How Do Conveyor Belts Work?

A conveyor belt works by using two motorized pulleys that loop over a long stretch of thick, durable material. When motors in the pulleys operate at the same speed and spin in the same direction, the belt moves between the two.

If objects are particularly heavy or bulky — or if the conveyor belt is carrying them for a long distance or duration — rollers may be placed on the sides of the conveyor belt for support.

Parts of the Conveyor Belt System
While there are numerous types of conveyor systems, all serve the same purpose of transporting materials. Some products may require a system without a belt, using only rollers or wheels for flexible movement. However, many conveyor systems rely on a frame with a belt and possible support rollers to carry materials and products efficiently.

All conveyor systems have three main components — the aluminum profile, the driving unit and the extremity unit.

In a conveyor belt system, the aluminum profile consists of the frame, belt and any supports. Systems that use a belt are generally powered by a motor, though conveyor systems can also use gravity or manual force to function. Motorized conveyor belts are ideal for industrial use as they are more reliable and efficient — the driving unit for such systems would include the motor bracket, electrical drive and any counter bearings.

This article comes from semcor edit released

What is the example of transmission belt?

Just like conveyor belts, the origins and history of power transmission belts are lost in the mists of time. While we believe that the Babylonians and Assyrians used chains and cups for water-drawing machines, the earliest mention of a mechanical belt drive with a pulley machine is in a Chinese text from 15 BCE. This describes how it was set up to wind silk fibers onto bobbins for weavers’ shuttles. About a thousand years later, when the first reported mechanized spinning wheel was documented, again in China, it relied on a belt drive. I find this fascinating – because the textile industry is still home to numerous applications for power transmission belts today.

The belt drive has also been used in many other applications. We know that flat belts were frequently employed in the 19th and 20th centuries for power transmission in factories, as well as for logging, mining and farming applications, such as sawmills, conveyors and pumps.

Simple and efficient

Belts and pulleys offer the simplest and most efficient way to transmit power between shafts. Even today’s advanced computer-controlled machines rely on this attractive and proven solution.

Power transmission belts run smoothly and quietly, helping to protect machinery from overload and jamming, and shielding motors and bearings against load fluctuations. They need minimal maintenance, and are highly efficient (up to 98%).

Wide belts and large pulleys can deliver high power at high speeds – although these take up a considerable amount of space. This is why V-belts were later introduced, which are frequently used today for short-distance power transmission. On the other hand, V-belts are not as energy-efficient as flat power transmission belts and timing belts.

From leather to hemp to polyamide

As you’d expect, the materials used for power transmission belts have changed over the years. While in the past, flat belts were usually made of leather, in the mid-19th century they also used ropes made of cotton, hemp, flax, or even wire.

But power transmission with leather belts remained a popular solution for centuries. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, leather belts were the state-of-the art solution for efficient power transmission. You can see this in pictures that show, for example, a workshop with a main driving shaft on the ceiling, with milling machines, lathes, drilling machines and other equipment running off it, all driven by leather belts.

Multiple applications

Power transmission belts have found many new and important uses today. And while they continue to play a leading role in modern machine design, they are less visible than in the past, as in many cases they are protected by the machine frame and perform their task ‘under cover.’ The following examples illustrate the capabilities of this outstanding machine element in different industries:

Textile industry

In the textile industry, power transmission belts and spindle tapes (a specially designed power transmission belt to drive a group of four spindles) are employed in yarn manufacturing and processing, e.g. on spinning machines. The fashion industry and manufacturers of technical fabrics demand high- and consistent yarn quality at the best possible price. The performance of the power transmission belt is crucial to meeting these expectations, so that the final customer (in other words: you) can benefit from a durable shirt that keeps its shape over its entire lifetime. What’s more, using the right belt type contributes to savings on energy and operational costs.

This article comes from habasit edit released

Fan Belt? Alternator Belt? Serpentine Belt? Similarities

Look up “fan belt” in any modern automotive dictionary, and you’ll typically find a definition that reads, “An endless belt used to transmit power from a crankshaft-driven pulley to a pulley driving the fan, alternator, or other engine accessory. It is usually V-shaped in cross section with the point of the V fitting into a groove in the pulley”.

Even though cooling fans on most modern vehicles are driven by electric motors instead of actual belts, the term fan belt is still incorrectly used as a blanket expression to describe any single accessory belt that may be used to drive a water pump, alternator, power steering pump, or other items. Why?

In order to pull cooling air through a vehicle’s radiator, a cooling fan needs to be located at the front of the vehicle just behind the radiator. Traditional rear-wheel-drive vehicles with longitudinally-mounted engines had crankshaft pulleys right there at the front of the car, and they were convenient sources of power for cooling fans.

Since the fan belt tended to be the biggest and most noticeable one on the vehicle, the expression became universal for all other belts that looked similar – no matter what function they performed. Many original engine layouts also used that fan belt to spin water pump and alternator pulleys, and you may hear some people call this belt a “water pump belt” or “alternator belt” as well as a fan belt.

However, as vehicles with front-wheel-drive and sideways-mounted engines grew in popularity, the front of the engine was no longer at the front of the vehicle where the cooling fan was.

Engineers perfected electric fan motors, temperature sensors, and related computers to get the job done, and belt-driven fans were no longer necessary. Because cooling fans don’t always need to be running at steady cruising speeds, electric motors which can shut off proved more energy efficient than direct drive belts which are always connected. Since electric cooling fans are used even in modern vehicles with longitudinally-mounted engines, the term fan belt has become virtually obsolete. More fitting terms to use when searching for a replacement single belt of this kind would be accessory drive belt or V-belt.

Because drive belts are subject to constant rotation, load, and heat, they are constructed in a similar fashion as tires. An outer layer of rubber surrounds internal steel and cord reinforcements to minimize stretching and maximize strength when grip is needed under load.

This article comes from carid edit released

Timing Belt Safety Tips

We’re hoping you’re taking your car to a shop for timing belt service, but even if you’re just looking around under the hood, you need to be safe about it.

Don’t start grabbing random parts under the hood, especially if you’ve just finished driving it. Engines and engine components can get extremely hot.

Don’t wear loose-fitting clothing or dangling jewelry when working under a hood. Not only can you damage your trinkets, getting caught in a spinning belt or gear can cause some nasty injuries.

It’s a good idea to wear gloves and eye protection, especially when working on older cars. You never know when something will break and send shrapnel flying.

This article comes from thedrive edit released

When to use a cogged v belt?

However, cogged v belts may be a better choice when vibration damping is needed or shock loads cause abrupt torque changes that could shear a synchronous belt’s teeth. Synchronous belts also make a whirring noise that might be objectionable in some applications.

Are notched V-belts better?

Notched belts can use the same pulleys as cross-section standard V-belts. They run cooler, last longer, and are about 2% more efficient than standard V-belts. In contrast, V-belts have a sharp reduction in efficiency at high torque due to increased slippage.

Why should you use a narrow cogged v belt instead of a classical V-belt in a new installation?

Why should you use a narrow cogged v belt instead of a Classical V-belt in a new installation? They can handle more power, they use smaller diameter sheaves, and are more economical than a classical V-belt.

Where would a cogged v belt be used?

Cogged v belts are used widely in mechanical devices, including sewing machines, photocopiers and many others. A major use of cogged v belts is as the timing belt used to drive the camshafts within an automobile or motorcycle engine.

This article comes from moviecultists edit released

How to Tension a V Belt (& How Not to)

A v belt’s purpose is to transmit energy between two components. What makes a v belt pulley stand out from other types of pulleys, such as a round belt or flat pulley, are the V-shaped grooves of the pulley; these grooves guide the belt and allow it to gain traction.

The number one cause of a power transmission belt failure is improper tensioning. In order to ensure a long and efficient belt operation, you must properly learn how to tension a v belt regularly.

If they are too loose, there is slippage, rapid belt or sheave wear and, ultimately, loss of both energy and productivity. Conversely, if there is too much tension, the excess strain on the belts, bearings and shafts causes premature wear of these components. The proper tension is the lowest tension at which the belt won’t slip or squeal under peak load. However, there is still a wide range of tension between these two extremes in which a drive will operate sufficiently. The primary goal of learning how to tension a v belt is to find this happy tension medium.

Important Note: Never apply belt dressing, as this will damage the belt and cause early failure. Always keep the drive free of foreign material which might cause slippage or damage to the belt and sheave surfaces.

This article comes from ibtinc edit released

V Belts Selection Guide: Types, Features, Applications

Construction

Three common designs of v belts include:

Fabric ply belts consist of several plies or layers that are made of cotton or synthetic fiber, with or without rubber impregnation. The number of plies determines the belt thickness that will help determine the minimum pulley diameter for the drive.

Fabric cord belts are constructed with multiple cords made from cotton or synthetic fibers such as rayon, nylon, plastic, or Kevlar. They are incased in rubber and covered with a fabric/runner covering. This type is generally classed as a heavy-duty v belt, used for high speeds, small pulley diameters, and shock loads. Steel cables can also be used as they have higher capacity and lower stretch than fabric cord v belts.

Synthetic v belts are made from nylon. Nylon offers flexibility, extremely high tensile strength, and operates effectively at high rim speeds. The belts are thin and they may consist of several plies of thin nylon bonded together to form a tough but flexible v belt.

Specifications

Specifications that are important to consider include: belt type, belt width, and initial elongation. If any of these factors change, the belt must be recalculated.

Power transmission belt material types include polyester, aramide, and polyamide.

Polyester is the most common material due to it price-to-value ratio. It supplies a versatile belt that can be used in a wide range of operating temperatures with low energy consumption, high flexibility, and reliable performance.

Aramide is a strong choice for long belts due to the short take-up and high accuracy for number of revolutions (RPM) and belt speed. It is highly flexible, simple to join, has a high E-modulus, and low energy consumption.

Polyamide is reliable and has a long service life. It can work in a variety of conditions and functions well in extreme environments with intermittent overload and high temperatures. Polyamide is shock resistant and grooves enable high grip.

Belt width is simply the width of the belt. The tensile force for 1% elongation per unit of width after running-in (N/mm), k1% a.r.i., is the decisive value for calculating the required belt width and the resulting shaft load after belt relaxation

Applications

The power transmission v belt can be used in many forms of power transmission. It is known as a two pulley drive, consisting of a driving pulley, a driven pulley, and the belt. Below are examples of pulley design variations.

This article comes from globalspec edit released

Rubber belt has the advantages in what respect?

Each kind of synchronous belt has its own advantages and disadvantages, some disadvantages also have no way to avoid, regardless of the new developed synchronous belt its performance has more powerful, it is developed on the basis of the original synchronous belt, though not perfect, but still a breakthrough.

Rubber belt, its characteristic mainly displays in the following aspects:

Rubber belt can reduce the transmission of shock and vibration, so has the advantages of low noise transmission, its no lubrication, can meet the demand of the high rotational speed transmission engine.

And the rubber belt is connected with the space is little, have a relatively good environmental adaptability. On many engines, especially on the v-type engines, because equipped with space is limited, need to use as little as possible transmission parts, and rubber belt to realize the function, such as: a rubber belt can be done at the same time the crankshaft drives of generator and steering booster pump and other accessories.

This article comes from uliflex edit released

Understanding Trade-Offs When Selecting Drive Belt Systems

An additional trade-off is one that impacts the choice of V-belt or synchronous drive belt. In some applications, specifically systems such as fan or pump drives where loads are consistent and spikes are not common, it is being found that synchronous belt drives can be more efficient than V-belts. The positive engagement of the belt in the sprocket and the lower stretch of synchronous belts can mean a higher efficiency drive belt. So, the trade-off becomes the choice of a more expensive synchronous drive belt that will be more efficient compared to its less expensive V-belt equivalent.

As always, it is wise to discuss theses trade-off issues with your drive belt supplier. Application assistance and sales staffs are usually available to help frame these choices for your specific situation and to help you understand the trade-offs you might be making. Most drive belt suppliers have simple-to-use online selection programs that allow for the easy selection and comparison of multiple drive belt solutions.

This article comes from altramotion edit released

How do you put a fan belt on?

For reasons we don’t quite understand, all the fan belts driven by the crankshaft seem to be called “fan belts.” In actuality, of course, the one driving the cooling fan (attached to the water pump) is the fan belt and all others should be called whatever they are driving, but that’s the way things have evolved. We’ll just call them “belts.”

Older cars generally had only one fan belt that drove the fan, water pump and generator. Later on another fan belt was added to drive a power steering pump and soon afterward another came along to run the air conditioner compressor. Whatever your engine/accessory configuration, changing fan belts is an easy and relatively straightforward, if not a dirty task. We’re going to change the alternator and A/C fan belts on this Corvette engine, partly because it’s been chewing up A/C fan belts and partly because it is clean enough to photograph details.

Every engine-driven accessory has some sort of adjustment on its bracket attaching points. In the case of this Corvette the alternator’s adjusting fastener is right at the top. The A/C compressor is adjusted with a bolt that passes through a flat plate on its front flange.

To loosen the fan belts you need to undo the adjusting bolts and push the device in towards the center of the engine. This can generally be done without loosening any other mounting hardware, but if the accessory is too tight you might have to do so. Just remember to count how many fasteners have been loosened so you won’t forget to re-tighten them all.

This article comes from second edit released