Belt Monitoring System Focuses on Steel Cord Damage and Wear


Goodyear’s new Cord Guard system, designed to be permanently mounted on the return side of a conveyor,
checks the belt while in motion to detect damage or abnormal wear to the belt’s internal steel cords.
One of the first major product introductions from Veyance Technologies, the company which acquired Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Engineered Products brand and business, is an advanced monitoring system that looks inside steel-corded conveyor belts to check for internal damage or abnormal wear. Unveiled in late February, the Goodyear Cord Guard system provides real-time data that can alert mine operators in time to avoid more costly problems and unexpected downtime.

Dave Tersigni, Veyance’s marketing manager, illustrated the system’s utility by noting that at almost any hardrock mine it’s possible for an oversize boulder to make its way through the system and drop onto a conveyor belt, breaking steel cords inside. The damage won’t be noticed until a major tear makes its way to the surface or a broken belt shuts down the operation.

Cord Guard provides operators with continuous imaging that indicates the health of a belt’s steel cords. A color scanned image of the monitored belts reveals points of impact and the extent of damage. Cord Guard’s early identification of precise damage locations provides up to five levels of programmed alarms to meet an operator’s requirements, ranging from e-mail notices for minor deterioration to automatic shutdown signals for any designated level of serious damage.

Cord Guard is permanently mounted on the return side of a conveyor belt system to continuously monitor cords while a belt is in motion. It can be used in combination with Goodyear Sensor Guard rip detection systems to provide comprehensive monitoring of a system.

Upon installation of Cord Guard, a magnet array mounted above the belt on the return side magnetizes the belt’s steel cords, and a sensor array measures the magnetic properties of the steel cord as a function of belt position to create a damage map. Unique magnetic properties associated with gaps between cords are detected and tracked. Changes in cord properties generate altered magnetic properties that signal varying degrees of damage. Information is transmitted via the system’s control box to a remote monitor screen.

Cord Guard provides instant or ondemand reports that include overall belt damage maps, damage growth trends and prioritized lists of recommended actions. The data can be accessed from a stand-alone computer via an Ethernet connection or plant network using TCP//IP protocols. The system’s Web interface offers a belt overview showing splice locations and cord damage, selectable belt damage views, user definable display options, and a display of diagnostic parameters. Users can, via the Web interface, compile reports such as an overall belt-damage map; detailed magnetic image of events; a prioritized list of recommended actions including inspect/major repair/minor repair; belt segment data that indicates service life, damage levels and densities; and a detailed damage event table.

As featured in Womp 08 Vol 3 - www.womp-int.com