STAUFF Tube Bending Centre More than just hydraulics

|  11 The Bortana EV was developed for the rough underground and overground environment in the mining industry. Stauff tubes are used for the coolant supply and for protecting electric cables. Source: Safescape S ince introducing its own tube connector range Stauff Connect in 2015, Stauff has been a one-stop supplier for components of hydraulic line systems in the international market. All components in the Stauff Line are developed and manufactured in house, and manufacturers of mobile and stationary systems with hydraulic functions can also purchase fully fabrica- ted line sections, ready for port-to-port installation, in- cluding the bent tubes. Stauff has now set up tube bending centres at nine of its international sites, most recently in France in January 2023. In other countries, this service is provided by autho- rised Stauff Line system partners. In 2021, Stauff entered into a strategic partnership with Unison Ltd, the leadingmanufacturer of fully electric tube bendingmachines. The agreements include an evenmore comprehensive global service from the British company, whose expertise Stauff has been relying on formany years when it comes to setting up and operating state-of-the-art tube bending centres. With this competence acquired at the source, so to speak, Stauff guarantees its customers implementation of anything from simple to complex cus- tomised three-dimensional tube structures. 17 Unison machines produce for Stauff worldwide every day. A new design for mining vehicles An unusual application illustrates the wide range of tasks where bent tubes from the Stauff tube bending centres can be used. In the Bortana EV, an underground electric vehicle, this concerns the coolant supply for the powerful battery pack and safe routing of electric cables. Even the background story of this vehicle is exciting: The Australian company Safescape specialises in equip- ping mining plants with safety products such as special ladders, covers or edge protection structures. Like many mining suppliers, the experts at Safescape were not happy with the diesel vehicles typically used in this environment: Even robust off-road vehicles reach an average service life of just one and a half years in the extreme conditions of a mine. This is due to the high mechanical strain, heat and moisture, which lead to extreme corrosion. The greatest challenge for Safescape, however, was to replace the com- bustion engine. Beau McKenna, Marketing Manager at Safescape, ex- plains: “The great number of moving parts susceptible to corrosion in a diesel engine are the cause for many vehic- le failures underground. We also wanted to eliminate the particle emissions and heat generation from the combus- tion engine in order to make the working conditions for personnel safer underground.” An electric drive seemed the obvious choice. BeauMcKenna says: “An electricmotor is the ideal drive. It has fewer moving parts, requires little maintenance, ge- nerates little heat and produces no emissions. Range is not an issue because the vehicle is used only in the mine. In addition to this, the entire drive can be easily protected against the typical strains of themining environment such as dust, impact, vibrations, and moisture containing acid and salt.” The base vehicle is a Marruá, an off-road com- mercial vehicle developed in Brazil for military use. “The so-called ‘wild bull’ is an extremely robust vehicle. It has a high payload and themanufacturing quality is very good, WRITTEN BY Dennis Volpato State Manager Stauff Corporation Pty Ltd., Unanderra/ Australien After ten test vehicles went through rigorous testing during practical use in various Australian mines, the Bortana EV has now gone into standard production. FACT