He
yl & Patterson has been engineering bulk material handling solutions since 1887. In the early 1960s Heyl & Patterson shifted its focus to the exponential growth of the coal and iron industries. Heyl & Patterson identified the need for stacking equipment and started manufacturing stacker/reclaimers to aid in the effective management of coal and iron ore stockpiles.
Stacker/reclaimers are often ideal machines for terminals, coal yards or transfer sites dealing with the stockpiling of dry bulk materials. With the ability to convey, stack, and even blend, a stacker/reclaimer is a versatile tool. With extensive experience, Heyl & Patterson engineers outdoor stacker/reclaimers custom designed to meet the specific needs of any site. Capacity requirements, yard limitations and environmental conditions are crucial factors in the design of a stacker/reclaimer. Customization of equipment is important to optimize the efficiency of the material handling process, as no two sites are quite the same. Working alongside a sites’ operations team, H&P’s engineers design booms that can span from 50 to more than 200 feet. The entire machine travels along a yard rail, which can vary in gauge dependent on customer requirements. Tailoring the design to the needs of the operator is crucial to the success of implementing new equipment. Heyl & Patterson stacker/reclaimers can be designed with numerous optional features, including a collapsible tripper, which reduces the length of conveyor needed and the amount of chute work required to transfer coal. While Heyl & Patterson refers to their units as light to medium duty stacker reclaimers, as they process between 2000-4000 tons per hour. However, they are heavy duty in terms of durability and longevity. Heyl & Patterson equipment often reaches lifespans measurable in decades. Heyl & Patterson installed its very first stacker for a steel mill on the shores of Lake Michigan circa 1966; stacking at 2500 TPH and reclaiming at 660 TPH, transporting iron ore pellets from pile to blast furnace. A testament to the machines’ endurance, this unit is still in use 52 years later as.
In 1972 Heyl & Patterson fabricated a 4000 TPH bucketwheel stacker/reclaimer, allowing for the stacking and 
reclaiming of coal for an American based power plant. Today, more than 45 years later, this stacker/reclaimer is still operational and continues to stack and reclaim coal off the Ohio River. Although still in use, this machine had surpassed its useful life. Aging coal yard equipment can be seen across the United States, with many plants lacking the capex budget to invest in new equipment. Heyl & Patterson’s solution to this predicament was to refurbish the existing equipment, bringing it back to life and improving its capabilities and efficiencies along the way. The refurbishment of this seasoned stacker/reclaimer involved the improvement of mechanical, electrical and structural systems.
After a thorough inspection and analysis of the existing machine, salvageable mechanisms and structures were re-conditioned for use within the new machine, providing a great cost saving to the end user.
Many of the machines critical components were improved, including a newly designed slew brake, and the addition of a new machine-mounted operator’s cabin. The new cab enables a single operator to govern all functions of the machine, including; luffing, slewing and travel, all while maintaining a bird’s eye view. As coal build-up was identified as a problem with the existing machine, frames on travel trucks, equalizers and bogies, were all upgraded to an enclosed design where possible, to prevent spilled material from piling up on the flat surfaces on the refurbished unit.
The highlight of this recertification project was the electrical upgrades to improve automation. The original stacker/reclaimer was controlled using an Allen Bradley SLC500 PLC and hardwired relay control panels. The control system was modernized using an Allen Bradley ControlLogix PLC and PanelView HMIs in the operator cab and the electrical room. Ethernet remote I/O was utilized to reduce the amount of cabling required on the refurbished machine.
The field devices were updated to allow for expanded automation capabilities. The old machine was dependent on the operator to perform the stacking and reclaiming functions. New field devices (pile height laser, boom inclinometer, and a radar positioning system) were integrated during the refurbishment which allow the machine to automatically stack and reclaim material without operator involvement. With the new field devices, the auto stack/reclaiming parameters can be modified and adjusted to suit the specific needs of the site.
The newly commissioned machine is now in use. Its custom upgrades are suited to meet the requests of the end user. While the stacker/reclaimer maintained several of its existing structures and components, the stacker/reclaimer now operates as new with automation controls that bring an innovative set of functions to the machine. Heyl & Patterson delivers a stacker/reclaimer that will be an asset to this site for decades to come.
