Bulk Belt Conveyor Accessories Sub-Committee Meeting

Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association

PROPOSED BELT CLEANER STANDARD DRAFT BULK BELT CONVEYOR ACCESSORIES SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING Brett DeVries -- Chair Tuesday, June 29, 2010 – 1:00 PM

There is some general consensus to create a belt cleaner standard that rates the severity of the application. This provides a method for scoring the application thereby assuring the product recommendations match the needs of the application. It also provides the possibility for manufacturers to grade their products so that users would better able to select the correct duty level of product for their application.

PROPOSED STANDARD

The application grading system would be comprised of the following factors:

1. Belt Width 2. Belt Speed 3. Quantity and type of belt splices 4. Abrasiveness of the material 5. Stickiness/moisture content of the material 6. Belt cover condition

The final grade of an application would be the sum of the individual scores for each category. An explanation of the factors is included below.

BELT CHARECTERISTICS

Belt Width 0 <24” width (600mm) 1 24” – 48” width (600mm – 1200mm) 2 48” – 72” width (1200mm – 1800mm) 3 72” – 96” width (1800mm – 2400mm) 4 >96” width (>2400mm)

Belt Speed 1 <300 fpm (1.5 m/sec) 2 300 – 600 fpm (1.5 – 3.0 m/sec) 3 600 – 1000 fpm (3.0 – 5.0 m/sec) 4 >1000 fpm (>5.0 m/sec)

THE VOICE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONVEYOR INDUSTRY Splice Type 1 vulcanized (for the entire life of the belt) 2 one or two mechanical splices 3 more than two mechanical splices

Top Cover Condition 0 New 1 Good 2 Fair 3 Poor

MATERIAL CHARECTERISTICS

Abrasiveness 1 Mild 2 Medium 3 Severe

Stickiness/Moisture Content 1 Mild/Dry (<2% moisture) 2 Medium/Moist (2-8% moisture) 3 Severe/Wet (>8% moisture) 4 Wet clay/Fireclay

The sum of the factors would be broken down into the following ratings.

< 5 Light duty 5-7 Standard duty 8-10 Medium duty 11-15 Heavy duty 15+ Severe duty

An additional benefit of this system is it would enable vendors to rate their product by its maximum duty rating. Precleaners would be most affected by this, but the system would work for secondary cleaners as well. Since this is a voluntary, self-assigned grade, it would not preclude any of the belt cleaner designs in the marketplace from participating.

Unfortunately, this method does not provide guidance about how many or what type of cleaners to select to achieve a specified level of cleaning efficiency. One solution is to recommend contacting a CEMA representative company for assistance. This will work as long as the maximum carryback level is specified.

If it is not specified, the following method for understanding performance level is submitted by Martin Engineering and Flexco for consideration.

THE VOICE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONVEYOR INDUSTRY CLEANING EFFICIENCY RANKING

Cleaner system performance could be ranked on a sliding scale.

Class I: >.05 lbs/ft2 (>250 g/m2) Class II: .02 lbs/ft2 – .05 lbs/ft2 (100 – 250 g/m2) Class III: .002 lbs/ft2 – .02 lbs/ft2 (10 – 100 g/m2) Class IV: .0004 lbs/ft2 – .002 lbs/ft2 (2 – 10 g/m2)

Note: The highest levels of cleaning are not possible on all belts. Highest levels are dependent on belt condition, belt speed, and moisture content. In some cases additional water may need to be applied to the belt. Consult a CEMA member company for assistance.

These values can be converted to tph of carryback by the following method:

Class * Material path width (in) * belt speed (fpm) ÷ 400 = tph (imperial)

Class * Material path width (m) * belt speed (m/sec) ÷ 278 = metric ton/hour (metric)

With this system, it is an easy calculation to determine the appropriate cleaning class desired based on tons per hour of spillage. Once in tph, it is more easily appreciated by the engineer or the site how much maintenance will be needed on the conveyor line to remove the accumulated carryback.

Sub-committee members: Brett DeVries – Flexco Judd Roseberry – Richwood Steve Brisco – Fenner Dunlop Paulo Pereira – Fenner Dunlop Greg Westphall – Flexco Corrie Godee – Metso Todd Swinderman – Martin Engineering

THE VOICE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONVEYOR INDUSTRY