A company from Australia offers a novel fiber optic solution that allows providing conveyor health monitoring by applying real-time data to rationalize production and on-site performance, improve occupational health, hygiene, and safety management, and implement new predictive maintenance and support capabilities to control management.
Thus, the fiber optic technology was tested in surface and sub-surface environments of some of the world’s largest mining companies and bulk material handling the equipment resulting in the accessibility of optical fiber sensing for present sale all over the world. The fact is that efficient conveyor systems are highly important because the profitability of mining companies depends fully on such fiber optic sensing systems.
Additionally, the mining industry has always a huge challenge of conveyor maintenance, and traditional sensing technologies for advanced conveyor failure detection are often precarious, subjective, they require many time and labors. The new fiber sensing system combines the technology of optical fiber detection with a sensing technology platform, “advanced signal processing algorithms and predictive analytics” enabling to acoustically monitor and check conveyor health.
The advantages of presented fiber optic solution include the provision of accurate data to maintenance technicians, site personnel, regional operational hubs, and global headquarters, the opportunity to obtain daily asset reliability reports from every conveyor, at every site worldwide due to the connection of the fiber system to
a wireless Internet.
The operation of the fiber optic system is based on the transmission process of short laser beam pulses along a single optical fiber cable installed along the length of a conveyor, while acoustic disturbances from the conveyor sensing system lead to tiny changes in the backscattered laser beam light, which is then classified into distinguished parameters.
Also, the obtained data is then processed, the following information is gathered:
- the detection of a damaged ball or a broken cage in a ball race;
- monitoring and “tracking idler bearings as they progressively wear”;
- the prediction of potential bearing seizures and establishment of roller replacement priorities at the next maintenance shut down.
Finally, the fiber optic technology of distributed acoustic sensing is considered to be “the way of the future for conveyor health monitoring”. Such fiber optic solution successfully optimizes conveyor operation and provides essential cost savings for operators. Herewith, this fiber sensing system monitors the condition of every conveyor roller that can contain 7.000 bearings per kilometer.
Optromix is a manufacturer of innovative fiber optic products for the global market. The company provides the most technologically advanced fiber optic solutions for the clients. Optromix produces a wide range of fiber optic devices, including cutting-edge customized fiber optic Bragg grating product line and fiber Bragg grating sensor systems. Moreover, Optromix is a top choice among the manufacturers of fiber Bragg grating monitoring systems. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@optromix.com