Ava Risk Group and Mining3 say they are ready for the global launch of the Aura IQ conveyor health monitoring solution following surface and sub-surface testing with some of the world’s largest mining houses and bulk material handling facilities.
With conveyors underpinning efficiency, and ultimately profitability in bulk handling operations globally, maintenance has traditionally been a real problem.
“Conventional methods of advanced conveyor failure detection is often unreliable, subjective, time-consuming and labour intensive, but that is all about to change,” Ava and Mining3 said.
Aura IQ uses real-time data to optimise production and on-site performance, enhance occupational health, hygiene and safety management, and introduce new predictive maintenance and support capabilities to asset management, they say.
With test work in the bag, Aura IQ is now available for sale globally.
The companies said: “Aura IQ’s award winning technology harnesses the power of Ava Risk Group’s fibre optic detection and sensing platform (FFT TM Aura Ai-2), combined with Mining3’s advanced signal processing algorithms, predictive analytics, and identification tools to acoustically monitor and assess conveyor health via the cloud-based analysis, reporting and alerts.
“Providing deeper insights to maintenance technicians, site personnel, regional operational hubs and global headquarters, conveyors are automatically connected to the cloud via an Industrial Grade Wireless Internet of Things Gateway, enabling daily asset reliability reports from every conveyor, at every site around the world.”
By transmitting a series of short, laser pulses along a single fibre optic cable retrofitted along the length of a conveyor, acoustic disturbances from the conveyor system cause microscopic changes in the backscattered laser light that is then categorised into known parameters, the two companies explained.
Data is then simultaneously gathered from every metre of the conveyor and processed by Aura IQ to pre-emptively alert operators, either on or off-site (in operational hubs or control rooms), to potential failures before they happen.
Andrew Hames, Head of Innovation, Extractives and Energy at the Ava Risk Group, said: “This is a game changing solution which will optimise conveyor performance and create substantial cost savings for operators.
“A typical conveyor can have up to 7,000 bearings per kilometre, which means 7,000 potential points of failure. Aura IQ can monitor the condition of every conveyor roller – eliminating the need to ‘walk the belt’ and allowing a controlled and scheduled plan of roller maintenance and replacement to be put in place.
“With Aura IQ, costly delays from roller failure are a thing of the past, while less manual involvement reduces health and safety risks. Taking a formalised and proactive approach to asset health monitoring means data can also be used to optimise maintenance strategies – reducing reliance on costly manual inspections and demonstrating ongoing compliance with operational standards.”