Röchling Industrial is a Germany-headquartered, globally focused plastics processor that develops and supplies individual high performance plastics for all industrial areas, including mining operations and other industries. The company has been rolling out Matrox® liners, intelligent conveyor lining solutions (sensors embedded in plastic sheets) globally – most recently in African mining. Michal Sládek, the company’s Industry Manager for Mining, fields questions from MINING BUSINESS AFRICA on the relevance of intelligent conveyor lining in conveyor safety and efficiency.
By Jimmy Swira
MBA: Some African mining operations may believe they are well-equipped with fire detection and suppression systems (and don’t need more). What would you tell them about incorporating intelligent conveyor lining (sensors embedded in plastic sheets)?
MS: There are more levels of fire protection. In general, it is, of course, always better to avoid a fire than to deal with it. For example, our Matrox® liners or materials in general with electrically conductive properties eliminate electrostatic charging, which can be very dangerous in dusty and closed environments. Temperature sensors can detect increasing temperatures, which point to possible ignition of a fire. Flame-retardant or self-extinguishing liner grades like Matrox® SE help to suppress the spreading of fire. As you can see, there are many ways to deal with fire hazards – and usually, the best way is to combine them.
MBA: What opportunities does this create for conveyor monitoring?
MS: It is another piece of the puzzle. You want to have the complete picture of your conveying system to run it in the most effective way possible. And for this, you must be able to collect data from particular parts of the system – including liners. For us, so-called smart solutions are an important field where we develop customised solutions with our customers. This gives mines new opportunities regarding monitoring systems from start to end, especially in critical, non-accessible, or remote areas through data regarding wear status, temperature, or even the noise level of your lining. It is not just safety issues like fire prevention – each new set of data increases efficiency as well.
MBA: How does intelligent lining enhance a mining operation’s existing conveyor monitoring system?
MS: As mentioned before, lining is just one part of the whole system, but the concept of Smart Matrox liners with integrated wear and temperature sensors is boosting reliability, reducing risks, as well as direct and indirect costs. Data collected from various critical parts of a mining operation can be integrated into the existing process control system or accessed through the independent Röchling Industrial IoT platform. This platform also sends early warnings, status reports, and can even automatically reorder spare parts ahead of time, before they wear out.
MBA: Every mine has unique challenges. What factors should be considered before installing an intelligent lining?
MS: Without going too much into details – it is like any other monitoring or data-collecting system. The first thoughts should be about the direction – what kind of data would help me to run my equipment in an efficient way, and where is the best measuring point? For lining, it could mean, for example, choosing the right areas for placement of wear and temperature sensors.
MBA: Do you have any updates on the latest intelligent lining technologies that you can share with us?
MS: The final goal is to have a “digital twin” of your mine where all critical data from your operation is centrally connected. To run a mine efficiently and minimise shutdowns, the best possible condition report of all critical lining applications is crucial. And more generally speaking, we are interested in supporting the process of creating a digital mine. Whatever data someone is interested in collecting, we are interested as well.
Röchling Industrial SE & Co. KG is one of the three divisions of Röchling Group, which has been in existence for more than 200 years. The others are the automotive and medical divisions.
