Sims Metals Management, an electronics and metal recycling company, has once again chosen WEG to design, build and supply a new high voltage motor for its metal recycling operations in the UK.
Designed to fit into the exact footprint of the OEM equipment, the new 6.6kV, 3MW motor was the most cost effective option available for the giant shredder based in Newark, Nottinghamshire, which processes over 1,000 tonnes of scrap per day.
The relationship between WEG and Sims Group Ltd. goes back several years when the first motor was installed at the company’s Newport (UK) site. The reliability of this project has seen a further 10 high voltage WEG motors being installed by Sims. For the most recent installation in Nottingham, the requirement for an efficient motor was important, but the main demand was for a motor which would fit exactly into the footprint of the motor, without any additional engineering.
The Nottingham site has the capacity to process up to 1,200 tonnes of scrap metal every day which arrives from a number of regular customers as well as members of the public. Sims provides a recycling service for End-of-Life Vehicles’ (ELVs), industrial scrap, domestic appliances as well as non-ferrous materials. All the received material is fed into the shredder by an inclined conveyor where it is torn to pieces by the rapidly-spinning hammers. The fragments are then sorted into different categories with the material being sold back to the metals industry.
Site engineers from WEG visited the installation to discuss the requirements for a new motor and to record all the necessary measurements for the design team.
Based on the WEG ‘M’ Line motor range, the casing for the 800 frame motor was designed so that the fixing points and the footprint of the new motor would match those of the old motor.
“We looked at a number of options for replacing the existing motor, including a new OEM unit and repairing the existing motor, but the most cost effective solution was presented by WEG,” says Wayne Oscroft, electrical engineer for the Northern Region of Sims Metal Management. “Key for us is maintaining our operational efficiency so, while cost is always a factor, we needed to minimise the downtime imposed by the motor change as well as ensuring that the new motor would provide excellent efficiency and reliability”.
Wayne adds: “Sims has worked with WEG on other projects in the past and that experience, combined with its reputation, has given us the confidence to place another order with them. The new motor was installed by our engineers without any problems and it has been performing at more than 96% efficiency, which is excellent for this size of motor.”
All of the material that is generated by the shredder is sorted before being sold to various customers. Most of the material is shipped through the rail head on site to a number of iron and steel works, both in the UK and abroad. In all, Sims exports roughly 2.5m tonnes of metal every year, with around 60% going to South East Asia.
“We’re delighted to be working with Sims again, this time delivering a bespoke motor that could be installed easily, thus enabling Sims to minimise downtime associated with replacing the existing equipment,” says Gustavo da Silva, business development manager at WEG. “We recommended a motor based on our robust ‘M’ Line range which is designed to deliver excellent energy efficiency while remaining reliable in industrial applications.”
