Bauer Gear Motor has completed a three-year retrofit project for the roller table conveyor drives at Aperam ’ s Châtelet facility in Belgium .
Bauer rolls out plug and play motor retrofit project for Aperam Châtelet steel mill
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Carrying out a large scale retrofit at any facility can be daunting , but at a steel mill , where extreme conditions and high productivity demands combine , particularly so . As equipment such as motors require replacement , plant operators need to install new units quickly to safeguard uptime . That ’ s why Aperam , a leading producer of steel and alloy , selected Bauer Gear Motor to carry out a three-year retrofit project for the roller table conveyor drives at its Châtelet facility .
While the operating life of a motor can exceed 10 years , eventually plant managers will need to upgrade to a new efficiency standard or replace faulty units . However , the footprint and interfaces of new equipment will almost never match up to the original , which can make retrofitting a modern motor problematic . Complex mechanical adaptations to fit the new unit can be very time consuming . With demand and prices for steel and alloy through the roof , any extended downtime for a retrofit project at a steel mill must be avoided .
The Aperam Châtelet facility in Belgium consists of a melt shop and a rolling mill , which produces durable steel and alloy . During routine inspections , maintenance engineers at the plant identified that the motors powering the roller table conveyors required replacement . Due to the weight of the slab , each roller was powered by its own dedicated motor . Therefore , carrying out a motor retrofit project – which would