Conveyor Systems are mechanical devices or assemblies that transport material with minimal effort. While there are many different kinds of conveyor systems, they usually consist of a frame that supports either rollers, wheels, or a belt, upon which materials move from one place to another. They may be powered by a motor, by gravity, or manually. These material handling systems come in many different varieties to suit the different products or materials that need to be transported.
Conveyor Belt System Speed/Rated Speed
Belt conveyors are typically rated in terms of belt speed in ft/min. while powered roller conveyors described the linear velocity in similar units to a package, carton, etc. moving over the powered rollers. Rated speed applies to apron/slat conveyors and drag/chain/tow conveyors as well.
Belt Conveyors are material handling systems that use continuous belts to convey products or material. The belt is extended in an endless loop between two end-pulleys. Usually, one or both ends have a roll underneath. The conveyor belting is supported by either a metal slider pan for light loads where no friction would be applied to the belt to cause drag or on rollers. Power is provided by motors that use either variable or constant speed reduction gears.
The belts themselves can be made from numerous materials, which should correspond to the conditions under which the belt will be operating. Common conveyor belting materials include rubber, plastic, leather, fabric, and metal. Transporting a heavier load means a thicker and stronger construction of conveyor belting material is required. Belt conveyors are typically powered and can be operated at various speeds depending on the throughput required. The conveyors can be operated horizontally or can be inclined as well. Belt conveyors can be troughed for bulk or large materials.
A rubber v-belt is a flexible machine element used to transmit power between a set of grooved pulleys or sheaves. They are characterized as belts having a trapezium cross-section. V-belts are the most widely used belt drives since their geometry causes them to wedge tightly into the groove as the tension is increased. As the belt wedges into the groove, friction between the surface of the belt is increased, allowing high torques to be transmitted. The increased friction minimizes the loss of power through slippage.
Before going deeper into v-belts, it is important to know an overview of belt drives. Belt drives are machine elements that are used to transmit power between two or more rotating shafts, usually with parallel axes of rotation. The belts are looped over pulleys attached to the driver and follower shafts. These pulleys are placed at a certain distance to create an initial tension on the belt. When in operation, the friction causes the belt to grip onto the pulley. The rotation of the driver pulley increases the tension on one side of the belt creating a tight side. This tight side applies a tangential force to the follower pulley. Torque is then applied to the driven shaft. Opposite the tight side is the slack side where the belt experiences less tension.
There are many types of belt drives used today., such as agricultural harvester V belts, The earliest type of belt drive uses a flat belt made from leather or fabric. Flat belts operate satisfactorily in low-power applications such as farm equipment, mining, and logging. At higher loads and speeds, they tend to slip on the surface of the pulleys and climb out of the pulley. Another early type of belt drive is a rope drive made from cotton or hemp. Rope drives are used on two pulleys with a V-shaped groove. This solved the problem of climbing out of the pulley enabling belt drives to be used over large distances. Later, this was developed into round beltswhich are made from elastomeric materials such as rubber, nylon, or urethane. The development of these elastomeric materials also brought the progress of belt drive technology. Belts such as v-belts, ribbed belts, multi-groove belts, and timing beltswere made to solve the problems of previous belt drives.
