Search

The conveyor belt is one of the most operational critical equipment’s in the mining industry, they are mostly used in the transportation of crushed materials from the crushing station to where there’ll be further processed. Due to the increasing complexity of belt conveyor systems, managing their integrity has become even more difficult, as they are now used across various industries, environments and carry materials of different weight variations, leaving them susceptible to failures (1). This paper provides an industry specific knowledge on how Weibull analysis can be used to predict the failure rate of a conveyor belt system, using parameters such as the time to failure (TTF), installation and failure dates, as determinant parameters for the predictions. Several Weibull failure distributions and functions have been used to establish accuracy of results and to create comparisons on the different ways in which risk, unreliability and availability are quantified, using calculated values such as the Shape and scale parameter. The paper utilizes real world case studies in the area of mining, which sheds light on key component failures and their cut sets within the conveyor belt system (2) Keywords: TTF, TTR, Threshold parameter, Repair date, Shape parameter, B10, B15, B20, Scale parameter, ECA, CDF, PDF

The conveyor belt is one of the most operational critical equipment’s in the mining industry, they are mostly used in the transportation of crushed materials from the crushing station to where there’ll be further processed. Due to the increasing complexity of belt conveyor systems, managing their integrity has become even more difficult, as they are now used across various industries, environments and carry materials of different weight variations, leaving them susceptible to failures (1). This paper provides an industry specific knowledge on belt conveyor systems, their respective components, and how they are configured using fault tree analysis to predict the different branches of event that can contribute to the failure of a belt conveyor system. The use of fault tree analysis sheds more light on how cascading failures can occur, where the failure of one component leads to the failure of the overall system. (2) Keywords: RCFA, FMEA Opex, FTA, Capex, Eca, Ttf, Ttr.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems.Design/methodology/approachA structural methodology of graph theory and matrix approach is used for developing a framework for safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems.FindingsThe development of a framework for safety performance measurement of belt conveyor systems is essential for ensuring plant safety. For this, safety performance factors, including design and operating contextual factors of belt conveyor systems, are identified. The factors along with their interrelations are modeled using digraph. An equivalent matrix of the digraph provided safety performance function (SPF) of belt conveyor systems, leading to the development of a safety performance index (SPI).Practical implicationsThe developed framework will enable the designers for evaluating and comparing alternative designs of conveyor systems from the safety viewpoint. The plant operators can make inferences from the SPI to identify the weak contextual factors in the plant and develop action plans for its mitigation.Originality/valueThe paper is novel and employs graph theory and matrix approach for safety performance measurement. The methodology helps in the quantitative evaluation of the safety performance of belt conveyor systems.

The results of the research presented in the article relate to a fundamentally new type of continuous transport machines-conveyors with a suspended load-carrying belt and a distributed drive. The main advantages of which are due to the features of the kinematic scheme, in which the load-bearing conveyor belt is held by the sides by means of roller suspensions on rolling guides closed along the route and does not interact with its base with supporting supports, and the drive is implemented according to the distributed scheme by the equipment of individual suspensions with individual motor-gear drives. A feature of such a kinematic scheme is the nature of the failures associated with the operation of highly loaded drive suspensions, the influence of which affects the main technical characteristics of the conveyor with a sufficiently increased number. The paper presents a mathematical model designed to calculate the dynamic characteristics of a conveyor with a suspended belt and a distributed drive when the types of failures characteristic of this conveyor design occur, associated with a break in the supply electrical circuit of the motor-gear drive of the suspensions. Based on the developed mathematical model for the reference design of a conveyor with a suspended belt and a distributed drive, a series of numerical calculations of dynamic characteristics in the event of failures of drive suspensions is performed. The obtained results allowed us to establish that with a reduction in the number of groups of consistently failed drive suspensions located with an equal step along the route, the technical characteristics of the conveyor deteriorate: the speed of movement of the load-bearing belt and the total power of the drives are reduced, and the longitudinal tensile stresses in the belt are increased. With an increase in the number of consistently failed drive suspensions within one group, the power and speed of the conveyor decrease non-linearly, and the longitudinal stresses in the conveyor belt increase linearly. In general, the results of calculations of the technical characteristics of the reference idealized design demonstrated the possibility of the conveyor operation in case of failure of 90% of the drive suspensions. The actual performance indicators are determined by the technical characteristics of the used gear motor drives.

The existence of conveyor foreign objects poses a serious threat to the service life of conveyor belts, which will cause abnormal damage or even tearing, so fast and effective detection of conveyor foreign objects is of great significance to ensure the safe and efficient operation of belt conveyors. Considering the need for the foreign object detection algorithm to operate in edge computing devices, this paper proposes a hybrid compression method that integrates network sparse, structured pruning, and knowledge distillation to compress the network parameters and calculations. Combined with a Yolov5 network for practice, three structured pruning strategies are specifically proposed, all of which are proven to have achieved a good compression effect. The experiment results show that under the pruning rate of 0.9, the proposed three pruning strategies can achieve more than 95% compression for network parameters, more than 90% compression for the computation, and more than 90% compression for the size of the network model, and the optimized network is able to accelerate inference on both Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) hardware platforms, with a maximum speedup of 70.3% on the GPU platform and 157.5% on the CPU platform, providing an excellent real-time performance but also causing a large accuracy loss. In contrast, the proposed method balances better real-time performance and detection accuracy (>88.2%) when the pruning rate is at 0.6~0.9. Further, to avoid the influence of motion blur, a method of introducing prior knowledge is proposed to improve the resistance of the network, thus strongly ensuring the detection effect. All the technical solutions proposed are of great significance in promoting the intelligent development of coal mine equipment, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of belt conveyors, and promoting sustainable development.

Di masa yang lalu, untuk mengetahui kinerja dari sebuah komponen di dalam suatu sistem sulit dilakukan, karena banyaknya parameter dan butuh waktu serta biaya yang besar. Dengan perkembangan teknologi di bidang computer saat ini banyak sekali menghasilkan software yang dapat digunakan untuk menganalisis dan membantu dalam sebuah perencanaan suatu komponen. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk memberikan solusi yang terbaik dalam perencanaan pembuatan suatu komponen V Flow. Dengan menggunakan CFD, kita dapat mensimulasikan aliran batu bara pada saat melewati V Flow, sehingga kita dapat mengetahui bentuk konstruksi yang paling optimal untuk menghasilkan laju aliran yang seragam. Dalam penelitian ini dijelaskan hubungan antara besarnya sudut bukaan dengan panjang pelat Flow dan offset antara V Flow pemecah dan pembersih terhadap belt conveyor. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa V Flow pemecah dengan sudut bukaan yang besar serta pelat Plow yang panjang menghasilkan laju aliran yang optimal. Penelitian ini diharapkan dapat menjadi rujukan untuk penerapan V Flow di lapangan, khususnya di industri yang menggunakan V Flow dan Belt Conveyor sebagai sarana transfortasi bahan bakunya

The throughput of a belt conveyor system is the primary design parameter when considering a new installation, determined by the cross-section of the material on the belt, coupled with the belt spee...

Purpose. The purpose of this work is to substantiate the optimal values of the belt conveyor parameters, at which the specific energy consumption for the cargo transportation takes on the lowest value. Methodology. The substantiation of the optimal values of the belt conveyor parameters was carried out by minimizing the function of specific energy consumption, which represents the energy consumption for the transportation of a cargo weighing 1 kg at a distance of 1 m. In the course of research, the drive force was determined using the contour bypass meth-od. In this case, the specific loads from the transported cargo, belt and roller supports were presented as functions of the belt width. To establish the optimal values of the conveyor productivity and belt speed, the belt width was presented as a function of these values, taking into account the physical and mechanical properties of the transported cargo, the design features of the roller supports and the belt angle. Findings. I obtained the dependences of specific energy consumption on the design parameters of the conveyor. Their analysis made it possible to identify the opti-mal values of the belt width, conveyor productivity, belt speed, and the optimal ratio of the last two values for dif-ferent types of transported cargo. It is noted that the results obtained can be supplemented by carrying out calcula-tions according to the formula given in this work. It has been established that the optimal value of the belt width depends only on the belt angle and on the coefficients that determine the energy losses, in particular the movement resistance coefficient of the belt; the influence of the specified coefficient increases with an increase in the belt angle. In addition, the optimal value of the belt width does not depend on the conveyor length, its productivity and belt speed. Originality. The dependences of the specific energy consumption on the design parameters of the belt conveyor were obtained, which made it possible to establish the optimal values of the belt width and the ratio of the conveyor productivity to the belt speed. Practical value. The results of this work can be used in the design of energy-efficient belt conveyors, which are characterized by the lowest specific energy consumption for cargo transportation.

The demagnetization of permanent magnet electric roller of coal mine belt conveyor will reduce the comprehensive performance of electric roller. In serious cases, the belt conveyor will stop suddenly or burn down, leading to the failure of normal production and safety accidents on the site. In this paper, starting from the A-phase current and output torque angles under different degrees of loss of magnetic fault, the B–H curve is fitted by linear ratio, and the reverse electromotive force is modeled by numerical analysis method. A diagnosis method for the degree of demagnetization of permanent magnet electric roller on account of the mathematical model of back electromotive force is presented. In this paper, a 200 KW permanent magnet electric roller used in a mine is taken as the research object. The finite element model is established by ANSYS Electronics Desktop and the demagnetization simulation of model is carried out. The model of mathematics on account of the back electromotive force is compared with a model of finite element simulation, and the back electromotive force waveform of the two methods is basically the same, and the error is less than 5%. The mathematical model based on the reverse electromotive force proposed in this paper can accurately reflect the degree of loss of magnetization of the motor, and the calculation results are accurate, which is conducive to determining the state of the permanent magnet electric roller more effectively, and provides a theoretical basis for predicting and diagnosing the failure of loss of magnetization of the permanent magnet electric roller.

The problem faced is damage, especially to the screw conveyor from the Continuous Ship Unloader (CSU) as a dry bulk material transfer equipment (phosphate rock) which is taken from the ship's hold which is flowed by a screw conveyor followed by the belt conveyor to the material warehouse to be processed into a type of fertilizer. The purpose of planning is to obtain a schedule and estimated cost of maintenance and repair of CSU for the period 2022 to 2025, and to obtain the ratio of maintenance-repair costs to the profit of the machine. Planning methods uses the IRRO (Inspection, Replace, Repair, and Overhoul) method include data collection of machine maintenance history and component breakdowns, checking CSU specifications, making a list of component life predictions and component prices, predicting costs and duration of component dissasembly, screw conveyor repair, maintenance and repair scheduling, and maintenance and repair cost estimates. The real results of planning in the form of a maintenance and repair schedule for the period of 2022 to 2025; maintenance and repair costs respectively for the years 2022 to 2025 are IDR 136,873,000; IDR 335,986,000; IDR 160,687,000; and IDR 464,733,000; and the ratio between maintenance costs to profit for the years 2022 to 2025 is 0.51, 1.22, 0.57, and 1.63 which means the machine is still fit for use without the need for refurbishment because it is still prospective.

In order to improve the stability of the belt conveyor system, its lumped parameters are analyzed and controlled based on the belt conveyor model and the adaptive control algorithm of the fuzzy control. The effect of the parameters on the running deviation mechanism of the belt conveyor is evaluated. Then, the eccentricity of the platen roller (α) is controlled to reduce the horizontal force and horizontal velocity of the belt conveyor. The research results show that the stability of the belt conveyor is greatly influenced by the eccentricity of the platen roller, especially with the high load and velocity of the belt conveyor. Additionally, with the eccentricity of the platen roller controlled by the fuzzy control, both the horizontal force and horizontal velocity are insignificantly changed when increasing the eccentricity of the platen roller, especially at α= 0-6°, Therefore, the stability of the belt conveyor system is obviously improved by using the fuzzy control.

The article describes experimental studies of effective belt tension between the mined hard coal and a rubber conveyor belt. Effective belt tension has a critical impact on the safety and operational reliability of belt conveyors transporting excavated material after ascending or descending. Three samples of flame-retardant conveyor belts from three manufacturers and raw power coal material were used in the tests. In order to determine the significance of the influence of variable parameters on the values of static friction coefficients, the hypothesis on the equality of mean values of the studied variable in three populations was verified by means of the analysis of variance. On the basis of the obtained results, the maximum belt speed was determined as a function of the permissible inclination angle of the belt conveyor.

In this work, we are studying during experiments with a flat belt conveyor system with different speeds such as 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 R.P.M. In this study, it is also included that the observations of the different load capacities (Grams) at different outlet times (Hours). The design of the flat belt conveyor system is very important for the specific speed range of the material handling system from place to place, which depends on the effective length of the belt.

The article provides a methodology for determining the theoretical study of the movement of potato tubers and impurities in a lifting centrifugal-separating bar elevator in potato harvesters. Most of the separating working bodies, which separate the components according to other characteristics, cannot work satisfactorily if there is a large amount of fine soil in the separated mass. Based on the results of the research carried out by us on the experimental installation, the layout of the pressure-pressure cylinder in the potato harvester was determined. This device separates the soil by centrifugal forces, and the lifting of the tubers produces a difference from known machines, without buckets or blades. A drum with a belt conveyor is located concentrically to the belt of the centrifugal elevator.

The article considers the initial provisions of the research and design of conveyor transport that allows to transport bulk cargo in safety. At the same time, it is noted that there is a need for a harmless impact on the environment, especially in long-distance routes transporting with vertical and horizontal bends, as well as with a minimum number of reloading nodes. The review and analysis of the standard sizes of existing conveyors shows certain advantages of the technological nature of the pipe belt conveyor (PBC). The considered construction of PBC, in comparison with existing ones is formed with a closed belt tray due to support devices placed along the perimeter of the transportation line of bulk cargo. It is indicated that when the belt with the load moves simultaneously behind the roller support, due to some collapse of the belt the relationship between the cargo particles and the belt decreases and the system "transported cargo – conveyor belt" is in an active stress state. This circumstance makes it possible to ignore the active phase at high transport speeds. It is revealed that the main advantages of conveyor transport are a high level of labor productivity, achieved by automating the operation of equipment and low production costs. The problems are the need to split the transported cargo, accurate reconciliation of transition areas, coordination of drives and synchronization of movements, easily adjustable in the course of work, subject to certain initial construction conditions. The tractive calculation of the PBC by circumventing the contour, as with traditional conveyors, allowed us to determine the force of resistance to the movement of the belt, the load pressure along the cross section, and the forces acting on the lower and side rollers. A computer 3D model of the PBC was created by using the SolidWorks software product, which includes: creating special support elements and roller supports that twist the belt into the pipe, selecting metal construction elements and calculating their strength, roller supports, and supporting conveyor devices. The stress-strain state of the belt is shown and a model of the PBC under load is constructed, a load map that allows analyzing the distribution of various internal reactive force factors, i.e. forces and moments that occur in the elements of the design model.

The article attempts to establish the basic patterns in the formation of loads in the structure of the conveyor frame due to changes in the design position of the constituent elements based on analytical calculations. The amortization replacement of rollers and the establishment of a change in the projected resource caused the change in the design position.The aim of the work is to study the interaction of the elements of the belt conveyor on the convex region of the profile when the design position changes and to determine the change in the resource of the roller support elements. The purpose of the work is formulated from the analysis of unplanned stops and premature replacement of conveyor elements, in particular conveyor rollers, on the convex region of the profile.To achieve this goal the influence of the geometric parameters of the convex section of the belt conveyor profile on the force interaction of the belt and roller supports was considered, and the change in the resource of the roller bearings was determined.To characterize the geometric parameters of the convex section of the belt conveyor, the following were selected: the number of roller supports, the distance between the roller supports, the radius of curvature of the conveyor profile, the angle of the curved section. The mathematical model is based on the belt equilibrium equation, which contains the tension forces of the conveyor belt and the forces from the action of roller supports. Particular attention is paid to establishing the effect of changing the geometric parameters of the convex section on the roller bearing life. It has been established that a decrease in the radius of the transitional convex section as a result of a change in the initial design position by 2.4 times leads to an increase in the force acting on the roller support by 161%. It was found that the increase in force is the reason for the rapid exit from the operational state of the rolling bearings of the roller bearings, as evidenced by the intensive drop in the resource of the rollers (18 times).The proposed algorithm for determining the main parameters of the force interaction of the elements of the belt conveyor on the convex region of the profile will make it possible to predict the resource and prevent the conveyor from leaving the premature operational state.

Conventionally, a series of several individual conveyors is necessary to realise long conveyor lines. This segmentation creates critical transfer points for the transport of goods. The number of transfer points and the overall height can be minimised by direct drives based on magnetic toothed belts and carriers attached to the mat chains. For example, a modular belt conveyor with an overall height of 100 mm and a width of 1 m can reach a length of well over 10 m. The friction between the mat chain and the sliding plane can be reduced by using alternative sliding partners such as a textile or a sliding support made of wood-based materials. These measures increase process and work safety and allow the system to be designed to be energy efficient.

Актуальность исследования заключается в том, что применение циклично-поточной технологии в рациональных для нее условиях позволяет заметно сократить затраты на транспортирование горной массы, однако имеет особенности и ограничения, в частности большой объем капитальных затрат. Поэтому необходимо применение методик, обеспечивающих достоверный расчет окупаемости проекта и оптимизацию его технико-экономических параметров. Цель: на основе анализа чистого дисконтированного дохода установить области экономичного применения комплексов циклично-поточной технологии в сравнении с экскаваторно-автомобильными комплексами. Объекты: горнотехнические факторы комплексов циклично-поточной технологии и экскаваторно-автомобильных комплексов (годовая производительность, высота подъема горной массы, вид транспортируемой горной массы, технологические особенности размещения дробильно-конвейерного комплекса в карьерном пространстве). Методы: научный и технико-экономический анализ, графоаналитический. Результаты. Приводится обзор применения современных комплексов циклично-поточной технологии на карьерах России. Показаны результаты расчета экономического эффекта от применения комплексов циклично-поточной технологии в сравнении с экскаваторно-автомобильными комплексами по методике, разработанной в ИГД УрО РАН. В результате исследования определен срок окупаемости дополнительных инвестиций на вскрышной комплекс циклично-поточной технологии с разносом борта карьера, учитывающий дисконтирование затрат, при различных технологических параметрах (высота подъема горной массы от 180 до 680 м, годовая производительность комплексов от 5 до 30 млн т/год). Показано изменение разницы чистого дисконтированного дохода по вариантам циклично-поточная технология-экскаваторно-автомобильный комплекс в зависимости от горнотехнических параметров комплексов. Установлена область наиболее экономичного применения циклично-поточной технологии с ленточными конвейерами стандартного уклона (до 16°) при разносе борта карьера под дробильно-конвейерный комплекс по затратам на транспорт. The relevance of the research lies in the fact that the use of cyclic flow technology in rational conditions for it allows you to significantly reduce the cost of transporting rock mass, but it has features and limitations, in particular, a large amount of capital expenditures. Therefore, it is necessary to use methods that ensure reliable calculation of the project's payback and optimization of its technical and economic parameters. Objective: based on the analysis of net present value to determine the areas of economical application of cycle-flow technology complexes in comparison with excavator-automobile complexes. Objects: mining factors of complexes of cyclical-flow technology and excavator-automobile complexes (annual productivity, height of lifting of rock mass, type of transported rock mass, technological features of placement of crushing and conveyor complex in the quarry space). Methods: scientific and techno-economic analysis, graphic. Results. The article provides an overview of the use of modern cyclic-flow technology complexes in Russian quarries; shows the results of calculating the economic effect of the complexes compared with the excavator-automobile complexes by the method developed in mining Institute Ural branch Russian Academy of Sciences. The study determined the payback period of additional investment for Stripping complex of cyclic-flow technology with the spacing side of the pit, taking into account the discounting of costs at different process parameters (lift height of rock mass from 180 to 680 m, the annual capacity of the complexes range from 5 to 30 million MT/year). It shows the change in the difference in net present value for the variants of the cyclic-flow technology-excavator-automobile complexes depending on the mining parameters of the complexes. The area of the most economical application of the cyclic-flow technology with belt conveyors of a standard slope (up to 16°) when the side of the quarry is spread under the crushing and conveyor complex at the cost of transport was established.

A transfer point is an element of a belt conveyor prone to increased energy losses and to the risk of failure. It is also a location in which the receiving belt is particularly susceptible to damage. Except failure-free operation, a transfer point should offer minimal belt resistances to motion by ensuring that the transported material is placed centrally on the receiving belt, both spillage of the material and blockages are prevented, the process of particle defragmentation is limited, and also that noise and dust emissions to the environment are reduced. Ensuring that the above requirements are met requires inter alia the use of advanced simulation tests. The article analyzes the flow of ore particles stream through a longitudinal transfer point used in an underground copper ore mine. Discrete Element Method was used to identify the phenomena which occur while transferring ore onto the receiving conveyor. The research allowed key variables affecting the transfer point performance to be identified. It also resulted in a proposal of actions which can improve the performance of the transfer point and which are focused on saving energy and on minimizing the damage and wear of the receiving belt.

Thermal power units are a major source of power generation in India. Belt conveyor is the leading transportation system in a thermal power plant. Belt conveyor fire in a thermal power plant breaks ...

The paper contains the results of theoretical studies of loading parameters of carrying and tractive belts of a multidrive belt conveyor in case of accidental sliding deviations of electric motor drives. The direct effect of a random combination of sliding deviations on the working life value of the carrying belt is shown. The justification for taking into account the actual parameters of belt loading cycles when calculating their working life during the process of designing multidrive belt conveyor within each combination of sliding deviations is given. The paper demonstrates inconsistency of the approach regulating the determination of the skewness ratio of loading cycles as a value inverse to the drives traction factor.

A ladle belt conveyor with increased traction ability is proposed at the request of Kostanay Minerals JSC. A geometric diagram of the conveyor route for cyclic-flow technology with the transportation of rock mass steeply falling conveyors in the contours of the quarry of the first stage of the Dzhetygara chrysotile deposit is given. The calculation of the geometric dimensions of individual sections of the conveyor is performed. The parameters of the transported material, the route and the bucket belt conveyor itself are determined.

A bucket belt conveyor with increased traction ability is proposed at the request of Kostanay Minerals JSC. A geometric diagram of the conveyor circuit for the cyclical-flow technology with the transportation of rock mass by steeply inclined conveyors in the contours of the quarry of the first stage of the Dzhetygara chrysotile deposit is given. The calculation of the geometric dimensions of individual sections of the conveyor is performed. The parameters of the transported material, the circuit and the bucket belt conveyor itself have are determined.

As post-harvest processes of onions are carried by a 20 kg-net package which results in high-cost and lowefficiency, especially, the insufficient drying and physical damage of onions after harvesting leads to a huge second loss in storage, we had developed a low-cost, high-efficiency post-harvest bulk handling machinery system by collecting onions on a farm using ton-bags, drying with forced air circulation, and sorting/packaging. The post-harvest bulk handling machinery system consisted of 6 devices, and this study designed an automatic feed hopper with a feeding rate control device, an inclined belt conveyor with a two-step chute, and an automatic pallet unloading device for feeding onions into the sorting/packing line. This study also analyzed the performance and control of the total system. The device had 1-ton handling capacity, but the operational condition was set to increase the capacity. The three-step filling method of pallet by the velocity control of the inclined belt conveyor was applied in the post-harvest bulk handling machinery system for the prevention of physical damage. If one worker was set to operate the total system, the time required to complete one palletized load was approximately 5 minutes and 5 seconds. The calculated daily handling capacity was approximately 94 tons, when the daily actual working time was 8 hours. When the developed system was applied to the managerial size of 2,000 ton, the processing cost per ton of the system was decreased by 19.5%, compared with the existing 20 kg-net package-based handling. The developed post-harvest bulk handling machinery system would be a good substitute for the rapid decline and aging of rural labor.

The energy consumption of modern belt conveying systems has reduced considerably over the past few decades. Although extensive research has been conducted into the production of energy-efficient be...

Belt conveyor systems are widely utilized in transportation applications. This research aims to achieve fault detection on belt conveyor idlers with an acoustic signal based method. The presented novel method uses Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients and Gradient Boost Decision Tree for feature extraction and classification. Thirteen Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients are extracted from acquired sound signal as features. A Gradient Boost Decision Tree model is developed and trained. After training, the model is applied to a testing dataset. Results show that the trained model can achieve diagnosis accuracy of 94.53%, as well as recall rate up to 99.7%. This study verifies the proposed method for acoustic signal based fault detection of belt conveyor idlers.

In order to monitor the roller states online running on the belt conveyor, one class of fault diagnosis systems based on audio is studied in this paper. Firstly, the audio data is collected from the belt conveyor by sensors, which is analyzed using the stacked sparse encoders and convolutional neural network. Secondly, the fault features are extracted from the audio data by using spectral clustering algorithm. Finally, a real fault diagnosis system is applied on the belt conveyor working in the coal preparation plant. The running result shows that the fault diagnosis system works very well for rollers fault detection with the accuracy rate 96.7%.

The paper contains the results of the probabilistic modelling of joint operation of multidrive belt conveyors in case of their full load as well as without cargo. As a result, modelling demonstrates the need of additional reservation of drive power when designing multidrive belt conveyors. On the basis of the modelling, operational principles of joint operation of belt conveyors are established when there are random slide deviations of their engines. These deviations represent specific conditions of electric motors distribution between the drives as well as the influence features of their parameters on the distribution of the carrying and tractive belts.

The paper presents the concept of installation of an electricity generator and en energy store inside a roller of belt or roller conveyor. Accordingly, the use of a generator-pulley does not require any structural changes to be made to an existing conveyor. In addition, the user will be able to power distributed sensors network for monitoring the operation of the belt conveyor anywhere on its route. © 2020 Krzysztof Mazurek et al., published by Sciendo., European Regional Development Fund under the project CEBIA-Tech [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0089]

Margin occurs where a design is overspecified with respect to the minimum required. Margin may be desirable to mitigate risk and absorb future changes, but at the same time, may be undesirable if the overspecification deteriorates the design’s performance. In this article, the margin value method (MVM) is introduced to analyse an engineering design, localise the excess margin, and quantify it considering change absorption potential in relation to design performance deterioration. The method provides guidance for improving a design by prioritising excess margin that provides relatively little advantage at high cost, and that could, therefore, be eliminated to improve design performance. It shows how the value of excess margin depends on its localisation in the design parameter network, the importance of design performance parameters, and the importance of absorbing potential future changes. The method is applied to a belt conveyor design. This case indicates that the method is practicable, reveals implications, and suggests opportunities for further work.

ROSI is a mobile robot designed to inspect belt conveyor machinery in the mining industry. The proposed system is a wheeled and tracked mobile platform equipped with a robotic manipulator and several sensors to allow execution of the scheduled tasks.

The particulars of using diagonal plows in transport lines conveying batch and cullet to the hoppers of glass furnace chargers are examined. An improved design of a diagonal plow equipped with an electromagnetic vibrator is presented. An adaptive algorithm controlling the unloading of batch and cullet from a belt conveyor is presented. It is shown that additional mixing of these materials on the belt is possible.

One of the ways to reduce capital costs and shorten length of conveyor transport routes is to increase angle of the conveyor inclination. As practice shows, limit inclination angle of general-purpose belt conveyors transporting bulk loads is 18°- 22°, while angle of natural slope of ore and coal is 40° and 35°, respectively. Such a difference between the angles of bulk load slope and limit inclination angle of the belt conveyor transporting the bulk loads is explained by the belt vibration impacting on the state of the transported load during its moving along the belt conveyor idlers. When exposed to vibrations, the solid-yielding state of the granular medium passes into a free-dispersed state at which inertial forces of the particles exceed the forces of internal coulomb friction between the particles. Moreover, as experimental studies have shown, granular medium moves relative to the conveyor belt at anglesof conveyor inclination of 18°–22°, i.e. limit angle of inclination of the conveyor belt transporting bulk load does not exceed 18°–22°. Today, limit angle of inclination of the conveyor belt transporting bulk loads is not studied well. In this research, the authors tried to determine limit angle of inclination of the conveyor belt transporting bulk loads by considering different types of the idlers: with rigid line, damping idlers and suspension idler with rope line. Limit angle of the conveyor belt inclination was determined on the basis of the change in momentum theorem applied to the lump during its moving over the idler and with the assumption that a lump, while passing over the idler, began sliding along the conveyor belt. As a result, analytical dependences of limit angle of the conveyor belt inclination on the conveyor parameters (belt tension and speed), parameters of idlers (distance between them), length of the bulk load and coefficient of friction of the lump against the conveyor belt were obtained. The studies of the obtained dependences showed that belt conveyors with damping idlers featured the widest limit angle of inclination, and inclination angel of the belt conveyors with suspension idlers had the least value. In addition, it was found that with increase of the conveyor belt speed and weight of the transported lumps limit angle of the conveyor inclination decreased and increased with increase of the belt tension. Further, critical speed of the conveyor belt was determined at which piece of load began sliding along the conveyor belt at any angle of the conveyor inclination.

Расчет нагрузок на ролики ленточного конвейера для различных нагрузки и создания программы для ЭВМ, которая будет учитывать влияние вида транспортируемого материала, его физических свойств на нагрузки в опорных роликах конвейера, что позволит в дальнейшем компьютеризировать процесс расчета нагрузки. Улучшение конструкции роликов при экстремальных нагрузках способствует увеличению их срока службы, поскольку это сдвигает величины нагрузок, при которых возникает перекос, в большую сторону, что дает возможность, используя стандартные шарикоподшипники существенно увеличивать срок службы роликов. Расчет максимальной загрузки на ролики конвейера на ЭВМ, позволяет рассчитывать загрузку разных типов горной породы в зависимости от его свойств., Calculation of the loads on the rollers of the conveyor belt for various loads and the creation of a computer program that will take into account the influence of the type of transported material, its physical properties on the loads in the supporting rollers of the conveyor, which will further computerize the process of calculating the load. Improving the design of rollers under extreme loads helps to increase their service life, since this shifts the magnitude of the loads at which misalignment occurs, which makes it possible, using standard ball bearings, to significantly increase the service life of the rollers. The calculation of the maximum load on the conveyor rollers on a computer allows you to calculate the load of different types of rock, depending on its properties.

Idlers are typical rotating parts of a belt conveyor carrying the conveyor belt and materials. The complex operating noise and unstable features lead to poor accuracy of sound-based idler fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a fault diagnosis method for belt conveyor idlers based on Transformer’s dynamic self-attention (DSA). Firstly, the A-weighted time-frequency spectrum of the idler sound is extracted as the input. Secondly, based on the DSA block, the multi-frequency cross-correlation DSA algorithm is designed to extract the cross-correlation features between different frequency bands in the input feature map, and the global DSA algorithm is applied to perceive and enhance the global correlation features in parallel. Finally, the cross-correlation and global correlation features are concatenated and linearly projected into a fault-type space to diagnose typical bearing and roller faults of idlers. The method makes full use of the relevant information scattered in different frequency bands of the idler running sound under complex working conditions and reduces the negative effect of the strong running noise on the extraction of weak fault features. Experimental results show that the fault diagnosis accuracy is 94.6% and the latency is 27.8 ms.

The paper presents the findings of the investigative study on the contact zone of the tractive and carrying belts of the intermediate belt conveyor drive in cross section using thermal filming. The description of the test bench, conditions and sequence of the study is provided. The regularities of belt interaction are identified; particularly the irregularity of their adhesion in width in the contact zone, resulting in a number of primary longitudinally oriented areas. The location of the areas in cross section corresponds to the contact points of the belt sections with the roller ribs of supporting roller carriages. On the basis of the investigative study, the design procedure of the reduced factor of belt adhesion is developed. The procedure takes into account lumpiness of the loads as well, particularly probable bearing of the load particle layer adjacent to the belt directly through the edges. The paper shows the limitations within the context of the proposed procedure depending on the types of transported materials. The example of traction coefficient calculation is shown.

Predictive maintenance strategies for the mining sector are of utmost importance considering the automated behavior of industrial systems and the oftentimes inaccessible environment around belt conveyor systems. In this paper, we present a model combining IoT sensors and dead-reckoning modeling, focused on early theoretical work in the field of modeling the behavior of belt conveyor systems to act as a decision support tool in maintenance strategies, by estimating the remaining useful life (RUL) of rotating components in a belt conveyor system. The estimation of RUL is a function of the degradation of the ball bearings in idler rollers due to the forces acting on the rollers during the conveyance of material. The forces occur due to the material loading, the belt weight, roller shell weight, and the idler misalignment load (IML). Furthermore, the dynamics of bulk material during conveyance can be modeled in several ways considering earth pressure theory. A model considering this is derived from the Krausse Hettler method to determine the forces acting on the wing rollers of a thee-roll idler trough set by the notion that the bulk material undergoes active and passive stress states during conveyance. The model is further compared and extended to the works of Sokolovski, to get a bounded delta RUL reduction estimate on the roller bearings in each idler set of a belt conveyor system.

The long-distance traditional belt conveyor driven by a single high-power motor has the problems of excessive tension increments and sharp fluctuations in speed and tension. This paper designs a distributed permanent magnet direct drive belt conveyor system. The dynamic model of the conveyor belt unit and the permanent magnet motor is analyzed. The multi-motor ring coupling control strategy and the double sliding film direct torque control strategy of the belt conveyor system are formulated. The mechanical-electrical coupling dynamic model of the belt conveyor system is built. Using MATLAB/Simulink modeling and simulation, the vector control strategy and electromechanical coupling dynamic behavior of the traditional belt conveyor system and the distributed permanent magnet direct drive belt conveyor system under light load start-up and local variable load operation conditions are studied. The results show that: the distributed permanent magnet direct drive belt conveyor system significantly reduces the peak of conveyor belt tension increment; the time spent under the starting light-load operation condition is shorter, and the fluctuation amplitude of speed and tension is smaller; it is possible to reduce the speed and tension fluctuation range of the conveying system and improve the robustness of the conveying system under local variable load conditions. Experiments have verified that increasing the number of drive motors in a conventional belt conveyor can suppress the disturbance caused by local load changes, and the distributed permanent magnet direct-drive belt conveyor has better dynamic regulation performance.

Belt conveyors are the key equipment of bulk material transportation in ports. In the daily operation process, performance of belt conveyors are mostly inspected by manual, which are time-consuming and low-efficient.in this paper, a novel intelligent inspection system for a belt conveyor was put up. The main composition and function were introduced. In the near future, intelligent inspection for belt conveyors will be well applied.

This paper researches how to realize the fault classification of the roller components in the belt conveyor of the coal preparation plant, which is selected as the actual industrial scene for the application of fault. An actual fault state classification system based on audio data and designed for rollers of belt conveyor is built. The system is consists of hardware parts and software parts. The hardware part applies with wired communication to achieve on-line dynamically measuring in an awful spot environment. The software applied with machine learning algorithms is designed for fault classification to achieve the goal of more than 90% classification accuracy. The application demonstrates that the system has the characteristic of simple structure, higher interference-free capability, moving steadily, high precision, good expansibility, productivity-improving, and advanced performance-to-price ratio.

Comparative research was carried out on three methods of acquiring visual data on the shape of obstacles in wastelands and forest areas for automatic control of the stability of self-propelled machines. The tests were carried out for the following sensors: ultrasonic, 3D IFM O3M251 sensor, and Intel RealSense D455 sensor. The sensors were mounted on a common beam and positioned inline above the obstacles. Four cylindrical objects of various structures and sizes, placed on a driven belt conveyor, were used as recognition obstacles. Tests were carried out at two operating speeds. As a result of the research, obstacle heights were identified concerning relation to their movement under the sensors on the conveyor belt. The obtained results allowed for the assessment of the suitability of each of the methods in the context of their use as a substrate monitoring system for the stabilization systems of agricultural and forest self-propelled machines.