CONSIDERATIONS FOR REMOTELY MONITORING AND CONTROLLING

CONVEYOR BELTS IN UNDERGROUND COAL MINES

RICHARD E. MUNZ
Product Manager
Monitoring Systems
Line Power Manufacturing Corporation
329 Williams Street
Bristol, VA 24203
Abstract-Given
in
this paper are typical
electrical circuits that may be used to interface a mine wide
monitoring system with
coal mine conveyor belt control circuits.
Some considerations and justifications for
monitoring
and
for
remotely controlling
conveyors are presented, and the basic conveyor control circuit that is in common use is
presented and discussed.
I. INTRODUCTION
There are a growing number of mine-wide
monitoring systems (MMS) installed in this
country. Most of them were spawned by the
need for early warning fire detection, but
many of these systems are capable of being
much more than that. They are, in fact, a new
tool available to mine personnel to help solve
problems and
improve productivity.
After
early fire detection, the next most common
application for mine-wide
monitoring systems
is for monitoring conveyor belts. And somewhat further down the list of priorities for
a MMS is central control of the conveyors.
Additionally operators are desiring to monitor
the status of other production equipment and
identify their cumulative hours of operation
and reasons for being out of service.
Since the conveyors and their starters are
generally already in place when a MMS is installed, it is necessary to devise interface
circuits to connect the new MHS system to the
existing conveyor control circuit.
To do
that, one must start with an understanding of
the basic conveyor belt control scheme and
with a knowledge of the hardware available
from the MMS supplier. Then circuitry may be
designed to interface the two to accomplish
the particular
monitoring
or controlling
objectives.

B. Description of the Components

1)Run Contactor: The run contactor coil m a y
be the coil of a motor starting contactor, but
more commonly it is an interposi-ng relay whose
contacts pick up the motor starting contactor.
The
sequence switch
closes therby calling for the conveyor to run.
Conversely, when the outby conveyor stops, it
is the sequence switch that causes this belt to
stop, since there is no place for the coal to
go.
3)Man-Off-Auto
Switch:
The
Man-Off-Auto
switch is located physically in the door of
the belt starter and may be used to stop the
conveyor or to run the conveyor manually even
though the conveyor it feeds onto (the outby
conveyor) is not running.
Since placing the
switch in
the Man
position bypasses the
sequence switch, it is common for this position
to
have
a
spring-return-to-Off
feature,
preventing the
prolonged operation of the
conveyor
without
the
sequence switch in
the circuit.
4)Slip
Switch: The slip switch works in
conjunction with the time delay relay such that
if the conveyor is not up to the speed set on
the slip switch by the end of the time set on
the time delay, the belt is shut down. Note
that the switch itself really does not sense
slip, it senses whether the belt is actually
running or not, and slip is inferred from a
discrepancy between the starter being energized
and the
belt not moving.
There are two
implications of this fact to note:
1.

When we want to monitor for slip, the

typical conveyor control circuit includes
no single contact that represents slip;
slip
is
the
logical combination of
starter energized and belt not moving.

2.

But when
we simply
want to monitor
whether or not the belt is running, sometimes there is a spare contact on the
"slip" switch, and that contact gives a
positive indication of whether or not the
belt is running.

11. BASIC CONVEYOR CONTROL CIRCUIT

A. General
Circuit

Form

Of

The

Conveyor

Control

IISV4c
CONTROL POWER

5)Other Interlocks:

CONTACT

SEQUENCE

Fig. 1

Basic Conveyor Control Circuit

a)Location:
The three contacts labeled
"Interlock A", "Interlock B", and "Interlock
C" are used in the Basic Conveyor Control
Circuit to identify three positions in the
circuit where other interlock contacts may be
located.
Remote switches located
b)Remote switches:
along the conveyor belt are frequently, but not

88CH2565-0/88/0000-1243$01.OO 0 1988 IEEE

a l w a y s , wired
in a s e r i e s , low voltage, dc
circuit with a single relay contact representing t h e i r
s t a t u s in t h i s circuit.
That
c o n t a c t i s g e n e r a l l y wired
into the conveyor
c o n t r o l c i r c u i t at position B.
c)Overload switch:
An o v e r l o a d s w i t c h is
mandatory,
and
it is t y p i c a l l y wired
in
p o s i t i o n C and may a c t u a l l y b e t w o o r m o r e
c o n t a c t s in s e r i e s i f t h e c o n v e y o r u s e s a
multi-motor drive.
d)Optional interlocks:
There a r e a number
o f o t h e r s w i t c h e s t h a t may be i n c l u d e d in t h e
c o n v e y o r c o n t r o l circuit. G e n e r a l l y , t h e s e are
wired in s e r i e s at l o c a t i o n 8, a l t h o u g h t h e y
a r e s d m e t i m e s placed at l o c a t i o n A.
These two
locations provide exactly t h e same circuit
r e a c t i o n t o t h e c o n t a c t action, and t h e r e is
no e l e c t r i c a l r e a s o n t o c h o o s e o n e o v e r t h e
other.
L o c a t i o n C, on t h e o t h e r hand, c a u s e s
a d i f f e r e n t reaction.
W h e n a c o n t a c t is wired
in s e r i e s at that l o c a t i o n , i t s o p e n i n g w i l l
s t o p t h e belt, but i t s r e c l o s i n g w i l l not
u s u a l l y r e s t a r t t h e belt; b e c a u s e o n c e t h e
belt actually stops, the slip switch opens;
and o n c e t h e T D t i m e s out, i t s t i m e d c o n t a c t
o p e n s , and t h e c i r c u i t
is e f f e c t i v e l y locked
T o r e s e t t h e c i r c u i t at t h a t point, it
out.
is n e c e s s a r y t o d e e n e r g i z e t h e c i r c u i t so t h a t
T D w i l l d r o p out. T h i s c a n b e d o n e by placing
t h e Uan-Off-Auto s w i t c h in t h e O f f p o s i t i o n
momentarily.
The
r e a s o n for h a v i n g t h i s
portion of t h e c i r c u i t l o c k out is t o p r e v e n t
slip o r overload
c o n d i t i o n s from c y c l i n g on
and off, a c o n d i t i o n t h a t could lead t o overh e a t i n g a n d c r e a t i n g t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f fire.
t h e c i r c u i t at t h e A or B
S w i t c h e s in
locations
w i l l s t o p and s t a r t t h e belt each
t i m e t h e y o p e n and Close.
Safety interlock switches that
a r e not
m a n d a t o r y but a r e s o m e t i m e s used t o s t o p t h e
c o n v e y o r are:

MONITORING CIRCUITS

A. Why M o n i t o r
In m i n e s that u s e c o n v e y o r b e l t s for r e m o v i n g
t h e mined coal, t h e p r o d u c t i o n o u t p u t o f t h e
m i n e r e l i e s on
the
conveyor
system
for
delivery.
G e n e r a l l y , t h e r e is l i t t l e , if any,
s u r g e c a p a c i t y for s t o r i n g
c o a l during a
c o n v e y o r outage.
C o n v e y o r b e l t s are a b o t t l e
n e c k and any c o n v e y o r s t o p p a g e probably m e a n s
a production
s t o p p a g e and, c o n s e q u e n t l y , a
p r o d u c t i o n loss. T h a t p r o d u c t i o n loss may not
be r e p l a c e a b l e , and t h e v a l u e o f lost product i o n from a l o n g w a l l s e c t i o n may a p p r o a c h
$1000 per minute.
The goal o f mine managem e n t must b e t o m i n i m i z e
s u c h losses.
By
monitoring
c o n v e y o r belts,
v a l u a b l e informat i o n c a n b e provided
w h i c h , when properly
used, c a n lead t o a r e d u c t i o n
in belt o u t a g e
time.
M o n i t o r i n g s y s t e m s may be c o n f i g u r e d t o
provide information that will answer these
questions:

--

Which belts are running?

How h e a l t h y are t h e y ?
W h i c h b e l t s a r e not r u n n i n g ?
W h i c h belt c r e a t e d t h e c u r r e n t o u t a g e ?
Why did it stop?
Why won't it start n o w ?

T h e ability o f a g i v e n system t o p r o v i d e
t h e s e a n s w e r s d e p e n d s on t h e l e v e l o f sophist i c a t i o n o f t h e system.
The simplest o f
s y s t e m s can answer t h e question: "Is the belt
running?", with a s i n g l e d i s c r e t e input using
a c i r c u i t t h a t w i l l b e s h o w n s h o r t l y ; but
first it w i l l be n e c e s s a r y t o d e f i n e the t e r m s
"discrete" and "input".
B. I n p u t , O u t p u t , Discrete, A n a l o g
When w o r k i n g w i t h m o n i t o r i n g
systems, t h e r e
a r e f o u r t e r m s t h a t need t o b e understood t o
s e l e c t t h e proper i n t e r f a c e h a r d w a r e , and t h o s e
t e r m s a r e I n p u t , O u t p u t , D i s c r e t e , and Analog.

Belt s i d e t r a v e l
Plugged c h u t e
Spill
H y d r a u l i c take-up p r e s s u r e
Belt t e a r
Fire extinquishing system actuation
SCR o v e r t e m p e r a t u r e
C.

111.

Fault Indicators

It i s a c o m m o n p r a c t i c e t o c o n n e c t neon,
indicating lamps across the series
wired
i n t e r l o c k c o n t a c t s o f a c o n v e y o r belt c o n t r o l
c i r c u i t as shown in Fig. 2. T h e a l t e r n a t i v e
a r r a n g e m e n t for i n d i c a t i n g c o n t a c t p o s i t i o n is
t h e a p p l i c a t i o n of a u x i l i a r y c o n t a c t s t o t h e
i n d i c a t i n g circuit.

1)Input
vs: Output:
I n p u t s are m o n i t o r i n g
information.
I n p u t s i g n a l s r e p r e s e n t condit i o n s in t h e m i n e t h a t a r e t r a n s m i t t e d t o t h e
MUS. O u t p u t s are c o n t r o l information. O u t p u t
s i g n a l s , put out by MMS, r e p r e s e n t i n s t r u c t i o n s
A carbon
t o c h a n g e s o m e t h i n g in t h e mine.
m o n o x i d e s i g n a l would b e an I n p u t t o a MMS.
An
alarm light would b e an O u t p u t from a MMS.
2)Discrete vs Analog:
D i s c r e t e s i g n a l s can
have only two states, such as
onloff o r
open/closed.
Analog
signals can
t a k e any
A brake l i g h t
v a l u e along a r a n g e o f values.
A
in an a u t o m o b i l e i s a d i s c r e t e signal.
s p e e d o m e t e r d i s p l a y s an a n a l o g signal.
C. I n t e r f a c e C i r c u i t s
1)Run Status:
T h e r u n s t a t u s is a d i s c r e t e
signal that indicates whether a conveyor belt
is r u n n i n g
o r stopped.
W h e n an isolated
c o n t a c t is a v a i l a b l e t o r e p r e s e n t t h e r u n
status, the monitoring
c i r c u i t may look l i k e
t h a t in Fig. 3 .

Fig. 2

Neon fault-indicating

lamp connections

1244

that is

monitoring the particular situation

responsible for the stoppage.

Note that no new sensors need be added to

the conveyor belt because of the decision to
monitor its status. When the decision is made
to monitor its health, then additional sensors
will be required. The only sensors needed for
status monitoring are those already controlling
the conveyor. But circuitry does need to be
designed to give BOTH the control system and
the monitoring
system access to the SAME
sensors; and, here again, there are options.
There are several possibilities for the form
of the interface circuit between a MMS a n d a
conveyor belt control circuit consisting of
hard wired contacts. Among them-are:

I
I
3.
I
2.

1. Monitoring
circuit
voltage source,
which may be provided by the M M S
2 . A contact
in the control circuit that
represents the run
status
of the
conveyor
3. MMS Discrete Input circuit
Fig.3

a)Isolated
contacts:
Sometimes called
"dry" contacts, these are spare contacts that
are not wired to any existing circuitry, and
consequently are ''dryn electrically. To the
extent that
there
are
isolated contacts
available that represent the conditions to be
monitored, the interface is straight forward
and will look like that shown earlier i n
Fig.3.

Using an isolated contact

as a monitoring input

The contact representing the belt run status

could be any of the following:
1. Motor starter auxilliary contact
2. Interposing relay contact
3 . Slip switch contact (located at the head
end of the conveyor)
4. Sequence switch contact (located at the
tail end of the conveyor)

b)Solid state isolation circuitry from the

existing
hard-wired contacts: When isolated
contacts are not available, other techniques
must be used. One method is to use solid state
isolating circuitry to monitor the hard-wired
contacts themselves. Typically, the electrical
isolation is provided by optical isolators
built into the
interface
circuit.
These
isolators may be built into the monitoring
system or they may be included in a separate
device.
One connection scheme is shown in
Fig. 5.
115Vat
CONTROL POWER

Note that if the only parameter to be

monitored on a given conveyor is its run
status, it is sometimes convenient to use a
sequence switch contact at the tail of the
conveyor rather than go to the head of the
conveyor to pick up that information.
I f the monitoring system has electrically
isolated input circuitry capable of accepting
ll5Vac inputs directly, the circuit shown in
Fig. 4 may be used.

r3

116 vac
F N T R Y POWER

I
MA

REMOTE.

WYOWLIC

RUN

AUTO
SE UENCE

Fig.4 Direct connection of an MMS input to the

control circuit to monitor run status
2)Why Did It Stop: The question: "Why did
it stop?", requires the monitoring system to
have inputs from the devices that may shut the
belt down.
There are some options here.
It
is possible to monitor only the most common
causes of belt stoppage or to monitor all o f
t h e possible causes.
The
difference, of
course, involves additional monitoring system
input points
and additional wiring.
The
reason for monitoring. all of the possible
causes of belt stoppage is to avoid the situaation wherein the belt stops, but the monitoring system cannot reveal why, because it isn't

1245

A@

Fig. 5 Using optically isolated t4MS input

circuits to connect directly to an
existing control circuit.
Since the circuit function is such that when
an upstream contact opens,
all downstream
inputs lose power, then it is necessary to
evaluate the inputs to determine exactly which
contact is open. The logic expressions are:

-A

Control power fail

Remote switch open
M A N switch off
Sequence
Hydraulic take-up
Slip
Overload
Belt run

(no-input

at A )

A and B

Ilb vac
CONTROL POWER

7
I

B and
C and b
D and F
E and Y
F and
G

7
I

c)Interposing relays:
The same result as
in (b) can be obtained by using electromechanical relays for the isolating circuitry.
5 Vac
I N T S L POWER

HYDRAULIC

?EMOTE

O'LOAD

TAKE-UP

Fig. 8 Paralleling input circuits

CONTACTOR
TD

Il
Fig. 6.

g
C
B

Using interposing relays to connect

to an existing control circuit.

The deciphering
in Fig. 7.

circuitry would be a s shown

Y
L

IAA

I.

: A

, CONTROL
POWER

1,

The electrical circuit must be evaluated

for the effect o f two o r more contacts being
open at the same time. That will place two o r
more of the discrete inputs in series, reducing
the voltage drop across each, and possibly
dropping it below the circuit's threshold level
for reliable operation.

TD

Fig 7.

D
I,

, REMOTE
SWITCH

"

W C H

4'

SEQUENCE

11

OVERLOM

3)Why
Won't
I t Start:
The question: "Why
won't the belt start?", is different from "Why
did the belt stop?", because, between the time
that it stopped and now, a variety of events
may have occurred. There may be an entirely
different reason why the belt won't
start now.
On the weekend, for instance, i t is common for
a belt to stop because o f the action o f the
sequence switch on the last production shift o f
the preceeding week, but it may fail to start
for the first shift o f the succeeding week
because a remote switch is open a s a result of
some maintenance activity during the weekend.
I t is convenient if the MMS has the ability to
both report the first-out condition that caused
the belt stoppage and to be able to report the
switch that prevents the conveyor from starting
now.

D. Health
The question o f a belt's health has to do
with the ability to spot abnormal conditions
that may lead to failure, and to spot them in
time to permit that condition to be corrected
without an
unplanned stoppage.
Parameters
that could be monitored include:

Deciphering circuit for

interposing relays

d)Parallel
circuitry:
The hard-wired
contacts can
be
paralleled with input
circuitry a s shown in Fig. 8 . Care must be
taken that
the reliability
o f the shut
down circuit is not be compromised by the
paralleling circuitry.

1246

Motor voltage
Motor current
Bearing temperature
Gear box oil temperature
Motor winding temperature
Vibration o f any o f the shafts
Belt speed
Gear box oil contaminates
T o monitor any o f these parameters will
probably require the installation of a new
sensor. I t would be possible to monitor these
parameters with either a discrete switch or an
analog transmitter.
A
switch
senses the
parameter and
has a setpoint at which a
contact activates to alarm or to shutdown.
Its output i s the contact actuation, and if it
were to be connected
into the monitoring

system,
it would r e q u i r e
a discrete input
A t r a n s m i t t e r , on t h e o t h e r
c i r c u i t t o do so.
hand, produces a continuous output s i g n a l , t h e
is proportional
to the
magnitude of
which
value
of
the
parameter.
To c o n n e c t
a
transmitter
into
the
monitoring
system
r e q u i r e s an analog i n p u t .
While a
s w i t c h is c a p a b l e o f a l e r t i n g mine
p e r s o n n e l t o t h e f a c t t h a t an a b n o r m a l l e v e l
h a s been
reached,
a
transmitter,
with its
continuous output,
is c a p a b l e n o t o n l y o f
a l e r t i n g f o r a set l e v e l , b u t a l s o of showing
t h e h i s t o r y o f how t h a t c o n d i t i o n c a m e t o b e .
W i t h c o n t i n u o u s o u t p u t t h e d i s p l a y w i l l show a
t r e n d t h a t may l e a d t o a s h u t d o w n c o n d i t i o n i n
the
future.
For
these reasons,
an a n a l o g
transmitter is a preferable monitoring sensor
over a
switch.
And t o t a k e f u l l a d v a n t a g e o f
t h e analog d a t a , t h e monitoring system should
have trending c a p a b i l i t i e s , including a t l e a s t
the ability t o store the
analog values a t
regular
i n t e r v a l s and
t o p r i n t t h e n o u t on
command: a n d a t m o s t t h e a b i l i t y t o m a n i p u l a t e
and combine
those
stored values in various
ways
t o enhance t h e
a b i l i t y t o analyze the
data.
E.

Carbon Monoxide

The s u b j e c t o f
carbon monoxide m o n i t c r i n g
for early f i r e detection
h a s been
treated in
other
papers,
and
that
s u b j e c t w i l l n o t be
repeated
here,
except a s t h i s reminder: t h a t
any b e l t
monitoring/controlling system should
probably
have t h e a b i l i t y t o accept inputs
operate
on b a t t e r y
f r o m CO t r a n s m i t t e r s ,
backup d u r i n g power
f a i l u r e s o f up t o f o u r
hours,
and
disconnect
that
battery
during
periods of ventilation f a i l u r e .
F.

Local vs.

Remote M o n i t o r i n g

In t h i s
paper, monitoring system functions
are generally
discussed
a s though they a l l
take place
i n t h e c e n t r a l computer, which is
remote from t h e conveyor b e l t i t s e l f .
But, it
i s e n t i r e l y p o s s i b l e t o a s s i g n some o f t h e
m o n i t o r i n g f u n c t i o n s t o t h e MMS h a r d w a r e t h a t
is located a t t h e conveyor b e l t .
Diagnostics,
for
instance,
that
indicate
why t h e b e l t
s t a r t may b e m o r e
s t o p p e d a n d why i t w o n ' t
useful
at
the
conveyor b e l t
than
a t the
s u r f a c e computer, because t h e
person
who i s
responsible f o r r e - s t a r t i n g t h e b e l t w i l l be
a t t h e b e l t d r i v e when h e
needs t h a t information.
IV.
A.

REMOTE CONTROL CIRCUITS

Why C o n t r o l

F i r s t o f a l l , when we s a y t h a t we
intend t o
we're g e n e r a l l y
c o n t r o l t h e b e l t s f r o m a MMS,
referring t o
a
control
s c h e m e known
as
supervisory control.
In a supervisory control
system,
the
question of whether t h e b e l t is
called
for
at
t h i s time
i s h a n d l e d by t h e
s u p e r v i s o r y c o n t r o l l e r (MMS).
The q u e s t i o n o f
whether t h e
b e l t is available t o run a t t h i s
time i s h a n d l e d by t h e l o c a l c o n t r o l c i r c u i t ,
which h a s a l r e a d y been examined i n t h i s paper.
It would n o t b e a d v i s a b l e t o remove t h e
S a f e t y shutdown
circuitry to
a l o c a t i o n away

from t h e b e l t s t a r t e r .
The l o g i c f o r s h u t t i n g
down t h e c o n v e y o r
in response
t o off-normal
c o n d i t i o n s such a s motor
overload must r e s i d e
The c o n t r o l w e
in or near the s t a r t e r itself.
a r e considering i n t h i s paper has
t o do with
t h e b a s i c q u e s t i o n o f w h e t h e r we w a n t t h e b e l t
r u n n i n g a t t h i s time o r n o t
a consideration
t h a t i n t r a d i t i o n a l c i r c u i t s i s r e p r e s e n t e d by
t h e sequence switch
and
the
Man-Off-Auto
switch.

--

t o remind o u r s e l v e s
Secondly, it is r e l e v a n t
c o n t r o l t h e conveyor
t h a t we a l r e a d y r e m o t e l y
belts.
When t h e f i r s t b e l t i n l i n e i s s t a r t e d ,
a l l o f t h e b e l t s i n t h e mine e v e n t u a l l y s t a r t ,
automatically,
through
the
action
of
the
sequence switches.
When
the
f i r s t b e l t is
stopped, a l l of t h e b e l t s
in
the mine stop,
also.
of remotely controlling
And s o , t h e q u e s t i o n
b e l t s through a
MMS s h o u l d
not
r a i s e a new
issue
about
starting
or
stopping 'belts
Nor
remotely,
b e c a u s e we a l r e a d y d o t h a t .
should it r a i s e an i s s u e about
the reliability
o f stopping a b e l t on a
fault condition.
That
is, and should
be handled
by t h e
function
local controls.
And
it c e r t a i n l y s h o u l d n ' t
r a i s e an
i s s u e about over-riding
the local
controls t o start a belt that
is not a v a i l a b l e
it s h o u l d n e v e r b e o u r i n t e n t t o do t h a t ,

--

So,
what
control
functions
can
a
HMS
perform?
There a r e a
few t h i n g s t h a t c a n n o t
p r e s e n t l y be done e a s i l y ,
and
these
are the
a r e a s i n w h i c h a HMS c a n b r i n g b e n e f i t :
A
MMS c a n b e
1 ) S h u t Down
S e l e c t e d Belts:
used t o prevent b e l t s
in certain
areas of the
m i n e f r o m r u n n i n g when t h e y a r e n o t n e e d e d f o r
t h e work s c h e d u l e .
With
the control capabilities of
a HMS,
t h e most o u t b y b e l t s e r v i n g an
i s t o b e i d l e can be
a r e a o f t h e mine t h a t
held o f f
without the
need t o s e n d someone t o
it o f f .
And,
of course,
that drive t o turn
the value of turning off belts that are not in
u s e i s power s a v i n g s , power f a c t o r improvement
and r e d u c e d
wear o f t h e mechanical components.
C o n v e y o r b e l t s would p r o b a b l y see l e s s r u n n i n g
t i m e i f t h e r e were a c o n v e n i e n t way o f t u r n i n g
them
off,
which
convenient
way i s a v a i l a b l e
t h r o u g h a MMS.

2)Minimize S p i l l a g e :
Another u s e
for
the
control capability
of a
MMS i s i n t h e a b i l i t y
t o shut
down b e l t s q u i c k e r when a n o u t b y b e l t
A l l
conveyor
belt
control
has
stopped.
c i r c u i t s include
a sequence
switch which w i l l
s t o p t h e b e l t when
the next
outby b e l t stops,
but
the
action
o f sequence switches a r e such
t h a t t h e b e l t they a r e monitoring must a c t u a l l y
slow before t h e sequence switch actuates.
This
creates a
s i t u a t i o n where t h e c a p a c i t y o f t h e
outby b e l t
is less than t h e inby b e l t because
of t h e d i f f e r e n c e i n speeds.
And t h i s d i f f e r ence i n
speeds w i l l
continue throughout t h e
coast period
(assuming both b e l t s r e q u i r e t h e
same number o f s e c o n d s t o c o a s t t o a
s t o p from
t h e time t h e i r d r i v e s a r e d e e n e r g i z e d ) : a n d t h e
end p o i n t o c c u r s w i t h t h e outby b e l t s completel y stopped, but the
inby b e l t
still coasting
for a
few more
seconds.
Obviously, i f t h e
running f u l l
a t
the
time t h e
b e l t s were
stoppage occurred,
some c o a l would b e s p i l l e d
1247

d u r i n g t h e period r e q u i r e d t o c o a s t t o a
with two
stop. A M M S c a n be p r o g r a m m e d
different
shut down sequences.
One sequence
will respond to the unplanned activation of a
safety i n t e r l o c k and w i l l s t o p all b e l t s inby
as soon as the deenergization
o f an o u t b y
d r i v e is detected.
T h i s will r e s u l t in l e s s
s p i l l a g e t h a n would d e p e n d e n c e on t h e s e q u e n c e
switches.
T h e second shut down s e q u e n c e is
for a planned shut down, and w i l l start by
s t o p p i n g t h e most inby belt, a l l o w i n g ' t i m e for
it t o c o a s t t o a stop, t h e n s t o p p i n g t h e n e x t
o u t b y b e l t , a l l o w i n g t i m e for it t o s t o p ,
etc., until a l l t h e b e l t s h a v e been s t o p p e d
t h a t w e r e intended t o b e stopped.
3)Reset T r i p Functions: O n e p o t e n t i a l l y t i m e
s a v i n g use for t h e r e m o t e s t o p c a p a b i l i t y i s
to reset the conveyor control circuit after a
slip or
o v e r l o a d condition.
The typical
r e c o v e r y from t h e s e f a u l t s is for s o m e o n e at
t h e conveyor
s t a r t e r t o a t t e m p t a re-start.
If a re-start is s u c c e s s f u l , o f t e n n o f u r t h e r
a c t i o n is taken.
But a re-start a t t e m p t c a n
b e m a d e a s w e l l by s o m e o n e on t h e s u r f a c e
u s i n g t h e MMS.
When
t h e M M S s t o p c i r c u i t is
a c t i v a t e d , it w i l l c a u s e t h e c o n t r o l c i r c u i t
t o r e s e t ; and t h e n t h e r e will b e an a t t e m p t t o
re-start when t h e M M S s t o p c i r c u i t is deactivated. I f m o t o r c u r r e n t and belt
speed a r e
being m o n i t o r e d , t h i s a t t e m p t t o re-start can
b e a n a l y z e d by t h e person a t t e m p t i n g t h e res t a r t , and s o m e c l u e t o t h e problem
may b e
gained
even
if t h e
re-start
a t t e m p t is
unsuccessful.
B. C i r c u i t s
There are two forms of t h e control circuit
t o consider.
T h e first i s s h o w n in Fig. 9 and
uses just one monitoring
system d i s c r e t e
output.
It p r e v e n t s t h e belt
from r u n n i n g
w h i l e t h a t o u t p u t is energized:
I IS vac
CONTROL POWER

Fig. 9

%7
SE0

Fig. 10
Using a c o n t r o l r e l a y when n o
n o r m a l l y c l o s e d M M S o u t p u t is a v a i l a b l e
Note that, in t h i s c o n t r o l s c h e m e , t h e M M S
output works exactly as t h e sequence switch
works.
T h a t is, it c a n s t o p t h e belt, but it
c a n n o t start it u n l e s s all o f
the other
i n t e r l o c k c o n d i t i o n s a r e satisfied.
It is a s
s a f e a s a s e q u e n c e switch.
Failure of the
m o n i t o r i n g system w i l l h a v e n o effect on t h e
belt
running
status
e x c e p t in t h i s o n e
instance: If t h e belt is b e i n g held off l i n e
by t h e action o f t h e m o n i t o r i n g s y s t e m
that
is, t h e o u t b y belt i s r u n n i n g so that t h e
sequence switch
is made,
and all of t h e
interlock
conditions
are
satisfied. Then
subsequently, the
monitoring
system should
fail i n such a way that t h e c o n t r o l o u t p u t
were lost, t h e conveyor
b e l t would start
as a r e s u l t o f t h e f a i l u r e o f t h e m o n i t o r i n g
system.
This
s i t u a t i o n may b e t o l e r a b l e ,
b e c a u s e a n y o n e w h o might b e w o r k i n g around t h e
belt would h a v e it locked out a n y w a y , but i f
t h i s s i t u a t i o n is deemed
intolerable, then
a n o t h e r c i r c u i t c o u l d b e used
employing two
monitoring
system d i s c r e t e o u t p u t s , a s s h o w n
in Fig. 1 1 .

--

Using a s i n g l e M M S o u t p u t
t o s t o p a belt
Fig. 1 1

I f t h e p a r t i c u l a r M M S d o e s not h a v e a
n o r m a l l y closed o u t p u t a v a i l a b l e , t h e n a r e l a y
must b e used a s s h o w n in Fig. 10 t o a c c o m p l i s h
t h e s a m e effect. O t h e r w i s e , if a n o r m a l l y o p e n
o u t p u t from t h e M M S w e r e used, it would b e
n e c e s s a r y t o hold it closed t h r o u g h t h e action
o f t h e M M S in o r d e r t o r u n t h e belt.
In t h a t
c a s e , any d i s a b l i n g o f t h e MMS would be l i k e l y
t o s h u t down t h e belt, and that would c l e a r l y
b e undesirable.

1248

Using t w o M M S o u t p u t s t o s t o p belt

V.

CONCLUSIONS

M o n i t o r i n g c o n v e y o r b e l t s in an u n d e r g r o u n d
coal m i n e can h e l p reduc.e d o w n t i m e by giving
i m m e d i a t e a n s w e r s t o s u c h q u e s t i o n s as: w h i c h
b e l t s a r e not r u n n i n g , why did t h e y stop, and
w h y won't
t h e y start.
M o n i t o r i n g can a l s o
d e v e l o p a h i s t o r y o f important h e a l t h measurem e n t s and h e l p d i s c o v e r u n h e a l t h y trends.
And
t h e m o n i t o r i n g system may b e used
f o r supervisory c o n t r o l o f t h e belts, p r o v i d i n g an e a s y

way t o shut down b e l t s t h a t a r e not needed,

and by p r o v i d i n g a f a s t e r i n t e r l o c k b e t w e e n
belts t o lessen spillage during unplanned
stops.
T h e extent of monitoring
and/or c o n t r o l t o
b e p e r f o r m e d by t h e MMS d e t e r m i n e s t h e interf a c i n g t h a t is required.
T h e person d e s i g n i n g
t h e i n t e r f a c e c i r c u i t r y must u n d e r s t a n d t h e
c o n v e y o r c o n t r o l c i r c u i t and must u n d e r s t a n d
t h e c i r c u i t r y a v a i l a b l e from t h e MMS supplier.

1249