Bucket Elevator Monitoring

4B has a wide range of sensors for monitoring the various parts of your bucket elevator. The most common areas for monitoring include: bearing temperature, speed / motion, belt alignment and level / plug indication.

All of 4B's sensors can be connected to our hazard monitoring systems.

bucket elevator monitoring

Bucket Elevator Monitoring

    Touchswitch™

    4b Touchswitch sensor
    Touchswitch™

    The Touchswitch is an electro-mechanical limit switch with no moving parts, which detects tracking and misalignment problems on bucket elevators and conveyors. When a belt misaligns or a pulley moves over and contacts the sensor, the built in solid-state electronic circuitry detects the lateral force of the belt or pulley and activates a voltage free solid state relay output. This output signal is used to immediately alarm and ultimately shutdown the machine.

    The face of the sensor is made from hardened and annealed stainless steel, not soft brass or aluminium, so wear life is longer when a belt contacts it. The Touchswitch is not affected by dust or material build up and will still work when completely covered by material. An external test wheel allows for quick and simple sensor/system testing. The sensors are usually installed in pairs on opposite sides of the machine. The sensors can be connected directly to a PLC input, or for greater safety, to a central independent monitoring system, such as Watchdog Super Elite, IE-Node or the T500 Hotbus system.

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    BAP Misalignment Sensor

    BAP belt alignment sensor for bucket elevators
    BAP Misalignment Sensor

    The BAP detects moving ferrous material and is designed for use with bucket elevators to detect belt misalignment condition. It can also detect ferrous bolts where plastic or 316 stainless buckets are used . The sensor is used in conjunction with a PLC or with a Watchdog or A400 Elite control unit.

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    Binswitch Elite Capacitive Sensor

    4B Binswitch Elite Capacitive Sensor
    Binswitch Elite Capacitive Sensor

    Detects level or plug situations for bulk granular solids or liquids in tanks, bins, or silos and can be used as a plug or choke detector in chutes, conveyors and elevator legs.

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    WDA3 Motion Alignment Sensor

    4B WDA motion alignment sensor
    WDA3 Motion Alignment Sensor

    Non-contacting extended range magnetic proximity sensor, not affected by dust or material build up, used to detect moving ferrous material up to 100mm away from the sensor. The WDA sensor can be used on bucket elevators to measure speed and alignment by sensing either the metal elevator buckets, or the ferrous bolts attached to plastic buckets. A more specialized use for the WDA switch is as a broken/slack chain detector on drag chain conveyors, or as a non-contact speed switch for screw conveyors. The sensor is used in conjunction with a PLC or with 4B's Watchdog™ Elite or A400 Elite control units. Two output signals are provided: one signal is a pulse output, representing each bucket detected: the second signal is a continuous output when moving buckets are detected.

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    VIBMIL - Milli-VIB & Milli-Con

    VIBMIL vibration sensor
    VIBMIL - Milli-VIB & Milli-Con

    VIBMIL is a vibration sensor designed for continuous monitoring of vibration levels in industrial environments. It is current loop powered accelerometer and delivers accurate vibration RMS velocity using a 4-20 mA output. Built with a stainless-steel enclosure, including a 3/4” NPT thread for conduit connection. The VIBMIL can be supplied with optional inbuilt NTC or PT100 temperature sensors (Milli-Con version).

    The VIBMIL is equipped with female 1/4”-28 UNF female mounting thread, allowing the use of a screw, stud, or mounting stud to secure the sensor to the desired application.
    The sensor is supplied with a 1/4”-28 UNF set screw as standard. Optional converters to M8 and M6 male threads are available. 
    To achieve maximum sensitivity, mount the sensor vertically along the Y-axis of the machinery. 
    To ensure accurate readings and proper functioning of the VIBMIL, securely fix it to a level surface during installation.
    Implement the 2 wire, loop powered accelerometer into the desired control system and measure the linearised output from 4 – 20mA proportional to the sensors measuring range.

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    4B bearing temperature sensors

    Overheated bearings are one of the main risk factors for dust explosions in bucket elevators and need to be closely monitored.
    4B offers a range of Atex, CSA and IECEx certified bearing temperature sensors and compatible monitoring systems.

    View our full Electronics Catalogue here.

    Bearing Temperature Sensors
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    Speed Switches

    4B's line of speed switches includes: proximity, inductive, zero speed, stop motion and rotary encoders to monitor dangerous belt slip, underspeed or stop conditions on conveyors, bucket elevators and any other shaft driven machinery. Our non-contacting sensors can be used to detect screw conveyor flights, elevator bucket bolts and other moving ferrous targets. Speed switches can be connected to a PLC or to one of 4B’s hazard monitoring systems to provide alarm and/or shutdown of your machinery when dangerous conditions are detected.

    View our full Electronics Catalogue here.

     
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    IE-Node

    IE-Node
    IE-Node

    The Industrial Ethernet Node (IE-NODE) is a remote monitoring interface designed to provide sensor data to PLC’s or other automation and control systems.

    Both units can be expanded to 16 sensor inputs with the installation of optional expansion boards.

    The IE-NODE operates by reading its sensor inputs and sending processed data when requested by another system (e.g. PLC). The units are equipped with an RJ45 Ethernet socket and supports PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and Modbus TCP/IP protocols for easy integration with Siemens, Allen-Bradley Rockwell, Modicon and other PLC’s or automation devices.

    The IE-NODE’s network configurator software provides a visual view of all devices on the network. It allows for easy identification of each unit on the network and allows for network settings to be changed as needed.

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    Watchdog™ Super Elite (WDC4)

    Watchdog Super Elite hazard monitor (WDC4)
    Watchdog™ Super Elite (WDC4)

    The Watchdog Super Elite (WDC4) is easy to install and simple to set-up. The system processes signals from sensors for belt misalignment, belt speed & slip, continuous bearing temperature, pulley misalignment and plug conditions for bucket elevators or belt conveyors.  When an alarm is detected it will sound an alarm and provide shutdown control of the elevator/conveyor and feeding system.
     
    A 3.5” LCD screen displays the entire system status at a glance.  Password protected controller settings can be set up either directly on the LCD screen, or by a PC application and transferred to the WDC4 via an SD card.
    The Watchdog Super Elite can be connected directly to a PLC using the Modbus TCP/IP protocol, or integrated into HazardMon.com®.  This secure cloud based solution provides live system status, graphs and historical data that is viewable on any web-enabled device (smart phone, tablet, desktop PC).

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    T500 Elite Hotbus™

    T500 Elite Hotbus™ elevator & conveyor monitoring system
    T500 Elite Hotbus™

    The T500 Elite Hotbus™ is a serial communications system designed to monitor up to 256 sensors for combined belt alignment, belt speed, continuous bearing temperature, pulley alignment, level indication (bin / silo) and plug conditions on bucket elevators and conveyors. With automatic machine shutdown capability and PLC / PC compatibility, this advanced microprocessor based system offers low cost installation, versatility and easy system expansion. Logging and trending software is also available for historic data analysis and preventative or predictive machine maintenance.

    HazardMon.com® is a secure cloud based hazard monitoring solution providing status notifications and data logging for bucket elevators and conveyors. Live system status, graphs and historical data can be viewed on any web-enabled device (smartphone, tablet PC, desktop or laptop computer). Emails can be sent to notify users whenever a change in the system's health is detected. An automated maintenance feature allows site operators to verify that all sensors on the system are operational and working correctly.

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    HazardMon.com®

    Hazardmon cloud-based hazard monitoring solution
    HazardMon.com®

    HazardMon.com® is a secure cloud based hazard monitoring solution providing status notifications and data logging for bucket elevators and conveyors. Live system status, graphs and historical data can be viewed on any web-enabled device (smartphone, tablet PC, desktop or laptop computer). Emails can be sent to notify users whenever a change in the system's health is detected. An automated maintenance feature allows site operators to verify that all sensors on the system are operational and working correctly.
    Hazardmon.com works in conjunction with 4B's Watchdog Super Elite™, T500 Elite Hotbus™ & IE-Node control systems for bucket elevators and conveyors. Both multi-function systems are specially designed to monitor equipment for belt misalignment, belt speed, continuous bearing temperature, pulley alignment, level and plug conditions. 

    New version of Hazardmon can be found on: https://new.hazardmon.com/ 

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    T400N Elite

    T400N Elite - Bearing Temperature Monitoring System
    T400N Elite

    Unique low cost alarm/indicator panel for use with any 4B NTC-type temperature sensors. ADB810, WDB70, and WDB810 series sensors are recommended.

    The T400N ELITE is able to accept signals from up to 8 NTC sensors (zones), which are separated into two groups of 4 zones. Each group of sensors is able to cause alarm and shutdown of individual machine when hazardous conditions are detected. There is a total of 2 Alarm and 2 Stop relays. The control unit is housed in a self contained wall mounting enclosure. A test push button on the lid of the control unit provides for full system verification. Alarm and status LEDs provide means of quick location of the alarm condition, and voltage free relay contacts provide separate alarm and shutdown control. An alarm mute push button is provided on the lid of the control unit and additional connections are provided for an external alarm mute functionality. A rotary switch is used to select the temperature alarm value.

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    A400 Elite Trackswitch

    A400 Elite Trackswitch
    A400 Elite Trackswitch

    The A400 Elite Trackswitch belt misalignment monitor uses 4B WDA or BAP magnetic proximity sensors to monitor the alignment of the belt in bucket elevators. Each control unit incorporates two independent monitoring circuits for early detection of belt misalignment on one or two bucket elevators. The 4B magnetic reluctance sensors operate in pairs to detect the position of steel bolt heads or steel buckets as they pass through the sensor's adjustable magnetic field. Nuisance / false alarms are tuned out by setting a tolerance window on each sensor which allows for normal belt travel. Status LEDs on the control unit indicate the alignment condition of the belts on the elevators, while internal relay contacts provide alarm and automatic shutdown of the elevator when hazardous misalignment conditions are detected.

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    B400 Elite Beltswitch

    B400 Elite Beltswitch
    B400 Elite Beltswitch

    The B400 Elite Beltswitch belt misalignment monitor uses 4B Touchswitch sensors to monitor belt alignment in bucket elevators and conveyors. Each control unit incorporates two independent monitoring circuits for early detection of belt misalignment on one or two bucket elevators / conveyors. The 4B Touchswitch is an electro-mechanical limit switch with no moving parts. When a belt misaligns or a pulley moves over and contacts the sensor, the built in solid-state electronic circuitry detects the lateral force of the belt or pulley and activates a voltage free relay contact. Status LEDs on the control unit indicate the alignment condition of the belt, while internal relay contacts provide alarm and automatic shutdown of the elevator when hazardous misalignment conditions are detected.

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    Case Study: Remote Hazard Monitoring at Multi-Location Grain Cooperative
    Case Study: State of the Art Hazard Monitoring at Flour Mill
    Technical Article: Testing & Verifying Conveyor Monitoring Systems
    Case Study: Hazard Monitoring with T500 Hotbus System at Coors Brewery
    Whitepaper: Hazard Monitoring Equipment, Selection & Maintenance