Improving energy efficiency in material transport systems by fuzzy speed control

Belt conveyors are widely applied for industrial material transport and logistics distribution. In general, belt conveyors run at nominal belt speed. The belt can be only partly filled when received material flow is smaller than the nominal conveying capacity. Researches have shown that conveyor speed control always leads to the reduction of the required electrical drive power. Current applications mainly focus on developing control models and implementing controllers for continuous speed adjustment. However, for practical reasons discrete control is preferred. This paper presents a fuzzy control method to improve the energy efficiency in material transport. This method applies fuzzy logic to represent the alteration of material flow scenarios. Fuzzy control algorithm provides optimal adjustment of belt speed to avoid potential material spillage and overload caused by short-term peaks of material loading rate. The improvement of energy efficiency is estimated by both simulation and practical measurement.