Conventional wear liners have historically been installed inside the chute, but the EVO external wear liner from Martin Engineering is placed on the outside, with the firm claiming this improves skirtboard sealing and prevents spillage.

The result, Martin Engineering said, is fewer labour hours and a lower cost of ownership.

“The wear liner is essentially considered a sacrificial layer,” said Daniel Marshall, product engineer at Martin Engineering.

“Removal and replacement used to be a gruelling job that could require multiple workers and days of scheduled downtime. Our goals with this design were to significantly cut the installation and service time, while reducing risk and improving safety.”

According to Martin, previous designers welded the wear liner to the inside of the chute, with only the skirt seal located on the outside.  The logic behind the conventional design is for the wear liner to protect the skirtboard, which is typically 6.4mm sheet metal and not strong enough to withstand the sustained force and abrasion from bulk material.  

Martin Engineering designers came up with the idea of raising the chute work about 10cm above the belt, out of the way of the material, then putting the wear liner on the outside.  Using this approach, the material still hits the liner and doesn’t damage the chute.  

“It was a real light bulb moment,” Marshall said.  “We were surprised that no one had tried it before, as it has some obvious benefits.”