Detection of conveyor belt condition

A system for monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• a sensor for acquiring data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• a processing system for receiving and analyzing the data from the sensor, the processing system comprising a processor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the locations of the side links, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• wherein the side links comprise an outer plate section, an inner plate, and a bridging plate section between the outer and inner plate sections;
• and
• wherein the sensor senses the physical condition of at least one of the outer plate section, inner plate, and bridging plate section.

A system for monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• a sensor for acquiring data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• a processing system for receiving and analyzing the data from the sensor, the processing system comprising a processor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the locations of the side links, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• and
• wherein the processor analyzes at least one of:
• the data from the sensor to determine the orientation of the side links;
• and the deviation of the side links from the vertical.

A system for monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• a sensor for acquiring data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• a processing system for receiving and analyzing the data from the sensor, the processing system comprising a processor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the locations of the side links, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• and
• wherein the processing system creates virtual models of at least one of the side links and the conveyor belt.

A method of monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• using a sensor to acquire data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• processing the data from the sensor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the location of the side link, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• wherein the side links comprise an outer plate section, an inner plate, a bridging plate section between the outer and inner plate sections, and a foot structure extending laterally from the bottom of an outer plate section;
• and
• further comprising sensing the physical condition of at least one of the outer plate section, inner plate, bridging plate section, and the physical configuration of the foot structure.

A method of monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• using a sensor to acquire data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• processing the data from the sensor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the location of the side link, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• and
• further comprising using the processor to perform at least one of the following:
• analyze the deviation of the side links from the vertical;
• and
• create virtual models of the side links.

A method of monitoring at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of upright side links of a spiral, self-stacking conveyor belt arranged in stacked tiers, the side links disposed along the side margins of the conveyor belt, the side links on one tier configured to stack on top of the side links of an underlying tier, the monitoring system comprising:

• using a sensor to acquire data pertaining to at least one of the physical condition, orientation, and location of the conveyor belt side links;
• and
• processing the data from the sensor to determine at least one of the physical condition and orientation of the side links and the location of the side link, and to determine if maintenance of or remedial action to the conveyor belt is necessary based on the analyzed data from the sensor;
• and
• further comprising using the processing system to create virtual models of the side links.