Conveyor Belt With Weight Sensor
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are:
- To build a conveying belt that will convey objects on the conveying surface of the conveyor belt, having an array of load cells that make measurements of forces applied normal to the conveying surface.
- To identify individual objects to determine which load cells underlie the individual object on the conveyor belt; and
- To combine the measurements provided by the load cells underlying each object to determine its weight.
- To increase productivity
- To reduce human efforts
- To reduce accidents with the help of a sensor and monitoring
- To reduce the time of material handling
- To minimise the cost of material handling
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
OVERVIEW OF CONVEYOR BELT
A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to as drums), with a closed loop of carrying medium—the conveyor belt—that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler pulley. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport large volumes of resources and agricultural materials, such as grain, salt, coal, ore, sand, overburden and more.
Conveyors are durable and reliable components used in automated distribution and warehousing, as well as manufacturing and production facilities. In combination with computer-controlled pallet handling equipment this allows for more efficient retail, wholesale, and manufacturing distribution. It is considered a labor-saving system that allows large volumes to move rapidly through a process, allowing companies to ship or receive higher volumes with smaller storage space and with labor expense.
Belt conveyors are the most commonly used powered conveyors because they are the most versatile and the least expensive (McGuire, 2019). Products are conveyed directly on the belt so both regular and irregular shaped objects, large or small, light and heavy, can be transported successfully. Belt conveyors are also manufactured with curved sections that use tapered rollers and curved belting to convey products around a corner. These conveyor systems are commonly used in postal sorting offices and airport baggage handling systems.
Belt conveyors are generally fairly similar in construction consisting of a metal frame with rollers at either end of a flat metal bed. Rubber conveyor belts are commonly used to convey items with irregular bottom surfaces, small items that would fall in between rollers (e.g. a sushi conveyor bar), or bags of product that would sag between rollers. The belt is looped around each of the rollers and when one of the rollers is powered (by an electrical motor) the belting slides across the solid metal frame bed, moving the product. In heavy use applications, the beds in which the belting is pulled over are replaced with rollers. The rollers allow weight to be conveyed as they reduce the amount of friction generated from the heavier loading on the belting. The exception to the standard belt conveyor construction is the Sandwich Belt conveyor. The Sandwich Belt conveyor uses two conveyor belts, instead of one. These two conventional conveyor belts are positioned face to face, to firmly contain the items being carried in a “sandwich-like” hold.
Belt conveyors can be used to transport products in a straight line or through changes in elevation or direction. For conveying Bulk Materials like Grains, Ore, Coal, Sand etc., over gentle slopes or gentle curvatures, a troughed belt conveyor is used. The trough of the belt ensures that the flowable material is contained within the edges of the belt. The trough is achieved by keeping the idler rollers in an angle to the horizontal at the sides of the idler frame. A Pipe Conveyor is used for material travel paths that require sharper bends and inclines up to 35 degrees (Rines, 2010). A pipe conveyor features the edges of the belt being rolled together to form a circular section like a pipe.
CHAPTER THREE
CONSTRUCTION METHOD
CONVEYORS BELTS REQUIREMENT
Conveyors are mechanical devices or assemblies used to move items or packages with minimal effort. Belt conveyors convey material with the help of belt. Conveyors belts should meet the following requirements:
- Low hygroscopocity
- High strength
- Low own weight (Light in weight)
- Small specific elongation
- High flexibility
- High resistivity to ply (Layer of material)
- Long service life
PARTS OF THE SYSTEM
Following are the three parts of a conveyor:
- Belt support
- Pulley system
- Drive unit
- Weight sensing unit
Belt Support
Belt support is a component of a conveyor system that allows the belt to move smoothly without any restrictions.
If the support unit is not stable, the belt fails if there is a heavy object on top of it, and this causes the belt to not move as smoothly or as fast as it should. The belt remains tight and moves efficiently by the use of support units.
Pulley System
It is the external component that is used to control the speed of the belt. Each unit has two pulleys, one is operated by electricity, and another one is idle. Pulleys are one of the main components of any belt conveyor system, where they are used to form the belt profile, drive the belt, assist the belt advance and apply controlled tension to the belt. Pulleys are classified into drive and non-drive pulleys, where both types are used to support conveyor belts at bends. Drive pulleys are, however additionally, used to transmit power to the system And modern conveyor systems may have extra rotors on the entire frame.
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