1. Introduction
When transporting bulk materials by belt conveyors, it is often necessary to transfer the transported material from one belt conveyor to another. This workspace, where material grains (carried on the surface of the conveyor belt) are thrown obliquely as they pass in front of the end drum [
1] of the conveyor belt onto the conveyor belt of the following conveyor belt, is called the "transfer station", see
Figure 1(a), and can be straight or angled (
Figure 1(b)). The conveyed material can also be fed onto the working surface of the conveyor belt via a hopper,
Figure 1(c).
Material grains of mass m [kg] with sharp edges falling from a height h [m] onto the working surface of the conveyor belt, at the point of the transfer or hopper, damage the conveyor belt due to their impact energy [
2,
3,
4]. Repeated impacts of material grains can severely damage the covering rubber layer as well as the supporting frame of the conveyor belt and lead to its destruction [
5,
6,
7]. One of the possible solutions, which is used in practice to limit the high values of the dynamic effects of falling material grains on the conveyor belt, is the use of so-called "impact rollers" at the filling points (the hopper) and the transfer points of conveyor belts.
In the article [
8] K. Hicke et al. describe the acoustic monitoring of the rollers´ condition in industrial conveyor belt installations.
In the article [
9] by the author Y. Liu et al. the monitoring of the sound of transport roller bearings is described.
Impact rollers are one of the auxiliary elements used for belt conveyors. In the load-bearing run of the conveyor belt, one (a straight conveyor idler bench) or more (a trough conveyor idler bench) conveyor idlers are used to support the conveyor belt. The specific function of the impact rollers is to provide optimum support for the conveyor belt at loading points and transfer points where the conveyor belt is subjected to significant impact forces.
In the article [
10] the failures of a hundred bearings of conveyor belt rollers are analysed. This article specifies the possible causes of damage to the conveyor roller bearings and proposes measures to eliminate them.
The impact roller is generally similar in design to other types of transport rollers. It differs in that it is equipped with a central member, i.e. a reduced-diameter steel casing on which a grooved rubber hoop with the required thickness is fitted. The rubber hoop is usually designed as a set of concentric rings that form a grooved surface on the outer shell of the impact rollers. The grooved rubber hoop offers excellent impact resistance with the ability to absorb the forces induced by the impact of material grains on the working surface of the conveyor belt at the filling and transfer points of the conveyor belt, compared to conventional (steel or plastic) conveyor roller casings.
In the paper [
11], a machine-learning method for diagnosing the failures of conveyor belt rollers is presented. The method consists of applying a wavelet transform to the measured vibration signals, extracting features from the processed signals and applying the Gradient Boosting method to classify the state of the idlers.
Impact rollers can be inserted into standard conveyor idlers (
Figure 2(a)) or into the suspended carrying idlers (
Figure 2(b)) of the conveyor belt. A selected number of impact rollers ( spacing and [m], see
Figure 2(c)) is designed so that these rollers absorb as much of the impact force as possible at the transfer points and prevent accelerated wear of the conveyor belt. The spacing of the impact rollers is, at the filling and transfer points of the belt conveyors, smaller than the spacing of the conventional transport rollers mounted in the conveyor belt load-bearing run.
Impact rollers, like conveyor rollers, produce vibrations that become more intense as the circumferential speed of the rotating roller shell increases. Vibrations and the noise [
12,
13] of the conveyor rollers are an undesirable by-product of the continuous conveyor belt operation.
H. Shiri et al. in the article [
14] define that due to the number of idlers to be monitored, the size of the conveyor, and the risk of accident when dealing with rotating elements and moving belts, monitoring of all idlers (i.e., using vibration sensors) is impractical regarding scale and connectivity. Hence, an inspection robot is proposed to capture acoustic signals instead of vibrations commonly used in condition monitoring.
The measurements of jacket’s vibrations of rollers installed on laboratory stand were made in the article [
15] by G. Peruń. It also presents the results of the study, which have on aim non–invasive qualification of technical state of rollers in belt conveyor after certain time of exploitation.
In the article [
16] F. Alharbi et al. presents a review of acoustic and vibration signal-based fault detection for belt conveyor idlers using ML models. It also discusses major steps in the approaches, such as data collection, signal processing, feature extraction and selection, and ML model construction.
In the article [
17], the parameters that represent the technical condition of tension rollers for the purpose of condition monitoring are presented. This article describes a test device for monitoring the vibration and temperature of belt conveyor tension rollers.
Belt conveyors, especially of high lengths, are equipped with a large number of conveyor rollers, which must be monitored to prevent damage, especially to their bearings. Damage to the bearings leads to an increase in the motion resistance of the conveyor belt and also to the possibility of stopping the rotation of the roller casing. When the bearings of the conveyor roller are damaged and the rotation of the roller casing stops, the non-moving surface of the roller casing wears out due to friction in the contact surface of the moving conveyor belt. This can lead to mechanical damage, i.e. a longitudinal cutting of the cover or even the load-bearing layer, of the conveyor belt. It is therefore necessary to monitor the technical condition of the roller bearings, e.g. by machine vision [
18], or by using sensors with measuring devices [
19].
Visual and acoustic methods are commonly used to identify faulty or defective guide bearings is shown in [
20]. The article describes the use of an accelerometer that moves with the belt and at the same time monitors the condition of all bearings.
The article [
21] presents the detection of damage to rollers based on the transverse vibration signal measured on the conveyor belt. A solution was proposed for a wireless measuring device that moves with the conveyor belt along of the route, which records the signal of transverse vibrations of the belt.
4. Discussion
The evaluated measurements of the forces, given in Chapter “3. Results“, generated by the impact of the weight hitting the impact roller with ϕ89 mm diameter show that (for i = 5 repeated measurements under the same technical conditions) the mean value of the measured force F
(Dr)j,i [N] at measuring point A, and also at measuring point B, (see
Figure 11(b)) is lower when the axle of the impact roller is placed in the plastic brackets.
Table 2 shows for measuring points A and B, on a fixed conveyor idler with rubber impact roller axle brackets ϕ89 mm, the magnitude of the calculated dynamic force F
(89)A,p = 83.8 ± 1.5 N and F
(89)B,p = 85.5 ± 2.3 N.
According to
Table 4, for the measuring points A and B, the dynamic force F
(89)A,s = 86.5 ± 1.4 N and F
(89)B,s = 89.0 ± 1.7 N were calculated for the fixed conveyor idler with steel impact roller axle brackets of ϕ89 mm.
For the ϕ89 mm impact roller, the size of the force F(89)A,p [N] reaches 98.0% of the force F(89)A,s [N] and the size of F(89)B,p [N] force reaches a magnitude of 97.2% of the force F(89)B,p [N].
At both measuring point C and measuring point D (see
Figure 11(b)) the magnitudes of the forces generated by the impact of the weight hitting the impact roller ϕ89 mm are also lower when the axle of the impact roller is mounted in plastic brackets.
By evaluating the measurements of the forces generated by the impact of the weights hitting the impact roller ϕ108 mm, see section “3. Results” (for i = 5 repeated measurements under the same technical conditions) it can be concluded that the mean values of the measured forces F
(Dr)j,i [N] at measuring point A, and at measuring point B, (see
Figure 11(b)) are also lower in the case of the placement of the axle of the impact roller placed in the plastic brackets.
Table 4 shows for measuring points A and B, on a fixed conveyor idler with rubber brackets for the axle of the impact roller ϕ89 mm, the magnitude of the calculated dynamic force F
(108)A,p = 60.7 ± 10.0 N a F
(108)B,p = 62.2 ± 9.6 N.
According to
Table 5, there are the calculated dynamic forces F
(108)A,s = 72.4 ± 6.5 N and F
(108)B,s = 72.9 ± 4.6 N for measuring points A and B on a fixed conveyor idler with steel brackets for the axle of this impact roller ϕ89.
For the ϕ108 mm impact roller the magnitude of the force F(108)A,p [N] reaches 83.8% of the force F(108)A,s [N] and the magnitude of the force F(108)B,p [N] reaches 85.3% of the force F(108)B,s [N].
It is advantageous to install plastic holders in engineered steel trestles that are welded to the circular cross-section tube of fixed conveyor idlers, as they can dampen the magnitude of impact forces generated at the transfer points of the conveyor belt. The impact of material grains thrown diagonally over the edge of the drum from the first conveyor belt onto the belt of the second conveyor causes impact forces of high magnitudes. The magnitude of the force impulse depends on the magnitude of the force and the time over which the force was applied. It is known that the impulse of the force is equal to the change in momentum of the body, therefore, if the weight of the falling grain acts for a longer time (a deformation of the rubber brackets to which the ends of the impact roller axle are attached is higher than the deformation of the steel trestles), the impact force has a lower magnitude.
The realised vibration measurements, see Chapter 3.3 and Chapter 3.4 of the rotating rubberised casing (ϕ89 mm and ϕ108 mm) impact roller on laboratory device, see
Figure 16, have not demonstrated, as stated in [
1,
2], that the plastic brackets limit the amount of vibration (excited by the rotating casing of the conveyor roller) transferred by the support beam of a fixed conveyor idler to the steel frame of a laboratory device that simulates the conveyor belt run.
Similarly as in [
1] higher effective vibration velocity values in each of the "x", "y" and "z" coordinate axes were measured on the laboratory equipment for higher impact roller casing speeds, see
Table 6 to
Table 13.
The measured effective vibration velocity values in the vertical direction (z-axis of the coordinate system) at measuring points B and D (see
Figure 25) are higher if the axle of the impact roller ϕ89 mm and the impact roller ϕ108 mm are placed in plastic brackets.
It can be seen from
Table 6 and
Table 10 that the vibration v
(z)RMS(31.38) = 1.26 mm·s
-1 (
Figure 25) in the case of mounting the impact roller axle in plastic brackets (
Figure 4(b)) is 2.8 times (by 280%) higher at measuring point B than the vibration v
(z)RMS(31.55) = 0.45 mm·s
-1 corresponding to mounting the impact roller axle at measuring point B in a steel bracket (
Figure 4(a)).
From
Table 7 and
Table 11, it can be expressed that the vibration v
(z)RMS(31.36) = 1.18 mm·s
-1 (
Figure 25) in the case of mounting the axle of the impact roller in plastic brackets (
Figure 4(b)) is 2.7 times (by 274%) higher at measuring point D than the vibration v
(z)RMS(31.48) = 0.43 mm·s
-1 corresponding to mounting the axle of the impact roller at measuring point D in a steel bracket (
Figure 4(a)).
Figure 25.
Effective vibration velocity values for the impact roller ϕ89mm (a) steel trestle, (b) plastic trestle.
Figure 25.
Effective vibration velocity values for the impact roller ϕ89mm (a) steel trestle, (b) plastic trestle.
From
Table 8 and
Table 12, it can be expressed that the vibration v
(z)RMS(29.84) = 1.14 mm·s
-1 (
Figure 26) in the case of mounting the axle of the impact roller ϕ108 mm in plastic brackets (
Figure 4(b)) is 1.3 times (by 134%) higher than the vibration at measurement point B v
(z)RMS(29.98) = 0.85 mm·s
-1 for the corresponding location of the axle of the impact roller at measuring point B in the steel bracket (
Figure 4(a)).
Table 9 and
Table 13 prove that the vibrations v
(z)RMS(29.83) = 1.13 mm·s
-1 (
Figure 26) in the case of the axle of the impact roller ϕ108 mm placed in the plastic brackets (
Figure 4(b)) is 1.1 times (by 107%) higher at measuring point D than the vibrations v
(z)RMS(30.00) = 1.06 mm·s
-1 for the corresponding location of the axle of the impact roller at measuring point D in the steel bracket (
Figure 4(a)).
Figure 26.
Effective vibration velocity values for the impact roller ϕ89mm (a) steel trestle, (b) plastic trestle.
Figure 26.
Effective vibration velocity values for the impact roller ϕ89mm (a) steel trestle, (b) plastic trestle.
The different results of the calculated effective vibration values (in the "z" axis of the coordinate system) of the impact rollers, with outer diameters of rubber hoops D
r [m] for circumferential velocities v = 1.25÷3.15 m·s
-1, from conveyor rollers of identical diameters with plastic or steel casings [
2] can be expressed by the fact that the rubber hoops applied on a steel casing are not of an identical outer diameter. The difference in the outer diameters of the partial rubber hoops (6 pcs for the impact roller ϕ89 mm, 16 pcs for the impact roller ϕ108 mm) can already be seen visually. For experimental vibration measurements of the impact rollers on laboratory equipment (
Figure 16), it was not possible to use "pulley assemblies" [
2], which have been used in the experimental vibration measurements of the conveyor rollers with plastic or steel casings. The impossibility of sliding the "pulley assembly" to the required distance on the outer diameter of the rubberized hoops on the side of the impact rollers led to the necessity of designing split pulleys, see
Figure 7.
5. Conclusions
The current trend of the digitization of industry called Industry 4.0, which aims to automate and digitize production processes, uses methods and tools to save time, and money and adapt to the situation and operations of companies. The process of automation brings with it the introduction of new technologies, equipping machines with chips and sensors and controlling computers to remotely monitor and control production processes. Through IoT technologies, data from various sensors and gauges can be collected and shared for further use.
The plastic brackets embedded in the designed roller axle brackets can dampen vibrations transmitted to the conveyor belt structure. It is preferable to use these special fixed conveyor idlers along the length of the conveyor belt run, and less suitable to use them at transfer points and hoppers.
The individual rubber hoops of unequal outer diameters cause oscillations and vibrations due to the unbalanced mass during the rotation of the impact rollers. The vibrations are more intense at higher impact roller speeds, as the centrifugal force of the rotating unbalanced mass is known to be proportional to the square of the angular velocity.
Experimental measurements carried out on both laboratory devices showed that the implemented plastic brackets for the axle of the conveyor rollers in the structurally modified steel trestles of the fixed conveyor idler have the ability to dampen the vibrations excited by the rotating casing of the conveyor roller. The plastic brackets fitted into the trestles of the fixed conveyor idler also allow to absorb of a part of the impact force of the falling material grains at the transfer points or on the hoppers of the conveyor belts.
Figure 1.
(a) conveyor belt transfer, (b) angled station, (c) a hopper.
Figure 1.
(a) conveyor belt transfer, (b) angled station, (c) a hopper.
Figure 2.
Impact rollers installed at the conveyor idler (a) fixed, (b) suspended carrying idlers, (c) spacing a [m] of the impact rollers in the transfer area of the conveyor belt.
Figure 2.
Impact rollers installed at the conveyor idler (a) fixed, (b) suspended carrying idlers, (c) spacing a [m] of the impact rollers in the transfer area of the conveyor belt.
Figure 3.
Laboratory device (a) 3D model software SolidWorks, (b) 2D drawing by AutoCAD software. 1 – aluminium frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – strain gauge force sensor, 5 – guide rod, 6 – weights.
Figure 3.
Laboratory device (a) 3D model software SolidWorks, (b) 2D drawing by AutoCAD software. 1 – aluminium frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – strain gauge force sensor, 5 – guide rod, 6 – weights.
Figure 4.
Fixed conveyor idlers with a (a) conventional, and (b) special design. 1 – impact roller, 2 – the trestle of the conventional conveyor idler, 3 – the trestle of the special conveyor idler, 4 – plastic brackets.
Figure 4.
Fixed conveyor idlers with a (a) conventional, and (b) special design. 1 – impact roller, 2 – the trestle of the conventional conveyor idler, 3 – the trestle of the special conveyor idler, 4 – plastic brackets.
Figure 5.
Dynamic force detection measuring chain. 1 – weights, 2 – impact roller, 3 – fixed conveyor idler, 4 – strain gauge force transducer, 5 - DS NET strain gauge apparatus, 6 – PC with DEWESoft X2 SP5 software.
Figure 5.
Dynamic force detection measuring chain. 1 – weights, 2 – impact roller, 3 – fixed conveyor idler, 4 – strain gauge force transducer, 5 - DS NET strain gauge apparatus, 6 – PC with DEWESoft X2 SP5 software.
Figure 6.
Laboratory equipment for measuring the vibration of a rotating roller casing (a) 3D model – SolidWorks software, (b) 2D drawing – AutoCAD software. 1 – steel frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – split V-belt pulley, 5 – V-belt, 6 – electric motor, 7 – tensioning device.
Figure 6.
Laboratory equipment for measuring the vibration of a rotating roller casing (a) 3D model – SolidWorks software, (b) 2D drawing – AutoCAD software. 1 – steel frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – split V-belt pulley, 5 – V-belt, 6 – electric motor, 7 – tensioning device.
Figure 7.
Impact Roller V-belt ϕ89 mm (a) 2D drawing – AutoCAD software and 3D model – SolidWorks software, (b) console. 1 – part of the V-belt pulley, 2 – bolted connection, 3 – console, 4 - bolted connection.
Figure 7.
Impact Roller V-belt ϕ89 mm (a) 2D drawing – AutoCAD software and 3D model – SolidWorks software, (b) console. 1 – part of the V-belt pulley, 2 – bolted connection, 3 – console, 4 - bolted connection.
Figure 8.
Measurement chain for the vibration detection of the rotating impact roller casing. 1 – impact roller, 2 – acceleration sensor, 3 – optical laser sensor, 4 – strain gauge apparatus DEWESoft SIRIUSi-HS, 5 – PC with DEWESoft X software.
Figure 8.
Measurement chain for the vibration detection of the rotating impact roller casing. 1 – impact roller, 2 – acceleration sensor, 3 – optical laser sensor, 4 – strain gauge apparatus DEWESoft SIRIUSi-HS, 5 – PC with DEWESoft X software.
Figure 9.
Impact roller (a) with outer diameter 108 mm, (b) fitted with an outer diameter V-belt pulley at Da = 174 mm and calculated diameter of Dw = 170 mm.
Figure 9.
Impact roller (a) with outer diameter 108 mm, (b) fitted with an outer diameter V-belt pulley at Da = 174 mm and calculated diameter of Dw = 170 mm.
Figure 10.
(a) Rubberised impact roller with outer diameter of 89 mm, (b) V-belt pulley of calculated diameter Dw = 150 mm.
Figure 10.
(a) Rubberised impact roller with outer diameter of 89 mm, (b) V-belt pulley of calculated diameter Dw = 150 mm.
Figure 11.
(a) laboratory equipment used to measure impact forces, (b) placement of strain gauge sensors at the measuring points A and B. 1 – aluminium frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – strain gauge force sensor, 5 – guide rod, 6 – weights.
Figure 11.
(a) laboratory equipment used to measure impact forces, (b) placement of strain gauge sensors at the measuring points A and B. 1 – aluminium frame, 2 – fixed conveyor idler, 3 – impact roller, 4 – strain gauge force sensor, 5 – guide rod, 6 – weights.
Figure 12.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(89)j,4 [N], (b) F(89)j,4 [N].
Figure 12.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(89)j,4 [N], (b) F(89)j,4 [N].
Figure 13.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(108)j,4 [N], (b) F(108)j,4 [N].
Figure 13.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(108)j,4 [N], (b) F(108)j,4 [N].
Figure 14.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(89)j,4 [N], (b) F(89)j,4 [N].
Figure 14.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(89)j,4 [N], (b) F(89)j,4 [N].
Figure 15.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(108)j,4 [N], (b) F(108)j,4 [N].
Figure 15.
The course of the measured force values in measuring points A and B of the laboratory equipment (a) F0(108)j,4 [N], (b) F(108)j,4 [N].
Figure 16.
(a) laboratory equipment used to measure the vibration of conveyor rollers, (b) the placement of accelerometers in measuring points B, and D on the fixed conveyor idler and in points A, and C on the frame on the laboratory equipment.
Figure 16.
(a) laboratory equipment used to measure the vibration of conveyor rollers, (b) the placement of accelerometers in measuring points B, and D on the fixed conveyor idler and in points A, and C on the frame on the laboratory equipment.
Table 2.
Impact roller with Dr = 89 mm diameter, plastic roller axle bracket.
Table 2.
Impact roller with Dr = 89 mm diameter, plastic roller axle bracket.
Dr [mm] |
89 |
F0(Dr)j,i [N] |
Measurement point “j” |
F(Dr)j,i [N] |
Measurement point “j” |
F(Dr)j,i - F0(Dr)j,i
|
“A“ |
“B“ |
“A“ |
“B“ |
“A“ |
“B“ |
119.3 |
122.8 |
202.9 |
208.2 |
83.6 |
85.4 |
119.4 |
123.0 |
202.7 |
207.6 |
83.3 |
84.6 |
119.1 |
122.9 |
203.5 |
209.8 |
84.1 |
86.9 |
119.4 1
|
123.0 1
|
204.8 2
|
210.4 2
|
85.7 |
87.4 |
119.6 |
123.6 |
201.9 |
206.9 |
82.3 |
83.3 |
|
|
Fd(Dr)j [N] |
83.8 |
85.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
κα,j [N] |
1.5 |
2.3 |
Table 5.
Impact roller with Dr = 108 mm diameter, steel roller axle bracket.
Table 5.
Impact roller with Dr = 108 mm diameter, steel roller axle bracket.
Dr [mm] |
108 |
F0(Dr)j,i [N] |
Measurement point “j” |
F(Dr)j,i [N] |
Measurement point “j” |
F(Dr)j,i - F0(Dr)j,i
|
“A“ |
“B“ |
“A“ |
“B“ |
“A“ |
“B“ |
119.4 |
134.3 |
187.2 |
203.1 |
67.8 |
68.8 |
119.8 |
134.7 |
190.9 |
207.2 |
71.1 |
72.5 |
121.3 |
136.1 |
190.2 |
206.9 |
68.9 |
70.8 |
120.8 1
|
135.8 1
|
195.6 2
|
209.1 2
|
74.8 |
73.3 |
120.1 |
135.0 |
199.4 |
214.0 |
79.3 |
79.0 |
|
|
Fd(Dr)j [N] |
72.4 |
72.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
κα,j [N] |
6.5 |
4.6 |
Table 6.
Axle placement of the impact roller with diameter Dr = 89 mm - steel trestle.
Table 6.
Axle placement of the impact roller with diameter Dr = 89 mm - steel trestle.
fi
|
nr
|
vr
|
Measurement point “A“ |
Measurement point “B“ |
v(x)RMS(fi)
|
v(y)RMS(fi)
|
v(z)RMS(fi)
|
v(x)RMS(fi)
|
v(y)RMS(fi)
|
v(z)RMS(fi)
|
[Hz] |
[min-1] |
[m·s-1] |
[mm·s-1] |
[mm·s-1] |
39.84 |
677 |
3.16 |
0.21 |
0.20 |
0.12 |
0.47 |
0.13 |
0.57 |
31.55 |
536 |
2.50 |
0.30 1
|
0.17 1
|
0.13 1
|
0.48 2
|
0.15 2
|
0.45 2
|
16.28 |
268 |
1.25 |
0.15 |
0.10 |
0.08 |
0.19 |
0.07 |
0.16 |
Table 10.
Axle placement of the impact roller with diameter Dr = 89 mm - plastic trestle.
Table 10.
Axle placement of the impact roller with diameter Dr = 89 mm - plastic trestle.
fi
|
nr
|
vr
|
Measurement point “A“ |
Measurement point “B“ |
v(x)RMS(fi)
|
v(y)RMS(fi)
|
v(z)RMS(fi)
|
v(x)RMS(fi)
|
v(y)RMS(fi)
|
v(z)RMS(fi)
|
[Hz] |
[min-1] |
[m·s-1] |
[mm·s-1] |
[mm·s-1] |
39.64 |
674 |
3.14 |
0.34 |
0.61 |
0.13 |
0.45 |
0.31 |
1.91 |
31.38 |
533 |
2.49 |
0.32 1
|
0.42 1
|
0.14 1
|
0.37 2
|
0.23 2
|
1.26 2
|
15.72 |
267 |
1.24 |
0.14 |
0.19 |
0.07 |
0.17 |
0.12 |
0.53 |