Data Solutions has developed a configurable software application for controlling belt conveyor baggage handling systems.

The software based on the industry standard Allen- Bradley PLC-5 system, includes tools for the following functions.

Cascade Start - Gives even electrical load at start up.
Controlled Stop - This ensures system empties and leaves no bags stranded on the conveyor.
Dieback - Controlled queuing of bags, setting flags for SCADA system.
Merge Control - Merges can be configured for either 1 to 1 or priority merge.
1 to 1 merge includes GAP OPTIMISATION
Bag Model Tracking - The engine for full 100% tracking.
Tamper Proof Dynamic Tracking Engine - To achieve 100% tracking, as in HBS lines, each bag is checked for the following conditions:

Length check (detects substitute bags).
Bag early / bag late.
Extra bag facility.
PEC Block.
Overload.
Star Wheel fault.

Depending on the application, the tamper proof dynamic tracking engine can be set to reject bags that have moved out of position, of course all extra bags will always be rejected, or in long distance tracking applications, the dynamic bag model adjustment allows bags to be tracked over 100s of metres.

Due to the high security required on airports, this approach is required for accurate tracking of Bag ID barcodes and internal X-ray images.

The system has several modes, to deal with clients specific needs when dealing with faults, such as stopping at faults or jumping faulted conveyors allowing hand ball passover.

The configurable approach allows our engineers to configure many systems by following a simple form.

What input and outputs do you need to implement the solution ?
The system expects the system to be built of multiples of a standard conveyor, these can be of different lengths.

Each bed consists of a motor driven head pulley and a starwheel (sample metal profile star and inductive proximity switch) mounted on the tail pulley. This configuration allows us to detect a broken belt or slack tension, it is also the key to the tracking functions. The motor contactor or variable speed drive should have an auxiliary contact fitted to signal the PLC.

At the downstream end of each bed is positioned a Photo Electric Cell. A retro- reflective on each transport conveyor could be used, but we would advise a thru-beam PEC with sensitory adjustment on all tracking conveyors. This is used for dieback, blockage detection and tracking.

For scanning stations, be it an X-ray or a barcode scanner array or a system with both; one extra PEC is required for the x-ray and two extra PEC`s required for a scanner array.

In addition to these inputs, the following may be desired.

Inputs
Conveyor in Auto - Local Auto Manual Switch.
Motor Isolator Switch
Motor Overload - Detects an over-current, this usually signifies
a jammed bag between sensors.

Outputs
General fault lamp mounted local to the conveyor.

What about distributed network I/O versus direct wired I/O ?
Data Solutions has had unprecedented success using the ControlNet System with our software and have found it to give excellent performance and trouble free generation with dramatically reduced site time.