Belt Conveyor Systems – Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and the Use Of Control Systems

Abstract

Developments in the field of bulk materials handling using belt conveyors have been marked in recent years particularly by the increase in handling rates. By minimizing the number of transfer points in a conveyor system, dust development and wear of the carrying side of the belting can be reduced, as well as investment and operating costs.It is therefore imperative for belt conveyor systems not only to be built in vertical curves but also in horizontal curves and for them to be fitted with for instance T-T type intermediate belt drives. The optimum design of such systems with load-dependent characteristics can only be determined with the aid of computer simulations. For displaying the computed results, process video systems are favourable which can also be used by the operator of the belt conveyors for on-line monitoring and data evaluation purposes. Particularly inexpensive systems are possible due to the application of control equipment on the drive units, since overloading of the belting under unfavourable operating and load conditions is prevented. Suitable control concepts are developed in computer simulations and the results are compared with those of an uncontrolled system.The realization of high demands on the belt conveyor system is only achievable by the use of such a control. Whether control of drives for achieving a stable equilibrium of the belt is necessary for belt conveyors built in very tight curves results from the simulation computation. The belt tracking parameters for curves such as raising the idler supports and forwards tilting of the idlers are also optimized by computer simulation.A further important application is formed by the predicted computation of emergency strategies, e.g. the breakdown of drive units. It is thus possible to continue operating the system with a reduced flow of material.In practice, computer simulation and control have been used with success.