Roof Height Proves No Problem for Peveril Machinery

Our client

Talasey, a leading designer and manufacturer of paving and landscaping products, partnered with Peveril to install a new batching plant. Their core business offers high-end landscaping materials including Pavetuf, a sand and resin-based grouting compound for their innovative paving systems.

Time and height constraints

The challenge: to bring raw material storage, batching and mixing technologies totally in-house for better control of quality and cost.

Talasey was working to an extremely tight time frame as the contract covering their existing toll manufacturing was coming to an end and the new unit to house the in-house facility was still being built.

Peveril Sales Director Lachlan Macdonald explained the situation when they were first engaged. "We were tasked with the system Design and Build to fit within an "in construction" building with maximum space constraints, both vertical and floorspace already being dictated."

The facility was under construction and Peveril had a 6-week period to design and install the three custom-made silos before the factory roof was installed, making this a fixed and demanding deadline.

Bringing full production inhouse

This required raw material storage silos, accurate dosing, and thorough mixing of the various high-grade ingredients.

Due to highly abrasive quartz sand, the transfer from rotary valves onto the conveyor belt needed careful consideration. It had to be optimised to ensure that product did not overflow or spill during the check weighing process further along at the hopper location.

More than simply the avoidance of product waste, even a small spillage of quartz could create unnecessary reactive maintenance and health risks.

Faced with this potential spillage predicament, the Software and Design team ran simulations of discharge cycles vs. check weigh cycles. They were able to optimise the synchronisation of these discharge timings, and the conveyor transfer point configuration to further reduce any chances of quartz sand escape.

These design changes needed to be done within the constrained height limitation and had to meet the desired throughput capacity.

To elaborate, the total height required to store, discharge, convey and batch was within 50mm of the available headroom!

The business owner had a deep understanding of cement and sand processing, but the operatives were not accustomed to software and this type of production machinery. This was a major consideration when designing the process, as staff needed to move onto the line with no prior experience and minimal training time.

Quick, competent silo and batching system installation

Beginning in January, the silo fabrication and first stage of installation was complete before final roofing sheets were lowered into place in February.
Once the building was weathertight the rest of the construction continued. Conveyor, batching system and rotary valves were integrated as soon as practical whilst working around the builders.

This specially designed Peveril Sahara Sand Batching System consists of three 55 ton Sand Silos at 4.2m diameter, rotary valves, silo filtration, a customised silo safety system, belt conveyor and batching control HMI System.

Donaldson silo air filtration was specifically chosen due to its extremely compact configuration well-suiting the height constraints. WAM long life wear bends were incorporated to ensure system reliability along with speed of installation.

A customised Silo Safety System was designed and built for the specific site conditions.

Tipped rotary valves ensure accurate dosing and discharge of sand at all times.

Variable speed drive motors provide exacting and responsive output requirements onto the fully enclosed belt conveyor.

Peveril’s belt conveyor skirting and enclosure eliminates dust and spillage risk at the transfer chute loading zone, promoting a safe and efficient site.

The many benefits of in-house batching and mixing

Bringing this production in-house has resulted in strengthening business resilience, quality and cost control and freed up cashflow due to easier inventory management.

Making a significant material change to any manufacturing process, especially bringing it in-house presents risks and many unknowns. Partnering closely with Peveril helped eliminate the risk and ensure an on-time, smooth transfer.

The facility supervisor reported that staff took to the new production line very quickly and find the electronic visibility and automated control reassuring. Batching consistency has resulted in a quality, true-to-recipe product being achieved every time.

Silos made to measure

Talking about the project, Peveril Sales Director Lachlan Macdonald said “With the height constraint, a standard-size silo wouldn’t have worked. Thankfully, we have our “stubby” silo design which is perfect for such situations. Adaptable in height, the Peveril Stubby is a hybrid between tall upright silos and horizontal models, offering the advantages of both formats.”

The roofline had been limited by planning, so the maximum internal silo height was fixed at only 13m. Peveril overcame this by making the silos wider and shorter than standard – 4.2m x 13m, to accommodate the volume requirements.

With a long life expectancy, the new batching plant benefits Talasey with long-term reliability and competitiveness in manufacturing an important product line.