Professional Articles

Belt Conveying

Digital Magnetic Imaging of Steel Cord Belts

Although X-ray technology has been successfully employed for the online imaging of cord and splice defects in steel cord-reinforced belting [1], both the high cost of such systems combined with safety issues due to the radiation hazard, discourages their use for permanent installations. Thus, X-ray systems are predominantly used for surveying belts, typically every 6 months. Clearly, in this survey mode, corrective action cannot be implemented for events that occur on a timescale shorter than 6 months.
Another alternative technique [2] that was developed some time ago measures the magnetic fringing fields that occur above breaks in previously magnetised cords. Initial implementations of this technology relied on relatively few sensors and because these sensors were mostly coils, their output was proportional to the rate of change of the magnetic field. This signal, typically viewed on a chart recorder, was often difficult to interpret.
In March 2006, Advanced Imaging Technologies (AIT) began the development of a new second generation magnetic technology [3], called MYRIAD™. This technology uses an array of magnetic field (B-field) sensors that measures the local value of the magnetic field directly, and can give a high resolution image of belt damages and splices.
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