A Mobile Robot-Based System for Automatic Inspection of Belt Conveyors in Mining Industry

Jarosław Szrek, Janusz Jakubiak and Radoslaw Zimroz
Additional contact information
Jarosław Szrek: Department of Fundamentals of Machine Design and Mechatronic Systems, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
Janusz Jakubiak: Department of Cybernetics and Robotics, Faculty of Electronics, Photonics and Microsystems, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
Radoslaw Zimroz: Department of Mining, Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Mechanical systems (as belt conveyors) used in the mining industry, especially in deep underground mines, must be supervised on a regular basis. Unfortunately, they require high power and are spatially distributed over a large area. Till now, some elements of the conveyor (drive units) have been monitored 24 h/day using SCADA systems. The rest of the conveyor is inspected by maintenance staff. To minimize the presence of humans in harsh environments, we propose a mobile inspection platform based on autonomous UGV. It is equipped with various sensors, and in practice it is capable of collecting almost the same information as maintenance inspectors (RGB image, sound, gas sensor, etc.). Till now such experiments have been performed in the lab or in the mine, but the robot was controlled by the operator. In such a scenario the robot is able to record data, process them and detect, for example, an overheated idler. In this paper we will introduce the general concept of an automatic robot-based inspection for underground mining applications. A framework of how to deploy the inspection robot for automatic inspection (3D model of the tunnel, path planing, etc.) are defined and some first results from automatic inspection tested in lab conditions are presented. Differences between the planned and actual path are evaluated. We also point out some challenges for further research.

Keywords: mining; belt conveyor; predictive maintenance; automatic inspection; UGV platform; autonomous mobile robot (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/327/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/327/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:1:p:327-:d:717171

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().