Reducing Conveyor Belt Downtime with Predictive Maintenance

Conveyor belts: meaning and importance

Conveyor belts are the moving belts that carry material from one place to another. These belts are the crucial part of the factories and logistics to move the material from one place to another, due to which the predictive maintenance of these belts is vital to ensure the smooth and regular working in factories also the regular cleaning and predictive maintenance lengthen the lifespan of the conveyor belt by tackling the conveyor belt problems.

Meaning of predictive maintenance:

Predictive maintenance is the maintenance of a conveyor belt in such a way that the issue is predicted at the initial stage. This early detection of the problem in the conveyor belt is done with the help of the sensors that are installed in the system of the conveyor belts, and regular real-time monitoring of the conveyor belts is done with the use of sensors for predictive maintenance so that any kind of minor or major issue is detected in the beginning and prematurely fixed in order to avoid any serious damage in the future. The predictive maintenance is crucial for the smooth and efficient working of the conveyor belts. On the other hand, the predictive maintenance significantly helps in reducing the downtime of the repairing if conveyor belts to the great extent by early detection of the belt issue at the minor stage on which fixing can done with less time and effort, which decreases the downtime.

Importance of predictive maintenance of Conveyor belts

•  Ensure the smooth functioning of belts.
•  Reduce the downtime at the time of repairing.
•  Detection of damage at initial stage to prevent major problem.
•  Maintain safety standards and compliance with security regulations.
•  Regular monitoring of performance.
•  Increase the working lifespan of the belts.
•  Ensure efficiency and effectiveness in operations.

Predictive Maintenance Tips to maximize the lifespan of the belt life

There are numerous predictive maintenance tips which cab be followed to maintenance the optimum working condition of the conveyor belts some of major and efficient predictive maintenance tips are:

Prevention from normal wear and tear with the help of sensor:

There are always high chances of unnecessary wear and tear to conveyor belts which can be prevented by predictive maintenance with the help of the sensors. the simple steps in regular working, such as accumulation of debris and any kind of residue of material which cause wear and tear to the conveyor belt is detected with the help of sensors of predictive maintenance. Moreover, the predictive maintenance is also important to maintain the conveyer belt in order to prevent the further slippage and damage to any specific part of the belt. By implementing these simple steps of predictive maintenance the unnecessary wear and tear can be prevented to maintain the belt good condition.

Control the level alignment with the help of the sensors:

To maintain the conveyer belt, alignment and tension setting is essential. The alignment in between the pulley and roller should be correct for the smooth working. Any kind of misalignment can cause serious tracking issue further so it should be correctly aligned to maintain it. And, a sensor-installed conveyor belt system during the predictive maintenance greatly helps in maintaining the correct alignment because whenever there are any kind of misalignment and other damage in the pulley as well as roller the sensor of predictive maintenance start bursting and gives the signal of any issue. Thus, predictive maintenance greatly helps in maintaining the correct alignment in the conveyor belt system.

Control the level of tension with the help of the sensor: 

with the help of the predictive maintenance the level of tension also controlled because there should be proper level of tension in the conveyor belt system and this tension should according to the instructions of manufacturers. For the proper maintenance as well as working there shouldn’t be any over-tension and under-tension in the conveyor belts which is ensured with the help of the sensors of predictive maintenance. Thus, the tension can be controlled with the help of predictive maintenance.

Real-time Monitoring of the beltwith the help of sensors:

There should be regular and real time monitoring of the working belt in order to detect any damage signs earlier these signs can be any such as any kind of cut and tear to the belt. After that, with predictive maintenance the damage should be repaired immediately to minimise the risk at initial stage to prevent the further damage. In the predictive maintenance, If there is minor damage, it can be maintained by metal fasteners but if the damage is major it should be repaired by specialist to permanently fixing and monitoring should be done after fixing of problem also to track the performance.

Avoid accumulation of contamination with the help of sensors:

With the help of the predictive maintenance the exposure to any kind of contamination and its accumulation must be avoided the placement of the belts should be at proper place such as away from intense sunlight, any kind of chemical and oils and also with the help of sensors because in predictive maintenance which there is any accumulation of these contaminations sensor starts bursting and contamination can refrain with predictive maintenance the smooth functioning of the belts maintain which even furthermore increases the lifespan of the belts in long run.

 Proper loading and unloading without any damage with the help of the sensors:

The predictive maintenance ensures the proper loading and unloading of materials to maintain the smooth transportation of the objects from the conveyer belts. Because, any uneven loading can cause damage to any specific part of the belt and also create hindrance in movement of materials but it can be prevented with the help of predictive maintenance. Moreover, the overloading should also prevent with predictive maintenance as it can mitigate early wear and slippage in movement. Thus, the efficiency and effective of conveyor belt is increased with the regular and proper predictive maintenance.

Other regular maintenance efforts which enhance the predictive maintenance:

•  Regular cleaning of all the equipment such as conveyor belt, pulley and roller.
•   Maintaining regular predictive maintenance schedule with frequent intervals of time.
•   Maintaining the stock of spare parts to reduce the downtime.
•   Regular checking of the roller and the bearing for their proper working conditions.
•   Proper and regular Training of the personnel for the smooth working.
•   CIP (clean in place) system should be embedded for regular cleaning of equipment.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, As conveyor belts are the integral part of each and every kind of industry now a days such as food, pharma, plywood and marble manufacturing and many more. So, the predictive maintenance of these belts are essential, this predictive maintenance should be done be regularly along with the cleaning schedule also the inspection of the whole process should be done with the help of the sensors which are installed in the conveyor belt system for safety measures with the predictive maintenance in order to reduce the downtime of repairing of the conveyor belt. Also, predictive maintenance is must to reduce the downtime and proper and smooth functioning of the belts. Additionally, real time Monitoring should be done all the time to detect any issue with the help of the sensors and mitigate the issues before turning into big problems at the beginning stage. Thus, regular predictive maintenance is needed to enhance the performance and smooth working effectively and efficiently.

At Elite Vision Belting, we specialize in predictive maintenance solutions that keep your operations running smoothly and efficiently