On 12 September 2016 TRAIL PhD student Xiangwei Liu successfully defended his thesis ‘Prediction of Belt Conveyor Idler Performance’ at Delft University of Technology.

Congratulations Xiangwei!

Short summary
This thesis focuses on how to improve the reliability of belt conveyor systems with respect to idler performance. The goal is to improve the predictability of idler roll failures. Theoretical and experimental research is carried out to determine the load on a loaded conveyor belt and idler rolls. Experimental study is conducted to investigate how to detect idler roll failures. A decision making framework for idler maintenance is also proposed.