DIGITAL MINING
TAKING BELT CLEANER MAINTENANCE TO ANOTHER LEVEL FLEXCO INDUSTRY MANAGER FRANKLIN MOORE HIGHLIGHTS THE FOUR KEY PAIN POINTS OF BELT CLEANER MAINTENANCE THAT CAN BE ALLEVIATED THROUGH THE COMPANY’S LATEST SOFTWARE OFFERING – FLEXCO ELEVATE.
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arryback is one of the main causes of conveyor issues at mining operations. It can lead to faster belt wear and additional clean-up activities, with both translating to further downtime and a loss of production, which is critical in the resources sector. Flexco industry manager Franklin Moore says carryback is often thought of as an unavoidable reality for belt conveyors at cement operations, but it doesn’t have to be. “If not given the full attention it requires, carryback can threaten the productivity and safety of an operation,” Moore tells Australian Mining. “When not addressed, it can reduce potential throughput, require frequent cleanup, pose slipping hazards for employees, and even cause premature belt wear. “While it can be easy to overlook belt cleaners as just one small piece of a much larger puzzle, they play a critical role in minimising carryback and its negative effects on an operation.” Moore says the best defense to the threat of carryback is an effective maintenance strategy for belt cleaners supported by remote belt cleaner monitoring technology. Flexco has just released its latest technology, Elevate, a new software that allows customers to monitor their belt cleaners from anywhere. Elevate’s predictive, data-driven engine lets customers move from traditional methods of monitoring cleaner performance to a new way that empowers operations for the future. Moore says this technology employs devices attached to belt cleaners throughout an operation to monitor cleaner performance and transmit data to the cloud in real time. “In a true remote belt cleaner monitoring system, this data is interpreted in the form of critical insights and predictive analysis that can help optimise productivity, streamline operations and heighten operational efficiencies,” Moore says. He highlights four primary pain points of traditional belt cleaner
THE FLEXCO ELEVATE I3 DASHBOARD PROVIDES OPERATORS INSIGHTS AT THEIR FINGERTIPS.
maintenance that can be alleviated through using Elevate.
Keeping cleaners engaged and working properly
For belt cleaners to work effectively, they need to be properly engaged with the belt and maintain proper tension levels. “Because cleaners can become disengaged over the course of normal operations, it is essential that they be monitored and maintained regularly,” Moore says. “If not, excessive carryback and buildup of debris on belts can lead to wear and tear, poor tracking, and seized idlers.” Elevate can significantly improve an operation’s ability to track belt cleaner effectiveness and address maintenance needs in a timelier manner.
Manual maintenance and repairs compromise safety
Moore says carryback is one of the greatest threats to employee safety on a belt conveyor. “While there is a critical need for
proper belt cleaner inspections and maintenance on conveyors, both of these tasks present safety challenges of their own by placing employees close to the moving belt and often in confined spaces to access the cleaners. “A belt cleaner monitoring system lets operations remotely gather critical data and perform real-time analysis of belt cleaner performance. “This can significantly reduce the reliance on manual inspections and the possibility for injury they present.”
Labor hours and wasted costs
Manual inspections require a significant use of manpower for an operation. This includes hours walking the belt or even driving to the site to conduct the inspections. Moore says once repairs are identified, additional time is required to coordinate with a purchasing department to secure any necessary parts. “Allowing operations to better evaluate belt conveyor health anytime, anywhere, without dispatching a crew to the physical belt location is a
THE FLEXCO ELEVATE I3 DEVICE SIMPLY ATTACHES TO FLEXCO BELT CLEANERS WITH A 42-BOLT CLAMP.
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significant advantage to remote belt cleaner monitoring,” he says. Elevate can not only help reduce the need for belt cleaner monitoring, but it can provide insights to other areas of belt performance that can improve overall maintenance efficiency.
Accurately timing maintenance
Scheduling belt cleaner maintenance on a belt conveyor can pose a number of challenges. If problems are not caught soon enough, what could have been solved with routine maintenance can lead to equipment failure, downtime and even potentially catastrophic events. “In an ideal scenario, necessary maintenance work is identified in a timely manner and scheduled for upcoming planned downtime,” Moore says. “However, even this situation can result in equipment being replaced prematurely, resulting in unnecessary costs for an operation.” Elevate delivers valuable insights remotely and in real time. These insights provide a detailed view of the belt cleaner performance and allow maintenance teams to better realise several factors such as cleaner engagement, belt and cleaner run times, tensioning reminders, and urethane and carbide blade wear. Elevate can also detect abnormal events in overall belt performance that could indicate a more significant problem to come, including those that might not even be caught by the naked eye with a physical inspection. AM
