Pulley system

A pulley system consists of two pulleys (usually of different diameters) and a belt
loop to link the pulleys. In the figure above, the belt is marked with a red color.

One of the two pulleys is called the driver pulley - it means that transmitting power
is applied to it, causing it to rotate. The other pulley is called the driven pulley. It
rotates because of the force transmitted through the belt.

There are two main parameters associated with each of the pulleys. The first one is
the diameter (twice the radius), and the second one is its angular velocity measured
in revolutions per minute. (For more information about the angular velocity check
out our centrifugal force calculator!)

Some pulley formulas

Once you have created your pulley system, you can start determining various
parameters with this pulley calculators. The values that you can find are:

1. Diameter and RPM of each pulley

For a pulley system like this, the product of pulley diameter d and RPM n is the same
for both driver and driven pulley. It means that

d₁ * n₁ = d₂ * n₂

You can use this formula to find any of these four values: driver pulley diameter d₁,
it's angular velocity n₁, the driven pulley diameter d₂ or it's angular velocity n₂.
2. Belt velocity

The speed of the belt can be calculated according to the formula

v = π * d₁ * n₁ / 60

where the angular frequency is expressed in RPM and the belt velocity in meters per
second.

3. Belt length

The length of the belt is dependent on the diameters of both pulleys and
the distance between their centers D:

L = (d₁ * π / 2) + (d₂ * π / 2) + 2D + ((d₁ - d₂)² / 4D)

You can also reverse this formula to calculate the distance between the pulleys for a
known belt length.

4. Belt tension

The tension in the belt is dependent on the belt velocity and the transmitting
power P:

F = P / v

Naturally, you can use the pulley speed calculator to find the power as well - simply
input the values of belt tension and velocity.

5. Torque

The last values that can be found with this pulley calculator are the drive torque
(torque of the driver pulley) and the driven torque (of the driven pulley). Use the
following equation:

T = P /(2 * π * n / 60)

where the angular velocity n of each pulley is expressed in revolutions per minute.

Calculating pulley RPM and speed: an

example
1. Start with writing down the known values. Let's say that you know the
diameter and RPM of the driver pulley (d₁ = 0.4 m and n₁ = 1000 RPM), the
diameter of the driven pulley (d₂ = 0.1 m) and the transmitting power (P =
 1500 W).You have also measured the distance between the pulley centers to
be equal to D = 1 m.
2. Determine the angular velocity of the driven pulley, using the formula 1:

d₁ * n₁ = d₂ * n₂

n₂ = d₁ * n₁ / d₂ = 0.4 * 1000 / 0.1 = 4000 RPM

3. Calculate the pulley speed:

v = π * d₁ * n₁ / 60 = π * 0.4 * 1000 / 60 = 20.944 m/s

4. You can also use the next formula for the belt length:

L = (d₁ * π / 2) + (d₂ * π / 2) + 2D + ((d₁ - d₂)² / 4D)

L = (0.4 * π / 2) + (0.1 * π / 2) + 2 * 1 + ((0.4 - 0.1)² / (4 * 1) ) =

2.808 m

5. Finally, use the formulas for belt tension and torque to find the remaining
parameters:

F = P / v = 1500 / 20.944 = 71.62 N

T₁ = P /(2 * π * n₁ / 60) = 1500 / (2 * π * 1000 / 60) = 14.324 Nm

T₂ = P /(2 * π * n₂ / 60) = 1500 / (2 * π * 4000 / 60) = 3.581 Nm