The present invention relates to a sensor for monitoring a steel rope, in particular in cableway systems. Said sensor is also provided with hardware and software suitably developed for detecting and quantifying the rotations of a rope around its own axis and the vibrations developing during the normal functioning of the same rope.
At the state of the art there are not known sensors for monitoring ropes for cableway systems, in particular able to measure the rotation around their own axis and the vibrations developing during the normal functioning of the same rope. Such monitoring is naturally needed to guarantee the greatest safety on such systems.
Therefore, a novel system is needed which allows to monitor such parameters continuously and exactly along the whole rope during the normal functioning on a system.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is a sensor for monitoring a steel rope in cableway systems, in particular for measuring the parameters of rotation and vibration developing during the normal functioning of a rope. In particular, the sensor is studied for measuring the rotations of a rope around its own axis X, having rotation angles φ and Y (in the two rotation directions around its own axis, respectively) as shown in
Moreover, the sensor is able to measure the vibrations of a rope, induced by the passage of the same rope on the roller conveyor of the system. Due to the geometry of the rope, each time the rope passes on the roller conveyors 200 of a system, vibrations are generated whose intensity depends on various factors comprising the geometrical parameters of the same rope (for example the pitch), as shown in
Therefore, object of the present invention is a sensor for measuring and calculating the parameters of rotation and vibration of a rope, as specified in the appended independent claim.
The dependent claims describe particulars and further advantageous aspects of the invention.
These and other advantages of the invention will be described in detail in the following, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
As it is shown in
The battery of the sensor can be recharged as required by an outer battery charger 4, connected to an outer feeder as well (+5V) which recharges the battery 2.
Said sensor 1 and said battery 2 are positioned inside the rope 100, in a portion obtained in the core 110 of the rope, i.e. in the innermost portion of the same rope (FIGS. 3, 4). In this way, the sensor 1 can measure the quantities concerning the rotation of the rope around its own axis and the vibrations along the whole path of the system. Specifically, the sensor 1 uses an accelerometer 8 which measures the accelerations on the three axes x-y-z of the rope 100. With these measurements, by means of suitable mathematical formulas, it is possible to quantify the rotations of the rope around its own axis and the intensity of the vibrations of the rope when passing on the roller conveyors 200 of
To protect the sensor and the battery from the compression mechanical stresses to which they are subject to, caused by the rope pulling, they are both drowned in a protective material 12, for example resin, as shown in
The data collected by the sensor 1 during the normal functioning of the rope along the system are communicated by Bluetooth LE4 to a smartphone by means of an application developed therefor. The application allows to:
The smartphone communicates with a personal computer positioned in one of the stations of the system. Finally, by means of a software specifically developed therefor the personal computer collects, processes and shows the data collected by the sensor, and provides the user with:
Besides the embodiments of the invention, as above described, it is to be intended that there exist many other variants. Further, it is to be intended that said embodiments are only example and do not limit in any way the invention and its possible application or configurations. On the contrary, even if the above description allows the experts in the field to implement the present invention at least according to one example embodiment, it is to be intended that many variants of the elements described can be made without departing from the object of the invention, encompassed by the appended claims, literally interpreted and/or according to their legal equivalents.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IT2016/000305 | 12/23/2016 | WO | 00 |