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Conveyor Belt
Inspection System
Description
The Belt Inspection System's
Graphical User Interface
In developing the belt vision system, NREC performed requirements
analysis, system design and engineering, prototype fabrication
and field testing.
NREC developed a rapid prototype system that was deployed
in a coal mine whose sole purpose was to collect real images
of different conveyor belts. The images captured from this
prototype system allowed the software engineers to design,
implement, test and analyze the performance of numerous machine
vision algorithms to detect mechanical splices. Operating
on real data allowed the software engineers to design a robust
algorithm for detecting mechanical splices.
Following algorithm development, NREC engineers built a miniature,
mock-conveyor belt system complete with rollers and splices.
This allowed NREC engineers to test prototype systems, determine
their problems, and resolve any issues before deploying the
system underground in a mine. They then performed a detailed
analysis of lighting and mine safety regulation requirements.
Lighting was a concern because the task involved trying to
image a black belt with the camera’s shutter speed operating
at only 1/10000 of a second. This forced NREC to perform a
detailed analysis of lighting requirements in underground
mines and ultimately led to a robust, custom LED lighting
solution.
Additionally, for a system to go underground in a mine, it
has to pass a mine safety regulation certification process.
NREC designed and built the system to meet these strict safety
requirements.
NREC developed three prototype versions of the belt vision
system with each successive version delivering increased performance,
flexibility, and reliability. Extensive testing over the two-year
development period included 24-hour-per-day, month-long runs
in underground coal mines, where real miners relied on the
system to monitor the condition of conveyor belts. Initial versions of the system detected only mechanical splices. The most recent version extends the system to detect vulcanized splices, which are much more difficult to find in the belt image.
Vulcanized splices are detected by analyzing edges in the belt image (splice indicated by white line)
NREC, CONSOL and Beitzel Corp. continue to work together
to design, build, and test lower-cost versions of the system.
The potential for cost effective installations exceeds 7,000
belts worldwide. The
US Department of Energy is providing funding for this new
phase.
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