Conveyor belt muck built-up detection and messaging system

Abstract

The requirements for coal production, and thus for overburden removal, at Hambach surface mine are very high. Production downtime must be avoided. A major challenge is the large amount of weak clay and silt that has to be transported. Spilling of weak clay and silt along the transport route from the bucket wheel excavator along the conveyor belt to the spreader and head station has to be avoided or removed before it results in downtime. This article focuses on a system which assists in avoiding critical muck built-up situations at the head stations of conveyor belts. A critical situation leads to the undesired transportation of large amounts of muck underneath the conveyor belt. The time from the birth of the idea to the realisation of the messaging system, two months in total, was extremely short due to the present day experience of the authors with GPS and laser scanning techniques and the implementation of overburden handling optimisation tools in the Hambach surface mine. The system has now been tested for more than six months. The practical experience showed that no critical situations have occurred since the system has been installed; the operators are more attentive to avoid critical situations, because they are warned on time and only if necessary. Owing to this, the rate of superfluous patrolling has been reduced substantially. The system will be installed on other head stations as well.