Belt drive

Elankumaran Nagarajan

22nd February 2012

Summary
Belt drives are transmission devices that are used for transmitting
power from one machine to another. The goal of this experiment
was to measure the tensions on the both sides of a flat belt wrapped
around a revolving pulley and then compare it to the theoretical
formulae raised by Grosjean and Fawcett and Burdess. The results
from the experiment supported the theoretical formulae, although
there were slight differences in the experimental and theoretical
values. These differences were due to belt slip and the uncertainties
in the calculation of the coefficient of the friction between the belt
and the pulley. It was also discovered that the efficiency of the
electric motor varies with the torque.

Index
Page no

Introduction
4
Theory
4
Experimental procedure
6
Results
6
Discussion
10
Conclusion
12
References
12

Introduction
Belt dives are used in wide range of machines such as CD player,
cars, washing machine, etc. They are economical in terms of cost of
production and maintenance but still effective. They are used for the
transmission of power from one machine to another. Earlier flat
belts, made of leather were used. Now a days vee belts made of
synthetic rubber and composite steel are used, as they are more
efficient than the flat belts. The vee belts has an advantage over the
gear based transmissions that it can work on pulley of variable
diameter thus providing a relatively inexpensive form of
continuously variable transmission. The main disadvantage
associated with the belt drives is that they tend to slip between the
belt and the pulley, which affects the efficiency of the machine. The
amount of the slip will depend upon the coefficient of friction
between the pulley and belt, the belt profile and the torque
transmitted.
The ultimate aim of this experiment is to investigate the relationship
between the tensions in a slipping pulley and compare that with the
results predicted by the theory.

Theory
4

The relationship between tensions in a slipping pulley was examined

in detail by Grosjean and Fawcett and Burdess. They showed that for
a stationary belt as shown in fig 1, the ratio of the tensions is
related to the coefficient of friction and the angle of contact
between the belt and pulley as shown in equation (1).

.. (1)

for a flat belt the angle is 90.

The motor torque transmitted by the belt is given by

Torque = (T - T ) R
(2)
Where R is the radius of the pulley.
The power transmitted by the belt drive is given by the following
equation

Power = torque
..(3)
5

Where is the rotational speed.

Fig 1. Belt drive apparatus

Experimental procedure
The experimental rig comprised of fixed radius pulley (50mm) driven
by a DC electric motor at a constant voltage of 10v. Three other
pulley were present at different places around the centre pulley so
that the angle of contact between the belt and pulley could be set at
different angles (90, 180, 270, 360) as shown in fig 1.
A flat belt, wrapped around the pulley was supported by a series of
weights ranging from 100 grams to 800 grams at one end and a
load cell at the other end. The centre pulley was directly connected
the electric motor, which rotate against the motion of the weights.
The angle of contact between the belt and pulley was set to 90 and
the tension T on the load cell is noted by varying the weights (T ) at
the other end of the belt from 100 grams to 800 grams. This

procedure was repeated for three different angle of contact between

the belt and pulley (i.e. 180, 270 and 360)
Finally for one set of reading (in this experiment for the set of results
at 360) the current supplied and the rotational speed of the electric
motor was calculated. The motor current was measured by a digital
meter and the pulley rotational speed was measured with a hand
held optical tachometer.

Results
The tensions T and T at four different angles of contact are shown
are shown in table 1. The graph form of table 1 is shown in fig 2. A
graph of ln (T / T ) against the belt contact angle is shown in fig 3.
From the graph in fig 3, the coefficient of friction between the belt
and pulley is calculated to be 0.23.

T
(N)
0.98
1.96
2.94
3.92
4.90
5.88
6.86
7.84

at 90

at 180

at 270

at 360

(N)
0.60
1.25
2.00
2.65
3.40
3.95
4.70
5.30

(N)
0.45
0.90
1.30
1.85
2.20
2.80
3.20
3.65

(N)
0.20
0.50
0.80
1.10
1.50
1.75
2.15
2.35

(N)
0.15
0.40
0.60
0.85
1.15
1.40
1.70
2.00

Table 1. Experimental data of T and T for different belt

contact angle

12
10
8
T (90 )
T (180 )

T (270 )
4

T (360 )

2
0
0

10

12

Fig 2. T against T

1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8

ln (T /T )

0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1

Fig 3. ln (T /T ) against belt contact angle

Belt contact angle

(rads)
1.57
3.14
4.71
6.28

Experimental belt

Theoretical belt

tension ratio

tension ratio

1.4
2.3
3.12
3.69

1.43
2.05
2.95
4.22

Table 2. Experimental and theoretical belt tension ratio for different

belt contact
angle
A graph form of table 2 is shown in fig 4.

4.5
4
3.5
3
theoretical belt
tension ratio (T /T )

2.5
2

experimental belt
tension ratio (T /T )

1.5
1
0.5
0
1

Fig 4. Experimental and theoretical belt tension ratio against the

belt contact angle

Curren
T

t
(A)

0.15
0.40
0.60
0.85
1.15
1.40
1.70
2.00

1.3
2.1
2.9
3.3
3.9
4.2
5.1
5.8

Rotatio

Input

Output

nal

power

power

Torque

speed

(watts

(watts

(Nm)

(rads/s)
147.55
141.58
135.51
129.33
124.09
118.23
112.78
106.71

)
13.26
21.42
29.58
33.66
39.78
42.84
52.02
59.16

)
5.90
11.33
16.26
19.40
23.58
26.01
29.32
30.95

0.04
0.08
0.12
0.15
0.19
0.22
0.26
0.29

Efficien
cy
(%)
44.50
52.90
54.97
57.64
59.27
60.71
56.36
52.32

Table 3. Motor input and out power, motor torque and its efficiency
at 360 belt contact angle.
The motor input power, motor output power, motor torque and its
efficiency for 360 belt contact angle are presented in table 3. A
graph of motor efficiency against motor torque for 360 belt contact
angle is shown in fig 5.
10

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

Fig 5. Motor efficiency against motor torque at 360 belt

contact angle

Discussion
It is evident from the above results that the experimental results
demonstrate the validity of the formula, although there were
differences between the theoretical and experimental values of the
belt tension ratio.
The graph in fig 2 and table 2 shows that as the angle of contact
increases the belt tension ratio also increases as predicted by the
theory. Fig 3 also shows that the theoretical and experimental belt

11

tension ratio were very much similar. This again proves that the
experimental values support the predicted theory. But still the
experimental and theoretical values were not the same. This is due
to the belt slip and the uncertainties associated with the calculation
of coefficient of friction between the pulley and belt.
These differences were due to the lack of constant friction between
the belt and pulley. During the experiment there were some visible
slips between the belt and pulley. There could have been many such
slips happened without being noticed, which certainly would have
affected the readings in the load cell.
The other reason why the experimental and theoretical belt tension
ratio were not identical is that if the coefficient of friction between
the belt and pulley had varied. The coefficient of friction was
calculated to be 0.23 from fig 3. Any uncertainties associated with
this calculation will be very small and hence can be neglected. But
considering the exponential term in the formulae in equation (1),
even that small change can affect the theoretical belt tension ratio
to certain effect.
From the above discussions it is evident that even though the
experimental and theoretical results were not the same, it still
demonstrates that the derived formulae in equation (1) is valid. By
preventing the belt slip and uncertainties with the calculation of
coefficient of friction, the experimental results will agree with the
theoretical values.
The efficiency of the motor was calculated (see table 3) from the
output and input motor power. Fig 5 clearly shows that the efficiency
of the electric motor varies with its torque. Fig 5 also shows that the
maximum efficiency is around 61% and that occurs when the motor
torque is around 0.22 Nm. From the graph in fig 5 it can be learnt

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that the efficiency increases with torque, reaches a maximum value

and then it starts to decrease with the motor torque still increasing.
From this one can understand that the motor is at its peak efficiency
with a torque of 0.22 Nm (approximately). Increasing or decreasing
this torque will lower the efficiency of the motor.

Conclusion
The analysis of the results show that the experimental and
theoretical values of the belt tension ratio were not identical, but the
results were almost similar. The differences were due to the
constant slipping between the pulley and belt and the uncertainties
associated with the calculation of the coefficient of friction. These
errors justify the differences in the results. Hence the theory was
experimentally proved.
The efficiency of the electric motor was found to vary with the motor
torque. The maximum efficiency of the electric motor 60.71% is
achieved at a torque of 0.22 Nm

References

Grosjean,j., principles of dynamics, Stanley Throne

(publishers) ltd, ISBN0 85950 2953, 1986.

Fawcett, J.N. and Burdess, j.s, basics mechanics with

engineering applications, Edward Arnold, ISBN 07131 3620 0,
1988.

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Wikipedia (online). Available from :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_%28mechanical%29
(accessed 21 February 2012).

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