11 Benefits of HDPE Conveyor Guards
HDPE Conveyor Guards are revolutionising the conveyor industry and have a number of advantages when compared to conventional steel mesh designs.
When guarding your conveyor systems, safety always comes first. Your first thought about safety is generally directed towards the conveyor during operation. However, safety consideration should also extend to when the conveyor is not operating, as well as during the installation of and long-term maintenance of the guards. Our HDPE Conveyor Guards address all of these concerns and more.
1. Light Weight
Compared to conventional steel guards, HDPE conveyor guards are a lightweight solution, being up to 40% lighter. The safety risks around lifting weights have been in the industry spotlight and lifting objects over 15kg is considered a no-go.
Most steel guards struggle to remain lighter than 12kg, and when your site operators are consistently removing and re-installing guards to maintain your conveyors, the repetitive nature and stress can add up and take its toll.
Our HDPE conveyor guards can be as light as 6kgs for a 1m x 1m panel. The guard weight is engraved on the panel for quick and easy assessment by operators to help prevent the risk of lifting injuries.
2. Installation Saving
Conventional steel guards are notoriously painful to install. When the guards don’t fit perfectly, a lot of work is required to alter the size. The minimum tools required are a welder, cutter, grinder, bender and a hot work permit. Even with all the tools required, you can still only alter the size by 50mm which is inherent of the mesh size and design.
In the our HDPE guard design, small adjustments can be made without too much hassle. For example, if the post was out of line by 5mm, it would be as simple as shaving or cutting the edges to accommodate the size adjustment. All it would take is a simple saw. HDPE is simply a much easier material to make small adjustments to and doesn’t require any hot work permits.
3. Manufactured in Safety Yellow and Requires No Painting
If anyone has experience with maintaining conventional steel guards, they would know how much painting is required to maintain the Safety Yellow colour. Not only is regular painting required, but due to the size of the mesh, it’s a costly process. A lot of paint is used and lost and a good portion of the time operators resort to hand painting - which is extremely expensive.
Our HDPE conveyor guards are made from Safety Yellow-coloured material; therefore, no painting is required. This solves all of the above issues, reducing maintenance time and costs.
Conveyor systems are considered one of the highest risk areas on a mine site. Reducing time spent in and around the conveyors is a major plus and helps reduce overall risk.
4. Rust and Corrosion Free
HDPE has some outright benefits compared to steel as a non-metallic material. Steel is susceptible to rust and corrosion; whereas, HDPE does not. HDPE is a rust and corrosion free alternative, reducing long term maintenance costs and minimising potential rectification works.
5. Chemical Resistance
Due to the properties of HDPE, our HDPE conveyor guards are quite resistant to chemicals. This makes them very applicable to guarding processing plants and facilities.
Some of the following are examples of chemicals commonly used in mining processing which HDPE is resistant to:
- Caustic soda
- Hydrochloric acid
- Kerosene
- Sulfuric acid
6. Metal Detector Friendly
Metal detectors can be used on conveyors to detect fugitive materials and can be an important component of the process application.
There has always been issues with steel guarding interfering with metal detectors, requiring operators to lower the detector’s sensitivity which may allow fugitive material to slip through.
Our HDPE alternative is a non-metallic material and does not interfere with metal detectors. This allows you to increase metal detector sensitivity and calibrate it to the correct or recommended level.
7. Designed to Australian Standards and Customiseable to Your Needs
DYNA Engineering HDPE conveyor guards are designed to Australian Standards and for Australian conditions. Engineered using the latest innovations, methodology and techniques, our guards are fit for purpose and can suit any application.
Our guards can be designed to suit your existing equipment, replace conventional steel mesh guards and/or can be adapted to incorporate metal detectors, belt change stations, access platforms, access points, conveyor trip wires, cabling and any other requirement.
They can even be designed to incorporate retractable idler roller frames. Access to the idler frame can be simply done via the removal of a single guard.
We have a fully enclosed design option which incorporates hungry boards to help contain rough material on the conveyor.
8. Simple Design
Our HDPE conveyor guards focus on ease of access. Each guard can be removed in a matter of minutes with simple tooling for quick and easy access to the guarded conveyor.
Our installation system is designed to be simple, quick and easy. It is as simple as sliding the guard into place and fastening 2 bolts so the guard cannot be removed. No complicated instructions or special skills are required.
During maintenance shutdowns, our guards can be safely secured on the conveyor handrails. This is to ensure that they are out of the way and reduces the likelihood of the guards being misplaced.
9. Robust
Our design is engineered to be robust, suited to heavy duty mining applications and can stand the test of time.
Our patented “X” shape design increases the guard’s strength substantially when compared to standard HDPE square mesh guards. This means our guard has reduced deflection and is well above the minimum Australian Standard to ensure that your personnel are kept safe.
10. Short Lead Time
DYNA Engineering HDPE conveyor guards are Australian made, manufactured in Perth, Western Australia.
Typically, a replacement guard for an existing conveyor can be manufactured in as short as a couple of days. This is a competitive lead-time when compared to potentially weeks or months if sourced internationally. Lead-times will vary, depending on the scope of the work.
11. 100% Recyclable
HDPE is a commonly recycled composite material. Our guards are made of 100% HDPE and can eventually be re-purposed into other composite and HDPE products such as water pipes.
For more information, visit our products page here.
Related Blog Posts
HDPE Conveyor Guards FAQ
DYNA Engineering’s new HDPE conveyor guards are revolutionising occupational health and safety practices around high-risk machinery. Made out of high-density polyethylene, we offer a superior…
Conveyors into the 21st Century
We have been featured in the October 2019 issue of Australian Mining! The article below talks about the innovation and ideas behind the development of our new HDPE conveyor guards...
New Conveyor Guard Modules
DYNA Engineering is known for our innovative and quality engineering of conveyor components. Our engineers are always seeking new ways of solving common issues with intuitive design…