STM supplied an innovative belt conveyors package for the construction of the Neckartal Dam, in the Karas region, Namibia.
The Neckartal dam will be made from RCC concrete and standing around 80 meters high. The volume of RCC dam is 750,000 m3 and 450 mt total STM’s conveyor lenght installed.
In this occasion STM provided a cutting edge and complex plant able to lift in order to follow the growing of the dam wall.
To meet the needs of the contractors which want equipment able to assure them uninterrupted feeding, STM realized the new swinger conveyor: a special conveyor with main features of rotating (even up to 360°) and self-elevation.
Undoubtedly, the swinger is an effective solution to follow the elevation of the dam but it is necessary to modify the height of the conveyor which feeds the swinger as well. To reach this goal the conveyor, with another upper conveyor which discharges the material in it, is located on a self-lifting 60 mt tower which is provided with a lifting system.
The tower is composed of an internal tower supported by an external one during the lifting phase. In the internal tower there is a one meter base on which additional modules are added and a last fixed module. This module is the place where the two conveyors are located: the upper one discharges the RCC in a lower conveyor which reaches the swinger.
Hydraulic cylinder are used to lift the external tower that has to sustain the fixed module, when this is raised it is possible to insert the additional modules. Each module is six meters high. This innovative lifting solution allows the belt conveyors to have a 3° inclination range, indeed it can have a minimum inclination of minus 20° and reach a maximum inclination of plus 20°.
This solution is very appreciated because it satisfied one of the more compelling need of the contractors who use concrete as construction material.
