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Belt Drive
Belt Drive
its day. It delivered high power for high speeds (500 hp for 10,000 ft/min), in cases of
wide belts and large pulleys. These drives are bulky, requiring high tension leading to
high loads, so vee belts have mainly replaced the flat-belts (except when high speed is
needed over power.
Round belts
sheave), with the result that the belt cannot slip off. The belt also tends to wedge into
the groove as the load increases the greater the load, the greater the wedging
action improving torque transmission and making the vee belt an effective
solution, needing less width and tension than flat belts. V-belts trump flat belts with
their small center distances and high reduction ratios. The preferred center distance is
larger than the largest pulley diameter, but less than three times the sum of both
pulleys. Optimal speed range is 1000-7000 ft/min. V-belts need larger pulleys for their
larger thickness than flat belts. They can be supplied at various fixed lengths or as a
segmented section, where the segments are linked (spliced) to form a belt of the
required length. For high-power requirements, two or more vee belts can be joined
side-by-side in an arrangement called a multi-V, running on matching multi-groove
sheaves. The strength of these belts is obtained by reinforcements with fibers like
steel, polyester or aramid (e.g. Twaron). This is known as a multiple-belt drive. When
an endless belt does not fit the need, jointed and link vee-belts may be employed.
Alas, they are weaker and only speed up to 4000 ft/min. A link v-belt is a number of
rubberized fabric links held together by metal fasteners. They are length adjustable by
dissasembling and removing links when needed.
The most common belt-pulley arrangement, by far, is the open belt drive (Fig.
5). Here both shafts are parallel and rotate in the same direction. The cross-belt drive
of Fig. 6 shows parallel shafts rotating in opposite directions. Timing and standard Vbelts are not suitable for cross-belt drives because the pulleys contact both the inside
and outside belt surfaces.
Velocity ratio :
N2 / N1 =D1 / D2
N1 = Speed of driver pulley in rpm
N2 = Speed of driven pulley in rpm
D1 = Diameter of driver pulley in mm
D2 = Diameter of driven pulley in mm
Length of belt
Length of the belt = L =2C+ / 2 (D1+ D2) + (D2 D1)2 / 4C ( For open belt)
Length of the belt = L =2C+ / 2 (D1+ D2) + (D1+ D2)2 / 4C ( For cross belt)
C - Center Distance between the pulleys
Angle of Contact :
Angle of contact is the angle subtended by the belt overlapon pulley, The angle of
contact for smaller pulley will be (180-2) whereas for bigger pulley, it is (180+2)
Ratio between belt tensions
T1 / T2 = e
T1 and T2 are the tensions in the tight and slack side
is the coefficient of friction between belt and pulley surface
Film belts
Though often grouped with flat belts, they are actually a different kind. They
consist of a very thin belt (0.5-15 millimeters or 100-4000 microns) strip of plastic
and occasionally rubber. They are generally intended for low-power (10 hp or 7 kW),
high-speed uses, allowing high efficiency (up to 98%) and long life. These are seen in
business machines, tape recorders, and other light-duty operations.
Timing Belts
Chain drive
generally known as idler-wheels. By varying the diameter of the input and output
gears with respect to each other, the gear ratio can be altered, so that, for example, the
pedals of a bicycle can spin all the way around more than once for every rotation of
the gear that drives the wheels.
example the rollers that drive conveyor belts are themselves often driven by drive
chains.
Drive shafts are another common method used to move mechanical power
around that is sometimes evaluated in comparison to chain drive; in particular shaft
drive versus chain drive is a key design decision for most motorcycles. Drive shafts
tend to be even tougher and more reliable than chain drive, but weigh even more
(robbing more power), and impart rotational torque.
Use in vehicles
Bicycles
Chain drive was the main feature which differentiated the safety bicycle
introduced in 1885, with its two equal-sized wheels, from the direct-drive pennyfarthing or "high wheeler" type of bicycle. The popularity of the chain-driven safety
bicycle brought about the demise of the penny-farthing, and is still a basic feature of
bicycle design today.
Automobiles
Transmitting power to the wheels
A chain drive system uses one or more roller chain to transmit power from a
differential to the rear axle. This system allowed for a great deal of vertical axle
movement (for example, over bumps), and was simpler to design and build than a
rigid driveshaft in a workable suspension. Also, it had less unsprung weight at the rear
wheels than the Hotchkiss drive, which would have had the weight of the driveshaft to
carry as well, which in turn meant that the tires would last longer.
Inside motors
Internal combustion engines often use chain drive to power the timing chain
used to drive overhead camshaft valvetrains. This is an area in which chain drives
frequently compete directly with belt drive systems, and an excellent example of
some of the differences and similarities between the two approaches. For this
application, chains last longer, but are often harder to replace. Being heavier, the chain
robs more power, but is also less likely to fail. The camshaft of a four stroke engine
must rotate at half crankshaft speed, so some form of reduction gearing is needed and
a direct drive from the crankshaft isn't possible. Alternatives to chain drives include
gear trains, bevel gear and shaft drives, or toothed flexible belt drives.
Chain drive versus belt drive or use of a driveshaft is a fundamental design
decision in motorcycle design; nearly all motorcycles use one of these three designs.
See Motorcycle construction for more details.
PROBLEMS
1. An engine running at 200 rpm drives a line shaft, by means of a belt drive. The
engine pulley is 750 mm in diameter, and the pulley on the shaft is 450 mm in
diameter. Dtermine the speed of the line shaft. Assume no slip.
Solution:
N1 = 200 rpm
D1=750 rpm
D2=450 rpm
N2 = N1 * (D1/D2)
= 200(750/450)
= 333.34 rpm.
2.
200 mm
400 mm
2m
400 rpm
Angle of contact
197.3