Proposal of digital twin for testing and measuring of transport belts for pipe conveyors within the concept Industry 4.0

Abstract

The digital twin, as one of the basic key pillars of the Industry 4.0, currently provides a wide range of the applications not only in the field of measuring and monitoring the operation of various types of machines and machinery, but also in the area of testing. There will be presented in this paper a possibility to implement the FEM model into the concept of digital twins intended for measuring of the key properties and characteristics of the rubber-textile conveyor belts of the pipe conveyors, using a testing static stand with a length of 9000 mm and with a possibility to use variable selected dimensional characteristics, as well. The digital version (digital twin) of the testing stand is created using the software program Abaqus, whereby it contains 3 hexagonal idler housings with the conveyor belt, which is packed into the hosepipe shape with overlapping edges.