OVERLAND CONVEYOR DESIGN

Overland conveyor belts are one of the most critical piece of infrastructure in mine and ports. Often a single or handfull of overland conveyors are responsible for importing or exporting all your product. When one of these conveyors fails, the negative impact on production is enormous. No company in the world, has a better track record of designing reliable conveyors and fixing the mistakes of others than Conveyor Dynamics, Inc.

Conveyor Dynamic Inc. (CDI) was founded in 1981 on the idea that mysterious failures of large conveyors could be avoided if computer software were developed to simulate the shockwaves that develop when large conveyors stop and start. Since then CDI has pioneered much of the advanced overland conveyor technology in industry today. CDI was the first company to develop software to simulate the dynamic behavior of conveyor belts, the first company to develop a true rheological model of rubber indentation losses to accurately compute the differences in power consumption for each rubber a belt manufacturers catalog, and CDI was one of the first companies to use DEM software to model transfer chute material flow.

Three time in our history, we designed and commissioned the longest conveyor in the world. First, in 1998, where we designed and commissioned a single conveyor that with a tail pulley 15.6 km from its head pulley at Radcliff, Zimbabwe. Next, in 2007 where we broke this record with a 20 km conveyor in Curragh, Australia, and finally in at the Impumelelo project in South Africa where we designed and commissioned a 27km overland conveyor. All these conveyors have horizontal curves and complex control systems from motors that at kilometers apart.

CDI Delivers Value By

• Partnering with local EPC and Manufactures and transfering the techology needed to deliver a world class product at local prices.
• Utilizing our static and dynamic (BELTSTAT and BELTFLEX) software codes to optimize conveyor control systems and select/design components that do not generate damaging shockwaves.
• Fully FAT tested PLC code completed before our engineers arrive on site to commission the logic. This reduces the time needed to commission a green field system from one month to 4 days.
• Digital Twin and continuous monitoring after commissioning (when requested).
• Reduced required safety factor through extensive testing of belt splices, belt rubber, brakes, idlers, fluid couplings, VFDs avoiding nasty surprises.
• Low power consumption design using Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) belts to reduce CAPEX and OPEX by up to 40%.
• Horizontally curved conveyor design (both pipe and trough belt), eliminating costing transfer points
• Advanced lightweight conveyor structures.
• Wide idler spacing (upto 3X CEMA).
• High Belt Speed (upto 2X CEMA).
• Calibrated DEM Optimized Chute Design to reduce chute blockages, minimize belt damage, and control dust generation.

Conveyor Project Engineering Requirements

Conveyor Design Criteria

The first step in a conveyor project is to define the Design Criteria. This must be written to ensure that all vendors are using to same basis in their offers. The Design Criteria will include: performance requirements, guidance for standardization with existing equipment on site, approved vendors, safety regulations, approved engineering units, site environmental conditions, critical equipment specifications such as maximum acceptable belt speed, a list of faults the conveyor must detect, and descriptions of the load/environmental conditions that must be modeled in the conveyor design.

Conveyor Route Selection

Conveyor route selection is a complex iterative process. In populated areas, purchasing land for the projects can take more time than designing and building the conveyor! Success depends on tight coordination between the Conveyor Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mine Engineering, Environmental Engineering teams. The conveyor engineering team will complete preliminary simulation work to ensure that none of the horizontal or vertical curves will not damage the equipment. The civil team will balance cut/fill and keep the conveyor as close to the ground as possible. The conveyor route must also allow the conveyor to meet all Design Criteria. At the end of this task, the plan and elevation view of the ground below the conveyor will be finalized. The final route must allow adequate access to the conveyor to minimize the mean time to repair.

Detail Conveyor Design

CDI can prepare Design Criteria and select a Route for our clients. We can also complete the detail mechanical and structural design of a conveyor. We also provide control systems, PLC programming, and commissioning services. We do not typically supply conveyors. Our business model nearly always involves finding a local EPC contractor and partnering with them to procure and construct the conveyor. This allows us to maintain competitive pricing in every market.