Service factor

The service factor is a measure used to consider an appropriate margin of safety if

frequent overloads are expected.

For individual calculations, POWER-SeleCalc considers the defined drive power ("Power to
be transmitted") multiplied by the service factor.
Service factor 1.0 means that no systematic overloads are considered and therefore the
calculation results correspond exactly with the drive power value entered.
If service factors 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. are defined, POWER-SeleCalc considers 10%, 20%, 30%,
etc. overload or reduced belt capacity (e.g. due to the influence of dust, dirt, water, oil, etc.).

Typical reasons why belts may be systematically overloaded (at least during short cycles) are
for example:

• The belt frequently runs above the limit set by the calculation parameters.

• Environmental influences like dust, water, oil, etc. Such influences may have a negative
effect on physical belt properties such as the coefficient of friction and stress/strain
behaviour.

• Heavy shock load or plant start-ups with no measures to limit acceleration peaks.

In most cases the pre-defined service factor is sufficient. Select it by checking the
respective box on the pop-up menu. If a higher margin of safety is required, a user-
defined service factor can be entered and will be added to the values relating to the
checked boxes.