BELT CONVEYORS

1. BELT MATERIAL

4. TENSIONING
ARRANGEMENT

2. IDLERS(ROLLERS)

5. HOLD BACK

3. DRIVING
ARRANGEMENT
6. CLEARING DEVICE

INTRODUCTION
A belt conveyor is rubber or textile structure with a belt shape
closed ring, with a vulcanized or metallic joint, used for material
transportation.
Belt conveyors are the most used for transport of solid objects
and bulk materials at great speed, covering great distances (up
to 30 km)

BELT CONSTRUCTION
Conveyor belts generally are composed of three main components:
1. Carcass
2. Skims
3. Covers
There are two types of belt available:
1. Rubber belt
2. Steel Cord

1. CARCASS

The reinforcement usually found on the inside of a conveyor belt is

normally referred to as the carcass. In a sense, the carcass is in
the conveyor belt since it must:
1. Provide the tensile strength necessary to move the
loaded
belt.
2. Absorb the impact of the impinging material being
loaded
onto the conveyor belt.
3. Provide the bulk and lateral stiffness required for the
load support.

The most common carcass design is made up of layers or plies

of woven fabrics bonded together.

This conventional plied belt construction, generally employs

a plain weave or twill weave carcass which is built up into as many
layers as is required to provide the necessary belt strength
usually bound together with rubber.

Conventional plied belting constructions, employing all synthetic

carcasses and elastomer covers appropriate to the end use, are
particularly recommended for:

I. Hard Rock Mining

(A) Aggregate, sand and ore
II. General purpose applications
III. Forest products
IV. Soft Minerals
(A) Coal (B) Potash, Phosphates (C) Grain
V. Unit Handling
(A) Parcels (B) Baggage (C) Mail

 The strength of fabric and the number of plies in the carcass of the belt may be
varied together to suit the strength requirement.
However if the belt is too tough, troughing of the belt and bending it round the
terminal pulleys will be very difficult. Therefore the belt with lesser number of plies
with stronger fabric is generally preferred because it is more flexible.

Steel cord belting is used when good trough ability, small specific elongation and
higher operating tensile forces are required.

PVC belting is generally selected for underground mining applications

where fire hazard exists.

2. Skims

The rubber, PVC or urethane between plies is called a skim. Skims are
important contributors to internal belt adhesions, impact
resistance, and play a significant role in determining belt load
support and troughability.

Improper or marginal skims can adversely affect belt performance in

general and can lead to ply separation and/or idler junction failure.

3. COVERS

Covers are used in conveyor belt constructions in order to protect the base
conveyor belt carcass and, if possible, to extend its service life. In addition,
covers do provide the finished belt with a wide variety of desirable
properties, including the following:

A. Textures
To increase friction
To increase inclination
To control product
B. Cleanability
C. A specific coefficient of friction
D. A specific color
E. Cut resistance
F. Enhanced impact resistance, etc.
G. Hardness
H. Fire Resistance, Oil & Chemical Resistance

 In addition to selecting proper compounds for cover

material, it is also necessary to determine the proper
cover thickness.
The thickness of a cover is influenced by the amount of abuse
and wear the belt will receive. The cover is usually the lowest cost
component of the
belt. The severity of the wear depends on the
nature of the material and on the size, weight, shape and trip rate
of the Material conveyed.
Sharp edges, particularly on large pieces, can quickly cut a cover
badly. On the other hand, if loading conditions are ideal, with the
material being loaded in the direction of travel of the belt, and
with only a slight impact onto the belt, even very sharp material
may not seriously cut or wear the belt surface.

IDLERS (ROLLERS)

TYPES OF IDLERS
TYPES OF CARRYING IDLERS

TYPES OF IMPACT IDLERS (OPTIONAL)

TYPES OF
RETURN
IDLERS

DRIVING ARRANGEMENT

Types and Selection of Drives:

Single Unsnubbed Bare / Lagged pulley Drive

Snubbed Bare / Lagged Pulley Drive

Tandem Drive

Special Drives

Single Unsnubbed Bare / Lagged

Pulley Drive:

This is the simplest drive arrangement consisting of a steel pulley connected to

a motor and the belt wrapped round it on an arc of 180. This can be used for
low capacity short center conveyors handling non-abrasive material. The pulley
may be lagged to increase the coefficient of friction.

Snubbed Bare / Lagged Pulley

Drive:

Here the angle of wrap is increased from 180 to 210 or even up to

230, by providing a snub pulley to the driving pulley. In majority of
medium to large capacity belt conveyors, handling mild abrasive to fairly
abrasive materials, 210 snub pulley drive with load pulley lagged with
hard rubber is adopted.

Tandem drive:

Here belt tension estimated to be high; the angle of wrap is increased by adopting
tandem drives. Both of tandem pulleys are driven. The tandem drive with arc of
contact from 300 to 480 or more can operate with one or two motors. The
location of such drive is usually determined by the physical requirements of the
plant and structural constraints.

Special Drive:

Special drives with snub pulleys and pressure belts used in heavy and
long conveyors.

TENSIONING ARRANGEMENT

All belt conveyors require the use of some form of take up device
(Tensioning Arrangement) for the following reasons:

1. To ensure adequate tension of the belt leaving the drive pulley so us to

avoid any slippage of the belt.
2. To ensure proper belt tension at the loading and other points along the
conveyor.
3. To compensate for changes in belt length due to elongation.
4. To provide extra length of belt when necessary for splicing purpose.

Usually there are two types of take up arrangements.

1.Fixed take up device that may be adjusted periodically by manual operation

2.Automatic take up devices for constant load type

Manual Screw Take Up:

The most commonly used manual take up is the screw take up. In a screw
take up system the take up pulley rotates in two bearing blocks which may
slide on stationery guide ways with the help of two screws. The tension is
created by the two screws which are tightened and periodically adjusted with
a spanner. It is preferable to use screws with trapezoidal thread to decrease
the effort required to tighten the belt.

DISADVANTAGE
The main problem with the use of manual take up is that it requires a vigilant
and careful operator to observe when take up adjustment is required. Perfect
tension adjustment with this system is also not possible. For these reason these
devices are used only in case of short conveyors of up 60m length and light duty.

Automatic Take Up:

In automatic take up arrangement the take up pulley is mounted on

slides or on a trolley which is pulled backwards by means of a steel rope
and deflecting pulleys. The carriage travels on guide ways mounted
parallel to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor, i.e., horizontally in
horizontal conveyors (Ex.: Gravity type automatic take up arrangement)
and at an incline in inclined conveyors. Hydraulic, Pneumatic and
electrical take up devices are also used

HOLD BACK

Inclined conveyors require an anti-runback device to prevent reverse

movement of the belts. Such a device is referred to as a backstop, or
holdback.

Though backstops are most likely to be found on inclined conveyors,

they are also employed on flat, overland conveyors to avoid the
unusually severe shock loading on start-up where the loaded belt sags
between idlers. This paper will direct its attention to backstops installed
on inclined conveyors.

Without a backstop, a reversing conveyor can rapidly accelerate to a

runaway condition, which can kill or injure personnel, damage or destroy
drive train components, tear or rip expensive belting, or cause
considerable other damage.

 Without a backstop, a reversing conveyor can rapidly accelerate to a

runaway condition, which can kill or injure personnel, damage or
destroy drive train components, tear or rip expensive belting, or
cause considerable other damage.
A backstop is essentially a safety device which acts to prevent
reversal thereby protecting against any of the above from occurring,
as well as the massive clean up of material spillage than can occur.
Backstops can be classified either for :
i) low-speed
ii) high-speed use.

LOW-SPEED BACKSTOP DESIGN

TYPES

There are three basic backstop designs that are or have been used to
prevent anti-runback throughout the many years of conveying materials;

1.rachet and pawl

2.differential handbrake and
3.the overrunning clutch design