bootend.

Another design consideration which we are often asked to address is the improvement of dust suppression and clean loading onto the Bootend. Our engineering and design team will model the solution including complex analysis of particle flow (DEM Analysis) to understand the behaviour of the transition, considering chain speed and belt speed.

Working with our partners Tiefenbach, we offer upgraded electrohydraulic control on the Bootend and integration with the longwall system. The move toward greater longwall automation requires remote control and better steering of the Bootend and the engineering team at NEPEAN Longwall can assist you with these upgrades.

Gearboxes and Transmissions

NEPEAN Longwall’s dedicated gearbox overhaul facility in Mackay, Queensland, services the requirements of the Australian underground longwall market. We have the capability, knowledge and experience to overhaul a variety of gearboxes and transmissions, resulting in our customers discussing non-longwall gearbox overhauls with us as well.

Our workshop is serviced by 3 highly experienced staff members who have over 45 years combined knowledge in the gearbox/transmission overhaul industry.

Lifecycle Management
NEPEAN Longwall provides asset management services that proactively look after your gearbox, ensuring maximum operational capacity. We work with our clients on asset management, developing a regular maintenance regime to assist with early identification of issues, leading to the prevention of gearbox failure.

Reverse Engineering & Upgrades
Drawing on the extensive engineering expertise of our overseas partners, we can re-engineer any gearbox to improve performance. We are able to design and manufacture new or upgraded parts for any brand or model in any industry to ISO standards.

Electrical

NEPEAN Longwall compliments our overhaul services with the overhaul of the Tiefenbach electro-hydraulic products that we support. To this end, we maintain certification of:

  • QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – which complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 for; The design, manufacture and overhaul of longwall mining equipment.
  • RECOGNISED FACILITY for Power supplies, Solenoids, Control Units and Sensors (Ex’i’) Under the ANZEx Scheme with compliance with AS/NZS 3800:2012 Electrical equipment for explosive atmospheres – Repair and overhaul. (Reference NZEx SF 10.1013)
  • NSW Licence for Overhaul and Repair of Explosion-Protected Electrical Plant (Reference DOC18/905506)

Working with our electrical partners, we are able to fit out your AFC and BSL equipment with all the necessary cables, plugs and sockets, J-Boxes and Field devices ready to go once installed underground. This allows for the quality of installation in the workshop and time saving on the longwall installation.

Hydraulics

NEPEAN Longwall has offered specialised hydraulic overhauls of longwall equipment since 2011. In 2019 we established a new purpose-built clean room for longwall hydraulics which allows for high-quality work and fast turnaround through our workshops.

The workshop is equipped with high-pressure, high flow longwall hydraulic pumps so full flow testing of components is possible.

Our partners Tiefenbach have trained our personnel in the overhaul of the Tiefenbach control valves and assisted with the establishment of test equipment and specialised analytical equipment.

As a complimentary service to the overhaul of your roof supports or coal clearance system, we offer the overhaul of longwall valves, dump valves, valve banks or solenoids and have the experienced team and the right resources to support you.

We are fully compliant with the requirements of documentation and have a suite of test reports to record the results of the testing and provide the necessary verification that the work has been completed to the required standards and is ready to go back into service.

Powered Roof Supports

NEPEAN Longwall has been overhauling roof supports since 2002. We offer a full range of services with experience in everything from a re-hose to full upgrades of canopies, base pontoons and major structural repairs. Our specialised team is a trusted partner for the repair of roof support fabrications based on our decades of experience with the welding of the hardened and tempered plate and the repair of longwall heavy fabrications. Our project team designs each project to be undertaken safely whether its utilising static lift frames to support the canopy while bases are removed, or setting up mini rail trolleys to slide the base out from under the suspended support.

Our QLD workshop has a 150-tonne crane to efficiently handle the largest roof supports in the country and our workshops are equipped with salvage pumps for testing and adjusting the hydraulics. Working with our roof support partners BMJ (Beijing), we offer economical spares replacement of relay bars, pins and bushes, side shields, flipper plates, right through to complete canopy re-design and install.

Auxiliary Equipment

As an experienced manufacturer operating in the longwall market for over 20 years, NEPEAN Longwall has also assisted our customers in the overhaul of a large assortment of equipment typically associated with underground coal mining.

Our in-house engineering and design team applies the same disciplined approach to these overhauls as we apply to longwall equipment with a correct approach for engineering, testing and documentation – essential for mining equipment.

Projects we have undertaken include:

  • Mine GP Trailer overhaul
  • QDS storage pod and ancillary equipment overhaul
  • Elevated work platform overhauls
  • Loop take-up overhaul
  • Mine dewatering pump overhaul
  • Mine ventilation fan overhaul
  • Feeder Breaker overhauls
  • Chain pod and chain spool overhauls
  • QDS Winch overhaul
  • Longwall salvage pump overhaul
  • Longwall pump station overhaul
  • Methane gas vent stack overhauls