In mining, a wide variety of bulk materials, such as different types of ore and soil, are transported over long distances by conveyor belts to loading silos and other areas of the plant. It is necessary to calculate the material volume with dynamic measurement systems along the routes. The control of produced material is carried out by these systems at strategic points along the conveyor belt. Knowing how much ore has been extracted and handled is directly related to the company’s profits. The harsh environmental conditions pose a particular challenge for the sensor solution used.
The challenge is to measure the volume of material on the conveyor belt without coming into physical contact with the material. In addition, a device that performs reliable measurements and requires less maintenance compared to conventional volume measurement systems is required. The corresponding sensor solution must have a range of more than five meters, be equipped with software filters that make it possible to filter the environmental influences on the measuring data, and also provide information about the presence of dirt on the lens. Communication with an industrial PC via an Ethernet switch would enable the product to be operated with different types of controllers.
The Volume3D volume acquisition system, consisting of an R2000 2-D LiDAR sensor, a multiscan evaluation unit (MSEU), an ENI58IL incremental rotary encoder, and all the required connection cables, is the ideal solution for this application. Equipped with a flexible measurement data filter, the R2000 is positioned on a gantry facing the conveyor belt and can measure the volume without coming into contact with the ore. The ENI58IL incremental rotary encoder with BlueBeam precisely captures the speed and direction of the conveyor belt, while the MSEU processes the sensor data and allows the volumetric scan data to be transmitted directly to other controllers to obtain variables such as flow rate. In addition, the maximum and mean height of the loaded materials on the conveyor can be output.
The Volume3D volume acquisition system offers the most efficient solution on the market for this application: the minimal installation effort and fast commissioning make the sensor system a particularly economical solution for conveyor technology. The noncontact concept also contributes directly to a reduction in maintenance costs in terms of the time required for maintenance and the avoidance of unexpected downtimes. The R2000 2-D LiDAR sensor guarantees maximum precision through a very high angular resolution of 0.042° and a scan rate of up to 50 Hz. The intelligent software, which is integrated into the multiscan evaluation unit (MSEU) of the volume acquisition system, subsequently filters out invalid scan points and therefore ensures correct measurement results.
During operation, the Volume3D volume acquisition system outputs the volume in m3, the flow in m3/s, a height profile along the belt’s width, as well as the length, width, and height dimensions for separated and aligned objects. In addition, measurement filters can be created and data on the presence of dirt on the lens is received to enable timely cleaning.
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