Conveyor wear measurement
AssigneeBaseline Asset Technologies Pty Ltd
InventorKelvin Wright
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus is U-shaped, with two parallel arms arranged to extend across a conveyor belt from the side. The arms include ultrasonic sensors arranged to measure the distance to respective surfaces of the conveyor belt. One arm includes an eddy-current sensor arranged to measure the distance to a metallic core of the belt. The apparatus is arranged to be moved across the belt to provide a profile of belt condition across the width of the belt.
Claims21
A conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus, comprising:
- a body portion;
- and
- two arms parallel to each other, the two arms extending away from the body portion and defining a gap therebetween through which a conveyor belt travels, each of the two arms comprising one or more first sensors arranged therein, at least one of the first sensors being oriented towards an upper face of the conveyor belt, at least another one of the first sensors being oriented towards a lower face of the conveyor belt,
- wherein the two arms are configured to move across at least half of a width of the conveyor belt in a direction that is transverse to a direction in which the conveyor belt travels.
A conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus supporting structure, the supporting structure including comprising:
- a first mount arranged to locate on one lateral side of a conveyor belt;
- a second mount arranged to locate on an opposing lateral side of the conveyor belt;
- upper tracks passing over an upper surface of the conveyor belt;
- and
- lower tracks passing over a lower surface of the conveyor belt,
- wherein the first and second mounts are connected to each other by the upper tracks and the lower tracks,
- wherein the supporting structure is configured to have a conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus introduced into the first mount or the second mount and then moved laterally across the conveyor belt by engagement with at least one of the upper and lower tracks.
A method of monitoring a condition of conveyor belt, the method comprising:
- providing a monitoring apparatus supporting structure, the supporting structure comprising a first mount arranged to locate on one lateral side of a conveyor belt, a second mount arranged to locate on an opposing lateral side of the conveyor belt, upper tracks passing over an upper surface of the conveyor belt, and lower tracks passing over a lower surface of the conveyor belt, the first mount and the second mount being connected to each other by the upper tracks and the lower tracks;
- introducing the conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus into the first mount;
- moving the conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus laterally across the conveyor belt by engagement with at least one of the upper and lower tracks to monitor a part of a surface of the conveyor belt;
- removing the conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus from the first mount;
- introducing the conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus into the second mount and
- moving the conveyor belt condition monitoring apparatus laterally across the at least one of the upper and lower tracks to monitor another part of the surface of the conveyor belt.
A sensor arrangement for determining conveyor belt thickness, the arrangement comprising:
- at least one first sensor arranged to determine a distance from a base position to a face of the conveyor belt;
- and
- a second sensor arranged to determine a distance from the base position to a core of the conveyor belt,
- wherein the second sensor is located around the first sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.