BELT CONVEYOR LOAD TRACKING, METHOD AND APPARATUS USING LOAD SENSORS AT SOURCE AND DESTINATION STATIONS AND A PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLER FOR THE CONVEYOR

A method of and apparatus for tracking data associated with a load being conveyed on a belt conveyor between a source station including a source station load sensor and a destination station including a destination station load sensor includes the steps of: generating a data record for the load at the source station, loading the data record into a programmable controller for controlling the conveyor, generating a pulse signal having a number of pulses directly proportional to the travel of the belt conveyor, establishing an expectation window indicating expected arrival of the load at the destination station, establishing a distance field for the load using the smaller of the distance between the load and any preceding load on the belt conveyor or the distance between the load and the destination load sensor, sensing the leading edge of the load by the destination station load sensor, comparing the distance between the source and destination load sensors and detecting any slippage of the load on the belt and updating the data record in the controller based on the detected load slippage to coincide with the actual position of the load on the conveyor at the destination station.