Modern Mining September 2024

MINING TECHNOLOGY

The Tru-Trac Rip Prevent+ system offers mass flow calculation, condition monitoring, and drive monitoring to enhance conveyor performance.

Revolutionising conveyor belt monitoring Given that conveyor belts are the lifeblood of production in mining, it is critical to keep the conveying system running and diagnose potential hazards well before they occur. That being the case, Tru-Trac is launching its Rip Prevent+ system, a sophisticated monitoring technology designed to detect and mitigate anomalies and damages to conveyor belts, reducing downtime and enhancing overall efficiency and productivity. T he importance of a dependable and fully functional conveyor system to the production process of a mine or any other industrial plant cannot be reiterated enough. Mining operations are well aware that unexpected conveyor downtime can result in million-dollar losses. With the arrival of the Tru-Trac Rip Prevent+ system, mines in Africa are now able to maximise the efficiency and productivity of their conveyor lines by preventing costly workflow interruptions through rip events. Having already proven its mettle on several mining conveyor belt, including metalcord belts, pipe belts and fabric belts. From the onset, says Dustin Schiller, co-founder of the Rip Prevent+ system, the idea was to develop a system that does not use sensor elements inside the belt and that is applicable for any type of conveyor system. In fact, Rip Prevent+ is the first

rip detection system of its kind available for fabric belts. “The only other detection technology available for fabric belts are laser-based systems. The downside of these systems is that they are expensive and customers can expect an initial capital cost of between US$170 000 and US$200 000. This is in direct contrast to our approach. With Rip Prevent+, we have adopted a subscription model that allows customers to pay either a monthly or an annual licencing fee, depending on their

operations across the world, the Rip Prevent+ system made its official local debut at Electra Mining Africa in September this year. The system – which uses a data-driven calculation model of the conveyor and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect anomalies or rip events – can be deployed on any kind of

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