Study of Energy Consumption of a Bucket Conveyor in a Jig Concentrator Plant in a Hard Coal Mine

The subject of the discussion is oriented toward limiting the energy consumption of the bucket conveyor used in jig concentrator plants by controlling its speed. A method of predictive control of the bucket conveyor speed is presented. It allows for reducing the energy consumption due to appropriate selection of bucket movement speed to ensure the nominal filling of buckets along the entire length of the conveyor. This approach enables limiting the idling speed of the conveyor, extend its life, and also reduce the electricity consumption of the entire system. Experimental studies, carried out at the “Sośnica” Coal Mine working facility, confirmed that the use of a predictive algorithm for controlling the bucket conveyor speed and adapting the bucket speed to the current load decreased in energy consumption n by 9.6%, with 80% of the filling conveyor.