Vibration Monitoring for Longwall Systems
Bucyrus announced that its PMC-D/V
AFC and plow drive control system has
been upgraded to provide vibration monitoring
(VM) to protect underground mining
equipment. Called VibraGuard, this
system allows trained personnel to predict
machine component wear, avoid
unplanned downtime, and set alarms to
warn the operator if monitored machine
components run the risk of damage.
According to Bucyrus, customers are
demanding online Condition Monitoring
(CM) for their longwall equipment, so
PMC-D functionality has been extended
to fulfill that requirement. A DSP (Digital
Signal Processor) module plugged into
the controller’s I/O board converts incoming
acceleration data into spectrum data,
which is then transferred to a PC running
special VibraGuard visualization software
which evaluates and visualizes the data. MineSafe software was developed jointly
with DMT, a German engineering consulting
company. Bucyrus said the VM capability
is another element in a package of
Bucyrus VSoftware monitoring and
analysis features that will be bolstered by
additional Condition Monitoring (CM)
tools in the future, such as online oil
sampling and generic CM using existing
sensors such as those for temperature,
pressure or power.
www.bucyrus.com
As featured in Womp 2010 Vol 02 - www.womp-int.com
