Conveyor belt system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a conveyor belt system (1) with an endlessly closed conveyor belt (10) and with a drive drum (11) and a deflection drum (12) around which the conveyor belt (10) is endlessly closed, wherein the drive drum (11) is designed to drive the conveyor belt (10) in a conveying direction (A). The conveyor belt system (1) is characterized by a monitoring unit (14) which is directed towards the rear side of the conveyor belt (10) in the region of the lower run (10b) immediately in front of the deflection drum (12) and is designed to optically detect the rear side of the conveyor belt (10), and / or which is directed towards the deflection drum (12) and is designed to optically detect the outside of the deflection drum (12), wherein the conveyor belt system (1), preferably the monitoring unit (14) and / or a control unit of the conveyor belt system (1), is designed to detect spilled material (2) in the optically detected data.

Description

The present invention relates to a conveyor belt installation.For transporting, in particular, loose material to be conveyed, such as bulk material, such as in the form of stones, ore, coal, cereals, granules and the like, in mining, in industry and on the transport paths, conveyor belts are frequently used, which can also be referred to as transport belts. Such conveyor belts are used continuously closed in a conveyor belt installation or in a conveyor belt installation. The conveyor belts usually consist at least substantially of a flexible material, such as an elastomeric material, such as vulcanized rubber, also called rubber, in which tensile carriers or reinforcing carriers running in the direction of tension, transport direction or movement direction are embedded for transmitting the tensile forces. Such tension members can be in conveyor belts which have to convey comparatively large or heavy loads, in particular steel cables.Likewise, conveyor belts are known which are suitable for smaller applications and have textile fabrics as tension carriers. Such applications can likewise convey loose goods.In any case, such conveying installations, which can also be referred to as conveyors, usually extend at least substantially in the horizontal plane, such that the individual components or installation parts of the conveying installation are arranged on a base. The components of a conveying installation, which can also be referred to as installation parts, usually include at least one drive drum, which can be operated in a rotary manner by means of a drive, and at least one deflecting roller at the opposite end of the conveying installation. The conveyor belt is continuously closed and placed tautly around the drive drum and around the deflection roller, so that the upper region of the conveyor belt, which can also be referred to as upper strand, can be moved in the one direction by means of the drive of the drive drum and the lower region of the conveyor belt, which can also be referred to as lower strand, can be moved in the opposite direction.Between the drive drum and the deflection roller, numerous rollers are usually arranged, which support the upper strand and the lower strand of the conveyor belt from below in the vertical direction. Such rollers can also be referred to as carrying rollers. Usually, in the upper run of the conveyor belt, a plurality of, and in particular three, rollers are arranged next to one another in the transverse direction, and the outer rollers are set at an angle to the horizontal plane. This results in a troughed shape of the upper run of the conveyor belt, so that the loose bulk material can be held laterally in the transverse direction to a certain extent on the surface of the upper side of the conveyor belt.Since such conveyed goods are frequently formed pointed and sharp-edged, these conveyed goods can lead to damage to the flexible material of the conveyor belt at the feed point thereof during transport and in particular due to their impact on the surface of the upper side of the conveyor belt. As a result, the elastomeric material of the conveyor belt can be removed at points and thereby weakened. Apertures can even occur as far as the underside of the conveyor belt. In this case, increasing damage can extend as far as the tension members and also damage them. As a result of such damage, the tension members can also be severed in the longitudinal direction. The tension members as steel cables can also be damaged by corrosion if the flexible material can no longer protect the tension members from external influences such as weather influences such as moisture. This applies to textile tensile supports.Such damage can lead to a failure of the conveyor system, for example, due to tearing of the conveyor belt in the transverse direction and or through slots extending in the longitudinal direction through the flexible material of the conveyor belt. This can lead to a loss of the material to be conveyed, which is located on the upper run of the conveyor belt at this time, and to corresponding environmental damage. Also, the purchase and assembly of a new conveyor belt can cause expense and costs. In particular, however, due to the standstill of the conveying installation and, if appropriate, due to the standstill caused thereby, for example, of the entire mine, the entire production installation, the entire port terminal, the entire railway station and the like, very high costs can arise due to the failure of the corresponding production or transport capacities. It should also be noted that such conveyor belts are usually produced segment by segment over a longer period of time, transported to the place of use and must be closed there in an endless manner, which requires a corresponding chronological advance or time requirement.For monitoring such conveyor belts for damage and in particular for longitudinal slots, it is therefore known to use methods and devices for monitoring which automatically and as early as possible detect such damage and in particular a longitudinal slot and can react to it, for example, by stopping the conveyor belt, in order to avoid further damage or enlarging the damage.For this purpose, conductor loops, transponders and the like can be embedded in the cover plate of the conveyor belt and detected from outside the conveyor belt by the conveyor belt installation. From the absence of an expected conductor loop, it is then possible to infer damage at this point. Such devices and methods are known, for example, from DE 196 43 997 A1, from DE 197 21 916 A1, from DE 199 02 508 A1 or from EP 0 753 472 A1.It is also known to monitor the outer surface of a conveyor belt for damage optically, magnetically or by means of X-ray radiation.However, it should be noted that, despite the folding of the conveyor belt, it is frequently found in practice that loose material to be conveyed reaches beyond the sides or beyond the lateral edge of the conveyor belt and falls off the top side of the conveyor belt in the region of the upper run. This can occur in particular in curves of the conveyor belt or of the conveying installation. This material to be conveyed can be referred to as a bulk material to be conveyed or as a bulk material.As a result, not only is conveyed material lost to the outside of the conveying installation, but the falling or dumped conveyed material can also pass to the rear side or to the inside of the conveyor belt in the region of the lower strand, remain there and thus be moved with the lower strand. The bulk material that has been discharged reaches in this way in the region of the deflecting drum, also referred to as a reversing drum or deflecting roller, between the rear side of the conveyor belt and the upper side of the deflecting drum.In this case, the bulk material is radially strongly compressed or pressed firmly on the respective surface, so that the bulk material adheres there permanently or at least for a longer time and can be moved along. In this case, the adhering scattered material leads in particular to a radial thickening of the surface of the deflection drum, which can lead to additional loads on the conveyor belt upon contact due to tension elevations of the conveyor belt or its reinforcing members and can lead there to fatigue and thus to damage to the conveyor belt. In particular, high stress peaks, usually shear stresses, lead to a failure of the conveyor belt.In particular, in the case of solid and sharp-edged scattered material, damage can also occur to both the outer surface of the deflecting drum and the underside or rear side of the conveyor belt, in that the scattered material presses or cuts into these surfaces.In order to prevent that scattered material can pass between the deflecting drum and the conveyor belt, so-called plough scrapers are known which are arranged in the region of the lower strand directly in front of the deflecting drum in order to discharge or strip off the scattered material obliquely to the side from the rear side of the conveyor belt. However, since the plough scrapers are vertically spaced apart upwards from the rear side of the conveyor belt, for example in order not to come into contact with the conveyor belt even during movements or oscillations of the conveyor belt in the region of the lower strand, in practice not all the scattered material is removed. This distance is also subject to manufacturing and assembly tolerances.An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor belt installation of the type described at the beginning, so that the possibilities for avoiding damage to the conveyor belt and or to the deflection roller due to wasted material or conveyed material on the rear side of the conveyor belt can be improved. At least, an alternative to the known possibilities is to be created.The object is achieved according to the invention by a conveyor belt installation having the features according to claim 1. Advantageous refinements are described in the dependent claims.Thus, the present invention relates to a conveyor belt installation having an endlessly closed conveyor belt and having a drive drum and a deflection drum around which the conveyor belt is endlessly closed, wherein the drive drum is designed to drive the conveyor belt in a conveying direction.The conveyor belt installation according to the invention is characterized by a monitoring unit which is directed to the rear side of the conveyor belt in the region of the lower strand directly in front of the deflecting drum and is designed to optically detect the rear side of the conveyor belt, and or which is directed to the deflecting drum and is designed to optically detect the outer side of the deflecting drum, wherein the conveyor belt installation, preferably the monitoring unit and or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation, is designed to detect scattered material in the optically detected data.Thus, according to the invention, monitoring of the conveyor belt installation can take place precisely where wasted material can lead to problems. Thus, on the one hand, the monitoring unit can be directed onto the rear side of the conveyor belt in the region of the lower strand directly in front of the deflection drum and the data of the rear side of the conveyor belt optically recorded there can be evaluated on waste material present there. This can also be done additionally or alternatively with respect to the outer side of the deflecting drum, in that the monitoring unit is directed onto the deflecting drum itself and the data of the rear side of the conveyor belt optically recorded there are evaluated on wasted material present there.In any case, this allows undesired wasted material present there to be automatically detected and reacted to this, as will be described in more detail below.According to one aspect of the invention, the conveyor belt installation, preferably the monitoring unit and or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation, is further configured to stop the drive drum on the basis of optically detected wasted material. This can represent a possible reaction to optically recognized waste material. In the stopped state of the conveyor belt installation, the undesired wasted material can then be removed, in particular by a person, and the conveyor belt installation can then be put back into operation.According to a further aspect of the invention, the conveyor belt installation, preferably the monitoring unit and or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation, is further configured to output a warning, preferably to a user. This can be done additionally or alternatively to stopping the conveyor belt installation. This can excite the attention of a person who operates the conveyor system, so that the conveyor system can then be stopped, cleaned and put back into operation by the person.According to a further aspect of the invention, the conveyor belt has an elastomeric material, in which reinforcing members running at least in the conveying direction are embedded. This can represent a possibility of the specific implementation of the conveyor belt.According to a further aspect of the invention, the monitoring unit is designed to transmit the optically captured data wirelessly, preferably to a control unit of the conveyor belt installation. This can avoid or save cabling in this region of the conveyor belt installation.According to a further aspect of the invention, the optical detection of the rear side of the conveyor belt and or of the outer side of the deflection drum by means of the monitoring unit comprises:• Detection by means of radio waves (RADAR),• Detection by means of laser beams (LIDAR) and or• Acquisition by means of optical images.This allows the corresponding technical possibilities and their properties or advantages to be applied to the present task.According to a further aspect of the invention, the optical detection of the rear side of the conveyor belt and or of the outer side of the deflection drum is carried out by means of the monitoring unit by means of laser cutting. Thus, a line-by-line scanning of the moving rear side of the conveyor belt and or of the outer side of the deflection drum can be carried out by means of laser section, so that the movement of the object to be detected can be used to generate a three-dimensional and in particular height information of the conveyor belt in combination with the two-dimensional laser beam and to detect discharged material present or adhering there from the deviations in the height.According to a further aspect of the invention, the conveyor belt installation further comprises at least one plough scraper which is arranged in the region of the lower strand directly in front of the deflecting drum and is designed to remove scattered material from the rear side of the conveyor belt. Thus, the properties and advantages of a plough scraper known per se can also be applied and utilized in the conveyor belt installation according to the invention.An exemplary embodiment and further advantages of the invention are explained below in conjunction with the following figure. The following shows: FIG. 1 shows a schematic lateral illustration of a conveyor belt installation according to the invention.The description of the above. Figure is made in Cartesian coordinates with a longitudinal direction X, a transverse direction (not shown) oriented perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction X and a vertical direction Z oriented perpendicularly both to the longitudinal direction X and to the transverse direction, which corresponds to the direction of gravity. The longitudinal direction X can also be referred to as depth X, the transverse direction can also be referred to as width, and the vertical direction Z can also be referred to as height Z. The longitudinal direction X and the transverse direction together form the horizontal, which can also be referred to as the horizontal plane. The longitudinal direction X, the transverse direction and the vertical direction Z can also be collectively referred to as spatial directions or as Cartesian spatial directions.FIG. 1 shows a schematic lateral illustration of a conveyor belt installation 1 according to the invention.The conveyor belt system 1 according to the invention has a conveyor belt 10 which is closed continuously in a conveying direction A and substantially consists of an elastomeric material in which tension members (not shown) are embedded as reinforcing members. The tension members may be steel cables or a woven fabric. In any case, the tension carriers extend in the conveying direction A, which can also be referred to as the running direction A or the movement direction A.In the upper region of the conveyor belt installation 1, the conveyor belt 10 forms an upper strand 10 aon which a material 2 to be conveyed can be transported as material to be conveyed 2, in particular as loose bulk material 2, and a lower strand 10 bwhich is free of the material to be conveyed 2.The conveyor belt 10 is supported in the region of the upper strand 10 aby supporting rollers (not shown). The conveyor belt 10 runs at its ends on one side around a drive drum 11 and on the other side around a deflection drum 12, which can also be referred to as a reversal drum 12 or as a deflection roller 12. A drive (not shown) of the drive drum 11 can be controlled or operated by a control unit (not shown).According to the invention, the conveyor belt installation 1 has a monitoring unit 14, which is directed onto the rear side of the conveyor belt 10 in the region of the lower strand 10 bdirectly in front of the deflection drum 12 and is designed to optically detect the rear side of the conveyor belt 10. The monitoring unit 14 is additionally directed onto the deflection drum 12 and is designed to also optically detect the outer side of the deflection drum 12 by means of laser cutting. The monitoring unit 14 is further configured to wirelessly transmit the optically captured data to the control unit of the conveyor belt installation 1.The control unit of the conveyor belt installation 1 is designed to recognize scattered material 2 in the optically captured data. In response thereto, the driving drum 11 may be stopped by the control unit so that a person may remove the waste material 2. For this purpose, a corresponding warning can be output by the control unit of the conveyor belt installation 1.List of Reference Numerals (part of the description)X longitudinal direction; depth Z vertical direction; height A conveying direction; running direction; movement direction B rotational direction 1 conveyor belt installation 10 conveyor belt 10 aoverstrain of the conveyor belt 13 10 bunderstrain of the conveyor belt 13 11 drive drum 12 deflection drum; reversal drum; deflection roller 13 plough scraper 14 monitoring unit 2 (bulked) material; (bulked) material; (bulked) bulk materialReferences included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Patent Literature citedDE 196 43 997 A1

[0009] DE 197 21 916 A1

[0009] DE 199 02 508 A1

[0009] EP 0 753 472 A1

[0009]

Claims

Conveyor belt installation (1) having an endlessly closed conveyor belt (10) and having a drive drum (11) and a deflection drum (12) around which the conveyor belt (10) is endlessly closed, wherein the drive drum (11) is designed to drive the conveyor belt (10) in a conveying direction (A), characterized a monitoring unit (14) which is directed to the rear side of the conveyor belt (10) in the region of the lower strand (10b) directly in front of the deflecting drum (12) and is designed to optically detect the rear side of the conveyor belt (10), and / or which is directed to the deflecting drum (12) and is designed to optically detect the outer side of the deflecting drum (12), wherein the conveyor belt installation (1), preferably the monitoring unit (14) and / or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation (1), is designed to detect scattered material (2) in the optically detected data.The conveyor belt installation (1) according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor belt installation (1), preferably the monitoring unit (14) and / or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation (1), is further configured to stop the drive drum (11) on the basis of optically detected wasted material.Conveyor belt installation (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveyor belt installation (1), preferably the monitoring unit (14) and / or a control unit of the conveyor belt installation (1), is further configured to issue a warning, preferably to a user.Conveyor belt installation (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the conveyor belt (10) has an elastomeric material, in which reinforcing members running at least in the conveying direction (A) are embedded.Conveyor belt installation (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the monitoring unit (14) is designed to transmit the optically captured data wirelessly, preferably to a control unit of the conveyor belt installation (1).Conveyor belt installation (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the optical detection of the rear side of the conveyor belt (10) and / or of the outer side of the deflection drum (12) by means of the monitoring unit (14) comprises: • detection by means of radio waves (RADAR), • detection by means of laser beams (LIDAR) and / or • detection by means of optical images.Conveyor belt installation (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the optical detection of the rear side of the conveyor belt (10) and / or of the outer side of the deflection drum (12) by means of the monitoring unit (14) is effected by means of laser cutting.Conveyor belt installation (1) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one plough scraper (13) which is arranged in the region of the lower strand (10b) directly in front of the deflecting drum (12) and is designed to remove scattered material (2) from the rear side of the conveyor belt (10).

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