product news
70
08.13
Afrox has launched SMOOTHFLO™, which
it describes as the most technologically ad-
vanced and engineered gas pressure regula-
tor to hit the global industrial market.
“SMOOTHFLO™ represents years of re-
search and development investment, clearly
demonstrating Afrox’s total commitment to
being a leader in the gas equipment market,”
says Lourens Le Roux, Afrox’s Product Man-
ager for Gas Equipment. “This is a truly South
African developed, designed and engineered
product, manufactured locally to global stan-
dards, which set new heights in the global
gas pressure regulator market.”
This latest offering to the world market fol-
lows in the wake of the thousands of Afrox
Series 8500 multi-stage regulators produced
and exported by Afrox’s gas equipment fac-
tory annually.
With safety being a key driver of the new
design, the easy-to-operate SMOOTHFLO™
is said to be one of the safest gas regulators
in its class. The break-off inlet stem is de-
signed to ensure that should a cylinder and
regulator be accidently impacted by a fall, the
high performing excess-flow valve will auto-
matically safely seal off gas discharge from
the cylinder into the atmosphere.
Other safety features include a piston-
Afrox develops world leading gas regulator
embedded safety valve that eliminates the
need for a diaphragm. Piston-driven technol-
ogy produces excellent pressure stability at
higher flow rates, which allows an operator
to achieve greater gas cutting speeds. The
ability to go from zero to maximum operat-
ing pressure in just three turns reduces the
amount of set-up time required.
The mirror configuration of the SMOOTH-
FLO™ regulators prevents hose overlap and
reduces the potential risk of oxygen/acety-
lene fires. The panel mounted gauges are
unique to this pressure regulator.
The outer casing of the gas pressure regu-
lator is manufactured from a robust, impact
resistant and fire retardant nylon-based mate-
rial and affords ultimate pressure gauge pro-
tection. In addition, the outer casing serves
as a tamper-proof feature, since any attempts
to tamper with the gauges or regulator com-
ponents would immediately be evident.
A unique lever-activated encapsulated
valve with Dynamic Quadflow Stability Con-
trol technology (DQSC) offers a high level of
pressure stability and reduces internal forc-
es, for improved life and performance of the
regulator.
“One of the most exciting features of this
new hybrid product is the fact that multi-
The easy-to-operate SMOOTHFLO™ is said to be
one of the safest gas regulators in its class.
stage-like performance is achieved from a
single-stage regulator,” comments Le Roux.
“The SMOOTHFLO™ incorporates new tech-
nology in the encapsulated valve, harness-
ing the principle of mechanical advantage,
in conjunction with piston technology that
replaces the conventional diaphragm.”
The SMOOTHFLO™ regulator is ISO 2503
and AS 4267 certified. The patented design
has been oxygen ignition tested as well as
promoted oxygen ignition tested by interna-
tional inspection body Apragaz. Product cer-
tification to these standards was witnessed
by TÜV Rheinland SA.
Lourens le Roux, Afrox,
tel (+27 11) 490-0400
Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation
Technique has complemented its extensive
range of surface drilling equipment with the
recent addition of Powercrusher, a world-
class range of high-performance mobile
crushing and screening equipment.
Hartl Powercrusher, a crushing and screen-
ing equipment specialist based in Austria,
was acquired by Atlas Copco in 2010. “This
successful three-year partnership has now
reached the African continent,” says Hedley
Birnie, Business Line Manager for Atlas Copco
South Africa, Mining & Rock Excavation Tech-
nique. “The addition of the crusher and screen-
er equipment range to our current surface
drilling equipment offering, which comprises
surface drill rigs as well as a wide range of Di-
mensional Stone Industry (DSI) equipment, not
only expands our current product portfolio but
Powercrusher range now available locally
also broadens our customer base.”
The Powercrusher range includes jaw, im-
pact and cone crushers as well as standard,
double and triple deck screens. The units are
said to be ruggedly constructed and engi-
neered to ensure consistent size and quality
of output material. Downtime is kept to an
absolute minimum with special designs for
quick easy adjustments and ease of access
for equipment and service maintenance.
Powercrusher jaw crushers feature a ‘Quat-
tro Movement,’ with an upward-thrust toggle
plate position that gives a unique figure-8
motion on the moving jaw. This increases the
feeding capacity and produces a post-crush
at the crusher outlet.
The Powercrusher impact crusher range
offers huge output capacity for handling large
feed sizes and can be used as a primary unit
in recycling and soft stone applications. With
high reduction ratios and throughputs, these
crushers can eliminate up to two crushing
stages (application-dependent), with sub-
stantial cost reduction implications.
“Excellent output capacity is also delivered
by the compact 1 000 mm Atlas Copco Pow-
ercrusher cone crusher,” notes Birnie. “The
crusher is designed with an ‘all in’ in-feed
that increases particle-on-particle crushing,
which, in turn, improves the quality of the end
material shape, decreases wear on the ma-
chine parts, and can eliminate the need for
pre-screening.”
The Atlas Copco Powercrusher screens
feature a compact design and high screening
efficiency and are said to be ideally suited to
quarry, mining and construction application
requirements.
Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation
Technique, tel (+27 11) 821-9000
