The Secret To Longer Rotary Feeder Life

Rotary Feeders are one of the most used pieces of equipment by every Pulp & Paper and Biomass industry.

Feeding a consistent quantity of bark for boiler fuel is critical for the steam generating system.

The wear happens when tiny pieces of bark work their way between the rotor and housing. The highly abrasive material quickly wears away the housing wear surface and rotor edge.

You can easily see the light colored areas shown here, where the housing wear steel has worn away. Many manufacturers utilize lower cost AR400 in these applications. They are not the same hardness in the center of the steel, as they are at the surface. Here you can see how the surface was ground away by the fine particles under pressure and abrasion.

Often called T-Injectors, the worn rotor edges require welding to build up and hard surface the edges prior to machining back to size. Clearance is critical with a tolerance of +0” and -.0010”, needed to assure the unit feeds properly.

When the unit starts to show wear, more bark fines get between the two, causing increased wear. The key question is how long will the wear steel withstand the abrasion? When wear continues, it increases the gap between the wear surfaces. This accelerates the wear even faster.

The feeder housing is machined to the proper interior dimension after the QT-PLUS ® is welded into place.

By turning down the housing wear steel to the correct thickness, they achieve the proper fit. This allows the bark to feed smoothly, without allowing the bark to wedge in between the two surfaces.

HERE IS WHY USING QT-PLUS^® FOR THE FEEDER HOUSING IS CRITICAL FOR MAXIMUM WEAR LIFE:

JADCO’s QT-PLUS ^® has the same hardness in every point of the steel. This allows the machine shop to remove the excess material to fit the rotor, yet still guarantee the hardness is the same as it was on the surface.

AR steels cannot match this hardness, which is why they fail at the worst possible times. QT-PLUS ^®delivers greater performance IN YOUR MOST CHALLENGING WEAR APPLICATIONS than any of the various AR400 steel plates you have used previously.

Being able to create wear resistant steel having the same hardness through the entire thickness of the steel, demands you accurately control the alloying chemistry with precise heat treating.

Doesn’t Every Steel Company Make Their Wear Plate Last As Long As JADCO QT-PLUS^®?

The quick answer is No; although the attention to alloy content required at the steel mill is available to anyone. Most wear plate distributors choose to reduce the proper quantities and percentages of these essential alloying elements, to get a lower selling price.

When you cut back on these critical alloys, wear life drops and it is always the customer who suffers.

For over the last 44+ years JADCO has focused exclusively on delivering consistent, longer equipment life for our customers.

We are able to deliver better results to our customers, because we think differently. How? By strictly focusing on improving your current results.

Allow us to help you today by emailing us at info@jadcomfg.com or calling (724) 452-5252.

We will schedule a meeting with one of our local wear plate specialists at a time that best fits your schedule.

Remember, the only thing you have to lose by not working with JADCO, are your profits