E-Archive

Cover Page

in Vol. 18 - September Issue - Year 2017
How To Save Costs On Blasting And Improving Your Efficiency At The Same Time
GN® Wheel

GN® Wheel

GN® Bracket and blade

GN® Bracket and blade

GN® wheel features

GN® wheel features

A New Wheel Development Is The Answer!

As we have been participating for decades in designing and testing of better and cost-saving blasting wheels, Straaltechniek International has designed a revolutionary blade, equipped with a support bracket over its entire width, which is a huge optimization compared to every other wheel in the industry. That makes Straaltechniek International a unique innovator in shot/grit blast applications. The GN® Wheel was presented to the public for the first time at the Eurofinish Fair in Belgium in 2013.

The wheel can be used in several areas of the industry:
• Shot blasting
• Grit blasting
• Shot peening

Unique concept:

Traditional carbide blade supports result in severe peak- and bending stresses within the blades and causes long downtime and high cost.

Straaltechniek International designed its blade in such a way that it is supported over the full width to reduce peak stresses by a factor of 10 compared to competitors’ blades.

This unique design was recognized and rewarded with a patent.

Characteristics of the blast wheel:

The GN® WHEEL is equipped with the latest TRIPLE F technology:
• Forward curved carbide blades
• Full width blade support
• Flow optimization

The GN® WHEELS are 100% fully machined parts.

The blast wheel has two side discs, runner-heads, in order to assure a perfect
balance of the wheel and perfect guidance of the abrasive flow.

The symmetrical sandwich construction (double-disc) of the GN® WHEEL channels the blasting abrasive efficiently through the wheel. While traditional wheels lose blasting power due to vortexing abrasives, power is optimized in the GN® WHEEL, since connecting bolts are assembled within the revolutionary support brackets.

By design, collision speeds are reduced at the entrance leading to decreased wear of both blades and abrasive. Along with the shot/grit projection angle, this allows the projection speed to increase by 25%, leading to a significant decrease in abrasive usage compared to wheels equipped with radial blades.

The blast wheel side plates as well as the impeller, control cage and feed spout are constructed of highly wear-resistant material.

The GN® WHEELS have either 4, 6 or 8 blades, depending on the model. The blades are made from an extremely wear-resistant alloy.

The GN® WHEEL is equipped with forward curved blades (vanes) for high shot blasting efficiency. The vanes of the blast wheels have a strong curve, both at the foot as well as on the end of the vane. The curve is calculated especially to have the maximum performance of the vanes.

The wheel housing is made from wear-resistant steel. The wheel housing is protected, inside, with two wear plates on the side and three wear plates around.

The GN® WHEELS are available in diameters between 300 and 506 mm and fit to turbine housings of all current and future customers. 

Advantages Of The GN® Blast Wheels

• Lifespan of support disks up to 3 times longer
• Lifespan of the blades is over 10 x longer than tool steel blades
• Lifespan of the blades is 30% longer than carbide blades of any competitor
• Forward curved blades
• Reduced stresses on blades (10 x less) due to full-width blade support
• Energy efficiency is increased by 14%
• Up to 70% more blasting efficiency
• Shot-flow optimization up to a factor 7
• Retrofit possible on various machine brands

Advantages declared:

Increase of the lifespan of the parts

By using a special wear-resistant alloy for the construction of the blades, Straaltechniek International guarantees an increase of the life of the vanes by 10 times compared to all other tool steel blast wheel vanes on the existing market. Depending on the application, experience has shown an increase of life up to 20 times longer! By using the special wear-resistant material for the other parts, an increased lifespan of 3 to 4 times can be expected. This has led to the GN® WHEEL operating under the most severe circumstances with angular GH grit with hardness above HRC 64.

Better and faster blast cleaning of the parts

By applying the strong curve on the vanes, the abrasives have a higher outlet speed of up to 30% (depending on the wheel diameter). This higher outlet speed results in an increased energy impact of the abrasives on the part by up to 70%.

This means the hit on the parts is harder and more efficient, and therefore the blast cleaning is faster and better. Angles and corners that are more difficult to reach will be blasted far more efficiently.

Thanks to the specially designed and machined parts, the loss of abrasive flying around the wheel housing and attacking the machine chamber instead of the parts is reduced to a minimum.

On top of this, since the wear on the wheel parts is far less, the original settings of the hot spot remain longer time-efficient throughout the life of the parts.

Stress reduction in the blades

Straaltechniek International designed its blade in such a way that it is supported over the full width to reduce peak stresses by a factor of 10 compared to competitors’ blades.

Less overall maintenance costs and less down time

Since the vanes last 10 times longer, there will be at least eight times less changing of these vanes and thus at least ten times less downtime.

When, eventually replacing the blades becomes a necessity, Straaltechniek simplified the overhaul process. Operators can replace the blades without having to disassemble and reassemble the wheel, which minimizes the downtime tremendously. Blasting can continue immediately after the blade has been replaced.

There will no longer be a need to re-adjust the hot spot settings regularly thanks to the special design of the opening in the control cage and to the wear-resistant parts.

Less abrasive consumption

By having an increased outlet speed of the abrasives and thus a much higher energy impact, less abrasive throughput is needed to get an even better blast-cleaned surface.

Thanks to the special design of the curve of the vanes, there is no breakage of the abrasive when it leaves the control cage. This is compared to straight vanes giving hard hits to the abrasives and breaking it on the charge of the vanes. This leads to energy savings in the order of approximately 14 %.

Retrofitting

Retrofit projects replace or add equipment to existing situation to improve their energy efficiency, increase their output and extend their lifespan, while decreasing maintenance and costs.

The GN® WHEEL can be part of the retrofitting as well. In almost all cases, our engineering team is able to find and calculate a solution to optimize your existing machine.

This new generation of blasting wheels boasts features that significantly reduce the cost of ownership whilst improving efficiency and reliability to guarantee excellent performance.

For Information:
Straaltechniek International BV
Postbus 164 - 4900 AD, Oosterhout
The Netherlands
Tel. + 31.162.748 010
E-mail: Marco.Klijsen@Straaltechniek.net
 www.straaltechniek.net