Design of Belt Conveyors

Step #2 Getting a Belt Profile

©2012 Dr. B. C. Paul

Note – Material in these slides include screen shots from the program “Belt Analyst”
by Overland Conveyors. Credit for program and interfaces are given to Overland
Conveyors. Procedures taught and many tables used were developed by the Conveyor
Equipment Manufactures Association. The author also referenced previous notes
developed by the author.
Move onto Belt Profile
A basic conveyor
Has a carry side
-A head and drive
-Pully
-A return side
-And a tail and
-Take-up pully
 Lets Work on the Profile
• 1000 feet level
• 600 feet up a 35 foot roll
• 500 feet level
• 750 feet down 55 feet into a trough
• 50 feet level
• 800 feet up a 30 foot roll
• 500 feet level
• 575 feet down 50 feet to the base of the slope
Input the new length

Now insert that uphill flight

To do this put the curser on

The spot just below where
You want to insert and then
Right click insert flight.
Note We Are Getting a General
Picture of Our Conveyor While
We Work
And There Is One Twist and
Turn Special
Lets Start Checking Out
the Drive

They need about a 200 hp motor to supply

158 hp. - 25,500 lb take-up Wow.
I Do Not Want My Belt
Drive to Be on My Head
Pully

Instead I want to separate the drive

From the head pully and put it here

Not unreasonable – who wants

Sticking coal dust going into the
Drive – I want room for a scraper.

I also want the drive on a level

Spot that does not accumulate
Water.
The Problem of the
Mirrored Return
Note that for every flight I inserted delivering
Material the program has automatically inserted
A corresponding return

The auto return told the program to do this.

Now I want to put the drive system in the

Middle of section 11.

That means I need to seize control and split

A belt flight. To do this I will go to user
Mode.
 Split the Flight

I am set to user

I place the curser on the flight I wish to

Divide. I right click the mouse to
Activate a drop down menu. On the menu
I pick divide flight into two segments.
 It Divides into two parts

Note it divided 500 feet into two 250 foot segments. If I don’t like the
Division I can position the curser and type in the change.
Now I’ll Move My Drive
Pulley

Click on the Drive

Pulley

Click on Move

It asks me where to
Move it.
There is Our New Drive
Location
 Of Course I Probably
Also Have Some Bend
Pullies around the Drive
 I Could Add Those Bend
Pullies (I’m not really going to)

Interesting item – when I place the curser and click insert pully the program already knew
It was a bend pully so I did not have to label anything. Also note that the conveyor
Sketch shows major pullies – not bend pullies.
Now I’m Going to Question
the Position of the Take-Up

Having the end roller move on a short

Belt is one thing. When its more than
A few hundred feet you can’t have the
Load point moving all over creation.
And a 14,500 lb take-up weight is not
A little thing either.
 Short Flat Conveyors can
have tail pulley pull back and
forth
With Good Headroom
One Can Use a Gravity
Take-Up
Long Conveyor Confined
Head-room
A Program Mechanics
Problem
I decide I want to put a take-up unit in the
Last 1000 feet before the tail pulley.

I put my curser on the section and try to

Split it.
I get no option to do so.

(The program has to have one conveyor

Segment it controls to make conveyor
Delivery and return lengths compatible).
I’ll Beat That Problem With
an Insert Flight Command

Note it inserted a flight and adjusted the length of its

Segment to compensate.
Now I Have Split Things
the Way I Want
 My Next Problem Is How
to Insert My Takeup
Pulley

I can insert a drive pulley (I already did that)

I can insert a pulley but that will be a bend pulley

The trick I will use is to move my takeup pulley

 To Move A Takeup
1- Put my curser on the take-up to
Be moved.

Click on Move

I click on my desired location.

It asks me where to move it to
And I Got My Result
I’ll Add Some Bend Pulleys to
Help me wrap things
Now I’ll Check Pulley
Specs
Click here to activate the Pulley Wizard

It will ask permission to add a few

Segments and snubs it feels are needed.
It adds short flights between
pulleys
Going Into the Wizard It Allows
Me to View My First Pulley

When I’m done

Here I can click
Next to move on
To the next
pulley
 The Wizards Coordinate
System
T1 is the incoming
Belt direction

T2 is the outgoing
Belt direction

0 direction is the
Forward direction
For material

These values in bold orange are program calculated but can be replaced by user
 The Left Side Determines
Incoming and Outgoing Belt
Directions
A 575 foot section going down hill at just shy of 5 degrees
Comes into the pulley

The return side goes 575 feet up hill.

Moving onto the Drive Pulley
Area Does Not Look Good

I’d like to see this

Mess a little better

Left click in the view

Field and then use
The center scroll to
Zoom in.
Our First Bend is Doing
Nothing
Note that the pulley
Under current
Review is Yellow

Note that right now

Our yellow bend
Pulley is
Do little more than
Touching the belt
OK – Time Out – What is
a Wrap Angle?

It is the angle over which the belt is in contact with

The pulley.
My Miracle Correction

First I lower the position at

Which the belt comes into
The bend pulley (the value
Was 0, now it is -5).

My reason for doing this is

To provide room for the
Note all of this moved Motor drive to run without
down. Plowing into the carrying
Belt overhead.
 My Next Step
I reversed the direction of pulley
Rotation from counter clockwise
To clockwise.

Note that this made the belt

Wrap 180 degrees around the
Pulley – although why a belt
Would reverse direction and
Pull away from a pulley in mid-
Air is a mystery of physics.

Note – the drive

Moved up into the
Space I provided.
For My Next Trick
I next reverse the
Direction of the belt
As it exits my bend
Pulley. It was -3,
Now it is 5.

(Note that the positive

Direction is the way
The load is moving on
The carry side).
Now I Will Try to Increase
Contact on My Drive Pulley
I will make the belt
Leave my bend pulley
On a downward
Trajectory {it was 0
Now it is -1} (which as
You can see increases
Wrap on the drive
Pulley)
A Manual Correction

I added the -11.31

Degree angle to the
Wrap angle on the
Bend pulley so the
T2 direction would
Match.
(I’m not really sure
Why the program did
Not make this
Reconciliation on its
Own)
 Time to Back Up
• Why was I so eager to increase the wrap
angle around the drive belt?
– The Drive Pulley is where the power of the
motor is transferred to the belt. – If the Pulley
spins we won’t get much action.
• So what makes the pulley not spin?
– #1 The coefficient of friction with which the
pulley grips the belt.
Standard Pulley Grip
Surfaces
 Oh Heavy Man
These are called Winged Pulleys

Of course the flip side of a high

Friction grip on the belt is belt
Wear.
 More Reasons for a Drive
Pulley Not to Spin
• #2 – The Force with which the pulley is
held against the belt.
– Ya – that physics stuff about the frictional force
is the force pinning the surfaces together X the
coefficient of friction
 That Force Comes from
T1 and T2

T1 T2 The flip side of pinning the

Belt tight against the pulley
Surface – that means a heck
Of a big T1 and T2 which
Means if I don’t want to
Break my belt in two I need
One heck of a strong $$$
Expensive belt.
Oh Gosh – This is looking like Statics
All over again.
 Reason #3
• The length of the area over which that force
and coefficient of friction is applied – ie the
wrap angle.
– If I lengthen the area of contact I can use less
aggressive pulley surfaces
– And have lower T1 and T2
– Both of which save me money and wear
After That Detour I Move
to My Next Pulley
This is the Drive Pulley!

I currently have another of

Those wild miracles where
A belt floats up and
Contacts a pulley (which I
Suspect is not really going
To happen)
I Reverse the Direction of
the Pulley
It was clockwise – now it is
Counter-clockwise.

This actually looks pretty

Good to me – I’ll move on
To the next pulley
Its Another Bend
Pulley

Since I am happy with this

Set-up I will move on.

(Incidentally I could go
Through my pulleys in
Any order using the drop
Down menu)
Oh – I’ve Got Another Mess
Around My Take-Up
With the Aide of My New
Found Skills I Fix This
 Well Moving onto the
Take-Up Was Not Friendly
 The Reverse Rotation
Direction Trick Works Well
I Love This One – How Do I Get a
360° Wrap Around a Pulley?

Mr Wizard must have

Found one of the better
College frat parties in
Town.
Reverse Direction
And My Tail Pulley Is Ok
 Lets Top Our Design Off
With Peripherals
• When I load my material
– I will use skirt boards
– I will also assume I have to accelerate my
material from zero spead
• I will discharge material over the end of my
conveyor without use of plows or trippers
– But I will use belt cleaners on the return side
 Skirt Board Rule of
Thumb
• Length = 2X Belt Speed / 100
• Our Belt Speed is 500
– 2X5 = 10 feet
Go to My Belt Profile
Note there is a slider for me to see more
About my profile. I this case I am
Worried about my 1000 ft initial
Carry section.
I Input My Skirt Board
Length

The program automatically figured out it was going

To have to accelerate the material
Put In My Belt Cleaners
on the Return Just Past
the Head
 Now Its Your Turn
• Conveyor Assignment #2
– Take your conveyor from assignment #1
– Assume your profile is
• 500 feet up hill 5 feet
• 200 feet on the level
• 650 feet down 7 feet to the main line conveyor
– Input the profile and get you take-ups and
drives in place
– Turn in your Belt Analyst File