A recent award has reinforced Pilot Crushtec’s place in the market as a leading supplier of mobile crushing and screening equipment. The company was recently announced the overall winner of the first annual SA Pro/Awards competition, which recognise engineering design excellence.

The SA Pro/Awards competition was held by productONE, the sub-Saharan distributor for PTC’s product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions – Pro/ENGINEER and Windchill. “There was extremely good participation from the user community, and the standard of entries was extremely high,” says Dayne Turbitt, managing director of productONE. He adds that the event marks the start of a fruitful partnership with Dell, which sponsored the prizes.

Pilot Crushtec’s TwisterTrac AC210 mobile vertical shaft impact (VSI) crusher is the product that secured the top place for the company. This tracked, fully mobile VSI crusher is the first of its kind in both the local and international markets.

The TwisterTrac has been engineered from the ground up making it fit for purpose unlike many so-called mobile crushers which are static machines adapted to accommodate the need for mobility.

The TwisterTrac comprises a variable speed belt feeder, a Twister VSI crusher, a discharge conveyor and a diesel hydraulic power pack, all mounted on a heavy duty track undercarriage with dual speed configuration and 25 degree gradability.

A major feature of the TwisterTrac is that the entire machine is controlled via a PLC. This automates all the crusher’s features and facilitates ongoing monitoring of all aspects of the crusher’s operation. It also provides a number of safety and diagnostic features, and has an integrated warning and automatic shut down facility. The TwisterTrac has been designed to minimise maintenance with its modular configuration.

The TwisterTrac was designed by two of Pilot Crushtec’s engineers using the Pro/ENGINEER software package. It was the first project for which Pilot Crushtec had used the software, and the machine was designed in only six months. “This is a testament to the Pro/ENGINEER’s ease of use,” Turbitt comments. The TwisterTrac was launched at the 2005 Hillhead Quarry and Mining Exhibition in the United Kingdom.

All entries were pre-judged by an expert panel that included independent judges from major engineering publications, and competition finalists were selected by independent judges within the MCAD community. An online voting system also determined the winning design in each industry.

Entries were evaluated on the benefits that solutions offered by PTC provided to the product development process within companies. Other judging criteria included product innovation, measurable product benefits, complexity of design, speed of design and overall aesthetics.