Conveyor Belt Scales with SysTec Weighing Indicators for Limestone Production
Precise Throughput Monitoring at Carrières de la Vallée Heureuse
In limestone quarry operations, reliable throughput measurement is essential for production control, stock management, performance monitoring, and equipment protection. For Carrières de la Vallée Heureuse (CVH), a French limestone quarry, enhancing two main conveyor belts with modern weighing technology was an important step towards greater process transparency and production control.
The French SysTec partner Opale Pesage implemented a high-precision conveyor belt scale solution at the CVH quarry using SysTec IT2000M weighing indicators.
Key Facts
- Conveyor belt scales for lime transport with capacities of up to 400 t/h
- Continuous recording of throughput rates for process and performance control
- Transmission of the calculated flow rate to the customer’s PLC via analog signal
- Early detection of process deviations
Carrières de la Vallée Heureuse site
© Photo: CVH
Products
- SysTec weighing indicators IT2000M for conveyor belt scales
(Technical datasheet IT2000M BELT) - Opale Pesage designed and installed a complete belt weighing system
Carrières de la Vallée Heureuse (CVH) is a family-owned limestone quarry operator and mineral materials producer based in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. Established in 1842, the company has been extracting and processing compact, high-quality limestone from its Marquise deposit for more than 180 years, making it one of the oldest producers in the French aggregates and industrial minerals sector.
At the Carrières de la Vallée Heureuse limestone quarry, the new conveyor belt scales play a central role in material flow control and production monitoring. At the heart of the weighing system is the IT2000M, a SysTec weighing indicator with integrated control functionality specifically designed for belt weighers, continuously recording the conveyed bulk material.
The SysTec IT2000M weighing indicator processes both the measurement signals from the connected analogue load cells and the belt speed signal. Thanks to its robust design, the SysTec device ensures reliable, high-precision measurements even under the harsh conditions of a quarry environment.
The Process
After the limestone is crushed, the material is transported to the processing plant. On the conveyor belt, the SysTec IT2000M weighing indicator continuously measures the belt load via load cells. At the same time, the current belt speed is determined via an optional encoder input (OP-ROT from Opale Pesage).
Based on these values, the SysTec IT2000M weighing indicator calculates the current throughput in tonnes per hour as well as the continuously accumulated total quantity. The material flow (feed rate) is transmitted via the analog output.
Additional scale data, such as scale status and further diagnostic information, can optionally be transmitted via fieldbus communication in future.
The use of the SysTec IT2000M BELT provides several advantages within the weighing process. The precise measurement data can be made available via the Modbus interface in the future, enabling accurate control of crushers and screening systems in line with the actual conveying capacity and helping to prevent bottlenecks or overload situations. Continuous data availability supports real-time target/actual comparisons between the target and actual values, and provides a reliable basis for planning and billing processes.
The SysTec weighing indicator IT2000M with stainless steel housing features a DIN rail design intended for installation in a control cabinet, ensuring reliable operation in harsh industrial environments. It can be used as a stand-alone system or integrated with a PLC. It offers versatile connectivity for digital inputs and outputs as well as fieldbus systems, and includes internal counters for throughput, shift totals, and overall totals. An integrated operator interface allows local monitoring and calibration within a compact control cabinet.
Overall, the integration of the SysTec weighing indicator IT2000M into the belt scale system represents more than just a measuring device; it forms an integral part of the process chain in the limestone plant. It enables precise acquisition and transmission of weight data, optimizes production processes, and supports the economic management of the entire material flow—demonstrating how modern weighing technology contributes to efficiency in the raw materials industry.
