APPARATUS FOR SENSING CONDITIONS LOCAL TO A CONVEYOR BELT
Apparatus and method for sensing conditions local to a modular conveyor belt and wirelessly transmitting signals representing those conditions to an off-belt belt monitoring system. A load cell pin installed in a clevis formed at a hinge joint between adjacent rows of a modular conveyor belt serves as a clevis pin to interconnect the rows and as a sensor sensitive to belt tension transmitted through the clevis. A special load-sensing belt module forms the clevis and holds electronic circuitry that takes the measurements made by the sensor, logs them in a memory element, and transmits them wirelessly to the belt monitoring system. The measurements may also be used as part of a closed-loop control system to control the speed or other operating characteristics of the conveyor system. Furthermore, a variety of sensors housed in sensor modules similar to standard conveyor belt modules may be installed in the belt as drop-in replacements for standard modules.
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This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/026,824, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Sensing Conditions Local to a Modular Conveyor Belt,” filed Feb. 6, 2008.
BACKGROUNDThe invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to methods and devices for making measurements of conditions local to modular conveyor belts from within the belts and wirelessly transmitting those measurements for monitoring or controlling the operation of the belt or the process in which it is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,852, “Conveyor Belt Tension Sensing,” describes a radio transmitter and a tensile force sensor that includes strain gauges mounted in the limbs of a support link that is adapted for connection to joint components at the ends of straight-running flat belt portions. The strain gauges sense belt tension and derive a corresponding signal that is transmitted by the transmitter to a receiver and monitor. The belt has to be unlaced and relaced every time the support link is installed or removed. And because the belt is longer with the support link installed, the tension has to be adjusted.
It is often desirable to detect the tension at the outside of a modular plastic conveyor belt in a spiral conveyor. Knowing the tension in a side-flexing spiral or radius belt at the outside of a turn is useful in detecting imminent failures or in adjusting the tension for optimal operation. This is conventionally done in spiral belt conveyor systems by a data-logging tension-sensing device temporarily attached along outer belt modules as the belt follows its helical path along the spiral conveyor's drive tower. But the sensing device has to be removed before it reaches the belt's return path and falls off. When the device is removed, the belt tension data it collected is dumped to a computer for analysis.
Thus, there is a need for a device that can sense conditions, such as belt tension at the outside of a turn, in a conveyor belt without being destroyed and without having to be removed from the belt.
SUMMARYThis need and other needs are satisfied by a modular conveyor belt embodying features of the invention, including a load-sensing belt module. The modular conveyor belt is constructed of a series of rows of one or more belt modules hingedly linked together at hinge joints between adjacent rows. The load-sensing belt module includes a load sensor that makes measurements of belt tension in at least a portion of the load-sensing belt module, which further includes a memory element for storing as a group a series of the measurements of belt tension made by the load sensor
Another modular plastic conveyor belt comprises a series of rows of one or more standard belt modules hingedly linked together between adjacent rows and at least one sensor module. The sensor module includes a sensor making measurements of a local condition, a memory element for storing the measurements as a group, and a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting signals representing the group of measurements.
In another aspect of the invention, a conveyor system comprises a conveyor belt that includes a sensor making measurements of a local condition, a memory element for storing the measurements as a group, and a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting signals representing the group of measurements. A controller uses the group of measurements to control the operation of the conveyor system in a closed-loop system.
These features and aspects of the invention, as well as its advantages, are better understood by referring to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, in which:
A portion of a modular conveyor belt following a curved path is shown in
The conveyor belt shown in this example is a radius, or side-flexing, belt capable of negotiating turns or wrapping helically around a spiral-conveyor drum or capstan. As shown in
An important factor in determining the life of the spiral belt and its performance is the tension in the belt. In a spiral conveyor, in which a major portion of the belt's path is its helical path up or down the capstan, the majority of the belt tension is borne by the hinge elements at the outside of the turn. The collapsed inside edge and the interior portions of the belt carry almost no tension in a turn. A load-sensing belt module 28 is positioned at the outside edge of the belt row in place of a standard belt module or belt module edge portion. The load-sensing module extends inward from the outside edge of the belt far enough to capture all or at least a known percentage of the tension in the belt as it makes a turn. A complementary belt module 30 in an adjacent row cooperates with the load-sensing module to concentrate the belt tension at a measuring position 32 without changing the pull characteristics of the belt. Both the load-sensing module and the complementary module have hinge elements 34, 35 along one end designed to interleave with the hinge elements 16 of standard belt rows and receive a hinge rod. The hinge rod extending through the hinge elements on the load-sensing module is prevented from escaping at the outside of the module by a plug 33 that occludes the rod passageway through the interleaved hinge elements. A bias-cut edge 36 on the inner side of a complementary module provides room for the collapse of the belt inward of the outer edge.
Further details of the load-sensing module 28 and its complementary module 30 are shown in
The puck is received in a projection 54 extending outward from one end of the complementary belt module 30. The projection 54 has a recess 56 shaped to snugly, but rotationally hold half the puck. One end of a T-shaped retainer 58 sits in a mating receptacle 60 in the complementary belt module and holds the other half of the puck. The retainer may be fastened to the projection in a conventional manner, such as by screws, adhesives, or thermal bonding, such as by ultrasonic welding. Together, the projection and the retainer form an oversized hinge element coupled to the load-sensing module through the puck and the pin portion of the load cell. The circular outer wall of the puck allows the complementary module to rotate about a second axis 62 radial to the axis of the pin and perpendicular to the plane of the load-sensing module to properly load the load cell as the belt fans out at the outside of a turn.
When the load-sensing module is connected to the complementary module as described, the pin portion 48 of the load cell acts as a clevis pin. When the belt is in tension, the central portion 48 of the pin is pulled in one direction by the action of the complementary module's oversized hinge element on the puck, and the proximal and distal portions 52, 53 are pulled in the opposite direction by the action of the two hinge elements 38, 39 of the load-sensing module on the pin. This causes a shear stress in the pin in thinned regions 64, 65 between the central portion and the proximal and distal portions. Orthogally disposed pairs of strain gauges within the hollow pin portion of the load cell at the thinned regions are sensitive to the shear stress, which is proportional to the belt tension. To increase the sensitivity of the response of the load cell to belt tension, the load cell has a flat 66 formed on its head 49 that cooperates with a flat front edge 70 on a cover 98. The front edge of the cover juts into the passageway 44 from a cavity 95 that opens into the passageway to orient the pin circumferentially with the strain gauges in the direction of maximum sensitivity.
In a preferred version, the four strain gauges 71—two at each thinned region 64, 65 of the pin—are arranged electrically in individual legs of a conventional bridge circuit 72, as shown in
The measurements may also be used to adjust the operation of the conveyor or the associated process in a closed-loop control system. An error signal 104 proportional to the difference between a signal or signal level 106 representing, for example, the tension in the belt and a tension set point 108, set through an operator interface in the monitoring and control system 91, is used as the input to a motor controller 110 that produces a motor-control signal 111 controlling the speed of a motor 112 driving the belt. The motor controller, as shown in the example of
The electronic circuits, except the bridge, which resides in the load cell, reside on a circuit board 92 as shown in
In another version of a modular conveyor belt 115, shown in
Although the invention has been described in detail with respect to a preferred version, other versions are possible. For example, the sensor-outfitted module, which has been described as a belt-edge module in the spiral-conveyor application and in the straight-running belt example, may be located in an interior position of the belt for other applications, such as measuring tension in a straight-running belt or with a sensor for sensing temperature. So, as these few examples suggest, the scope of the claims is not meant to be limited to the preferred versions described in detail.
Claims
1. A modular conveyor belt comprising:
- a series of rows of one or more belt modules hingedly linked together at hinge joints between adjacent rows;
- wherein at least one of the belt modules is a load-sensing belt module that includes a load sensor making measurements of belt tension in at least a portion of the load-sensing belt module;
- wherein the load-sensing belt module further includes a memory element for storing as a group a series of the measurements of belt tension made by the load sensor.
2. A modular conveyor belt as in claim 1 wherein the load-sensing belt module further includes a transmitter to wirelessly transmit signals representative of the measurements of belt tension made by the load sensor.
3. A modular conveyor belt as in claim 1 wherein the load-sensing belt module further includes one or more electrical cells to power the load sensor.
4. A modular conveyor belt as in claim 2 wherein the load-sensing belt module further includes:
- a cavity housing the memory element and the transmitter; and
- a cover over the cavity to retain the memory element and the transmitter.
5. A modular conveyor belt as in claim 1 wherein the load-sensing belt module is positioned at an outside edge of the modular conveyor belt.
6. A modular conveyor belt as in claim 1 wherein the load-sensing module includes a plurality of laterally spaced apart hinge elements along one end and fewer laterally spaced hinge elements along the other end.
7. A modular plastic conveyor belt comprising:
- a series of rows of one or more standard belt modules hingedly linked together between adjacent rows;
- at least one sensor module including: a sensor making measurements of a local condition; a memory element for storing the measurements as a group; and a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting signals representing the group of measurements.
8. A modular plastic conveyor belt as in claim 7 wherein the at least one sensor module has a cavity in which the memory element and the transmitter are embedded.
9. A modular plastic conveyor belt as in claim 7 wherein the sensor is a load cell measuring tension in the modular conveyor belt.
10. A modular plastic conveyor belt as in claim 7 wherein the local condition that the sensor measures is selected from the group consisting of temperature, humidity, and belt tension.
11. A conveyor system comprising:
- a conveyor belt including: a sensor making measurements of a local conveyor system condition; a memory element for storing the measurements as a group; and a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting signals representing the group of measurements;
- a controller using the group of measurements to control the operation of the conveyor system in a closed-loop system.
12. A conveyor as in claim 11 wherein the local condition that the sensor measures is selected from the group consisting of temperature, humidity, and belt tension.
13. A conveyor as in claim 11 wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor making temperature measurements and wherein the controller provides a signal to control the temperature.
14. A conveyor as in claim 11 wherein the sensor is a load sensor making measurements of belt tension and wherein the controller provides a motor-control signal to control the speed of the conveyor belt.
15. A conveyor as in claim 11 wherein the conveyor belt is a modular plastic conveyor belt comprising a series of rows of one or more standard belt modules hingedly linked together between adjacent rows and a sensor module disposed in one of the rows and housing the sensor, the memory element, and the transmitter.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 20, 2009
Publication Date: Mar 18, 2010
Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C. (Harahan, LA)
Inventor: Jason M. Lagneaux (River Ridge, LA)
Application Number: 12/622,568
International Classification: B65G 17/38 (20060101);