SRI KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING

Module 3
Session: Chain and Belt Drives

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SESSION OBJECTIVES

❑ On the completion of this session, the students

might be able to understand,
▪ Chain Drives
▪ Belt Drives
▪ Types

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Topics

❑ Chain drives

❑ Belt Drives

❑ Types

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Power transmission
❑ Belts, ropes, chains and
gears can be used to
Outer Face
transmit power
❑ Larger distances – belts,
ropes and chains
Driving
❑ Smaller distances – gears Pulley
Inner Face
Thickness
Driven
Pulley

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Belt and Rope Drives
❑ Flexible type of connectors
❑ Transmit power due to
Outer Face
friction
❑ Strained during motion
❑ Not positive type of drives
Driving
❑ Velocity ratios are not Pulley
Inner Face
constant Thickness
Driven
Pulley

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Power Transmission Factors
❑ Velocity of the belt
❑ Tension under which the belt is placed
❑ Arc of contact
❑ The conditions under which the belt is used
❑ Note:
❑ Shafts should be properly in line
❑ Pulleys should not be too close together
❑ Pulleys should not be so far apart
❑ Long belt swings side to side
❑ Max distance 10m and min distance 3.5 times the larger
diameter pulley
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Selection of a belt drive
❑ Speed of the driving and driven shafts
❑ Speed reduction ratio
❑ Power to be transmitted
❑ Center distance between the shafts
❑ Positive drive requirements
❑ Shafts layout
❑ Space available
❑ Service conditions

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Types of belt drives
Belt Drives

Light Medium Heavy

❑ Speed up to 10 m/s ❑ Speed over ❑ Above 22 m/s
❑ Agricultural and 10m/s, but up to ❑ Compressors
small machine tools 22 m/s and generators
❑ Machine tools

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Types of belts
Belt Drives

Flat V-belt Circular

❑ Moderate power ❑ Moderate power ❑ Large power

❑ Distance less ❑ Pulleys close to ❑ More than 8m

than 8m each other

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Flat belt materials
❑ Leather:
❑ Made from 1.2 to 1.5 m long strips of steer hides
❑ May be oak tanned or mineral salt tanned
❑ Strips may be cemented together to increase thickness
❑ Cotton or fabric:
❑ Made by folding canvas to three or more layers
❑ Some filler like linseed oil to make the belts water proof
❑ Cheaper and suitable in warm climates
❑ Commonly used in farm machinery

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Flat belt materials
❑ Rubber:
❑ Made from fabric impregnated rubber
❑ Very flexible and can be made endless
❑ Suitable for saw mills, paper mills, etc.
❑ Balata belts:
❑ Similar to rubber belts but balata gum is used
❑ Acid and water proof
❑ 25 percent higher strength than rubber belts

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Types of flat belt drives
❑ Open belt drive:
❑ Shafts arranged in parallel
and rotate in same Driver L
M Driven
direction A B

❑ Driver A pulls the belt from R

Q
one side and delivers it to
the driven pulley
❑ Lower side – more tension
– tight side
❑ Upper side – less tension –
slack side
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 Types of flat belt drives
❑ Crossed or twist belt drive:
❑ Shafts arranged in parallel
Driver
and rotate in opposite L
R
Driven
direction
❑ Tension in RQ is higher – A B
M
tight side Q
❑ Tension in LM is lower-
slack side

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 Types of flat belt drives
❑ Quarter turn belt drive:
❑ Also known as right angle Driver

belt drive
❑ Shafts arranged at right Driven

angles
❑ Width of the face of the
pulley should be greater or
equal to 1.4b, where b is
the width of the belt in
order to avoid slipping

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 Types of flat belt drives
❑ Belt drive with idler pulley:
❑ Used when shafts
arranged in parallel and the
open belt drive cannot be
used due to small angle of
contact
❑ Obtain high velocity ratio Idler Pulley

and when the required

tension cannot be obtained
by any other means

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Types of flat belt drives
❑ Compound belt drive:
❑ Number of pulleys used like gear trains

Driver 3 Driver
4
1

Driven Driven
3

1 2

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 Types of flat belt drives
❑ Stepped or cone pulley belt
drive:
❑ Used for changing the speed
Main or
of the driven shaft while the driving shaft

main driving shaft runs at

constant speed Driven
shaft
❑ Accomplished by shifting belt
from one step to another

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 Types of flat belt drives
❑ Fast and loose pulley drive:
Driving Pulley
❑ When there is a need to start
or stop a machine when ever
desired without interfering the
Line
driving shaft shaft

Loose Fast
❑ Fast pulley – keyed to the Pulley pulley

machine shaft
❑ Loose pulley – runs freely over
Machine
the machine shaft incapable of shaft

transmitting power
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 Velocity ratio of belt drive
❑ d1 – Diameter of driver in m
❑ d2 – Diameter of driven or follower in m
❑ N1 – Speed of the driver in rpm
❑ N2 – Speed of the follower in rpm
𝑵𝟐 𝒅𝟏
=
𝑵𝟏 𝒅𝟐
❑ Considering thickness of belt

𝑵𝟐 𝒅𝟏 + 𝒕 𝝅𝒅𝑵
= 𝒗= 𝒎/𝒔
𝑵𝟏 𝒅𝟐 + 𝒕 𝟔𝟎

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 Velocity ratio of compound belt drive
❑ d1 – Diameter of pulley 1 in m
❑ d2 – Diameter of pulley 2 in m and so on
❑ N1 – Speed of the pulley 1 in rpm
❑ N2 – Speed of the pulley 2 in rpm and so on

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Slip of belt
❑ Slip is caused when the frictional grip becomes insufficient
❑ May cause forward motion of the driver without carrying the
belt with it
❑ This is called slip of the belt and expressed in percentage

𝝅𝒅𝟏𝑵𝟏 𝒔𝟏 𝝅𝒅𝟐𝑵𝟐 𝒔𝟐
𝒗𝟏 = (𝟏 − ) 𝒗𝟏 = (𝟏 − )
𝟔𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟔𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑵𝟐 𝒅𝟏 + 𝒕 𝒔
= (𝟏 − )
𝑵𝟏 𝒅𝟐 + 𝒕 𝟏𝟎𝟎

𝒔 = 𝒔𝟏 + 𝒔𝟐
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Creep of belt
❑ When belt passes from slack side to the tight side, extension
and contraction happens causing changes in belt length
❑ Due to this, there is a relative motion between the belt and
the pulley surfaces called creep.

Stress in belt on the tight and slack sides

𝝈𝟏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝝈𝟐
respectively
𝑬 Young’s Modulus of the belt material

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Length of an open belt drive
E

F
M
J K
O1

G r2
r1 x
𝟐
𝒓𝟏 − 𝒓𝟐
𝑳 = 𝝅 𝒓𝟏 + 𝒓𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 +
𝒙

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Length of a cross belt drive

r2
r1 x

𝟐
𝒓𝟏 + 𝒓𝟐
𝑳 = 𝝅 𝒓𝟏 + 𝒓𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 +
𝒙

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Ratio of driving tensions

❑ T1 – Tension on the tight side

❑ T2 – Tension on the slack side
❑ θ – Angle of contact in radians

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Ratio of driving tensions

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Angle of contact – Open belt
❑ r1 – radius of larger pulley
❑ r2 – radius of smaller pulley
❑ x – distance between center of pulleys
❑ θ – Angle of contact in radians

𝝅
𝜽 = 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎 − 𝟐𝜶 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔
𝟏𝟖𝟎
𝒓𝟏 − 𝒓𝟐
𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜶 =
𝒙

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Angle of contact – Cross belt
❑ r1 – radius of larger pulley
❑ r2 – radius of smaller pulley
❑ x – distance between center of pulleys
❑ θ – Angle of contact in radians

𝝅
𝜽 = 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎 + 𝟐𝜶 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔
𝟏𝟖𝟎
𝒓𝟏 + 𝒓𝟐
𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜶 =
𝒙

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Power transmitted by the belt
❑ T1 – Tension on the tight side
❑ T2 – Tension on the slack side
❑ v – Velocity of the belt in m/s
❑ m – mass of the belt per unit length in kg

𝑷 = 𝒗 𝑻𝟏 − 𝑻𝟐 ❑ Condition for max. transmission of

𝟐𝝅𝑵𝑻 power
𝑷=
𝟔𝟎 𝑻 = 𝟑 𝑻𝒄
𝝅𝒅𝑵
𝒗= 𝑻
𝟔𝟎 𝒗=
𝟑𝒎
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Sample problems
An engine, running at 150 r.p.m., drives a line shaft by means of a
belt. The engine pulley is 750 mm diameter and the pulley on the
line shaft being 450 mm. A 900 mm diameter pulley on the line
shaft drives a 150 mm diameter pulley keyed to a dynamo shaft.
Find the speed of the dynamo shaft, when
1. there is no slip, and
2. there is a slip of 2% at each drive.

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Sample problems
The power is transmitted from a pulley 1 m diameter running at
200 r.p.m. to a pulley 2.25 m diameter by means of a belt. Find the
speed lost by the driven pulley as a result of creep, if the stress on
the tight and slack side of the belt is 1.4 MPa and 0.5 MPa
respectively. The Young’s modulus for the material of the belt is
100 MPa.

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Sample problems
A shaft which rotates at a constant speed of 160 r.p.m. is
connected by belting to a parallel shaft 720 mm apart, which has to
run at 60, 80 and 100 r.p.m. The smallest pulley on the driving
shaft is 40 mm in radius. Determine the remaining radii of the two
stepped pulleys for
1. a crossed belt, and 2. an open belt.
Neglect belt thickness and slip.

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Sample problems
A belt is running over a pulley of diameter 120 cm at 200 rpm. The
angle of contact is 1650 and the coefficient of friction is 0.3. If the
maximum tension in the belt is 3000 N, find the power transmitted
by the belt.

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Sample problems
An open belt drive connects two pulleys 120 cm and 50 cm
diameters on parallel shafts 4 m apart. The max tension in the belt
is 1855.3 N. The coefficient of friction is 0.3. The driver pulley of
120 cm runs at 200 rpm. Calculate
1. Power transmitted
2. Torque on each of the two shafts

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Sample problems
A belt drive transmits 8 kW of power from a shaft rotating at 240
rpm to another shaft rotating at 160 rpm. The belt is 8 mm thick.
The diameter of the smaller pulley is 600 mm and the two shafts
are 5 m apart. The coefficient of friction is 0.25. If the maximum
stress in the belt is limited to 3 N/mm2, find the width of the belt for
open drive and crossed belt drive

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Chain drives
❑ Belt and rope drives slip
may occur
❑ To avoid slipping chains
may be used
❑ Rigid links hinged together
to provide necessary
flexibility
❑ Toothed wheels are known
as sprockets

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 Advantages and Disadvantages
❑ No slip
❑ Occupy less space
❑ High transmission efficiency
❑ Less load on the shafts

❑ Cost
❑ Accurate mounting and careful
maintenance
❑ Velocity fluctuations when unduly
stretched
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Terms used
❑ Pitch
❑ Distance between hinge center
of a link to the corresponding
hinge center of the adjacent link

❑ Pitch circle diameter

❑ diameter of the circle on which
the hinge centers of the chain
lie, when the chain is wrapped
round a sprocket

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 Terms used
❑ Pitch and PCD
❑ d – Diameter of the pitch circle
❑ p – pitch of the chain
❑ T – Number of teeth on the sprocket

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 Terms used
❑ Chain speed and angular velocity
❑ v – chain speed
❑ ω – Angular velocity

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Length of chain
❑ T1 – No of teeth on the larger sprocket
❑ T2 – No of teeth on the smaller sprocket
❑ p – Pitch of the chain
For larger sprocket

For smaller sprocket

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Length of chain
❑ T1 – No of teeth on the larger sprocket
❑ T2 – No of teeth on the smaller sprocket
❑ p – Pitch of the chain

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Sample problems
A chain drive is used for reduction of speed from 240 r.p.m. to 120
r.p.m. The number of teeth on the driving sprocket is 20. Find the
number of teeth on the driven sprocket. If the pitch circle diameter
of the driven sprocket is 600 mm and centre to centre distance
between the two sprockets is 800 mm, determine the pitch and
length of the chain.

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 END

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