Groundbreaking laser conveyor belt scanner developed in Queensland

A laser conveyor belt scanner designed to provide greater efficiencies and production costs reduction has been developed by Queensland firm Group Engineering.

The product was initially developed as part of a thesis undertaken by one of Group’s undergraduate engineers. The final phases of developing the idea into a marketable product have involved a collaborative project with the Mackay Area Industry Network (MAIN), the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) and industrial designers PROdesign.

Alan Ruming, Managing Director of Group Engineering, said the product offered a breakthrough for Australia’s mining companies who were focused on gaining improved efficiencies and bottom line performance.

“Many of our clients had been asking for us to provide a tool which would accurately allow them to detect volumetric flow of product on a conveyor belt,” Ruming said. “We are working closely with a couple of selected end users in the sugar and coal industries to ensure we have the end-user needs and expectations addressed. Our aim is to ensure that what we are putting in the field will address their identified needs.”

Ruming said the product designed by the Group team in collaboration with its partners had gone further than the original specifications and could not only detect the volume of product on the conveyor belt but was also able to analyse product profiles, detect conveyor deterioration such as belt tear and rip, and provide small data footprints of historical data collection. The scanner in its current configuration can be used on any flat bed conveyor and current applications have focused on underground and aboveground coal conveyor, sugar and sugar cane bagasse conveyors.

He said the product, which was launched in Mackay on Friday 13 May at the MAIN Game Project design conference, will be ready for installation in in the next few months. The overall Mackay Area Industry Network - MAIN Game - Winning Collaborations Project involves a series of company meetings and industry workshops with around 20 companies, which are facilitated by Rodin Genoff & Associates, an internationally recognised industry clusters consultancy firm.

Robert Geddes, Managing Director of one of Australia’s leading industrial design companies PROdesign, said the collaborative process between Group, MAIN, DEEDI and his company had created an innovative product which would have application in Australia and in mining operations worldwide as they need to increase productivity and reduce production costs.

Already discussions are underway with a German distribution company as part of the commercialisation of the scanner onto the export market.

The HC-01 Belt Profiler is capable of providing the following information:

• Belt tracking
• Product tracking (edges of product on belt)
• Centre of belt
• Belt edges and belt width
• Edge of belt to product distances
• Centre of mass of product load on belt
• Cross-sectional area of product load on belt
• Profile of the product on the belt
• Volumetric flow rate (m³/h)
• Mass flow rate (kg/h)
• Product density
• Lump detection alarm with settable thresholds

The information provided by the HC-01 Scanner provides the ability to:

• Optimally load conveyers to avoid spillage
• Optimally load conveyers to increase throughput
• Track product profile and provide an indication for corrective actions
• Track overloading or surges and reduce downtime due to blocked chutes
• Quickly detect belt drift and take the appropriate action
• Report and historically store conveyor operating characteristics
• Increase the life of conveyor belts through proper loading
• Increase accuracies of belt weighers through optimal loading
• Increase accuracies of densimeters by providing real-time bed depth
• Calculate product throughput with a high degree of accuracy (belt speed and density in-puts required)
• Calculate product density (belt weigher input required)
• Increase belt life by controlling and optimising belt tension
• Reconcile product flows using multiple scanners

www.groupengineering.com.au