Gearless Conveyor Drives – A Step

Towards Greater Sustainability and

Carbon Footprint Reduction

Christian Dirscherl
Managing Director for Large Drives
and Minerals ASEAN
Current Situation and Challenges

Deeper mines, decreasing ore grades

 Increased material handling capacities
 Requirements for larger, longer and more powerful conveyor systems
 Larger drive systems required
 Conventional gear reducers reach
technical limits for conveyors
 Belt suppliers are able to manufacture stronger belts (ST 10,000)

Mines located at remote areas

 Limited availability of experienced maintenance personnel

Climate commitment
 Reduction of CO2 emissions
 Increase efficiency
Gearless Drives for
Health & Safety
Belt Conveyors
 Limit on site staff

Siemens Large Drives

2 | February 2022
Drive Configurations for Conveyors

up to 400kNm larger than 400kNm

Up to 2500kW larger than 2500kW
Fluid – Coupling / WRIM VFD / Reducer Synchronous Motor with Synchronous Motor without
bearings / PEM motor bearings
Transformer Transformer Transformer Transformer Transformer

Resistor Converter Converter Converter

Asynch. Asynch.
Asynch.
Motor Motor
Motor
(WRIM)

Fluid
Coupling

Gear Box Gear Box Gear Box

Belt Conveyor

Belt Conveyor

Belt Conveyor

Belt Conveyor

Belt Conveyor
Belt Drive Belt Drive Belt Drive Belt Drive Belt Drive
Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley

12 bearings 12 bearings 12 bearings 4 bearings 2 bearings

2 couplings 2 couplings 2 couplings 1 coupling 0 coupling

Siemens Large Drives

3 | February 2022
Gearless Conveyor Drive
References

Antapaccay Prosper Haniel Las Bambas Escondida OGP1 Quellaveco Oyu Tolgoi Tibet Cuajone
Country Peru Germany Peru Chile Peru Mongolia China Peru
Site Elevation 4,100m 60m 4,000m 3,050m 3,700m 1,200m 5,000m 3,500m
Pinstall 2 x 3,800 kW 2 x 3,200 kW 4 x 4,400 kW 5 x 5,000kW 2 x 5,500kW 8 x 5,500kW 2 x 6,000kW 2 x 6,000kW
year 2012 1985 2015 2015 2021 2022 2022 2017
nominal
torque 576kNm 631kNm 637kNm 774kNm 783kNm 942kNm 1023kNm 1042kNm
nominal speed 63rpm 47rpm 66rpm 62,5rpm 67,1rpm 57rpm 56rpm 55rpm

Siemens Large Drives

4 | February 2022
 Reference Antapaccay, Peru

First time gearless drives for an overland conveying system with 2x 3,8 MW

Siemens Large Drives

5 | February 2022
 Antapaccay
From concept to realization

Technical Data

Installed power: 2 x 3,8 MW

(2 X 5,100 hp)
LS Synchr. Motor
Converter: Cyclo-Converter
Site elevation: 4,200 m
Rated torque: 2 x 576 kNm
Overload torque: 1 x 975 kNm for 60s
Speed range: 0 … 63 rpm
Length: 6,528 m (4.0 mi)
Vertical Lift: 222 m (728 ft)
Capacity: 5,263 t/h (5,800 st/h)
Belt width: 1,370 mm (54 in)
Belt speed: 6.2 m/s (1,200 fpm)
Start operation: since October 2012

Siemens Large Drives

6 | February 2022
 Gearless Motor Installation
June 2012 at Antapaccay mine

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7 | February 2022
 Simplified layout of drive station
Comparison with standard drives

Conventional Design Gearless Drive Design

1900 kW 1900 kW 3800 kW 3800 kW
motor motor low low
speed speed
Gearbox Gearbox motor motor
Drive Pulley

Drive Pulley

Drive Pulley

Drive Pulley
Gearbox Gearbox

1900 kW 1900 kW
 4 x 1900 kW motor / 1200 rpm  2 x 3800 kW motor / 63 rpm
 4 x 1900 kW Voltage source converter  2 x 3800 kW Cyclo Converter
 4 x Gearboxes 44 bearings  2 x Feeders MV-SWG
4 bearings
 4 x Feeders MV-SWG 8 couplings 0 couplings

Siemens Large Drives

8 | February 2022
 Reference Las Bambas, Peru

Overland conveying system with 2x2x 4,4 MW gearless drives based on

Antapaccay design

Siemens Large Drives

9 | February 2022
 Las Bambas Overland Conveyor Systems
2 Conveyors with 2x 4,4 MW gearless drives

• Same motor footprint for Las Bambas as used for

Antapaccay (both have been Xstrata projects) 
standardization
• Change of cooling water temperature from 32°C
(Antapaccay) to 20°C (Las Bambas)

Antapaccay Dry Cooler

Las Bambas Chiller

Siemens Large Drives
10 | February 2022
 Reference Escondida OGP1, Chile

First gearless overland conveyor system (4 flights) in Chile 5x 5 MW

Siemens Large Drives

11 | February 2022
 Escondida OGP1
10km Overland conveyor system with 4 single conveyors (1x2x 5MW & 3x1x 5MW gearless drives)

• First time single gearless drive on conveyor flight

• Case study between 10 x 2500kW (conventional) vs 5x
5000kW (gearless)
• Case study between motor with bearing and without
bearing

5,000 kW // Weight: 97 t 5,000 kW // Weight: 58 t

Siemens Large Drives

12 | February 2022
 Gearless Drives – Cost savings (e.g.: 25,000 kW installed power)
5 Gearless Drives vs. 10 conventional drives (2,500 kW)

Availability
Reliability Calculation (4 x 2500 kW reducers)
 Reduced loss of production - up to $500,000 / hour
Operating
Assummed 99.99% 7,000
hours/year
Efficiency Down time
Bearings Couplings % Reliability Risk
hrs/year
 4% higher efficiency 44 8 99.48% 0.52% 36
12 4 99.85% 0.15% 10
 5,400,000 kWh / year → $540,000 / year 4 0 99.96% 0.04% 3

 5,400,000 kWh → 4,900 tons in CO2 reduction / year

Maintenance
 Savings in reducer maintenance work
$300,000 / year

Siemens Large Drives

13 | February 2022
 Reference SPCC Cuajone, Peru

Cuajone overland conveyor system is transporting ore from mine to

processing plant

Siemens Large Drives

14 | February 2022
 Cuajone Overland Conveyor System
Largest gearless drive system for conveyors

• E-house was supplied as one piece  reduction of

installation & commissioning
• Pre FAT in the workshop of the E-house
• E-house cooling is via Air / Water heat exchanger
• Air / Water heat exchanger is connected to closed
loop circuit via dry cooler
• Optimized cooling concept for 2x6 MW drive station

Siemens Large Drives

15 | February 2022
 Reference Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolia

Underground incline conveyor transports material from a more than

1000m underground mine to surface

Siemens Large Drives

16 | February 2022
 Reference Tibet, China

Downhill Conveyor will transport ore from 5200 m.a.s.l. to processing plant
and regenerate energy

Siemens Large Drives

17 | February 2022
Gearless Conveyor Drive with PEM Motors
Solutions for gearless drive conveyors for less than 2,5 MW

Price comparison between PEM vs SQ induction motor + gearbox

• 800-1000kW: similar investment costs
• 2000kW: PEM is approx. 30% more expensive

Siemens Large Drives

18 | February 2022
 Advantages of Gearless Drives

 Smaller footprint
 Simplified layout
 Higher efficiency  reduction of operating
cost
 Reduction of maintenance cost
 Reduction of noise
 Elimination of vibrations
 No oil leaks / spills
 Safe (less rotating parts / hot surfaces)
 Higher availability through less down time
of electrical and mechanical equipment
 Reduction of spare parts

Siemens Large Drives

19 | February 2022
Thank you for your participation!

Christian Dirscherl
Managing Director for Siemens Large Drives ASEAN
Cell phone: +65 9855 0885
christian.dirscherl@siemens.com

www.siemens.com/lda
www.siemens.com/mining

Siemens Large Drives

20 | February 2022