Integration of Industrial IoT Solutions with Conveyor Belts will reduce downtime of conveyor systems to almost nil with the help of predictive maintenance. Further, integration with the asset management system allows immediate identification and reorder of faulty components.

1. Industrial IoT Application For Conveyor Belt
Experts believe that we are living through the fourth industrial Revolution or Industry
4.0. Industry 4.0 is bringing a sea change into the manufacturing, logistics and
automation industry. An important aspect of this revolution apart from cloud computing
is the Industrial Internet of Things. Industrial IoT or IIoT is making it possible for
businesses across domains to understand their Business operations like never before. In
fact, B2B investments in IoT solutions, apps, and technologies is estimated to reach
$267B by 2020. 50% of this spending is likely to be driven by manufacturing,
transportation & logistics, and utilities.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of IIoT technology is possibly the Conveyor Belt system.
Conveyor Belts are used in several industries spanning Logistics, Manufacturing,
Automobile and more. The modern Conveyor Belt has in fact arrived at its present stage
after going through several stages of evolution since it was used for the first time in
1892 for carrying coal. Conveyor belt Assembly lines were first introduced by Henry Ford
in 1913. Since then the Conveyor Belts have gone through several milestone changes.
Currently, the industry is at the threshold of another strategic change which is the
integration of IIoT into Conveyor Belt Systems.
Industries that use Conveyor belts each face certain unique problems. Here we have
tried to identify problems faced by some of the industries that most commonly use
Conveyor Belt systems. These industries stand to gain the most from the internet of
things industrial applications.
Problems faced by Industries using Conveyor Systems:
Mining Industry:
The Mining industry uses long-distance large scale conveyor belts to ply heavy
machinery and equipment for long overland transportation.
Monitoring Idler Rolls:
A conveyor System consists of several parts such as the belt drive system, head pulley,
tail pulley, brakes etc. However, one differentiating factor between these components is
that while some components are clustered together and can be inspected easily, other
components tend to be spread along the entire length of these large-scale conveyor
belts.
As such inspection and monitoring of these components that are spread along the entire

2. length of the Conveyor belt are very difficult. For instance components such as a head
pulley and tail pully are located at head and tail of the system respectively and are easy
to monitor. On the other hand, idler rolls are spread over the length of the conveyor and
are very difficult to monitor.
In current systems, an inspector physically has to walk/drive along the system to
inspect/monitor the performance of the idler rolls. The question is whether we can ease
the monitoring of the idler rolls keeping in mind that there may be as many as 10,000 to
100,000 rolls in one conveyor. Apart from chances of error seeping into manual checks,
it is a huge cost in terms of time and effort of manpower involved to monitor idler rolls
manually.
Manufacturing Industry:
In the Manufacturing Industry time is of essence. Though this holds true for all
industries, for Manufacturing this is especially true as delay in production is directly
proportional to revenue generated. Conveyor Belts form an integral part of the
assembly line at Manufacturing Industry and downtime of the belt will lead to Revenue
loss.
Long Downtime:
To meet capacity utilization targets, conveyor belts must operate continuously. As a
result due to heavy usage and wear and tear, gear motor of the conveyor belt tend to
suffer a breakdown.
Now there are several Gear motors in a heavy duty Manufacturing Conveyor belt and
identifying a failed gear motor can be an exceedingly difficult task. Additionally, even
after identifying the failed gear motor, it can take several hours to find make and model
of the failed component and place a reorder.
This can contribute to a downtime of up to 36-72 hrs which can hold up the production
process partially or completely.
Warehouse:
Warehouses deal with numerous transit shipments daily. Visibility into these shipments
and inventory is very important. Efficiently performing warehouses need accurate and
timely information on shipments. One needs to be able to clearly identify what’s in
transit, where it is, when it will arrive, and how much it will cost.
Inventory Visibility and Downtime:

3. Similar to manufacturing Industry, downtime of Conveyor System can lead to loss of
revenue.
In addition, most Warehouses do not have clear visibility into stock. Without Visibility of
what is arriving, how much is arriving and what shipment needs to go where; the
Conveyor system cannot perform efficiently.
Once shipment and stock arrive at the warehouse a lot of manual efforts go into
segregating the stock into various units according to purpose and usage.
Conveyor system using Industrial IoT Solutions
Why use IIoT in Conveyor Belts?
Keeping all these problems in mind we understand that Automation is a key feature for
any modern-day industry. It is the one factor that sets apart modern day industries from
traditional ones. IIoT solutions gather data from individual devices and components to
enable large-scale industrial automation IoT. When we integrate an IIoT platform with
Conveyor belts we can solve several core industrial challenges across several industries.
Let’s have a look at how it can be done:
Remote Monitoring:
Components such as Idler Rolls can be monitored accurately in Real-time from a remote
location. This can save valuable manhours. Assessing the ‘technical health’ of the roller
bearings can be done by measuring their temperature. Normal operating temperatures
range between 20 ˚ C and 50 ˚ C depending on the ambient temperature. If the
temperature of a bearing increases to higher temperatures, ranging from 80 ˚ C to 120 ˚
C, then it is a clear sign of potential bearing failure. By using temperature sensors in
Mining IoT solutions, businesses get alerts which provide significant amount of time to
react to any potential damage. This can help save several man hours which were earlier
spent in manually monitoring Idler rolls. Powered by Machine learning and AI such a
solution is more accurate too.
Identification of Failed Parts:
An IIoT Manufacturing solution can be used to integrate the asset management system
with sensors that directly pick Big data from the hardware and then relay it on to the
user Interface for quick spare part identification and reorder request. The support team
can immediately move into action whenever such a request occurs. This can cut down
the whole process to just a few minutes thus saving a lot of valuable work Hours and

4. can effectively reduce downtime by 90%.
Predictive Maintenance:
With the advent of smart factories, maintenance occurs not just after a failure has taken
place but much before a potential damage can occur. Machine learning and Artificial
intelligence help set parameters of normal functions. Emerging deviations help set out
alert notifications to prevent actual failure. With sensors picking data as specific as
vibrations per second, IIoT platforms can provide extremely accurate data about which
specific part needs urgent maintenance. In addition to temperature sensors in idler rolls,
several sensors are mounted on the electric motors and gearbox shafts to measure
vibration. This information is collected to predict possible defects, better manage
maintenance, and reduce overall downtimes. Our IoT Solution will analyze these
vibration patterns and define deviations (such as a failure in the electric motor) so an
alarm can be triggered before the failure occurs.
Bar Code Tracking:
To gain visibility into inventory arrival especially in warehouses, the conveyor belt can
be fitted with a barcode tracking system. Pallets, crates, shelves, racks, cylinders,
forklifts, etc can be tracked with identification tags like Barcodes, QR codes, RFID.
Receiving function in warehouses can be completely automated by use of vision devices
on Conveyor belts. By doing so Inbound items received from vendors or other
warehouses when put on a conveyor belt can automatically be updated to the ERP
System for easy visibility. These devices can scan barcodes, QR codes at a much faster
pace than a warehouse executive. In cases the items are tagged with RFID tags, RFID
receivers can be placed on such conveyors which can capture the receiving details of an
item.
Technological Solution
Industrial IIoT
The generic IIoT Solution for Conveyor Systems comprises of three main parts. This can
be further customized to specific needs.
Sensor Nodes:
Sensor Nodes comprise of all the sensors which pick data from various hardware
components to provide insights on actual functioning of the Conveyor Line.

5. Voltage Sensor:
Helps to identify how long the belt has run.
Temperature Sensor:
Provides real time information on temperature of the belt and allows to predict of it is
time for the system to rest to avoid malfunction due to overheating.
Vibration Sensor:
The data from these sensors help provide insights on whether gearmotor components
are getting damaged due to overuse or ill-use.
About Us
Qwentic is a leading technology consulting company, engaged in offering end to end consulting
services. We are technology consulting partners to several leading businesses across a diverse
range of industries spanning Logistics, Healthcare, Advertisement, and E-learning. We help chart
out the entire technology road map for our clients and back it up with excellent IT solutions by
leveraging the power of Golang and its best development practices. Such Intelligent technology
backup solutions are ideal for fast-growing organizations to meet operational and business
challenges.
Contact Us
Website URL: https://www.qwentic.com
Contact no: +1 (760) 363-5741 , +91-72760 07073

6. Voltage Sensor:
Helps to identify how long the belt has run.
Temperature Sensor:
Provides real time information on temperature of the belt and allows to predict of it is
time for the system to rest to avoid malfunction due to overheating.
Vibration Sensor:
The data from these sensors help provide insights on whether gearmotor components
are getting damaged due to overuse or ill-use.
About Us
Qwentic is a leading technology consulting company, engaged in offering end to end consulting
services. We are technology consulting partners to several leading businesses across a diverse
range of industries spanning Logistics, Healthcare, Advertisement, and E-learning. We help chart
out the entire technology road map for our clients and back it up with excellent IT solutions by
leveraging the power of Golang and its best development practices. Such Intelligent technology
backup solutions are ideal for fast-growing organizations to meet operational and business
challenges.
Contact Us
Website URL: https://www.qwentic.com
Contact no: +1 (760) 363-5741 , +91-72760 07073