Conveyor Controller Analytics for Jam Detection and Equipment Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor systems face challenges in tracking items and monitoring the health of conveyor equipment, leading to issues like jammed or lost items, and wear and tear on components.
Innovation Solution
A unique controller card is developed for conveyor systems, supporting both 24V and 48V rollers, and both AC and DC systems, with integrated features like a sideband communication system, data analytics, and roller detection to track items and monitor equipment health.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional conveyor systems are used without integrated analytics, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability of item tracking and equipment monitoring deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the analytics system directly into the conveyor controller, combining item tracking, equipment monitoring, and data processing functions into a single integrated device. This eliminates the need for separate analytics hardware and software systems, thereby improving reliability while managing complexity through consolidation rather than addition.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a traditional conveyor control device and as an analytics system. It performs diverse functions including item tracking, equipment health monitoring, data aggregation, and predictive analytics, all within a single controller, thus improving reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are deployed to monitor conveyor zones, then measurement precision of item location and equipment status improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensors within each conveyor zone are merged into a single controller that processes all sensor inputs. The controller integrates data from various sensors (photoeyes, weight sensors, etc.) to achieve precise item location detection and equipment status monitoring, thereby improving measurement precision while managing complexity through centralized processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system is divided into multiple zones, each with its own controller card that independently processes sensor data for that zone. This segmentation allows precise local monitoring while distributing complexity across multiple manageable units rather than requiring a single complex centralized system.
3Productivity
If centralized analytics system is used to aggregate data from all conveyors, then productivity through centralized control improves, but device complexity and processing requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The analytics system is segmented and distributed across multiple controller cards, each responsible for aggregating and processing data from its local conveyor zones. This distributed architecture maintains the productivity benefits of centralized data aggregation while reducing the complexity and processing burden on any single centralized system by dividing work across multiple independent units.
Data Source
AI summary
A data analytics system has been developed for conveyor systems that helps to monitor items along conveyors as well as assist in monitoring the status or health of equipment of the conveyor. Tracking items in conveying systems within a facility can be difficult. Conveyed items can become jammed, lost, or even fall off the conveyor. Based on input from motors and sensors along the conveyor, the data analytics system is able to detect lost or jammed items. With input from the sensors, the data analytics system is also configured to detect equipment wear and damage. The data analytic system further aggregates data from the various conveyor systems to generate statistics as well as other information that can be used for modeling and simulating the conveyor system. The aggregate data can be used to generate measures such as travel efficiency analytics for reporting purposes.