Belt Drives

A belt drive is a method of transferring rotary motion between two shafts. A belt drive includes
one pulley on each shaft and one or more continuous belts over the two pulleys. The motion of the
driving pulley is, generally, transferred to the driven pulley via the friction between the belt and the
pulley. Synchronous/timing belts have teeth and therefore do not depend on friction. Belt drives and
gear transmissions have a much greater life expectancy than belt drives. Belt drives also have relatively
high inspection and maintenance demands.

Belt Drive advantages

 Easy, flexible equipment design, as tolerances are not important.

 Isolation from shock and vibration between driver and driven system.
 Driven shaft speed conveniently changed by changing pulley sizes.
 Belt drives require no lubrication.
 Maintenance is relatively convenient
 Very quiet compared to chain drives, and direct spur gear drives

For belt drives, other than synchronous drives, the belts will slip in a high overload event providing a
certain measure of safety.

The belts transferring torque by surface friction need to be in tension. This results in the need for
adjustable shaft centers or using tensioning pulleys

Types of Belt Drives

Belt Type Description

Belt transfers torque by friction of the belt over a pulley. Needs tensioner. Traction related to
Flat angle of contact of belt on pulley. Is susceptible to slip. Belt made from leather, woven
cotton, rubber, balata.
Better torque transfer possible compared to flat belt. Generally arranged with a number of
Vee matched vee belts to transmit power. Smooth and reliable. Made from hi-text woven
textiles, polyurethane, etc.
Belt is flat on outside and Vee Grooved along the inside. Combines advantages of high
Poly-Vee
traction of the Vee belt and the use of only one belt.
Belt toothed on the inside driving via grooved pulleys. This enables positive drive. Limited
Timing/
power capacity compared to chain and Vee belt derivatives. Does not require lubrication.
Synchronous
Extensively used in low power applications
Linked belts that can be used in place of vee belts. Advantage that the length can be
Vee Link Belts adjusted and the belt can be easily installed with removing pulleys. Expensive and limited
load capacity.

Flat Belts

In many factories in the past flat belts have been widely used to drive the machines in the
factories. They are convenient to install and operate and are reliable. In modern times machines are
driven individually generally using electric or hydraulic drives.

Flat belt drives are now mostly used for low power high speed applications in specialized
industries including the textile, paper making, and in office machinery. Flat belts are also used for
conveyor applications.
Practical Notes

1. Pulleys need to be crowned to prevent belt from wandering off. Belts tend to move to tightest
position
2. Tension required enabling belt to operate. Tensions normally set by adjusting center distance
between pulleys to ensure some stretch of belts (say 2%).
3. Best drives result from belts with high flexibility, low mass, and with surfaces engineered to
provide a high coefficient of friction

Flat belt designs

In the past belts were generally made from leather. Now belts are also manufactured from a wide
range of elastomer including urethane, neoprene, hypalon, EPDM, and silicone. Stretch, semi-stretch,
and no-stretch belts are available. Belts are often reinforced with textiles and fibres and and metal
reinforced belts are available. Belts can be provided with durable surface coatings and coatings providing
anti-static properties

Service Factors

When designing belt drives it is normal to apply a service factor to the drive operating load to
compensate for allow for different driver type, driven load types and operating periods. Typical ervice
factor values are included on the linked page Service Factors

Basic Theory

Fc = Centrifugal Force (N)

R = Pulley reaction Force (N)
P = Max power transferred kW
T = Belt tension
Tc = Belt tension due to centrifugal force
μ = Coefficient of Friction.
b = Belt width (m)
ω = Angular velocity of pulley (rad/s)
n = Rotational Speed (RPM)
θ = Angle of belt lap
v = Linear velocity of belt (m/s)
Power transferred by a flat belt

The power transferred =

P = (T1 - T2 ).v / 1000

= (T1 - Tc) - (T2 - T c ).v / 1000

= (T1 - T2 ) (1 - e-μθ ).v /1000

Belt Friction Factors

Material Coefficient
Lubrication
Combination of Friction (μ)
Leather on Wood Lubricated 0,47
Leather on Cast Iron Good Lubrication 0,12
Leather on Cast Iron Low Lubrication 0,38
Steel Band on Cast
Dry 0,18
Iron

Vee Belt (V belts)

Vee belt drives replaced flat belt drives for many applications because higher power drives could
be transmitted with more compact drive arrangements. With a flat belt drive only one belt is used. With
a vee belt drive a number of belts are used. Flat belts and vee belts may, and do,slip as the loading
increases. For belt drives which drive without slip timing belts should be used. Vee belts on higher
power duties generally have to be matched to ensure the drive power is shared.

For a flat belt drive the tangential friction force at the point of slipping is μR.... (μ= coefficient of
static friction - R = radial force between the belt and the pulley ). For a vee belt drive the equivalent
friction force at the point of slipping = μR /sin β.... (β is the vee half angle ) see below. Therefore a vee
drive has a maximum friction = (1/ sin β) x the flat belt friction. e.g a for a vee belt drive with an internal
angle of (2 .β) = 20o the maximum friction force for a vee belt = 1/sin (10)= 5.75 x the maximum flat belt
friction.
 A vee belt drive system, when correctly specified, can be expected to deliver 25000 hours of
service (around 3 years continuous, or 5 years normal use) before belt replacement is required.

Vee Belt Drives achieve drive efficiencies of about 95%.

Practical Notes

1. Setting the belt tension is readily achieved by jacking the pulleys apart and measuring the
transverse distance the belt can move.
2. Higher shaft torsional loads are handled by using multiple belt pulleys.
3. A jockey pulley can be installed to increase the angle of contact and allow transfer of more
power. It can be mounted on either the tight or loose belt side and adjusted inwards to
provide more angle of contact.

Vee Belt Design

Vee belts are generally manufactured from a core of high tensile cord in a synthetic rubber matrix
enclosed in a fabric reinforce rubber lining. The vee belt sections and the pulley groove dimensions are in
accordance with British /European standards.

Relevant British Standard:

BS 3790:1995. Specification for endless wedge belt drives and endless V-belt drives
This standard refers to four belt sizes designated SPZ,SPA,SPB,and SPC. The vee belt cross section are
shown below.

Pitch Nom Top

Nom height Min. Dia Mass/m**
Section Width width
mm mm mm mm kg/m
SPZ 8,5 9,5 8,0 67 0,073
SPA 11,5 13,0 10,0 100 0,129
SPB 14 16,0 14,0 160 0,18-0.203
SPC 19 22,0 18,0 224 0,33-0,412

**The mass / m vary from different reference sources.

The pulley dimensions are based on the above standard are shown below:
 Belt lp b h e f
Section mm mm mm mm mm
α g

34 (dp <80) 10,0

SPZ 8,5 2,5 9,0 12,0 8,0
38 (dp > 80) 10,2
34 (dp
<118) 13,1
SPA 11,0 3,3 11,0 15,0 10,0
38 (dp > 13,5
118)
34 (dp
<190) 16,6
SPB 14,0 4,2 14,0 19,0 12,5
38 (dp > 16,9
190)
34 (dp
<315) 22,5
SPC 19,0 5,7 19,0 25,5 17,0
38 (dp > 22,9
315)

Vee belt power capacity

The power transmission rating of a vee belt drive is based on the belts used, the number of belts,
the angle of wrap of the belt on the smallest pulley,and the rotational speed of the pulleys. The rating
required is selected as the product of the design load and an appropriate service factor.

A formula for the number of belts (N) required for a duty power (Pd ) at a service factor (K), using
belts with a basic power per belt Pb, and an angle of contact factor (F) and a belt length factor (E) for is
provided below.

N = Pd. K / Pb.F.E

Angle of contact factor

The angle of contact ( θ) of the vee belt over the smallest pulley when the pitch dia of the largest
and smallest pulleys are (Dp & dp) and the centre distance = C is provided below:

The angle of contact factor F varies from 1 for an angle of contact of θ of 180o down to 0,82 for and angle
of contact θ of 120°.

Length factor

The pitch length of belt may be calculated (approximately)from the equation below
 L = 2.C + p (D p + dp)/2 + (D p - dp)2 /4.C

or more accurately using

L = 2.C.cos A + p (D p + dp)/2 + (D p - dp).A

where A is in radians and sin A =(D p - dp)/2.C

The length factor reflects the effect of a belt pitch length other than a reference value.
For SPZ this reference length is 1592mm. The length factor various from 0,83 for a length 630mm up to
1.17 for a length of 3550mm
For SPA this reference length is 2278mm. The length factor various from 0,82 for a length 800mm up to
1.12 for a length of 4500mm
For SPB this reference length is 3204mm. The length factor various from 0,85 for a length 1260mm up to
1.15 for a length of 8000mm
For SPC this reference length is 5070mm. The length factor various from 0,86 for a length 2000mm up to
1.14 for a length of 12500mm

Typical power ratings

The power ratings below are based on the smaller pulley with 180o of belt wrap !!. The ratings
are based on a light duty application for a transmission working for less than 10 hours per day i.e a service
factor K= 1. At the other extreme of a extra heavy duty drive e.g.direct on line AC motor with frequent
stops and starts, working for 24 hours /day a service factor K = 1,8 would be necessary. The basic power
ratings shown below are used to establish the drive power capacity of a belt drive system using a formula.

Pulley Power(kW) at motor speed

Belt
Dia
Section 2880(RPM) 1440(RPM) 960(RPM)
mm
67 1,75 1,05 0,77
SPZ
140 6,97 4,02 2,84
100 4,12 2,61 1,92
SPA
200 15,1 9,4 6,72
160 12,1 7,85 5,73
SPB
400 25,7 29,8 22,0
224 18,5 16,6 12,7
SPC
560 - 62,7 53,3

Basic Theory

Fc = Centrifugal Force (N)

R = Pulley reaction Force (N)
P = Max power transferred kW
T = Belt tension
Tc = Belt tension due to centrifugal force
μ = Coefficient of friction.
f = Effective coefficient of friction = μ/sin β
b = Belt width (m)
ω = Angular velocity of pulley (rad/s)
n = Rotational Speed (RPM)
θ = Angle of belt lap
2.β = Internal Angle of Vee
v = Linear velocity of belt (m/s)
Notes:

If two pulleys of different diameters are used then in driving to the limit the belt will slip on the smaller
pulley first
For vee belt drives an effective coefficient of friction f = μ/sin β is used and an approximate practical value
for this is 0,512

Power transferred by a vee belt

The power transferred =

P = (T1 - T2 ).v / 1000

= (T1 - Tc) - (T2 - T c ).v / 1000

= (T1 - T2 ) (1 - e- θμ/sin β ).v /1000

= (T1 - T2 ) (1 - e- θf ).v /1000