Chapter Seven

Belt Conveyors
 Introduction
• Belt conveyors are the most versatile and widely
used of all conveyors. They are suitable for
handling a wide variety of materials. They can
handle a wide range of capacities over longer
distance than possible with other types of
conveyor systems.

• They are adaptable for performing numerous

other functions such as weighing, blending
sampling and stock piling.
 Cont’d…
• Belt conveyors have attained a dominant
position in transporting bulk materials
due to such inherent advantages as their
economy and safety of operation,

reliability,

versatility, and

practically unlimited range of capacities.

 Cont’d…
• In addition, they are suitable for performing
numerous processing functions in connection
with their normal purpose of providing a
continuous flow of material between operations.

• Recently, their conformity to environmental

requirements has provided a further incentive
for selection of belt conveyors over other
means of transportation.
 Cont’d…

• Belt conveyors are suited to the

carrying of all material, wet or dry,
from the lightest to the heaviest, and in
any quantity.
 Belt Conveyor Components
• The belt conveyor is composed of the belt,
the idlers, the pulleys, the drive
equipment, the take-up and the supporting
structure.
Conveyor Belting

The belt cover is made of special wear-and

impact- resisting rubber compound with cord
breaker strips imbedded in tough rubber

Typical Cross-section of the Conveyor Belt

 Cont’d
• The belts must have:-
– flexibility, in order to wrap around the
pulleys,
– Width, enough to carry the required
quantity of the material
– strength, enough to bear the weight of
the load and transmit the pull in the
conveyor
 Cont’d…
1. Cotton-Fabric Ply-Constructed Belting: is the
most widely used kind of rubber covered conveyor
belt, in which the fiber is made up of a number of
layers or plies of woven cotton fabrics of various
weight.

2. Cord Belts are made up of longitudinal fibers or

steel cords imbedded in rubber provide greater
strength, more flexibility and somewhat greater
impact resistance.
 Cont’d…

3. Heat Service Belts are available for

jobs where hot materials up to 1200C
must be handled.
Belt Idlers

Idlers must be selected to properly protect

and support the belt and load to be carried.
 Cont’d

Fig. 7.3 Types of Idlers

 Drives
• Practically all belt conveyors are driven by an
electric motor directly connected to a speed
reducer unit through a flexible coupling. A high-
speed motor, which costs less and occupies less
space, is preferred to a slow speed motor.
 Cont’d…

Belt Conveyer Drive Arrangements

 Take-ups

• Allow for stretch and shrinkage of the belt

due to variation of temperature and
atmospheric pressure.

• It ensures that the

– maximum tension in the belt is sufficient to prevent
undue sag between idlers

– tension in the belt in the back of the drive pulley is

sufficient to permit such pulley to transmit the load
 Cont’d…

Types of Take-ups for Belt Conveyors

 Pulleys, Shafts and Bearings

• Pulleys for belt conveyors are usually welded

steel, drum types, for maximum strength,
minimum weight, and for resistance to shock
during handling and operation.
 Pulleys, Shafts and Bearings
• The factors involved in pulley diameter selection include
the
– amount of wrap,

– belt tension at the pulley,

– space available,

– characteristics of the materials handled,

– belt life expectancy,

– shaft and bearing size and

– size and ratio of reducer.

 Cont’d…
• The shaft and the pulley are treated as a
single structure. The resultant force on the
bearing (shaft) is the vector sum of belt
tensions, pulley weight, and weight of the
shaft. Note that the force on the shaft is
opposite to the direction of the resultant
force R.
Force on the shaft
R 5250
=   2625 =kg
2 2

T=3800kg

t=1600kg

W=1300kg

T=3800
t=1600

R=5250 W=1300
Typical Arrangements
Discharging Materials from the Belt
Magnetic Separation
Typical Cross-sections
 Typical Cross-sections

Flat Belts on Flat Belt Idlers:- especially used

to transport materials, which have steep angle of
repose, and they are useful when the material is
to be discharged at intermediate points by
ploughs or deflectors.
 Cont’d…

Flat Belts on Continuous Plate: A

continuous surface supporting the carrying
run of a belt is devised for light, mildly
abrasive materials where smooth even travel
is essential
 Cont’d…

Troughed Belts on 200 Idlers: the 200 trough

permits the use of the thickest belts so that the
heaviest materials and the maximum size of lumps
as coal, ore, earth and gravel can be carried. It is
most widely used cross-section for lump materials.
 Cont’d…

Troughed Belts on 450 Idlers of Equal and

Unequal length: they accommodate a large
cross-section of material than those
operating on idlers with rolls slopping 200.
 Cont’d…

Troughed belts on Continuous plate: they

convey many bulk materials in large
quantities than a flat belt. Covers are
provided when handling dusty materials.
Belt Conveyor Design Calculation
Basic Data Requirements
1. The material to be handled
2. Capacity peak or surge rate expressed in ton/hr
3. Path of travel
4. Feeding and discharge conditions
5. Operating conditions
6. Required life of installation
Preliminary Check
 Is the belt conveyor suitable for the
material?
 Is the angle of inclination is within safe
limits? etc.
Capacity of a Belt Conveyor
a.If the material to be conveyed is a unit load,
Q [tons/h]
Q  3.6qBv

b. If the material to be conveyed is in bulk

load, Q [tons/h].
Q  3.6Av
 Cont’d…
• If the belt conveyor has an inclination ,
then the capacity Q will be reduced by a
factor p.
Q  pQ

Cross-sectional Loading on Belt Conveyors

(B + 4) B 2
Af =
110
Ac = 2 A f
Where A f = cross-sectional area of the material
on the flat belt [m2]
 Cont’d…

Ac= cross-sectional area of the material on the troughed belt [m ]

2

B = belt width [m]

The assumptions used to arrive at the above

formulae are a 200 inclination of rollers and
angle of repose of material to be 300.
Resistance Forces
a, Frictional force on the moving parts
(belt, idlers, drum, etc)
r1  fq s l
r1  r1  r1  fq s l  fq s l
' '' ' ''

where = frictional forces due to moving parts

r1
f = coefficient of frictional force of the idlers
q s= weight of the moving part in kg/m of the belt
l = belt length between two drum centers [m]
 Cont’d…
b, Frictional force due to material
transport
r2  fq m l m
Where, q
m = weight of material transported [kg/m of belt]
l m = the distance that the material is transported [m].

c, Force required to overcome the level

difference
r3  q m H
Where, H = elevation difference
 Cont’d…
d, Discharging force

Fixed discharger:
r4  aq m
Mobile discharger:
r5  b
where a and b are discharge coefficients
 Cont’d

e. Fixed resistance: It takes into

consideration frictional forces at the
conveyor terminal bearing, at the
conveyor loading skirts and other minor
power absorbing terms.

l o  60  0.2l

r1  fq s (l  l o )
r2  fq m (l m  l o )
 Cont’d

The total resistance to motion, R,

R  r1  r2  r3  r4 (fixed discharge)

 r1  r2  r3  r5 (mobile discharge)
Belt Tension
The belt tensions, in addition to their
effect on power requirements they also
influence the design and selection of all
component parts.

Loads on Drive Pulleys

 Cont’d…

We know that R =T-t. The relationship between

T and t may be expressed T 
e
t
 Cont’d…
t min  50nB
coefficient of
 = wrap angle
n = number of cords of the belt
B = the width of the belt in meters
 Cont’d…
Belt Tension on an Inclined Belt Conveyor
'
2To  2(t  r1  Pn )
Pn
Where = reduction due to the weight
of the belt. The slack side tension, t,
must exert sufficient pressure between
the belt and the driving pulley to
transmit the required power with out
slippage. The adhesion (wheel grip)
between the belt and the driving pulley
can be increased by
 Cont’d…

i. Changing the pulley;

ii. Increasing the arc of contact and;
iii. Using stretchers (take ups).

Illustration to Increase the Arc of Contact

Number of Fibers

After calculating the tension, T, it is

possible to calculate the number of
fibers in the nucleus of the belt

T
n
KB where

n = number of fibers
K = resistance of one fiber per
unit width (5 to 7 kg/cm) and
B = width of the belt
Power Requirement

In order to determine the required

motor power [kW], we use the total
resistance R and calculate the power N.
Rv
N=
102

 = efficiency of the electromotor