Apparatus and method for monitoring conveyor systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10836585-B2
Application number	US-201816229946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2018
Priority date	Dec 22, 2017
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

In one aspect, an apparatus is provided for a conveyor belt system. The apparatus includes a conveyor belt cleaner having an elongate support and a pair of mounts configured to position the elongate support to extend across a conveyor belt. The apparatus includes a cleaner blade configured to be operatively mounted to the elongate support and engage a conveyor belt. The apparatus further includes a sensor configured to detect at least one characteristic of the elongate support as the elongate support vibrates during conveyor belt operation. A processor of the apparatus is configured to use the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to predict at least one property of the cleaner blade.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensor apparatus for monitoring a conveyor belt cleaner of a conveyor belt system, the conveyor belt cleaner including an elongate support and a cleaner blade configured to be operatively mounted to the elongate support and engage a conveyor belt, the sensor apparatus comprising:
a sensor module having an opening sized to receive the elongate support and permit the sensor module to be mounted on the elongate support;
a sensor of the sensor module configured to detect at least one characteristic of the elongate support;
communication circuitry of the sensor module, the communication circuitry configured to wirelessly communicate data associated with the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to a communication hub; and
a battery of the sensor module to provide power for the sensor and the communication circuitry.

2. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the conveyor belt cleaner, the conveyor belt cleaner including the elongate support and a pair of mounts configured to support and position the elongate support to extend across the conveyor belt; and
wherein the sensor module includes a housing having the opening, the housing configured to be mounted on the elongate support while the elongate support is supported and positioned to extend across the conveyor belt by the pair of mounts.

3. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module includes a housing, the sensor being within the housing.

4. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a processor configured to use the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to predict at least one property of the conveyor belt system.

5. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one property of the conveyor belt system includes a remaining lifespan of the cleaner blade.

6. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the processor is configured to predict the at least one property of the conveyor belt system including at least one property of the cleaner blade of the conveyor belt cleaner.

7. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the processor is configured to predict the at least one property of the conveyor belt system including at least one property of the conveyor belt.

8. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a memory configured to store vibration historical data for a second elongate support of a second conveyor belt cleaner of a second conveyor belt system, the processor configured to use the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to predict the at least one property of the conveyor belt system at least in part by comparing the at least one characteristic to the vibration historical data of the second conveyor belt system.

9. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a memory configured to store vibration historical data for the elongate support of the conveyor belt cleaner, the processor configured to use the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to predict the at least one property of the conveyor belt system at least in part by comparing the at least one characteristic to the vibration historical data.

10. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the processor is configured to use the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to predict the at least one property of the conveyor belt system at least in part by calculating a fundamental frequency of the at least one characteristic of the elongate support and associating the fundamental frequency with the at least one property of the conveyor belt system.

11. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one characteristic includes an acceleration of the elongate support, a rate of rotation of the elongate support, or a combination thereof; and
the at least one property of the conveyor belt system includes blade tension, whether the cleaner blade is engaged with the conveyor belt, whether the cleaner blade is chattering, or a combination thereof.

12. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a communication interface operatively coupled to the processor and configured to receive identification data representative of at least one physical property of the conveyor belt cleaner, the processor configured to select at least a portion of an algorithm representative of the physical operation of the conveyor belt cleaner based on the identification data.

13. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a second processor of the sensor module, the second processor operatively coupled to the sensor and the communication circuitry, the communication circuitry configured to communicate via the communication hub and a network with a remote computer that includes the processor, the second processor configured to cause the communication circuitry to communicate data representative of the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to the remote computer.

14. The sensor apparatus of claim 4 in combination with the conveyor belt system, wherein the cleaner blade includes a plurality of cleaner blades and the at least one property of the conveyor belt system includes at least one property of each of the cleaner blades.

15. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the communication hub, the communication hub configured to wirelessly receive data from a plurality of sensor modules.

16. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the communication hub, the communication hub configured to communicate via a cellular communication protocol.

17. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a processor of the sensor module operably coupled to the sensor and the communication circuitry, the processor configured to cause the communication circuitry to communicate the data associated with the at least one characteristic of the elongate support to the communication hub.

18. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one characteristic includes a position of the elongate support.

19. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor is configured to detect:
a change in position of the elongate support;
a rotary distance the elongate support travels; or
at least a combination thereof.

20. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module includes a clamp operable to secure the sensor module on the elongate support.

21. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module includes a clamp portion of the sensor module having an inner surface extending about the opening, the clamp portion configured to clamp the inner surface against an outer surface of the elongate support and secure the sensor module to the elongate support.

22. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module includes a sleeve portion extending about the opening, the sleeve portion having a pair of ends separated by a gap, wherein the sensor module includes a clamping member operable to narrow the gap and clamp the sensor module on the elongate support.

23. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module opening is circular and the sensor module includes an annular inner surface extending about the circular opening, the annular inner surface configured to be clamped against a cylindrical outer surface of the elongate support with the sensor module mounted on the elongate support.

24. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module includes an indicator.

25. The sensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sensor module incl

Assignees

• Flexible Steel Lacing Co

Inventors

• Devries Brett E
• Zeilinger Todd A
• Dykema Kurt Alan
• Moelker David Adrian

Classifications

• B65G2203/042

  Sensors · CPC title

• B65G43/00 Primary

  Control devices, e.g. for safety, warning or fault-correcting · CPC title

• B65G45/12 Primary

  comprising scrapers · CPC title

• B65G45/16

  with scraper biasing means · CPC title

• B65G43/02 Primary

  detecting dangerous physical condition of load carriers, e.g. for interrupting the drive in the event of overheating · CPC title