Patent Application
20250026578
The present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring conveyor components, and in particular, to a system and method for sensing at least one characteristic of at least one conveyor component, to indicate when maintenance may be required to be performed.
The present invention also relates to a conveyor roller, liner or other component, which incorporates at least one sensor therein, to sense characteristics such as temperature, noise or vibration, so as to indicate a status condition of the component, and in particular whether maintenance may be required to be undertaken.
Any reference herein to known prior art does not, unless the contrary intention appears, constitute an admission that such prior art is commonly known by persons skilled in the art to which the invention relates, at the priority date of this application.
Conveyor systems are used in a number of industrial situations, including in manufacturing, production and mining operations for moving various materials from one location to another.
Such conveyor systems take a variety of forms, and typically incorporate a number of component parts.
For example, in mining applications for conveying coal or other minerals, the conveyor components of a conveyor system may typically include the conveyor rollers, including one or more drive pulley/roller which drives a conveyor belt, a plurality of carrying idlers which support the belt carrying the mineral or other load to be conveyed, return rollers to support the returning portion of the endless conveyor belt, and, a take-up roller and its associated bend rollers to ensure that the belt remains taut during operation. These conveyor rollers have component parts, such as their bearings, which are prone to wear out and/or become damaged due to dust infiltration and the like.
Such conveyor systems also typically include a load chute, via which the coal or other mineral to be conveyed is supplied to one end of the conveyor belt, and, a discharge chute, via which the conveyed mineral is discharged at the other end of the conveyor belt. These chutes typically incorporate a liner on the working surface thereof, which is provided to minimise damage to the chute, and be more readily replaced from time to time as it wears out, rather than replacing the chute, per se.
As will be appreciated, particularly in mining operations, the conveyor system and its various component parts are typically subjected to considerable harsh treatment as they tend to operate in a generally rugged environment, and, are therefore prone to deterioration and/or catastrophic failure. This can not only lead to total shutdown of the conveyor system and hence the mining operation, which can not only cause significant loss of revenue, but, can also result in fire and/or other safety risks to the conveyor system, associated mining equipment, and, personnel.
This therefore identifies a need to monitor the condition of the various components of such conveyor systems, so as better detect the onset of deterioration of the various components, with a view to being able to instigate remedial action at scheduled shutdowns of the conveyor system, rather than encountering spontaneous failures of the system.
The present invention seeks to overcome at least some or all of the drawbacks of the prior art.
The present invention also seeks to provide a conveyor component monitoring system and method, for monitoring at least one characteristic of at least one conveyor component.
The present invention also seeks to provide a conveyor component, such as, but not limited to, a conveyor roller or a conveyor liner, which incorporates a sensor.
The present invention also seek to provide a sensor which is adapted to monitor at least one condition of at least a conveyor component.
In a broad form, the present invention provides a conveyor roller including a monitoring/sensing device provided therein, the monitoring/sensing device including:
Preferably, the monitoring/sensing device is embedded within or integrally formed substantially within the shaft of the conveyor roller.
Preferably, the monitoring/sensing device is provided within a housing.
Preferably, the housing is insertable within the shaft of the conveyor roller.
Preferably, the housing is secured within the shaft of the conveyor roller by a fastening mechanism, wherein the fastening mechanism is optionally a releasable fastening mechanism, for removal of the monitoring/sensing device from said shaft of said conveyor roller.
Preferably, the housing includes an activation mechanism to activate or deactivate the operation of the monitoring/sensing device, wherein the activation mechanism is optionally embodied as a button on the end of the housing.
Preferably, the sensed characteristic includes any one or combination of:
Preferably, said monitoring/sensing device further includes a power source, including any one or combination of:
Preferably, each monitoring/sensing device further includes:
Preferably, said processor is further configured to perform an error-detecting technique to ensure data integrity, including any one or combination of a cyclic redundancy check or a checksum.
Preferably, each monitoring/sensing device further includes:
In a further broad form, the present invention provides a conveyor component monitoring system for monitoring at least one characteristic of at least one conveyor roller, the system including:
Preferably, said data is transmitted using low power communication protocols, including any one or combination of LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), and Sub-GHz, or other communications protocol supporting transmission of data over long distances with minimal power consumption.
Preferably, said processor in each monitoring/sensing device includes an internal clock mechanism configured to synchronise with the processor in other such monitoring/sensing devices.
Preferably, said data is encrypted prior to transmission thereof.
Preferably, each monitoring/sensing device associated with each conveyor roller further includes:
Preferably, each transmitter is configured to transmit data to an external network or system.
In a further broad form, the present invention provides a conveyor component monitoring/sensing device, configured to be installed substantially within the shaft of a conveyor roller, the monitoring/sensing device including:
Preferably, the monitoring/sensing device is provided within a housing, which is insertable within the shaft of the conveyor roller, and which includes a fastening mechanism which is optionally releasable for removal of the monitoring/sensing device from said shaft of said conveyor roller.
Preferably, the housing includes an activation mechanism to activate or deactivate the operation of the monitoring/sensing device, wherein the activation mechanism is optionally embodied as a button on the end of the housing.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the following detailed description of preferred but non-limiting embodiments described in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Throughout the drawings, like numerals will be used to identify like features, except where expressly otherwise indicated.
The present invention incorporates a number of component parts which may be used separately or in combination. For ease of explanation the overall system and method of monitoring the conveyor system will initially be described, and thereafter, exemplary details of the various conveyor components, incorporating the monitoring/sensing parts thereof, will be thereafter described.
In
A conveyor system, generally designated by the numeral 1, typically includes a conveyor belt 2 supported by a plurality of pulleys or rollers, including one or more drive pulley/roller 3 and 4, which are powered to drive the conveyor belt 2, a plurality of carrying idlers 5 which support the belt carrying the load material, such as coal or other minerals to be conveyed, return rollers 6 to support the returning portion of the endless conveyor belt 2, and, a take-up roller 7 and its associated bend rollers 8, to ensure that the belt 2 remains taut during operation.
The conveyor system 1 also typically includes a load chute 9 via which the coal or other mineral to be conveyed is typically supplied to one end of the conveyor belt 2, and a discharge chute 10 via which the conveyed mineral is discharged at the other end of the conveyor belt 2. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art, each of these chutes 9 and 10 typically incorporate a liner 11 and 12, respectively, on their inner surfaces, which are provided to minimise damage to the chutes 9 and 10. This facilitates the liner 11 or 12 to be readily replaced from time to time as it wears, rather than replacing the chute 9 or 10, per se.
The conveyor system 1 of the present invention additionally incorporates various sensors associated with the various conveyor components, including the rollers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and the liners 11 and 12.
These sensors, which will be hereinafter described in various exemplary forms, are adapted to monitor various characteristics of the rollers, liners or other conveyor components, such as temperature, noise, vibrations, etc. and then transmit data pertaining to these sensed characteristics.
Sensor data transmissions 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, may be transmitted from rollers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 to a server 30 wherein these data transmissions may be centrally processed, and then information pertaining to the condition of the individual rollers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 may be supplied to a user via a user interface 40.
Likewise, sensor data transmissions 33 and 34 may be transmitted from liners 11 and 12 to the server 30 for processing and supply of condition information pertaining thereto to the user interface 40.
This then facilitates the user initiating any required remedial action to restore any roller, liner or other conveyor component considered to be in an unhealthy state back to a healthy condition by either repair or replacement of that conveyor component.
Also shown in
Transmission of the sensor data, etc. may be performed by any one or combination of wireless transceivers 31 (e.g. using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or any other wireless transmission media), or, via hard-wired transceivers 32 (e.g. using cable, optical fibre or any other physical transmission medium), to the server 30.
The overall system/method for monitoring therefore includes at least one sensor in each roller, liner or other conveyor component to be monitored, a central server 30, and a user interface 40. Each sensor is adapted to sense at least one characteristic of a respective conveyor component and produce sensor data representative of said sensed characteristic.
The central server 30 is adapted to receive said sensor data from each sensor, process said sensed data to generate status data in relation to each conveyor component. The user interface 40 is adapted to receive said status data from said central server and provide maintenance information to a user indicative of any maintenance required to be performed on said conveyor component.
In
In essence, the roller or liner or other conveyor component of the present invention incorporates monitoring/sensing componentry 50, which may include a sensor 51, a processor 52, a transmitter 53 including an antenna 54, and, a power source 55.
The monitoring componentry 50 shown in
The sensor 51 is adapted to sense at least one characteristic of said conveyor component to produce sensor data representative of said sensed characteristic. Typical characteristics of the conveyor which may be sensed include temperature, noise and vibration.
An identifier is adapted to provide unique identification data for the respective conveyor component. The identifier may be embodied in the form of an RFID tag, a QR code or any other identifier which may be read and transmitted in some manner to the server for processing.
The transmitter 53 is adapted to transmit the sensor and identification data to a central server 30 wherein said data is processed to generate status data in relation to the conveyor component indicative of any maintenance required to be performed on said conveyor component. The transmitter 53 may include an antenna 54, examples of which will be described hereinafter.
A power source 55 may be associated with each conveyor component to power the requisite circuitry, and this may be embodied in a variety of forms depending on the particular conveyor component. For example, the circuitry could be powered by a battery, a generator to generate power during rotation of a roller, from the vibration of the component(s) such as a vibration capacitor, from the heat of the component(s), etc. Alternatively, passive circuitry may be provided in which powers the circuitry upon reception of a signal transmitted thereto.
In
In particular,
An identification device 69 may also be incorporated, so as to uniquely identify a particular conveyor roller 60 into which the device 61 is installed.
As best seen in
By manufacturing the monitoring/sensing device 61 in this form, the device 61 may be readily inserted axially into the end of a conveyor roller 60. As will be appreciated, the cost of producing this pin like configuration in this manner is relatively inexpensive.
In
In particular,
A wiring loom 72 may be provided in the hollow shaft to facilitate continuous power transfer from the internal battery pack to the devices 71, enabling the device 70 to operate on a continuous basis and not only when the device recognises a state change. The loom 72 also carries a connection between the antennas 74 of each device 71, for the purposes of redundancy. This improves overall robustness, as it will more reliably communicate its observations, and prioritise the transfer of that data via the antenna 74 that draws the least power.
In
In these types of garland rollers 80 the end of the shaft is drilled and tapped, and an eye bolt 81 or similar installed therein. By linking rollers 80 together with these ends and fixing the outer ends to the conveyor stringers there is no need for an idler frame, as the shafts of the rollers themselves form the support needed. As a result of their configuration, it is therefore not possible to insert the monitoring/sensing device 82 of the present invention axially into the end of the shaft. Therefore, in this embodiment of the invention, the monitoring/sensing device 82 is inserted to sit radially on the shaft, outside of the shell and on a flat portion 83 which may be machined into the shaft
In particular,
An antenna 84 may be installed on the flat portion 83 of the shaft of the roller 80, and be moulded into the head portion of the nail or pin like housing, and then the other circuitry components may then depend therefrom on the shaft of the pin or nail like housing, as per the previously described embodiments.
Whilst
For example, in
This embodiment of
In
The liner devices of the present invention may be installed in a variety of conveyor components, including, but not limited to crusher liners, transfer chute liners, earthmoving bucket liners and ground engaging tools (GET), and truck bed liners.
In
The monitoring/sensing devices 91 may sense heat conduction. By virtue of the way that a liner works, the outer wearing face 93 typically has more insulative properties than the inner parent metal 92 on which the studs that support the liner are fixed. Therefore, once the wearing face 93 has eroded and the bulk material being transferred comes into contact with the parent metal 92, the heat in that metal 92 and the studs increases dramatically. By recognising that state or temperature change it can be indirectly conclude that the liner 93 is worn and is no longer fit for purpose.
In
In particular, in
As seen the device 101 is at least partly embedded in a liner 102. This is a solution for when a liner stud is too short or has too small a diameter to accommodate the monitoring/sensing device of the previously described embodiment. In particular, in this embodiment, the liner of the stud is drilled through to the parent metal so that an antenna lead can be chased through it. A recess is milled into the back of the liner as well. Into this recess is placed the battery, circuit board and sensors. All of these components may be similar to the previously described embodiment. The circuit board is connected to the antenna at the end of the respective liner stud via the antenna lead. The antenna and the device are both contained within a thermally resistant, hard plastic, as previously described.
These various component parts may be embodied in a form which may be readily installed in a variety of different conveyor components.
As described the monitoring/sensor components may preferably be assembled into a shape that resembles a nail or plug, subject to the shape of the component restricting this. This is advantageous to achieve cost effective mass production, and easy to install, resulting in a highly capable device.
In
In
The monitoring/sensing device 110 may also further include a memory. The memory may be configured to store a backup of any sensed sensor data during the operation of the conveyor roller 60, and save this for future use, for example, in the case of a power failure such that, once power is restored, the stored sensor data may then be retrieved and transmitted as required.
The processor of the monitoring/sensing device 110 may be configured to perform error detecting techniques, for example, to ensure data integrity, including any one or combination of psychic redundancy check or a checksum.
Some or all of the monitoring/sensing devices may further include a retransmission device. The retransmission device is configured to receive data which may be transmitted from another monitoring/sensing device further down the line in the system and retransmit that received data. This may be useful for a variety of reasons, including, if the transmitted data power is quite low and not strong enough to be transmitted to the central server, then this ensures that all the transmitted data is thereby received either directly or by retransmission to the central server, without the need for a separate transmission router.
In
As described in
As described in
The overall system of the present invention for monitoring at least one characteristic of at least one conveyor roller includes at least one monitoring sensing device associated with each conveyor roller, and, a central processor configured to process the sensed data, and, a user interface configured to provide maintenance information indicative of any maintenance required to be performed on a respective conveyor roller.
As the system of the present invention is preferably configured to only transmit data when a faulty or exception condition is detected, the system of the present invention minimises power consumption during its operation. Data transmitted typically therefore preferably uses low-power communication protocols including any one or combination of LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), and Sub-GHz, or another communications protocol supporting transmission of data over long distances with minimal power consumption.
Each monitoring/sensing device of the present invention preferably includes a processor, which itself may optionally include an internal clock mechanism configured to synchronise with the processor of other such monitoring/sensing devices provided downline in the system.
In other example embodiments of the invention, any or all data may be encrypted prior to transmission thereof, to improve the security of the system.
In implementation of the system, the system may be set up as an internal network, or, it may be configured to transmit data via an external network or system, for example, via a commercial telecommunications system.
In
At the point of manufacture, all of the inputs that go into a conveyor component may be recorded, such as the date of manufacture, the source of materials or the technicians involved. All of this QA/QC information may be assigned to the component's unique ID in the system database.
When a sale of a conveyor component is made, the sale information, such as the customer details may also be collected in the database, along with shipping information, such as the freight provider or tracking number.
Once the component is delivered to site it is installed. In instances where a customer has not set up a network the component acts no differently to any other component.
Once the customer asks for their installed components to be enabled, the network may be set up according to customer requirements.
The network may be an array of battery powered IoT routers, communicating between one another as required, with one or more routers connected to the cellular network for passing the conveyor component data off site. The routers may typically also notify of the remaining battery life, so as to keep them operational and the network complete.
During installation, the location of each unique component is logged in an asset management database and pairs the component with a router.
The asset management database is made available to the customer so that they can maintain it into the future as they install and replace more conveyor components.
Alternatively, a customer may elect to purchase devices that operate on an internet protocol that can pass data directly to local cellular network service providers without the assistance of a router network. In such circumstances, the device may still have its physical location logged in the asset management database, but it will operate as intended without any supporting network infrastructure.
In one form of implementation of the system, for a customer seeking a higher service level implementation, the component may lay dormant until it registers a failure (e.g. damaged bearing, worn liner body or drop in battery voltage) or it has hit a replacement milestone (e.g. a pre-determined life stage or time in service).
At this point, the system animates, communicating with the closest network router to inform the server of the failure mode. Depending on the failure mode, it continues to provide data under pre-determined conditions (e.g. at a set frequency or whenever the failure trigger thresholds are met again).
The server may create two notifications, one each for the customer's maintenance/operational representative informing them of the nature of failure and the criticality of response (typically via a purpose designed web dashboard), the other for the customer's procurement representative, in effect placing a component replacement order.
If the mode of failure is suggestive of a manufacturing quality issue or it requires further investigation, the notification to the procurement representative will include a return to supplier trigger, allowing the supplier to take back the component and strip it down to determine the failure source.
Contingent on customer authorisation, the server issues actionable data to the customer's operations control system, with which it can alter operating parameters to minimise the impact of the failure prior to response from maintenance personnel.
In an alternative service level, the conveyor component may lay dormant until it registers a failure (e.g. damaged bearing, worn liner body or drop in battery voltage) or it has hit a replacement milestone (e.g. a pre-determined life stage or time in service).
At this point the system animates, communicating with the closest network router to inform the server of a failure. There is no suggestion of the nature of the failure. The device simply goes from a healthy to unhealthy state. This binary state change is very undemanding on data, so passing it out via the cellular network is very cheap. The data from the unhealthy device is sent to the server and screened for validity. If it is determined to be a false negative it is ignored, if not it may be passed to a customer representative.
The customer representative can be anyone. Typically, the customer may receive a text message on their phone, detailing the location of the unhealthy device, such that they can choose to take appropriate remedial action.
As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the present invention therefore provides a monitoring/sensor device which has a number of distinct advantages over prior art devices. This includes the device being cheap, simple and easy to install, to the extent that it becomes ubiquitous, and a nondescript addition to every roller or other conveyor component that is produced.
The device of the present invention also typically has a long life by operating by exception, producing signals only when there is something to report. That is the device of the present invention prioritises data of meaning over data-for-data's sake.
The device of the present invention may be implemented to pair with a discrete (but flexible) IoT network, to achieve an effortless and self-sufficient installation. The device may also optionally include machine learning capability.
The device preferably operates by exception, triggering once pre-set conditions have been met (i.e. high bearing/shaft temperatures or excessive vibration).
The communications network used in the monitoring/sensing system may be a battery operated wireless field network, internet connected via cellular network enabled master router. The system may use open source IoT protocol for device-to-field network connection, potentially facilitating IoT access for competitor products.
Whilst the present invention has been herein described with reference to some specifically described embodiments and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to persons skilled in the art. All such variations and modifications should be considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as hereinbefore described and as hereinafter claimed
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019904631 | Dec 2019 | AU | national |
This patent application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/782,793, filed Jun. 6, 2022, which is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/AU2020/051249, filed on Nov. 19, 2020, which claims priority from Australian Patent Application No. 2019904631, filed on Dec. 6, 2019, all of which are incorporated by reference, as if expressly set forth in their respective entireties herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17782793 | Jun 2022 | US |
| Child | 18910828 | US |
