Monitoring system for transport chains for conveyors of articles

A method for monitoring a conveyor of articles, said conveyor of articles including at least one transport chain adapted to be moved along a movement direction when the conveyor of articles is in operation, and a guide structure of the transport chain including a lower guide element adapted to support the chain from below and a higher guide element adapted to guide the chain from above and facing toward the lower guide element, said lower guide element and said higher guide element being static with respect to the movement of the transport chain along the movement direction, said method comprising:

• providing at least one first magnetic field generator element in a first selected guide element selected from said higher guide element and said lower guide element, said first magnetic field generator element generating a first magnetic field;
• providing at least one magnetic field sensor in a second selected guide element selected from said higher guide element and said lower guide element different from the first selected guide element;
• sensing the magnitude of a measure magnetic field by means of the at least one magnetic field sensor element, said measure magnetic field ensuing at least in part from the first magnetic field;
• and
• quantifying a reduction of the overall thickness of the chain further to the operation of the conveyor based on a time variation of the measure magnetic field.