Chapter Seven

Belt Conveyors
 Introduction
• Belt conveyors are the most versatile and
widely used of all conveyors. They are
suitable for handling a wide variety of
materials. They can handle a wide range of
capacities over longer distance than possible
with other types of conveyor systems.
• They are adaptable for performing numerous
other functions such as weighing, blending
sampling and stock piling.
 Cont’d…
• Belt conveyors have attained a
dominant position in transporting
bulk materials due to such inherent
advantages as their
economy and safety of operation,

reliability,

versatility, and

practically unlimited range of capacities.

 Cont’d…
• In addition, they are suitable for performing
numerous processing functions in
connection with their normal purpose of
providing a continuous flow of material
between operations.
• Recently, their conformity to environmental
requirements has provided a further
incentive for selection of belt conveyors
over other means of transportation.
 Cont’d…

• Belt conveyors are suited to the

carrying of all material, wet or dry,
from the lightest to the heaviest, and
in any quantity.
 Belt Conveyor Components
• The belt conveyor is composed of the
belt, the idlers, the pulleys, the drive
equipment, the take-up and the
supporting structure.
Conveyor Belting

The belt cover is made of special wear-

and impact- resisting rubber compound
with cord breaker strips imbedded in
tough rubber

Typical Cross-section of the Conveyor Belt

 Cont’d
• The belts must have:-
– flexibility, in order to wrap around
the pulleys,
– Width, enough to carry the
required quantity of the material
– strength, enough to bear the
weight of the load and transmit the pull
in the conveyor
 Cont’d…
1. Cotton-Fabric Ply-Constructed Belting: is
the most widely used kind of rubber covered
conveyor belt, in which the fiber is made up of
a number of layers or plies of woven cotton
fabrics of various weight.

2. Cord Belts are made up of longitudinal

fibers or steel cords imbedded in rubber
provide greater strength, more flexibility and
somewhat greater impact resistance.
 Cont’d…

3. Heat Service Belts are available

for jobs where hot materials up to
1200C must be handled.
Belt Idlers
Idlers must be selected to properly
protect
and support the belt and load to be
carried.
 Cont’d

Fig. 7.3 Types of Idlers

 Drives
• Practically all belt conveyors are driven by an
electric motor directly connected to a speed
reducer unit through a flexible coupling. A high-
speed motor, which costs less and occupies less
space, is preferred to a slow speed motor.
 Cont’d…

Belt Conveyer Drive Arrangements

 Take-ups

• Allow for stretch and shrinkage of the belt

due to variation of temperature and
atmospheric pressure.
• It ensures that the
– maximum tension in the belt is sufficient to
prevent undue sag between idlers
– tension in the belt in the back of the drive pulley is
sufficient to permit such pulley to transmit the load
 Cont’d…

Types of Take-ups for Belt Conveyors

 Pulleys, Shafts and Bearings

• Pulleys for belt conveyors are usually welded

steel, drum types, for maximum strength,
minimum weight, and for resistance to shock
during handling and operation.
 Pulleys, Shafts and Bearings
• The factors involved in pulley diameter selection
include the
– amount of wrap,

– belt tension at the pulley,

– space available,

– characteristics of the materials handled,

– belt life expectancy,

– shaft and bearing size and

– size and ratio of reducer.

 Cont’d…
• The shaft and the pulley are treated as a
single structure. The resultant force on the
bearing (shaft) is the vector sum of belt
tensions, pulley weight, and weight of the
shaft. Note that the force on the shaft is
opposite to the direction of the resultant
force R.
Force on the shaft
R 5250
=  2625 =kg
2 2

T=3800kg

t=1600kg

W=1300kg

T=3800
t=1600

R=5250 W=1300
Typical Arrangements
Discharging Materials from the
Belt
Magnetic Separation
Typical Cross-sections
 Typical Cross-sections

Flat Belts on Flat Belt Idlers:- especially

used to transport materials, which have steep
angle of repose, and they are useful when
the material is to be discharged at
intermediate points by ploughs or deflectors.
 Cont’d…

Flat Belts on Continuous Plate: A

continuous surface supporting the
carrying run of a belt is devised for light,
mildly abrasive materials where smooth
even travel is essential
 Cont’d…

Troughed Belts on 200 Idlers: the 200

trough permits the use of the thickest belts so
that the heaviest materials and the maximum
size of lumps as coal, ore, earth and gravel can
be carried. It is most widely used cross-section
 Cont’d…

Troughed Belts on 450 Idlers of

Equal and Unequal length: they
accommodate a large cross-section of
material than those operating on idlers
with rolls slopping 200.
 Cont’d…

Troughed belts on Continuous plate:

they convey many bulk materials in large
quantities than a flat belt. Covers are
provided when handling dusty materials.
Belt Conveyor Design Calculation
Basic Data Requirements
1. The material to be handled
2. Capacity peak or surge rate expressed in
ton/hr
3. Path of travel
4. Feeding and discharge conditions
5. Operating conditions
6. Required life of installation
Preliminary Check
 Is the belt conveyor suitable for the
material?
 Is the angle of inclination is within safe
 Capacity of a Belt Conveyor
a.If the material to be conveyed is a unit load
Q [tons/h]

Q 3.6qBv

b. If the material to be conveyed is in bulk

load, Q [tons/h].
Q 3.6Av
 Cont’d…
• If the belt conveyor has an inclination
, then the capacity Q will be
reduced by a factor p.
Q  pQ

Cross-sectional Loading on Belt Conveyors

(B + 4) B 2
Af =
110
Ac = 2 A f
Where A=
f cross-sectional area of the material

on the flat belt [m2]

 Cont’d…

= cross-sectional area of the material on the troughed belt [m 2]

Ac
B = belt width [m]

The assumptions used to arrive at the

above
formulae are a 200 inclination of rollers
and
angle of repose of material to be 300.
Resistance Forces
a, Frictional force on the moving
parts (belt, idlers, drum, etc)
r1  fq s l
' '' ' ''
r1 r1  r1  fq s l  fq s l

where
r1 = frictional forces due to moving parts
f== coefficient
weight of the moving part
of frictional forceinofkg/m of the
the idlers
qbelt
s
l = belt length between two drum centers
[m]
 Cont’d…
b, Frictional force due to material
transport
r2  fq m l m
Where, q
m= weight of material transported [kg/m of belt]
l m = the distance that the material is transported [m].

c, Force required to overcome the leve

difference
r3 q m H
Where, H = elevation difference
 Cont’d…
d, Discharging force

Fixed discharger:
r4 aq m
Mobile discharger:
r5 b
where a and b are discharge
coefficients
 Cont’d

e. Fixed resistance: It takes into

consideration frictional forces at the
conveyor terminal bearing, at the
conveyor loading skirts and other
minor power absorbing terms.

l o 60  0.2l

r1  fq s (l  l o )
r2  fq m (l m  l o )
 Cont’d

The total resistance to motion, R,

R r1  r2  r3  r4 (fixed discharge)

r1  r2  r3  r5 (mobile discharge)

Belt Tension
The belt tensions, in addition to their
effect on power requirements they
also influence the design and
selection of all component parts.

Loads on Drive Pulleys

 Cont’d…

We know that R =T-t. The relationship between

T and t may be expressed T

e
t
 Cont’d…
t min 50nB
coefficient of
= wrap angle
n = number of cords of the belt
B = the width of the belt in meters
 Cont’d…
Belt Tension on an Inclined Belt Conveyor
'
2To 2(t  r1  Pn )
P
Where n = reduction due to the
weight of the belt. The slack side
tension, t, must exert sufficient
pressure between the belt and the
driving pulley to transmit the
required power with out slippage.
The adhesion (wheel grip) between
the belt and the driving pulley can be
 Cont’d…

i. Changing the pulley;

ii. Increasing the arc of contact and;
iii. Using stretchers (take ups).

Illustration to Increase the Arc of Contact

Number of Fibers

After calculating the tension, T, it is

possible to calculate the number of
fibers in the nucleus of the belt

T
n
KB where

n = number of fibers
K = resistance of one fiber per
unit width (5 to 7 kg/cm) and
B = width of the belt
Power Requirement

In order to determine the required

motor power [kW], we use the total
resistance R and calculate the power
N.
Rv
N=
102

= efficiency of the electromotor