ABHR learns how Belle Banne Conveyor Products’ recent acquisition is helping keep conveyor belts clean.
Every conveyor system, regardless of size or use, must contend with carryback – the residual material that remains adhered to the belt after discharge, and continues travelling along the return side.
Often caused by moisture, fines or sticky product, this material can quickly accumulate on idlers, pulleys and surrounding infrastructure, creating a chain reaction of maintenance and safety issues. Unchecked carryback contributes to excessive build-up on rollers, belt mistracking, higher maintenance costs, premature equipment wear and, in severe cases, safety risks for site personnel tasked with clean-up.
For operators across mining, quarrying and bulk handling, effective belt cleaning remains one of the most practical ways to improve plant reliability and reduce whole-of-life conveyor costs.
That challenge is at the centre of Belle Banne Conveyor Products’ (BBCP) latest offering, the newly acquired Profile Clean system.
Acquired by the Australian conveyor specialist in December 2025, the “patented” technology represents a significant addition to BBCP’s belt cleaning portfolio.
Managing director Daniel Weekes said the decision to acquire the product came after seeing its performance firsthand in the field.
“An opportunity arose to purchase Profile Clean, and we seized it quickly,” Weekes said. “I first became aware of it in 2022 on a site that we were supplying our traditional belt cleaners. I noticed the constant tip pressure and the ability to profile to the conveyor.
“We’ve refined it along the way and implemented the necessary changes it needed.”
Established in 2009 as a privately owned Australian company, BBCP manufactures and supplies a wide range of conveyor enhancement products. Its heritage, however, stretches much further back.
According to Weekes, Belle Banne products have been used in Australia since 1969, with the original H, P, R and U belt cleaners becoming well-known across the mining and materials handling sectors.
“I’ve been working in the industry for 25 years and have been the managing director of BBCP for 12 years, during which time BBCP has seen significant growth.”
What distinguishes Profile Clean from more conventional systems is its ability to automatically maintain consistent tip pressure across the entire belt surface, even as the belt wears over time. Global patent approvals also place Profile Clean firmly at the forefront of industry innovation.
Traditional belt cleaners often require frequent manual adjustment to compensate for uneven wear patterns, particularly in the centre of the belt where most of the material is carried. Weekes said this is where conventional systems can lose effectiveness.
“In iron ore or aggressive material, instead of a flat belt surface, the belt will start to wear in the centre,” he said.
“Therefore, a traditional belt cleaner is less efficient because you’re applying less load to where there’s the highest wear and more load where there’s less.”
Profile Clean addresses that problem through individual pneumatic rams.
“The Profile Clean uses pneumatic rams across the conveyor which are supplied by a single air source and loads all rams and applies an equal load across all the cushion tip assemblies,” Weekes said.
“Therefore, we can supply equal load across the belt and it’s able to profile to the shape of the belt.
“We’re getting a consistent load across the belt surface and achieving a higher belt cleanliness.”
This ability to “profile” to a worn or uneven belt is a key point of difference.
Rather than relying on fixed manual tensioning systems, the cleaner continually compensates for belt wear and changing belt profiles, maintaining tip pressure across the full width of the belt for the life of the blade. Profile Clean requires no adjustment between shutdowns and no continual re-tensioning throughout tip life.
For operators, the benefit is not just cleanliness, but measurable reductions in maintenance. As a result, users can maximise productivity.
“One of the major focuses was to eliminate the manual daily, weekly adjustments to the side assemblies which apply tension to the cleaners,” Weekes said.
“Reducing manual adjustment is very important.”
In high-throughput operations, that reduction in manual intervention can translate directly into labour savings and lower exposure to maintenance-related safety risks.
Frequent manual cleaner adjustments often require personnel to work in confined areas around moving plant or during shutdown windows, adding complexity to maintenance planning.
To further simplify servicing, Profile Clean incorporates a retractable design that allows the unit to slide in and out for maintenance access, reducing time spent working around the conveyor structure.
By combining automated tip pressure with a retractable maintenance-friendly design, Profile Clean is engineered to reduce these touchpoints while extending the life of downstream components.
“The biggest benefit of it is we can apply equal load across the whole belt and clean where the actual material is,” Weekes said. “It removes material carryback built up on the conveyor, which requires labour to clean up.
“Customers can expect to save time and money using Profile Clean.”
That emphasis on total cost of ownership is becoming increasingly important for bulk handling operators, particularly in sectors such as iron ore, quarrying and ports where conveyor uptime is critical. Carryback-related build-up not only increases clean-up costs but can also accelerate premature belt wear, idler failure, pulley lagging wear and belt damage, all of which have flow-on effects for productivity.
Profile Clean’s consistent tensioning is also designed to help customers extend belt life, an area Weekes said remains a major customer priority.
With over 200 years of combined industry experience across the business, the company is positioning Profile Clean as a next-generation solution for sites seeking lower maintenance effort and improved cleaning performance.
“Customers are loving it,” he said. “They all note that the performance is a step change in maintenance practices for belt cleaning.”
