ABSTRACT
The conveying angle of a standard belt conveyor is restricted to less than 18–21 degrees. However, a steep angle conveyor can move material up any slope, including vertical lift. This paper describes the design of a bucket-type steep angle conveyor that was developed as a joint research project between the Western Australian School of Mines and the Maanshan Institute of Mining Research in China. The steep angle conveyor can be successfully used for transporting blocky ore from open pit mines. A pilot conveyor was constructed and tested to determine its technical and operational feasibility. Furthermore, a computer model based on MATLAB mathematical modelling software was developed to simulate the performance of the pilot conveyor. It enables to determine the design parameters of industry-scale conveyors that will give satisfactory performance. The model analyses the dynamic mechanical behaviour of a conveyor and yields results such as the speed, the acceleration, the structural forces and the braking characteristics.
