A system and method for material conveyor bucket wear monitoring. A material conveyor system elevator bucket comprising a back wall, opposed sidewalls, a bottom wall curving upward into a front wall spaced from the back wall, a lip, a volume of space, and at least one wear monitor affixed to the elevator bucket, wherein the wear monitor transmits information using electromagnetic fields.

A plastic modular conveyor belt constructed of belt modules with wear pads. The belt is supported in the carryway of a conveyor atop linear wearstrips along which the belt's wear pads slide as the belt advances.

A linear motor conveyor system including: at least one track section comprising: electronic circuitry housed within the track section; and a rotatable segment comprising an end profile that abuts another track section to form a stepped groove sealed by a gasket. A moving element for a linear motor conveyor system including: a body; a first set of bearings attached to the body and angled to abut against a first guide rail of a conveyor system having a protrusion with opposing angled profiles; a second set of bearing attached to the body and designed to abut against a flat profile of a second guide rail of the conveyor system. A dry lubricant provided to the body and configured to lubricate a bearing surface of the linear motor conveyor system supporting the first set of bearings.

A conveyor system includes a conveyor belt having a plurality of article-diverting conveyor belt rollers. An underlying drive roller assembly includes a plurality of pivotable rollers carriers, each having a freely rotatable drive roller that contacts the conveyor belt rollers from below. An actuator engages an orientation device to pivot the carriers and change the orientation of the drive rollers. The drive rollers may also move into and out of engagement with the conveyor belt rollers as their orientation changes. The orientation device is sandwiched between three-dimensional support plates to adjust the orientation of the drive rollers relative to the belt rollers. A top support plate includes corrugated vertical walls forming wearstrip holders. The orientation device may raise or lower the drive rollers during pivoting of the roller carriers. The drive roller assembly may be a modular assembly that can be customized for varying sizes, shapes and configurations.

According to the invention, there is provided a magnetic wear liner (10) for protecting an underlying metallic surface (12) of a materials handling device from wear or damage during use. The magnetic wear liner includes a substantially rigid base (16) and one or more wear lining tiles (18) disposed on one side of the rigid base. The magnetic wear liner further includes one or more magnet devices (26) engageable with the rigid base such that a selective portion of the wear liner (10) is magnetically attracted to the underlying metallic surface.

A link for a conveyor chain includes a first portion and a second portion laterally spaced apart from the first portion. The first portion includes a first sprocket-engaging pin, and the second portion includes a second sprocket-engaging pin. The first sprocket-engaging pin and the second sprocket-engaging pin protrude laterally away from one another. The first sprocket-engaging pin and the second sprocket-engaging pin may each have an oblong cross-section. At least one retainer can secure a connecting pin against movement relative to at least one of the first portion and the second portion, and each retainer can be positioned substantially within one of the first portion and the second portion.

A method and system of fault prediction in a packaging machine is disclosed. The method comprises registering data values associated with the motion of independently movable objects along a track in the packaging machine; determining a distribution of the data values; calculating a measure of central tendency of the data values in the distribution; calculating a quantified measure of a shape of the distribution; associating the measure of central tendency with said quantified measure of the shape as a coupled set of condition parameters; determining a degree of dispersion of a plurality of coupled sets of condition parameters associated with a plurality of motion cycles of the independently movable objects; and comparing the degree of dispersion with a dispersion threshold value, or determining a trend of the degree of dispersion over time, for said fault prediction.

A measurement assembly for measuring wear of the surface of revolution of rotating members is provided. The assembly comprises a support structure, a rod having a first sliding movement along a direction having a rectilinear component with respect to the support structure, a cam guide having a second relative movement with respect to the sliding rod, and at least one roller rotatably fixed to the sliding rod and in rolling contact with a corresponding track of the cam guide. The second relative movement between the cam guide and the sliding rod causes the first movement of the rod along the sliding direction. The measurement assembly may comprise an indicator of the position of the at least one roller along the rectilinear component such that the indicator is capable of generating an electrical signal indicative of the distance between the indicator and the roller.

A method of estimating cumulative damage of a vibrating machine with a base and a movable part movable relative to the base including the steps of: providing a computational model which estimates mechanical stress on a portion of the vibrating machine which uses the machine mass, and weight mass and load distribution of feed material, and acceleration to determine the estimated mechanical stress; estimating weight mass and load distribution of feed material; estimating measuring acceleration; providing the mass of the movable part, estimated weight mass and load distribution on the moving part and the estimated acceleration of the moveable part to the model obtaining estimated mechanical stress of the portion of the vibrating machine; recording the estimated mechanical stress of the portion of the vibrating machine over time; and estimating cumulative damage to the portion of the vibrating machine based on two or more successive recorded mechanical stress estimations.

Belt edge modules for constructing modular conveyor belts with sturdy outer edges. The edge modules have thickened outer edge regions in module edge portions that are difficult to snip or break off to access hinge rods.