Published in the August 2009 Coal USA Magazine
The US Mine Safety and Health Administration gave approval in May to the company’s underground conveyor belts, which aid in flame resistance and eliminate toxic smoke producing materials. The product is the first to pass MSHA’s Belt Evaluation Laboratory, or BELT, testing.
The two-year time span between the first mention and the official launch involved development work on the product’s compound as well as the completion of several patent applications, company officials said.
The impetus behind Shield’s entire development was to keep miners safe.
“After legislation passed on December 31, 2008, we were motivated to create an underground conveyor belt compound that passed MSHA's BELT regulation while also decreasing hazardous smoke,” Veyance marketing manager David Tersigni said.
“Our particular compound has the additional miner safety aspect of low smoke density and low smoke toxicity, [and] the compound is a more flame-resistant compound, with better smoke properties than its BELT-compliant competition.”
Tersigni noted the Shield belting was thoroughly tested at several sites in Appalachia and under various mining conditions. Wear testing and analysis was performed on the belt and the results were benchmarked against the current offerings of ARMA (Air and Radiation Management Administration).
“We also performed static and dynamic testing in our Marysville, Ohio, Worldwide Technical Center, including testing for all possible mining conditions,” Tersigni said, adding that both the field and internal tests yielded positive results.
“In comparison tests of smoldering belts, the smoke density of belts containing the Shield compound was 75 to 88 per cent less than conventional rubber, PVC and neoprene belts,” the company’s collected data noted.
“Similar tests of burning belts showed the smoke density of belts containing Shield compound was 72 to 93 per cent less than the other belt materials.”
As new BELT-certified belting is now a requirement on all new belt applications in US underground coal mines by January 1, 2010, as part of MSHA’s 30 CFR Part 14 regulation, Veyance officials said every company it was working with was progressing with mine-specific transition plans to change out the old line.
Some mines, for example, still have a belt inventory remaining while others are making line changes according to their production schedules.
“We plan to fully transition manufacture to the new specification in October in reaction to customer expectations,” Tersigni said.
He noted that Shield would be available on its full line of underground belts.
Also featuring the technology are the company’s steel cable conveyors, a line which includes such items as slope conveyors that are also subject to MSHA’s BELT requirements. Veyance is also the first approved producer of splice materials that can be used in vulcanized splices of BELT-compliant conveyor belts.
“This is another significant milestone for Veyance Technologies and a noteworthy addition to the law,” Tersigni noted. “The previous MSHA requirements did not cover splice materials.”
While the company has not yet received requests for above-ground belt constructions featuring Shield, Veyance is planning a product with a variant of the technology that will contain ozone protectants and be intended for use on surface lines.
Goodyear Engineered Products’ Shield compound was the first to receive MSHA's BELT certification on May 11. Belt compliant to 30 CFR Part 14 standards will be mandatory for all underground belts installed after December 31, 2009.
