Research and Applications: Embedded System

Volume 3 Issue 2

Automation for Belt Conveyor System

Puhspendra Kumar*, Basanta Mahato
Department of Electronics and Communication Department, IIMT College of Engineering,
Greater Noida, U.P., India
Corresponding Author
E-Mail Id: princechoubey7796@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Automation of a belt conveyor system is proposed in this paper. We have proposed an idea
related to IoT using different sensor interface. The PID controller is connected with the main
controlling and monitoring unit through a cloud using Wi-Fi module which send the real time
data obtained from the different sensors on the system by the PID controller to the cloud. The
existing system can be used in every automation industry.

Keywords: speed controlling, PID controller, belt conveyor system

INTRODUCTION requiring low cost when contrasted with

Conveyor Systems are mechanical gadgets
or congregations that transport material
with negligible exertion. A conveyor belt
is a basic apparatus in the material
handling sector. They are the persistent
moving strips that are utilized for
conveying various materials starting with
one spot then onto the next. Mostly used
for conveying a large volume of materials
in a short span of time. An Industrial
Conveyor belt system comprises two or
more pulleys. A continuous loop of
transport stream the conveyor belt pivots
about them. This system minimizes human
error, lowers workplace risks and reduces
labor costs among other benefits[1].
A conveyor belt comprises of three
primary parts: belt, pulley, and driving
unit. Conveyor belt are comprised of
thermoplastics, metal, elastic, texture and
leather. The belt moves around the pulley
in a loop for constant use with the
assistance of a driving unit. The driving
unit goes about as the main power source
which supplies power to different pieces of
the conveyor belt. Conveyor belt are
intended for passing on mass materials
other accessible methods. It runs on two
pulleys at two ends and is operated with
the help of a motor[2].
Different Types of automated conveyor
belts used in indifferent sectors as per the
requirement such as:- Flat Belt Conveyors,
Modular Belt Conveyors, Cleated Belt
Conveyors, Other Specialty Conveyor Belt
Types, Curved Belt Conveyors, Incline or
Decline Belt Conveyors, Sanitary and
Wash down Conveyors etc. Current trends
include energy efficiency, electric
actuation and predictive maintenance[3].
The world still has a place for “dumb”
conveyors that simply move product from
X to Y, but Today’s generation of
conveyors is much different than what was
available a decade ago. There is increased
demand for conveyors that can talk to the
other machines and robots on the line
Today’s generation of conveyors are much
different than what was available a decade
ago. Current trends include energy
efficiency, electric actuation and predictive
maintenance. That’s resulting not just in
better performance, but also better

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 Research and Applications: Embedded System
monitoring, controlling and reporting.
Further we concluded a system with proper
control and monitoring so that the
complete system becomes more effective,
and easy to control.
EXISTING SYSTEM
Today Conveyor trends -including new
materials, drives, and pallet-carrying
variations are used to increase the
efficiency, life, effectiveness, etc of the
conveyor system. The vendor now starts
the uses of different technology such as
robotics, embedded intelligence, IoT, etc.
for manufacturing the conveyor system.
Developments in software, hardware, and
advancements in computerization make it
all possible. However, the technology isn’t
limited to items “added” to conveyors. As
the technology continues to evolve,
products now feature faster speeds, heavier
payloads and greater precision.
Simple use of motor and pulley for
conveyor systems in the initial stage but
today there is a lot of technology used for
the automation of conveyor systems such
as PLC and SCADA are used for
controlling conveyor systems. “Belt
Conveyor Monitoring and Fault
Detecting Using PLC and SCADA”
which refer to, the Faults are identified
using Sensors so that the safe and reliable
conveyor operation can be ensured. The
PLC is used for automatic segregation and
directing of the materials and to control
multiple switches, sensors and
actuators[5].
The IOT also comes under existence for
the automation of conveyor systems. “An
Application of the IoT in Belt Conveyor
Systems”, it is more about the data which
continuously comes from the sensors used
in the conveyor system. It is helpful for
HBRP Publication Page 1-6 2020. All Rights Reserved
Volume 3 Issue 2
continuous Monitoring[6]. It’s only shows
the monitoring ways for the conveyor
system and the big data visualization.
The missing parts are the:- Speed control,
heat emitted from the motor calculation to
improve efficiency of the system,
maintaining the space in between the final
products on the production line, data
storage, data visualization, 24×7
monitoring, easy to operate . In addition
our system is capable of monitoring as
well as controlling, also the ability of big
data visualization, real time monitoring.
To fulfill the above character our proposed
system can be a better solution of existing
systems to achieve industrial automation in
a better way.
PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system where there is a
conveyor belt with the load cell which
continuously reads the weight of the load
on the belt and gives the data to the
controller on the basis of the weight of the
load the controller controls the speed of
the conveyor belt. There is a colour sensor
which is attached with the controller which
is used to separate the raw material on the
basis of the required parameters (colour)
from the running conveyor belt. There is
the Wi-Fi module which sends the real-
time data (like load on the belt, total
quantities of raw material consumed,
colour detail, size of raw material, the real
time speed of the belt, the temperature of
the belt, how much quantity should
produce) to the cloud from where the data
can be taken by the main control unit (PC)
and the same data is used as a learning
material for the complete system.
There are some challenges such as power
consumption by motor, heating of motor,
the problems of belt broken, temperature
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 Research and Applications: Embedded System
maintenance[7]. Our main focus on the
food industries because it is directly
related to agriculture, farmers, and also to
the health of the consumers. Since the
proper controlling and monitoring system
required where the following parameters
are used such as colour, shape, size, to
separate the raw material for different
process (for e.g.: which types of potato are
best for the chips and which one for the
french-fries this separation of potato is
done on the basis of the shape, size, colour
of the potato, which minimize the wastage
of potatoes) because these factors of raw
material affect the production[8] such
problems of (shape, size, colour detection
of raw material, temperature/humidity,
speed of belt conveyor, total load on the
belt ) can be minimized by using machine
learning concept for controlling and
monitoring, where the production can be
increased effectively and efficiently[9].
Here fuzzy logic plays an important role.
Where fuzzy logic is a way to deal with
processing dependent on " degree of truth
" as opposed to the standard thing "true or
false"(1 or 0) Boolean logic on which the
advanced PC is based[10].
Fuzzy logic incorporates 0 or 1 as
outrageous instances of truth (or " the state
of matters” or “fact ") yet additionally
remember the different condition of truth
for between so that, for instance, the
aftereffect of a correlation between two
things could be not "tall" or "short" yet
".38 of tallness"[11]. Most fuzzy
controllers utilized in the business have a
similar structure as incremental PI or PID
controllers. The parameterization utilizing
rules and fuzzy membership capacities
makes it simple to include nonlinearities,
rationale, and extra input signals to control
law. Along these lines, in recent years
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Volume 3 Issue 2
fuzzy logic controllers (FLC), particularly
Fuzzy PID controllers have been broadly
utilized for mechanical procedures
inferable from their heuristic nature related
with straight forwardness and adequacy for
both linear and nonlinear systems.
PID (proportional integral derivative)
controllers utilize a control loop feedback
mechanism to control process factors and
are the most exact and stable controller.
The fuzzy PID controller is a
computationally efficient analytic scheme
suitable for implementation in a real-time
closed-loop digital control in such a
system. The machine learning is the best
approach to reduce the human effort in
automation sector using machine learning
is one of the other ways to increase
production in an effective manner, by
using all these approaches in a conveyor
belt automation is to improve the complete
system which direct in the production. The
best-known controllers used in industrial
control processes are Proportional integral
derivative (PID) controllers because of
their simple structure and robust
performance in a wide range of operating
conditions. In any case, the PID controller
being linear isn't appropriate for
emphatically nonlinear system. Fuzzy
Control is frequently referenced as an
option in contrast to PID control. Over all
our given system for conveyor belt
automation is a centralized control system
due to which:-
 Quick updates are possible
 System is physically secure
 Dedicated resources
 Data analysis become easy
 Modification in system is become
easy
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 Research and Applications: Embedded System
BLOCK DIAGRAM
Each and every block have its own
function or it use for specific purpose such
as :-
 The motor driver is used to provide
the required power supply to the
motor, and it is controlled by the
controller.
 This is an infrared sensor which can
be used for obstacle sensing, line
sensing, motion detection and also as
an encoder sensor The sensor provides
a digital output (1 or 0). The sensor
outputs a logic one (+3.5V) at the
digital output when an object is placed
in front of the sensor and logic zero
(0V), when there is no object in front
of the sensor. An onboard LED is used
to indicate the presence of an object.
 The DHT22 is a commonly used
Temperature and humidity sensor.
The sensor accompanies a devoted
NTC to quantify temperature and a 8-
piece microcontroller to output the
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Volume 3 Issue 2
estimations of temperature and
moistness as serial data. The sensor is
likewise factory calibrated and thus
simple to interface with different
microcontrollers.
 A load cell or weight sensor is one
kind of sensor otherwise a transducer.
The working principle of the weight
sensor depends on the conversion of a
load into an electronic signal. Signal
can be a change in voltage; current
otherwise frequency based on the load
as well as used circuit. In a digital
load cell, the signals from the strain
gauge (a gadget used to quantify strain
on an item) start as analog electrical
voltages. A microprocessor within the
load cell quickly changes over them to
digital signals. Those digital signals
generally utilize 2 to 6 volts as their
signal range, which is less susceptible
to variance than the scope of 0.03
volts in a analogue cell. As it were, the
digital signal is a lot more grounded
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 Research and Applications: Embedded System
 The ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module is a self-
contained SOC with integrated
TCP/IP protocol stack that can give
any microcontroller access to your
WiFi network. The ESP8266 is
prepared to do either hosting an
application or offloading all Wi-Fi
organizing functions from another
application processor.
 Since the controller continuously deals
with large data taken by the sensors so
to store the large data use of cloud is
important also as per the security
purpose.
WORKING METHODOLOGY
The motor drivers are used to provide
proper power supply to the motor which is
controlled by the PID controller on the
basis of the output of the load cell shows
that the process should flow in proper
manner without any disturbance. There is a
dth11 (temperature sensor) used to
measure the heat emitted from the running
motor that shows that we can use the
motor in an efficient manner. The IR
sensor is used to measure the speed of the
motor for the monitoring purpose. The
colour detection process is used to
differentiate unwanted thighs over the
conveyor belt where the camera is used to
monitor the process.
The PID controller is connected with the
main controlling and monitoring unit
through a cloud using Wi-Fi module which
send the real time data obtained from the
different sensors on the system by the PID
controller to the cloud (Cloud storage is a
cloud computing model that stores data on
the Internet) which can be easily access by
the controlling and monitoring unit from
where the manually inspection well be
done by the employee.
ANALYSIS/ RESULT
 Since our provided system works on
the basis of the load on the belt
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Volume 3 Issue 2
conveyor system through which the
speed of the motor is controlled by the
controller, hence the power
consumption by the system is
automatically decreased upto 20%.
 As the system is monitoring the
process continuously it is capable of
detecting/predicting the faults which
are helpful as per the maintenance
purpose.
 The system helps to increase the
production of products in the
production line, it becomes possible
by maintaining the speed of the motor
which is pre-programmed in the
controller during installation. It is also
controlled by manually as per the
requirement. It is helpful in
controlling and monitoring the
complete conveyor system easily.
 It is able to find the fault in the system
during an unwanted incident in the
system, also able to predict the
production with the help of comparing
the recent data with the previous data
taken by the system during the
process.
POSSIBLE APPLICATION
The proposed system is capable for the
small as well as the large conveyor system,
it is also being used in different sectors of
automation, where the belt conveyor
system is used.
The important application is in the food
manufacturing sector where the system can
be able to differentiate the use of raw
material flow through the conveyor system
by the help of camera and colour detection
technique. It also monitors the speed of the
system so that the production will not
affect (maintain the process flow)
additional features are it helps to maintain
the proper distancing in between the final
products on the belt conveyor so that
packaging will become easy. It helps as
per the security purpose by securing data.
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 Research and Applications: Embedded System
CONCLUSIONS
The proposed system is the integrated part
of the industrial conveyor system which is
advance in controlling and monitoring as
per the following parameters:- Speed of
the motor, Load on the belt, Total
quantities of raw material consumed,
Colour detection, Size of raw material, The
real time monitoring, The temperature of
the belt, How much quantity should
produce (prediction), Maintaining distance
in packaging(production line), Maintaining
the humidity, large variety of controlling
and monitoring parameter are help the
system for the prediction of productions
and help also in decreasing the power
consumption and increases the life of the
system, it also easy for maintenance of the
system. Overall the system is helpful in
different ways in different sectors of
automation of conveyor belt systems.
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