In an automated operation of bulk materials: woodchips, iron ore, coal, fertilisers, quarry products etc., real-time information is required, especially in the transportation (conveyor belt monitoring), for the product to be stacked or reclaimed efficiently.
Telco Sensors have designed a unit that can be installed in various configurations depending on customer needs. The most basic option is detection of belt tear in the centre of the belt only. The next level is detection of belt tear and alignment. These can be installed with an alarm indication, or voltage free contacts which can be incorporated into the PLC and scada systems.
The unit has been installed and tested under the harsh conditions found in paper mills and has passed the test. In one example, the sensor head was damaged by build-up and still continued to work without any problems.
How it works
The amplifier series offers manual sensitivity via an integral potentiometer located on the front of the panel of the amplifier. Output can be selected from either a relay or transistor output, with an adjustable 0-10 sec on/off time delay. Light or dark function and long or short range are switch selectable.
The amplifiers series can be connected together (up to 9 amplifiers) via a bus connector positioned on the DIN rail, to form a modular master/slave system with up to 28 channels. The bus connection enables communication between the amplifiers, which allows the channels of all the amplifiers to be multiplexed ensuring that the optical cross talk between channels is prevented and allows a common output from the amplifier modules.
The amplifier offers a test input, which is used for either disabling or enabling the transmitting power temporarily for test purposes. The amplifier includes an alarm output, which is used to indicate if the signal level is sufficient or if a sensor is faulty. The sensor LED drive powers the optional monitor LEDs available on the remote sensors – output (LT) and power (LR).
Integration and maintenance
The voltage free contacts can be used to connect to a PLC, which can then also be connected via communication to a scada system. The system can be tested at regular intervals by manually disconnecting the transmitters and holding them in line with the receivers.
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