Partnership sees advancements for conveyor monitoring technology

Recent upgrades made to Aura IQ demonstrates Mining3 and AVA Risk Group’s continued partnership to deliver a transformative fibre optic conveyor monitoring system to the mining industry.

Aura IQ is a revolutionary system focussed on monitoring the on-site performance of a typical conveyor. This in turn improves occupational health and safety and introduces new and exciting predictive maintenance and support capabilities across the asset management industry.

It is the combination of Mining3’s advanced signal processing algorithms, predictive analytics and identification tools mixed with AVA Risk Group’s fibre optic detection and sensing platform that makes this award winning system so unique. 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 idler failure modes.

Data is simultaneously collected from every metre of the conveyor and processed by Aura IQ to pre-emptively alert operators, either on or off-site, to potential failures before they happen.

Aura IQ has been tested  across the globe in over 6 countries, in different industries and with success in both surface and underground operations.  Direct feedback from maintenance and engineering teams has provided powerful testimony to the use-case of the system. With an ROI of less than 12 months, from these feasibility studies there are a number of companies looking at extensive roll-outs. Further  proof of value trials are underway across 4 countries.

Following these recent in-field successes, a new version of the conveyor condition monitoring algorithm for acoustic sensing has been implemented. Major improvements to the system to note are the ability to monitor conveyor line stands with different idler configurations as well as remove spurious noise frequencies.

Conveyors are not always made up of just a single sized roller. Because of this, Mining3 conducted a number of tests and managed to improve the flexibility of the system by enabling the processing of multiple roller sizes in one location.  With these new parameters added into the predictive analytics, the Aura IQ can now give a more accurate assessment of line stands. For example, carry rollers vs return rollers can now be monitored by a single fibre.

Additionally, the latest software release has further enhanced the ability of the Aura IQ system to handle extraneous signals and potential acoustic contamination from adjacent equipment, a critical feature to ensure a more reliable and accurate condition monitoring of the conveyor belt.

The Mining3-AVA Risk Group long-term partnership has its sight set well into the future to ensure continued improvement and further enhancement of the capabilities and reliability of the Aura IQ system.

For more information on the Aura IQ click here.