Practical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 1 of 29, Rev.3 CHAPTER 19 CONVEYOR PULLEYS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PULLEY CONSTRUCTION MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES Pulley Diameter Face Width Shell Concentricity Bearing Housing Centres Balancing Surface Finish LOCKING ELEMENTS PULLEY BEARINGS General Bearing Housings Bearing Types Bearing Seals Strength of Housings Bearing Lubrication Bearing Installation PULLEY SHAFT DESIGN General Rotational Speed & its Effect on Shaft Life Belt Forces Shaft Deflection Bearing Life Shafi Materials Design Standards PULLEY FACE WIDTH PULLEY BEARING HOUSING CENTRES General Pulleys not Contained within a Chute Pulleys Contained within a Chute PULLEY CROWNING PULLEY SUPPORT STRUCTURES PULLEY INSTALLATION DEAD SHAFT v LIVE SHAFT PULLEYS. REFERENCES CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 2 of 29, Rev3 19. 19.1 19.2 CONVEYOR PULLEYS INTRODUCTION Pulleys are required at both ends of a conveyor and at any other point in the conveyor where it is necessary to change the direction of the belt path, e.g. tripper head and bend pulleys, take-up pulleys etc. The golden rules that applies to pulleys are ‘the fewer the better’ and ‘the minimum number of different types’. For advice on conveyor layouts and pulley configurations to avoid, refer to Chapter 15. Pulley failures are uncommon but when they do occur, the effect can be both catastrophic and life threatening. For this reason, pulleys should be conservatively designed. This chapter reviews current practice for pulley shaft design but does not enter the realm of pulley shell design. The design of the pulley is best left to pulley ‘manufacturers and specialist consultants with effective computer modelling capability. It is however important that the manufacturer be supplied with accurate information regarding the maximum belt tensions. Topics covered in this chapter include:~ Pulley construction Manufacturing tolerances Locking elements Pulley bearings Pulley shaft design Pulley face width Pulley bearing housing centres Pulley crowning Pulley support structures Pulley installation Dead shaft v live shaft pulleys For information on pulley diameters, refer to Chapter 18. For information on pulley lagging, refer to Section 14.4. PULLEY CONSTRUCTION The typical conveyor pulley consists of a shell which supports the belt, two end discs which are usually welded to the shell, a shaft and two bearings. The shaft is usually attached to the end dises by locking elements of the double tapered type. ‘The bearings are usually externally mounted in plummer block housings. For some applications dead shafts are used with the bearings installed in the end discs. (Refer to Section 19.12) CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 3 of 29, Rev.3 Fig. 19-1 shows a conveyor pulley of the type widely used in Australia. This design has been developed over the past 30 years and is based to a large degree on commercial considerations. The locking element is of the Ringfeder 7012 type and the end disc is cut from steel plate. Acie ee see | cenrenme oxate : Sa ee LOCKING ELEMENT ioe 7 eee / KA! Fig.19-1 ‘Typical Australian conveyor pulley construction A typical German pulley design is shown in Fig.19-2, this design uses wide faced, self’ centering locking elements of the Bikon 1015 type, flexible cast steel end discs and a circumferential weld between the end disc casting and the centre section of the shell. Lock clenent—-—Lasciwe Fae \ cast sree \ Etbowe ELF CENTERING a je { Fig.19-2 Typical German conveyor pulley construction CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 4 of 29, Rev.3 The potentially weak points in a pulley are:~ The shell to dise welds. The locking element. ‘The shaft at the outer edge of the locking element, The shaft at the step ‘The bearing and the bearing housing. Most pulley failures occur from the first two items. Photo 19a shows a pulley failure at the disc to shell joint. If this joint is only welded from the outside, itis most likely that cracks will develop in the shell adjacent to the inside edge of the dise. To overcome this problem some pulley manufacturers provide a smooth internal fillet weld in addition to the main ‘J’ weld, thereby giving full penetration. ‘This method of welding gives a superior stress distribution atthe joint. It is important that these critical welds be ultrasonically tested. Another solution to this disc to shell welding problem is to use cast steel end dises which incorporate a section of pulley shell as shown in Fig.19-2. With this design the welded joint is located away from the highly stressed area where the disc is joined to the shell End discs should ideally consist of a boss to house the locking element, after which the dise should taper as shown in Fig.19-2. This tapered shape provides a degree of flexibility which reduces the stresses on the other components. The boss should be of sufficient thickness to carry the radial stresses from the locking clement. The dises should be machined out of steel plate or be cast in stecl. End dises which are fabricated out of a boss and a separate end plate are not recommended due to the possibility of weld failure at the boss to end plate joint. Photo 19a Pulley shell failure at the disc to shell joint CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 Page 5 of 29, Rev.3 19.3 19.3.1 19.3.2 19.3.3 19.3.4 MANUFACTURING TOLERANCI Typical commercial manufacturing tolerances for conveyor pulleys are as follows: Pulley Diameter (measured over lagging) (a) Variation from specified diameter Non driven pulleys 40.2% Drive pulleys used for single drive applications only + 0.2% Drive pulleys used for dual drive applications 0.1% (Refer Section 14.9) (6) Maximum variation on any pulley + 0.8 mm/m of face width measured at the centre and the ends, Face Width Face width + 2 mm Shell Concentricity (a) Steel surface, measured at the centre and the ends 0.75 mm (T.LR.) (b) Over the lagging, measured at the centre and the ends 1.5 mm (T.LR.) (excluding localised rubber protrusions) Bearing Housing Centres (measured with the free bearing in the centre of the bearing recess). (a) Bearings up to and including 140 mm diameter +2 mm (b) Bearings 150 mm and larger +3 mm Balancing Pulleys should be statically balanced. One method of checking the balance is to rotate and stop the pulley at random, a torque of 2.5 Nm is then applied to the pulley. If this torque causes the pulley to rotate in the direction of the torque, the pulley is reasonably well balanced. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 6 of 29, Rev.3 19.3.6 19.4 Surface Finish ‘Typical surface finish standards for the pulley shell and the shaft are shown in the following table:- Location Surface roughness Ra Micrometres CLA AS 2536 [1] Shell surface and edges of rim 63 Machined end disc surfaces 63 Z Locking assembly bore 3.2 Shafi at locking assembly 32 Shaft at bearings: (a) where a “V" ring seal is used 32 (b) where an oil type seal runs on the shaft 04 Shaft at coupling and holdback extensions 16 Shaft ends 63 LOCKING ELEMENTS. Some pulleys are attached to their shafts by single taper bushes of the ‘Taper-Lock* type. The problem with this type of locking device, when used on conveyor pulleys. is that when the second taper bush is tightened the axial movement will pre load the end dises and after a period of time the bushes can work loose. For this reason this type of shaft attachment is not recommend for conveyor pulleys. Locking elements of the Ringfeder 7012 type (Fig. 19-3) have been used in Australia since that late 1960's. Manufacturers of these locking elements include Ringfeder, Schafer and Bikon. Early catalogue information on these locking. elements indicated that as the locking element does not require a key between the disc and the shaft, the stress raising effect of a keyway on the shaft would be eliminated and smaller shafts would result. While this may be true for some machine elements, it was soon found not to be the case for conveyor pulleys where the locking elements are subjected to a significant moment. In numerous cases, pulleys were redesigned to use Ringfeder 7012 locking assemblies in licu of keys and the shaft diameter previously used with a key was retained. While the shafts may have had adequate strength, the locking elements failed because the shafts were too flexible. Shaft deflection criteria was introduced to overcome this problem Today pulley designers recognise that the Ringfeder 7012 type of locking clement not only has limited moment carrying capacity but that it has a similar stress raising effect on the shaft to an H7/u6 interference fit. Australian Standard AS 1403-1985 [2] gives stress raising factors for this type of interference fit which are K = 2.78 for 1040 steel and K = 3.0 for 4140 steel. It is fair to say there is a degree of controversy in the industry with regard to the magnitude of these K factors, CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 7 of 29, Rev.3 BNSC SHAFT Fig.19-3 19-4 Narrow, 4 cone/4 part locking element Wide, 4 cone/S part locking element Ringfeder 7012, Bikon 4000 Ringfeder 7015 exo osc Fig.19-5 Fig.19-6 Wide, 2 cone/3 part locking element Single cone/3 part locking element Bikon 1015, Schafer TAS 3015 Bikon 2006 Significant developments have occurred in the design of locking elements suitable for conveyor pulleys, Most of the development work has been aimed at reducing the compressive stress levels in the shaft and also improving the moment carrying capability. These developments inelude:- (a) The 4 cone/5 part locking element as shown in Fig.19-4. This locking element is significantly wider than the Ringfeder 7012. This extra width reduces the compressive stress in the shaft and hub. This 5 part design is self centering. (b) The 2 cone/3 part locking element as shown in Fig.19-5, This design is also a wide, self centering unit which Bikon claim to be superior in that the hub and shaft stress levels are more uniform, the unit is more rigid and the screws are not subjected to additional forces from the fluctuating moment. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 8 of 29, Rev.3 (c) The single cone/3 part locking element as shown in Fig.19-6. This is a Bikon design which uses two sets of screws to separately operate the two pressure rings. Bikon claim that this design can tolerate larger shaft deflections resulting in increased load capacity for a given shaft size. Some of these locking element designs are now being used in Australian manufactured pulleys. One advantage of the self centering locking element designs is that the diameter of the shaft between the end dises can be larger and this will reduce the shaft deflection. For example, a 300 x 375 mm locking element could have a shaft diameter between the end discs of say 370 mm. With this diameter, the slope of the shaft at the locking elements would be reduced by a factor of 2.3, when compared to a 300 mm diameter shaft. In some older drive pulley designs, two locking elements were used on one or both sides of the pulley. This practice is not recommended duc to the fact that tightening the outer locking element can reduce the pressure from the inner locking element. With any of these locking elements it is important that the theoretical free shaft deflection under maximum accelerating or braking belt tensions should not exceed specific limits. ‘The following deflection criteria has been obtained from the manufacturers’ catalogues. ‘There is a considerable difference in the values specified by Bikon and Ringfeder for similar locking element designs. Locking element | Maximum slope at | type the locking element Ringfeder 7012 5 minutes or 0.00145 (flexible) radians Bikon 4000 2 minutes or 0.00058 (flexible) radians (Similar to RE 7012) Ringfeder 7015 6 minutes or 0.00175 (flexible) radians Bikon 1015 (rigid) _ | 2 minutes or 0.00058 radians Bikon 2006 (rigid) | 3 minutes or 0.00087 radians Locking elements are subject to corrosion and itis possible for moisture to cause corrosion of the shaft under the locking element, seriously reducing the strength of the shaft. This problem is believed to be worse with the flexible or elastic designs. For these reasons it is recommended that the locking element be protected by a cover plate, with the space between the locking element and the cover plate filled with a corrosion inhibiting compound. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 9 of 29, Rev.3 19.5 19.5.1 19.5.2 19.5.2.2 195.23 PULLEY BEARINGS General The majority of conveyor pulleys use live shafts and plummer block type bearing housings. For some drive shaft applications Cooper split bearings are used. Bearing Housings General Bearing housings are usually manufactured from grey cast iron. If additional strength is required, they can be manufactured from spheroidal graphite (SG) cast iron or even cast steel, Housing Types In the smaller sizes, up to and including 140 mm shaft size, the housings are usually of the SN type or the SSN type. For shafts of 150 mm diameter and above, SD and CSD housings are generally used. All these housings are of the centreline split type with dowel pins to ensure that the cap and base are correctly assembled. Note: the caps and bases are not interchangeable with those of other housings of the same size. The housings are designed to provide space for axial displacement of one of the two bearings. See Section 19.5.7. Housings can be supplied with seals on both sides or with a blanking plate on one side. Special housing types are available for mechanical take-up systems and other applications. Housing Mounting Holes To facilitate the alignment of conveyor pulleys, the holes in the housing foot for the ‘mounting bolts should be elongated. These elongated holes should provide the following minimum adjustments: For all shaft sizes up to and including 140 mm dia + 3 mm. For all shaft sizes 150 mm and above + 5 mm. Note: some bearing housing manufacturers only supply circular holes in the housing foot; this means that the holes in the bearing mounting plate will have to be slotted SN and SNN housings are available in either two or four hole mounting. SD and CSD housings are only available with four hole mounting, Four hole mounting favours the use of universal beams or universal columns for supporting pulley bearings. Note: when using housings with a 4 bolt mounting make sure the inner bolts are accessible, particularly where there is a head chute adjacent to the housing, CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 Page 10 of 29, Rev.3 19.5.3 19.5.4 Bearing Types For most conveyor pulley applications, self aligning spherical roller bearings with adaptor sleeves are used. For shafts up to and including 140 mm diameter, bearings from the 222 series are recommended and for 150 mm shafts and above, the 231 series is normally used. The bearings should be of the W33 type which have a central lubrication groove and radial holes for relubricating the bearing. The adaptor sleeves for all bearings of 150 mm shaft diameter and above should have the necessary holes for oil injection. See Section 19.5,7. Bearing Seals Bearing seals come in a wide range of types from simple felt seals through to the ‘more complex Taconite type. A true Taconite seal consists of an internal rubber seal which prevents foreign matter from entering the bearing chamber and an outer ‘multi labyrinth seal which is grease purged to protect the inner seal. In some older designs the Taconite seal incorporated a spring loaded lip type seal with the lip of the seal in contact with the shaft as shown in Fig.19-7. If any dirt found its way into the seal area, the seal could score the shaft, significantly reducing its strength. To overcome this shaft wear problem, some mining companies specify a hardened sleeve be fitted onto the shaft so that the seal lip is in contact with the sleeve NIPPLE FOR. GREASE PURGING BEARING HOUSING — /— SPLIT SEAL HOUSING Typical Taconite seal with internal oil seal CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 11 of 29, Rev.3 Another type of Taconite seal uses the SKF V-ring seal. In this case the lip of the V-ring seal runs on a vertical face. ‘The vertical face should be a steel washer as shown in Fig.19-8. Note: some housing manufacturers run the lip of the V-ring on the machined face of the seal housing as shown Fig.19-9. As the seal housing has to be of the split type, it is possible to have a very small step in this vertical face and this will wear the seal. The washer type is much preferred, —NIPPLE_FOR, GREASE PURGING BEARING HOUSING /—SPLIT SEAL HOUSING STEEL wasneR —~ the suart ~\ ‘0" RING Fig. 19-8, Typical Taconite seal with V ring seal running on a steel washer BEARING HOUSING NIPPLE FOR GREASE PURGING 7 SPLIT SEAL HOUSING SHAFT Fig.19-9 Typical Taconite seal with V ring seal running on the vertical face of the seal housing CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 Page 12 0f 29, Rev.3 In order to keep the shaft step as close as practical to the bearing centreline, the designer needs to know the width over the bearing seals. The following table gives the approximate distances from the centreline of the bearing housing to the outside of a Taconite seal. This table is based on the largest dimensions from various bearing manufacturers’ catalogues:- Shaft diameter mm] Distance from housing centreline to outside of Taconite seal_ mm. 75 105 90. 120 100. 125 110 130 ns 135 125 145 135, 150 140 160 150 135 160. 160 170 170 180 180 200 185 220 195 240) 200 260 200 280) 215 300) 225 | 320 265 340 265 360 280 380 280 400) 295 410 295 430 315 450) 315 Strength of Housings Plummer block housings are basically designed to have the load applied through the base, in which case the standard grey cast iron housing will have sufficient strength for most conveyor pulley applications, At other load directions the strength of the housing or the cap bolts could be the weak link in the chain. Manufacturers such as SKF, publish tables giving the strength of their housings. SKF give the breaking strength of the housings for a range of different load directions together with the strength of the cap bolts. SKF suggest a safety factor of 6 be used to determine the allowable working load. If the safety factor of 6 is applied using the maximum steady state belt tensions, it should adequately cover any transient loads. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 13 of 29, Rev.3 19.5.6 19.5.7 If grey cast iron housings do not have sufficient strength, spheroidal graphite (SG) cast iron housings or even cast steel can be used. The use of SG cast iron will inerease the strength of the housing by a factor of around 1.8. Bearing Lubrication Most pulleys rotate at speeds below 100 rev/min and therefore the grease lubricated bearings only require re-lubricating every 15,000 hours or once every 2 to 3 years. ‘There seems to be a lack of appreciation of this fact and on many mining sites you will see grease nipples in the centre of the bearing housing with a greaser going round on a very regular basis to lubricate the bearings. This practice probably does more harm than good, due to the fact that it is most likely that dirt from the grease nipple will be introduced into the bearing. However, the grease in the Taconite seals should be replenished on a more regular basis to ensure that an effective grease seal is maintained. Where both sides of the housing are open, such as on a drive shaft, the bearing regreasing point should be on the centreline of the bearing to line up with the W33 groove. If only one side of the housing is open, the bearing regreasing point can be located either on the centre of the bearing or preferably, on the closed side of the housing so that clean grease is pushed through the bearing. ‘The bearing regreasing point should never be located on the open side of the housing. The bearing regreasing nipple should be fitted with a plastic cap to keep it clean ‘The Taconite seal greasing points should be connected via hoses to a nipple plate located in a position that is accessible through the pulley guard mesh but not bolted to the guard, These nipples should also be fitted with plastic caps, Alternatively, all the greasing points could be connected via hoses to a nipple plate that is fitted with two different nipple sizes or types, one type for the Taconite seal and one type for the bearing, so that the greaser normally only regreases the Taconite seals. Bearings and Taconite seals should be lubricated while the pulley is turning. Bearing Installation Pulley bearings should be installed strictly in accordance with the bearing manufacturer’s recommendations. The bearings are locked onto the shaft by forcing the tapered bearing up the adaptor sleeve. On the smaller bearing sizes, this lateral movement is achieved by rotating the nut with a special °C” spanner. The intemal clearance of the bearing is measured with feeler gauges before tightening the nut and the nut is tightened until the specified reduction in internal clearance is achieved. The clearance should always be measured between the outer ring and the unloaded rollers. With shaft diameters of 150 mm and above, itis extremely difficult to obtain sufficient torque with °C” spanners to reduce the bearing internal clearance. For this reason it is recommended that for the larger bearing sizes, i.e. 150 mm and above, the bearing be fitted by using the appropriate hydraulic nut and a hydraulic pump. Copyright= vue coxren csc ost eee 01 oie our otk wus est as coven ose ose weer oe coz ose 000 oer, oe one os coven ae ou Lt SHE OES ake ty ce es coven om owt on oss 6z ose oe ye covxern ee ono ors ome oor eae ose ur couxeen oe khan es ooes oe ore suze couxoen ow we oo a ‘ os ee. Ce omxein or uo co 01 oes osha siz ase ort axe o . cut ces ome sek eek sae owe sean a ow ox ote ons sok eaten seein o ooo oo oa ose ow ooxzin * oo ow ore ons ca ons oe coxein * oe a ea sa cexoun 6 oo siz oz oso, oo ssh one cmon ns a ed caxoun fo a cet one ost com kok se tekst osxo1n % a Bete ete te eee a aw orxoi a ee See Hee Hae et eet ester heat oreoun cs re ee a Bee Hebe ate ae ee ea ee Hae eget za Sy me ee nor sbuarou Hn 0} pea Sess Buenos Tee sour aHNSS ue AS 10 e6uEAS ‘s6ujsnoy x201q sound HN4, operating hours a9 gowns OgN | Yoorows o 2 2 thmin 3 4 5678910" 2 10? 2 Dow a Qoous o DOCOHA H Q wETQOHA o av 2 Be Mgr-gr 2 gx g Yooneo~ o 456789 bbearings, spherical rolle thrust beatings (0,5 t) » st ings, thrust ball bearings; ings (0. 5, needle roller indvical roller bearings wilh cage spherical roller bearings, iaper roller bear {ull complement cylindrical roller beat crossed cyl 9 cylindrical roller thrust bearings, needle roller radial ball bearings eylindsical roller bearing Scale a: Scale b: Scale c: Diagram 1 155 SKFPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 14 of 29, Rev.3 19.6 19.6.1 Failure to correctly install a bearing can lead to the bearing becoming loose. Alternatively, if the bearing is over tightened, the excessive loss of internal clearance could lead to premature bearing failure, ‘The bearings should be installed with the bearing on one side fixed in its housing with the appropriate fixing rings and with the other bearing free to move laterally in the housing. In the case of a drive pulley with the drive on one side only, the fixed bearing should be located on the drive side, The fixed bearing housing should be clearly marked “fixed” The positioning of the bearings on the shaft must take into consideration the anticipated lateral movement of the bearing during installation and the specified bearing housing centres. Note: in the case of SN, SD and CSD housings, the bearing centreline is offset from the housing centreline. PULLEY SHAFT DESIGN General While the average conveyor designer may not wish to tackle the job of designing a complete pulley, itis often very useful to a conveyor design project to have information regarding pulley bearing sizes and pulley bearing centres as early as possible. To this end, itis quite common for conveyor design engineers to calculate the required pulley shaft sizes, which are checked later by the pulley manufacturer. Ifa pulley shaft or locking element fails in service, itis sensible practice to check the theoretical belt tensions and the adequacy of the shaft design. If t is found that the shaft diameter was theoretically too small, a larger shaft could be used thereby avoiding a repeat failure. The shaft design process requires the following information to be known:- ‘The maximum belt forces acting on the pulley and their direction. The pulley diameter. The bearing centres and the disc centres. An estimate of the pulley mass. ‘The required bearing life The strength of the bearing housing. The tensile properties of the shaft steel. The maximum shaft deflection criteria for the locking element. A suitable design code that gives appropriate stress raising factors for stepped shafts and locking elements together with recommended safety factors. Pulley shafts generally have a larger diameter at the locking element than at the bearing. The transition from the smaller diameter to the larger diameter is ideally designed as a taper, with blending radii at the ends of the taper. However, machining tapers is apparently an expensive operation and most pulley manufacturers prefer to provide a vertical shaft step with a generous fillet radius CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 15 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.2 19.6.3 19.6.3.1 As stated in Section 19.4, the locking element is similar to a hub with a shrink fit and the stress raising effect can be very significant. In machine design where hubs are shrunk onto shafts some designers incorporate a raised portion of the shaft at the hub with generous fillet radii on either side to smooth out the stress lines. In a paper on pulley design by Sethi & Nordell (3), the use of a raised journal on the shaft at the pulley locking elements is recommended. This journal being only 1 mm higher than the shaft and 1 to 2 mm shorter than the length of the locking element to allow the edge of the locking element to plastically deform. The shaft step should be as close as practical to the bearing housing but with a suitable clearance from the tangent point of the step radius to the end of the housing. The distance between the shaft step and the outer end of the locking element should ideally be at least 0.25 x the shaft diameter at the locking element. This separation distance will minimise the effect of one stress raising factor on the other. Rotational Speed & its Effect on Shaft Life The number of times a pulley shaft will rotate during its life can influence the shaft design. In this section, the number of times a typical pulley will rotate is investigated both under normal operating belt tensions and under peak belt tensions. For a conveyor with a belt velocity of 4.45 m/s, fitted with an 832 mm diameter lagged pulley that has a pitch diameter to the centre of the belt carcass of 850 mm, the pulley will rotate at 100 rev/min. If this conveyor operates for 5000 hours/year, the pulley will rotate 30 x 10° times in one year under normal operating belt tensions. If it is assumed that this conveyor takes 30 seconds to accelerate to a velocity of 4.45 mis, the number of revolutions of the 832 mm diameter pulley under accelerating belt tensions will be:= 100 30 "x = =25 revolutions 2° 0 Ifthere are 5 starts per day for 300 days per year, there will be 37500 revolutions/year or over one million revolutions in 27 years under accelerating tensions. As 10° stress reversals is the generally accepted criteria for shaft fatigue, there is some justification for designing pulley shafts for infinite life under the maximum accelerating or braking tensions by using the endurance limit of the shaft material. Belt Forces General The belt tension forces acting on a pulley can be divided into the following three categories:- * Steady state running tensions. * Normal accelerating and decelerating tensions. + Extraordinary belt tensions. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 Page 16 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.3.2. Steady State Running Tensions The normal steady state running tensions can be determined with a reasonable degree of accuracy and are usually on the conservative side, so that the actual operating tensions are lower than the theoretical values. ‘These steady state running tensions can be used to select the minimum bearing size based on the required Lo life hours. 19.6.3.3 Normal Accelerating or Decelerating Tensions When a horizontal or an inclined conveyor is being accelerated, the following changes in belt tension will occur: * The belt tension on the tight side of the drive will increase. * Initially the take-up mass will fall and the deceleration of the falling mass by the belt will increase the belt tensions momentarily at the take-up pulleys (Refer Section 19.6.3.4) * Ifthe gravity take-up is located close to the head end, the belt tension increase at the tail pulley can be quite significant when the empty belt is being accelerated, particularly if the conveyor is fitted with a traction type fluid coupling, ‘The magnitude of these changes in belt tension will depend on the conveyor geometry and size, the type of starting control and the associated acceleration rates, Asa result of incorrectly selected resistors or timers for a wound rotor motor or an incorrectly selected or overfilled fluid coupling, itis quite common to have conveyors that accelerate much faster than the designer intended, Note in some cases, the braking torque can develop loads on the drive pulley that are greater than the starting torque. For regenerative declined conveyors, the maximum belt tensions could occur during deceleration. For typical plant conveyors, an indication of the changes in belt tensions during acceleration and deceleration can be obtained from a rigid body belt tension analysis program. This type of analysis is based on the assumption that the entire conveyor accelerates as a single mass and that the gravity take-up tension is a constant value. These assumptions are obviously not true and a far more accurate result will be obtained by using a flexible body dynamic analysis program. In this type of analysis, the conveyor is basically divided into a large number of sections that are treated as damped springs. Unfortunately, a flexible body dynamic analysis is more time consuming and costly and for this reason itis often only used for long overland conveyors. CopyrightPra I Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 17 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.3.4 Take-up dynamics 19.6.3.5 When a conveyor is started there is an initial downwards movement of the take-up weight, the weight then decelerates to zero velocity and reverses direction. The rate at which the take-up weight decelerates will be due in part to the acceleration rate of the conveyor. Ifa flexible body dynamic analysis program is used to design the conveyor, the dynamics of the take-up mass during acceleration and deceleration should be reflected in the calculated belt tensions. Ifa rigid body dynamic analysis program is used to calculate the accelerating and the decelerating belt tensions, it is assumed that the take-up tension is a constant value. It will therefore be necessary to apply a dynamic factor to the static mass of the take-up to obtain a dynamic value for the peak belt tensions at the take-up. The following method gives an approximate indication of this dynamic effect: Dynamic tension at take-up ~ static take-up tension (1 + 7 Where: a = maximum acceleration rate of the conveyor m/s? For example: if the maximum empty acceleration rate = 0.5 m/s? ‘The maximum dynamic tension at the take-up Extraordinary Increases in Belt Tension Extraordinary increases in belt tension can occur for a number of reasons including the following: © Ifthe start is aborted and the brake is applied while the take-up mass is descending, the deceleration rate of the falling mass will be quite rapid with a corresponding increase in belt tension, + Ifbelt slip occurs at the drive pulley during acceleration, a slip/stick situation can occur and this can cause significant shock loading. ‘© Ifthe take-up mass or trolley is located close to the end of travel, it is possible under abnormal conditions, that the take-up will move too far and hit a physical constraint. This scenario would also cause a significant increase in the belt tension at the take-up. ‘Some of these “what if situations’ can be modelled by using a flexible body dynamic analysis program but if this type of analysis is not performed, one can only guess at what these effects could be on the pulley loads. Fortunately this type of load only occurs infrequently or not at all and although it may not cause a shaft failure, a single shock load in excess of the normal maximum belt tensions could possibly damage the locking elements. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Pact 1, Chapter 19 Page 18 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.3.6 Summary 19.6.4 In summary, it is recommended that pulley shafts should be designed for infinite life under the maximum accelerating (or decelerating) belt tensions. In some cases the inerease in belt tension when accelerating could be as low as 1.2 x the operating value, in other cases the increase in belt tension could be greater than 2 x the operating value. A dynamic analysis of the belt tensions is therefore considered necessary to determine the magnitude of the non steady state belt tensions acting on all the pulleys. Shaft Deflection The slope of the shaft at the locking element should not exceed the locking element ‘manufacturer's recommendations (refer Section 19.4). The shaft slope at the locking clement based on free shaft deflection can be determined from the following formula: F Slope at the locking element = oar radians: Where: F = maximum load acting on one bearing kN y = distance from the centreline of the bearing to the centreline of the locking element_ mm Z = distance between the centrelines of the locking elements mm. E = elastic modulus kN/mm”, for stee! E = 200 kN/mm? = moment of inertia of the section of shaft between the locking elements mm* xD* 7 mm’ 64 Where: D = shaft diameter between the locking elements. mm. Alternatively for a known slope value at the locking element in radians, the minimum shaft diameter between the locking elements is:- Dm | £:0509F yz aH slope The approximate midspan deflection 6 can be calculated from the following formul mm Where: istance between the bearing centres mm. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 19 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.5 19.6.6 Bearing Life The bearing Lo life can be based on the maximum steady state operating belt tensions as defined in Section 19.6.3.2. For spherical roller bearings the ISO formula for bearing life is:~ 10° 60n, 14 = [s| or C=PLio60n10%)°* Where: Lyy,=basie rating operating hours C= basic dynamic load rating of the bearing N P =bearing load N n= rotational speed of the pulley rev/min For example ifn = 100 rev/min, Lion = 63,000 hours, P = 150,000 N, find the minimum C value required for the bearing. P(Lio,60n 10°)" = 150,000 (63,000 x 60 x 100 x 10°)"* 889,895 N For a 150 mm diameter 23134 bearing, C diameter is satisfactory. 97,000 N. Therefore a 150 mm Note: the Lp life is based on the life that 90% of a sufficiently large group of identical bearings can be expected to attain or exceed. The median life is approximately five times the calculated basic rating life Where more accurate bearing life calculations are considered necessary the “Adjusted Rating Life Equation’ can be used for pulley bearings (Refer SKF General Catalogue) Shaft Materials The steels commonly used in Australia for non driven pulleys are carbon steels in the 1040 to 1045 range in accordance with AS 1442 and AS 1443. For drive shafts AS 1444 Grade 4140 is used. This is a 1% chromium-molybdenum steel suitable for highly stressed shafts. Grade 4140 steel should be heat treated to 187/229 BHN. Typical mechanical properties used for pulley shaft design are:- Steel [U. Yield Point | Endurance Limit grade |MPa | MPa MPa 1040 [340___[ 270 240 _| 1045 600 300 270 4140 [650 [490 290 CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 20 of 29, Rev.3 19.6.7 19.7 Design Standards At the time of writing this manual, the current Australian code for the design of rotating steel shafis was AS 1403-1985 [2]. This code is however currently under revision, AS 1403 provides formulae for determining the shaft diameter together with charts for selecting various factors including a size factor and stress raising factors for stepped shafts, keyways and interference fits etc. There is some debate in the industry on the interpretation of these charts, Most designers have therefore ‘opted for a conservative approach when using this code by applying the size factor, even if the ultimate tensile strength being used is taken for the 200 mm + sizes and by using the K factor at the locking element that is equivalent to an H7/u6 interference fit. PULLEY FACE WIDTH With stcel cord belts the width of a conveyor pulley should ideally be such that the belt is adequately supported even when the belt has drifted to the full extent of its allowable lateral movement. Fig.19-10 illustrates the situation where a steel cord belt has drifted so that the edge cord is just past the edge of the pulley. EDGE CLEARANCE ALLOWANCE t re POSITION OF BELT fr TwHEN CENTRAL BELT PARTIALLY ORF TED Puuuey elt eeceoeovce A cover pusaer —/ Suasecten 19 SINGLE SHEAR Fig.19-10 Pulley width and belt support problem CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 Page 21 0f 29, Rev.3 In this position the tension in the outer cord subjects the cover rubber to a single shear condition which could overstress the cover rubber. Ona typical conveyor pulley the face width might be belt width + 150 mm, i. 75 mm each side of the belt when it is in its central position, however the structural edge clearance allowance might be 150 mm per side. With this criteria, 75 mm of belt could be overhanging the pulley if the belt drifts to its full lateral limit As the edge cord is usually located at least 20 mm in from the edge of the belt, the pulley face width required to correctly support a steel cord belt can be determined as follows:~ Pulley face width = belt width + 2(belt edge clearance - 20) mm For example: consider a tail pulley for use with a 1500 mm wide steel cord belt and with a belt edge clearance allowance to the tail pulley support structure of 165 mm, the required pulley face width will be: Pulley face width = 1500 + 2(165-20) = 1790 mm The 20 mm gap between the end of the pulley and any adjacent supporting structure is considered adequate for normal clearance requirements. ISO 1536 ~ 1975 [4] gives recommendations for pulley face widths. ‘The following table gives the ISO recommended face widths together with a width that will adequately support a drifted steel cord belt. This table is based on a belt edge clearance recommendation of 90 + (0.05 x belt width) mm. Belt | PBC recommended | Pulley face width to Pulley face width width | belt edge clearance | suit steel cord belt and | to [SO 1536 mm mm | mm the recommended edge clearance mm 800. 130) 1020) 950 1000, 140 1240 1150 | 1200 150) 1460 1400 1400 160) 1680 1600 1600, 170 1900 1800) 1800 180 2120 2000 2000 190) 2340 2200 It can be seen that the ISO 1536 standard face width will not adequately support a steel cord belt in the drifted condition For textile reinforced belts the shear stress problem at the edge of the pulley is not considered to be as detrimental to the belt as is the case with steel cord belts. Consequently either the ISO standard pulley face width or the wider faced pulleys could be used CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part, Chapter 19 Page 22 of 29, Rev.3 19.8 19.8.1 19.8.2 19.8.3 PULLEY BEARING HOUSING CENTRES General ‘The selection of pulley bearing housing centres will be influenced by a number of dimensional constraints and the amount of standardisation that is considered desirable on a particular site or project. For a pulley that is contained within a chute, the minimum bearing centres will be greater than that required for a similar pulley that is not contained within a chute. The following subsections review the dimensional constraints for both situations. Pulleys not contained within a chute For a pulley not contained within a chute, the minimum possible bearing centres will generally be a function of the belt clearance off the pulley supporting structure as shown in Fig. 19-11 The minimum bearing housing centres can be determined from the following: Minimum bearing housing centres = w + (2.x s.) + we mm Where: w = belt width mm S: = minimum belt edge clearance mm w= flange width of bearing support beam mm. Pulleys contained within a chute With pulleys contained within a chute as shown in Fig. 19-12, itis important that there is sufficient space for the following features:~ * For bearing housings with labyrinth seals, space is required for checking that the radial clearance between the inner and outer seal components is reasonably uniform. A bent wire gauge can be used for this task. © Space for the shaft step radius. This requirement will increase with shaft diameter. * Space for a shaft seal to be fitted to the outside of the chute with due allowance for the components to be offset relative to one another due to construction and assembly tolerances. * Access to the inner bearing housing mounting bolts. * Clearance between the chute flange or stiffeners and the bearing support beam. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 23 of 29, Rev.3 WIDE FACED PULLEY \, 4. (Z & ae | | \— BELT IN CENTRAL POSITION me | | EDGE CLEARANCE ALLOWANCE Fig.19-11 Minimum bearing centres CopyrightI Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 24 of 29, Rev.3 7 WIDE FACED PULLEY RUBBER CHUTE SEAL SPACE REQUIRED FOR CHECKING TACONITE SEAL GAP USING BENT WIRE. GUAGE AT FOUR PLACES ia 90" APART EDGE OF TACONITE SEAL HOUSING 4 ww sean soe a CLEARANCE BETWEEN THe — END OF THE SEAL HOUSING AND THE TANGENT POINT (OF THE STEP RADIUS \ ett EDGE OF CHUTE STIFFENER | | \ovute soe pare Boye A space Fo access to BEARING HOUSING MOUNTING BOLTS & CHUTE SEAL BoLTS Fig.19-12 Typical head pulley arrangement with chute seal located on the pulley shaft Copyright, Rev.3 Practical Belt Conveying Part |, Chapter 19 /—EXTRA WIDE FACED PULLEY RUBBER CHUTE SEAL — REMOVABLE SPLIT cUARD— —|___epae oF taconre SEAL HOUSNE 32/ Vv BEARING SOLE PLATE CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE END OF THE SEAL HOUSING ANDTHE TANGENT POINT OF THE STEP RADIUS ‘Leer a“ EDGE OF CHUTE STIFFENER —~ —cHUTE SIDE PLATE \ \— space Far access To BEARING HOUSING MOUNTING BOLTS & CHUTE SEAL BOLTS Fig.19-13, Head pulley arrangement with chute seal located on the pulley rim CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 26 of 29, Rev.3 19.9 19.10 The shaft step should be as close as practical to the bearing so that the bending moment on the smaller shaft diameter is minimised, however the distance from the end of the Taconite seal housing to the tangent point of the shaft step radius should be at least 15 mr. In order to separate the stress raising effect of the shaft step from the stress raising effect of the locking element, the outer end of the locking element should be at least 0.25 x the diameter of the shaft at the locking element away from the shaft step. An altemative arrangement for a discharge pulley is shown in Fig.19-13. This, arrangement uses an extra wide faced pulley with the chute seal located on the face of the pulley. This pulley arrangement makes it easier to inspect the pulley end disc area and also eliminates the risk of rock entrapment between the end of the pulley shell and the chute wall. With this pulley arrangement a removable split ‘guard is required over the ends of the pulley, PULLEY CROWNING For conveyors fitted with textile reinforced belts, pulley crowning is sometimes specified. This crowning of the pulley surface has a centering effect on the belt. The slope of the crowning should not exceed I in 100. The use of crowned pulleys on conveyors fitted with steel cord belts is not recommended due to the high elastic modulus of this type of belt. PULLEY SUPPORT STRUCTURES Plummer block bearings should be mounted on a rigid steel structure. To avoid pulley isalignment problems, the pulley support structure should be designed to have the same amount of deflection at both bearings when the conveyor is operating. The preferred method of mounting bearing housings is to have the resultant forces from the belt tension and the mass of the pulley taken through the bottom half of the housing. The mounting surface should be either vertical or horizontal. If the ‘mounting surface is inclined, it will be more difficult to correctly align the pulley. If the resultant force is taken through the base, adjusting bolts should be provided on both ends of the housing for aligning the pulley. If there is a significant component of the resultant force parallel to the base, a pair of adjusting wedges and a shear block should be used on the load side of the housing, with an adjusting bolt on the non load end as shown in Fig. 19-14. An angle of 7.5° is recommended for the adjusting wedges. The wedges should be tack welded together after the alignment has been completed. The bearing sole plates should be machined after they have been welded to the pulley support frame. When the pulley support frame is being installed it should be shimmed off the supporting structure so that the two bearing sole plates are level, thereby eliminating the need for any re-levelling when the pulley has to be changed. Pulleys should not be mounted directly onto structural members due to the poor tolerance on squareness of the flanges of + 3 mm CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part 1, Chapter 19 Page 27 of 29, Rev.3 19.11 -— BEARING HOUSING / weoses - — TACK WELD AFTER, ‘ALIGNMENT SHEAR BLOCK —\ (ADJUSTING BOLT Cc PULLEY suport N BEARING SOLE PLATE Ths. SURFACE TO BE PARALLEL TO AXIS OF PULLEY € Fig.19-14 Typical pulley bearing mounting PULLEY INSTALLATION Before installing a pulley, check that the surface of the two bearing sole plates are parallel and square to the conveyor centreline. Also check that the mounting holes in the sole plate are the correct distance apart and equidistant from the conveyor centreline. Pulleys should be installed so that the pulley is both level and at right angles to the conveyor centreline. Pulley alignment is relatively easy to check before the bel is installed. One method that is used to align pulleys involves fitting an arm to the pulley so that the pulley can be rotated and the distance between the arm and a centreline reference wire can be measured at two positions as shown in Fig. 19-15 If the belt has been installed before the pulley has been aligned, it may be necessary to use a theodolite or a centreline reference wire and a large, accurate square to check the squareness of the pulley. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 28 of 29, Rev.3 /— PULLEY - -£- conve vor ———— | PIANO WIRE REFERENCE WIRE PARALLEL [ANGLE ARM TACK. To € CONVEYOR WELDED 0 PULLEY aim ¢ PIAND WIRE Pee eee Fara PIANO wie Fig.19-15 Pulley alignment Itis also important to check that the pulley housing is square to the shaft, if it is not, the Taconite scal labyrinth components could be in contact with each other. The labyrinth seal is typically designed to absorb up to a maximum misalignment of 0.3? (1 in 200). ‘The easiest way of checking the radial clearance in the labyrinth seal is to use a gauge made from a thin rod such as a brazing rod and to check the clearances at four points 90° apart. 19.12. DEAD SHAFT v LIVE SHAFT PULLEYS The preceding sections relate to the traditional live shaft pulley design with externally mounted bearings; there is however growing interest in the alternative of a dead shaft pulley. With dead shaft pulleys the spherical roller bearings are located at the shaft to dise connection, Photo 19b shows a dead shaft pulley. This section reviews the pros and cons of the two types. CopyrightPractical Belt Conveying Part I, Chapter 19 Page 29 of 29, Rev.3 19.13 Dead shaft pulleys have the following advantages:- © The shaft is not subjected to repeated stress reversals and can therefore be of a smaller diameter, ‘+ The spherical roller bearings can accept much greater angular deflections than a locking clement and this also allows a smaller shaft size to be used. * With the spherical roller bearing located at the discs there is no moment transfer into the disc and this reduces the stresses in the dises. © There are no locking elements to fail. ‘+ The shaft support block and its supporting structure may require less width than that required for a plummer block bearing, which can be an advantage if space is ata premium. The major disadvantage with dead shaft pulleys is the fact that if a bearing fails, the pulley must be removed from service, although on most mining sites the bearings on live shaft pulleys are also usually replaced in a workshop. Photo 19b Dead shaft pulley REFERENCES, [1] Australian Standard AS 2536-1982: Surface Texture, [2] Australian Standard AS 1403-2004: Design of Rotating Steel Shafts, [3] Sethi V, and Nordell L: Modem Pulley Design Techniques & Failure Analysis Methods. [4] International Standard ISO 1536-1975: Troughed Belt Conveyors — Belt Pulleys. Copyright3.3.6 Pulley Replacement Pulley replacement operations should be considered at the design stage. All necessary belt anchoring and pulling points for gaining slack belt should be provided in the design, together with a diagram showing the intended method of pulley replacement. One method of removing a pulley, which requires the use of a ‘C” frame and a crane or a monorail hoist, is shown in Fig. 3-1. With this method of pulley removal, it is first necessary to gain some slack belt so that the belt is clear of the pulley surface. The *C’ frame is then inserted under the belt and the pulley attached to the *C” frame by slings, the pulley can then be removed sideways. PULLEY REMOVAL FRAME LUGS FOR BELT CLAMP. ATTACHMENT BUILT INTO STRUCTURE = REMOVE TROUGH “IDLERS FROM in THIS AREA te Pulley removal using a ‘C’ frame.