Scholarly record

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF STEEL CORD CONVEYOR BELTS REPLACEMENT STRATEGY IN ORDER TO UNDERTAKE PROFITABLE REFURBISHMENT OF WORN OUT BELTS

Leszek Jurdziak, Ryszard Blazej

Abstract

In Polish mines several belt replacement strategies are applied. They have been discussed in the context of strategies for machinery maintenance. The common practice is to base belt replacement on its condition established through visual inspections. Two main policies have been recognized: replacements in order to prevent costly downtimes of conveyor systems (in underground mines) and replacements in order to assure profitable refurbishment of worn out belts (in surface lignite mines). In order to choose the most profitable moment for belt replacements, application of specialized diagnostic devices is recommended (e.g. DiagBelt system developed at the Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology, at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology or similar systems). Based on deterministic approach, belt replacement and refurbishment costs in mines have been analyzed taking into account the average operating times of various kinds of belts (new ones, after the 1st and the 2nd refurbishment) and the percentage of waste belts lost during refurbishment. It has appeared that regardless of the initial proportion of the length of each belt type in mine after some period a stable equilibrium is achieved (a kind of "homeostasis") both in the length of installed belts as well as in the length of belts replaced annually for each of their kind. The results are shown on charts as well as in tables. Recursive calculations were used to estimate the economic benefits of the implementation of diagnostic devices in the mine as well as the increased revenue of the firm providing belt refurbishments due to reduction of the length of waste belts.

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