Manufacturer secures contract in telecommunications sector

9th August 2013

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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Cable- and pipe-sealing mechanisms manufacturer Roxtec has completed work on five modular data centres, with two nearing completion, for mobile communications company Vodacom’s Project Cube.

“The nature of the equipment in the containers and Vodacom’s drive to cut energy costs and improve efficiencies have made the correct sealing of the data centres important. Vodacom chose Roxtec for its sealing capabilities and its flexibility and safety with regard to hazards like fire, gas, water and even vermin such as rodents,” says Roxtec product manager Derek Colyn.

Roxtec cable seals prevent hazards like fire, gas and water from penetrating the container when sealing electrical, instrumentation and air-conditioning pipes and fibre cables.

Roxtec’s involvement in the project started in October 2012, with the objective to manu- facture containers for more than 20 sites within the next three to five years.

Master Power Technologies is the main contractor for Vodacom’s Project Cube and is manufacturing the specialised modular data centres for deployment throughout South Africa, says Colyn.

Project Cube involves Vodacom expanding its fibre-optic and communication networks across South Africa in several areas, such as Kempton Park, in Johannesburg; eMalahleni, in Mpumalanga; and Kokstad, in KwaZulu-Natal.

Roxtec has also received orders for numerous stainless steel cable transit systems for multidisciplinary engineering and project delivery company Uhde, which is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for petrochemicals company Sasol’s Coal-Tar Filtration (CTF) project, located at Sasol’s Secunda holding.

Roxtec became involved in the project in November, offering the CTF plant flexibility by supplying cables and spare cables at the beginning of the project. All future cable changes to any of the plants’ substations and control rooms can take place without compromising the integrity of the building.

Further, the substations and control rooms are considered safe areas for employees. For example, fire or harmful gases will not leak into these safe areas.

“In hazardous environments, it is important to keep people safe. Roxtec’s stainless steel cable transit systems are blast-load-tested to ensure people are safe inside the building, should a blast occur in the field,” says Colyn.

Meanwhile, tooling, materials technology, mining and construction engineering group Sandvik and South Africa-based contractor Shaw Controls are building stacker reclaimers for mining giant Vale’s Moatize coal mine, in Tete, Mozambique.

The electrical house, or E-house, contains all the electrical equipment for the functioning of the stacker reclaimer, which is used at the mine to pile coal on a conveyor belt.

It is a prefabricated walk-in modular enclosure containing medium- and low- voltage switchgear and auxiliary equipment, as well as Roxtec seals in the undercroft section, where all the instrumentation and some electrical cables enter the E-house.

Five E-houses of varying sizes are required, with the first unit due for delivery before the end of the year.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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