Flexible Mechanical Elements

Flexible mechanical elements such as belts, chains and wire ropes are widely used in
industrial applications. They are mainly used to transmit power, to increase or
decrease speed or torque, and they are used in conveying systems.
The main advantages of flexible machine elements include:
The use of flexible elements simplifies the design and reduces cost.
They can be used to transmit power over relatively long distances.
They generally have high efficiency that ranges from 90% to 98%.
They can drive several shafts from a single power source.
They tolerate some degree of misalignment between the driven and the
driver machines.
They play a role in absorbing shock loads and reducing vibrations (since they
are elastic and usually long).

Belts
A belt is a loop of highly flexible material (usually reinforced
rubber or polymer) that is used to mechanically link rotating
shafts. Belts are looped over pulleys (also called sheaves)
and they can be used for connecting several shafts together,
such as seen in the figure. The major disadvantage of belts
is that they have shorter life than gears, shafts, etc.(they
usually fail due to wear or creep).
Belts must have a pre-tension and they transmit power due to the friction
between the belt and the pulley.
There are two main configurations for belt drives; open and crossed (such as
seen in the figure). The open drive is the most common and the two pulleys will
rotate in the same direction. The direction of rotation will be reversed for the
crossed belt drive, however this configuration is only possible for some types of
belts.

Open belt drives can sometimes be configured

to reverse the direction of rotation as seen in
the figure (this configration is not possible
with all types of belts since friction need to be

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 supported by both faces of belt).
Due to the transmission of power, tension will
increase in one side of the belt drive, called the
tight side, and it will decrease in the other side
making it somehow loose, called the loose side,
such as seen in the figure. The tight and loose
sides can be determined based on the direction of rotation of the driver pulley.
Belts are mostly used for connecting parallel
pulleys, but they can also be used with out-of-
plane pulleys as shown in figure.
Belts are tightened when they are installed,
however belt tension is reduced with time (due to
creep) and that can cause slipping of the belt.
Frequently, a spring loaded tensioning pulley is
used to maintain constant tension in the belt, as
shown in the figure.
The ability of a belt to transmit power without slipping
depends, among other factors, on the contact angle between
the belt and the pulley, as illustrated in the figure. Increasing
the contact angle increases the ability of the belt to transmit
power without slipping. Generally
speaking, the contact angle should be
about 100 or more for power
transmitting pulleys. When several
pulleys are connected using a single
belt (such as the case in automobiles),
idler pulleys can be used to increase
the contact angle when needed, as
seen in the figure (the lower idler
pulley is used to increase the contact
angles for the crankshaft and A/C
compressor pulleys).
The general characteristics of belt drives include:
Can be used for long center distances.
Pulley axis must be separated by certain minimum distance (usually the
centers distance should not be smaller than the diameter of the larger pulley).
Why?

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 Except for timing belts, there is some slipping between belt and pulley, thus
angular velocity ratio is not constant nor it is equal to the ratio of pulley
diameters.
Speed or torque ratio calculations of belt drives are based on the pitch
diameter of the pulleys which is slightly different than the actual diameter.
For all types of belts, there is a minimum recommended pulley diameter
where that is based on the type of belt and its thickness. The larger the
thickness, the larger the diameter should be.
It is always preferable to use larger diameter pulleys, when possible, since
that reduces the tension developed due to the flexing of the belt.

Flat Belts
Flat belts are the simplest type of belts where they have a rectangular
cross-section as seen in the figure. The thickness of flat belts is usually
small compared to its width and the typical thickness of flat belts
ranges from 1 mm to 5 mm.
In general, flat belts are mostly used for transmitting power over a long centers
distance.
They usually come in rolls and they are cut to desired length then the ends are
joined.
Usually, crowned pulleys (having convex surface) with flanged edges,
as seen in the figure, are used for flat belts to make them self center
and prevent them from running out of the pulley.
Flat belt drives produce very little noise and they are efficient in absorbing
vibrations from the system.
Other than being used for power transmission, flat belts
are commonly used in conveying systems to
continuously carry a load between two points, as shown
in the figure.
Traditional rectangular section flat belts are now rarely being
used for power transmission applications. Instead, ribbed flat
belts are used nowadays. Ribbed belts have multiple v-shaped
ribs on their inner surface and they are used with multi-v-
grooved pulleys, as shown in the figure. The multiple v-ribs
increase the friction surface area and prevent the belt from
moving in the lateral direction.

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Round Belts
Round belts have a circular cross-section and they are
generally used in relatively low power applications. Because of
their circular cross-section, round belts are suitable for
applications that require the belt to run in different planes,
such as seen in the figure.
Round belts are available in different diameters and lengths; also, they can come
in the form of rolls where they are cut to length and joined.
The pulleys used for round belts have either 60 V-groove or a round groove. The
V-grooves are used for pulleys that transmit power (the belt is wedged into the
groove to increase friction), while the round grooves are used for the idler
pulleys that guide the belt.

V-Belts
V-belts have symmetric trapezoidal cross-section (as shown in the
figure) and they are mainly used for power transmission,
especially for high power applications.
The cross-sectional dimensions and lengths of V-belts are
standardized and they are used with V-grooved pulleys
(commonly referred to as sheaves), as shown in the figure.
V-belts are meant to flex in one direction only. For applications
where flexing in both directions is needed, Double-sided V-belt
sections (as seen in the figure) can be used.
The different cross-sectional sizes are designated by letter codes.
The standard ISO cross-sections for V-belts follow the American standard, so the
dimensions are originally in inches.
The table lists the standard ANSI V-belt sections (Classic Series) along with their
specifications (note that dimensions are specified in inches).

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 The tables below give the specifications of the standard ISO V-belt sections.

A V-belt can be specified by the cross-section letter followed by the inside

circumference length.
Example: C-1500 belt has C section and 1500 mm inside circumference length.
However, calculations involving the belt length are usually based on pitch
length which is larger than the inside length. Thus, a certain number is added
to the inside length, according to the cross-section letter, to obtain the pitch
length.
The V-angle for standard V-belts is 40; however the groove angle of the pulley
is slightly smaller and that causes the belt to wedge itself inside the groove to
increase friction (the friction is mainly on the side surfaces rather than on inner
surface).
The groove angle of V-belt pulleys ranges from 32 to 38 depending on the
pulley diameter (the angle increases as the diameter increases).
The operating speed for V-belts needs to be high and the recommended speed
range is from 5 to 25 m/s. Best performance is obtained at speed of 20 m/s.

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 While there are no limitations on the center-to-center distance for flat belts, for
V-belts the centers distance should not exceed 3(Large pulley diameter +
Small pulley diameter) because the excessive vibrations of the loose side will
shorten the belt life. why?
When a single V-belt is not enough to transmit the power,
multiple V-belts placed besides each other in multi-groove
pulleys can be used, as seen in the figure. Due to safety
considerations, the use of multiple small section belts is
always better than using a single larger section belt.
The cogged V-belt, shown in the figure, is a special type of
V-belts that can be used with smaller diameter pulleys
where the cogged inner surface allows the belt to flex more
easily (without developing very high tension in the belt).

Timing Belts
Timing belts (also known as toothed belts) are belts
with teeth on the inner surface that fit into a
matching toothed pulley, as shown in the figure.
Unlike other types of belts, timing belts have no
slippage and run at constant speed. Thus, they are
often used to transfer motion for indexing or timing purposes (such as the timing
between the crack and cam shafts in internal combustion engines).
Timing belts need the least tension of all belts, and are among the most efficient.
Also, timing belts can transmit high power (more than 100 kW) and they are
increasingly being used instead of roller chains or gears since they are less noisy
and lubrication bath is not necessary.
Timing belts are standardized, and the parameters used for specifying a timing
belt are the tooth profile, pitch, width and length.

Belt Drives Speed Ratio

Though slipping generally occurs with belts (except for timing belts), but theoretical
speed ratio is calculated in order to estimate the velocity of driven pulleys.
The driven pulley speed obtained using theoretical calculations is basically the
maximum speed that can be achieved by the driven pulley.
The speed ratio for belt drives is defined same as for gears and it is calculated
based on the pitch diameters of the pulleys:

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= =

It should be noted that the pitch diameter is slightly different than the actual
diameter of the pulley.
For flat belt pulleys, the pitch diameter is equal to the actual pulley
diameter plus the belt thickness.
For other types of belts, the relations between the actual pulley diameter
and the pitch diameter are defined by the standards and it depends on the
belt section.

The speed ratio for timing belt drives is calculated based on the number of teeth
of the pulleys rather than the pitch diameters.

= =

Other Applications of Belts

In addition to the typical applications of belts in power transmission and conveying
systems, belts may also used in other applications such as:
Obtaining clutching action.
Obtaining different speed ratios.
Obtaining continuously variable speed ratio.
The figure shows some examples.

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Roller Chains
A roller chain consists of a series of short cylindrical
rollers held together by side links and it is driven by a
toothed wheel called a sprocket. Roller chains are
mainly used for transmission of mechanical power in
many different types of machinery, motorcycles,
bicycles, etc. and they are also used in conveyors. In
general, roller chain drives provide simple, reliable,
and efficient means of power transmission.
A typical roller chain consist of two types of links in
alternating order. The first type is inner links which have
two inner plates held together by two sleeves upon
which rotate two rollers. The second type is the outer
links which consist of two outer plates held together by
pins passing through the sleeves of the inner links. The
two ends of a chain are held together using a "locking
link" which is similar to the outer links but one of its
plates can be removed, as seen in the figure.
The offset sidebar roller chain is another type of chains
that uses a single repeating link as shown in the figure.
However, this type of chains is not widely used as the
other traditional two links type.
The basic features of chain drives include:
Constant speed ratio (since no slippage or creep is involved).
Long life (much longer than that of belts).
The ability to drive a number of sprockets from a single source of power (they
can drive sprockets on both sides of the chain allowing some sprockets to
rotate in reversed direction, if needed).
Roller chains are standardized. The figure shows
the nomenclature used for specifying the size of
a chain; pitch (the linear distance between the
centers of the rollers), width (the space between
the plates of the inner link), and the roller
diameter.
Standard roller chains are manufactured in single, double, triple, and quadruple
strands.

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 The standard ISO sizes of roller chains follow both the British and the American
standards, so chains dimension increments are in inches.
The table gives the standard ISO roller chain sizes where the size is identified
using a chain number code. (chain numbers with "B" follow the British
standard, chain numbers with "A" follow the American standard, "-1" means
single strand chain)

Unlike gears and pelt drives which maintain

constant angular velocity ratio during
rotation, the angular velocity of a roller chain
drive varies during the rotation of the
sprocket. The figure illustrates the cause of
this variation. In the position shown, the
vertical distance between the centerline and
tight side of the chain is equal to the pitch
radius of the sprocket. However, when the
sprocket rotates by an angle equal to (2),
the magnitude of the vertical distance will be
reduced by () causing the chain velocity to be reduced.
The amount of variation in the angular velocity decreases as the number of
sprocket teeth increases. Thus, to minimize this variation and obtain smooth
operation at moderate and high speeds, it is usually recommended to use
sprockets with at least 17 teeth.

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Wire Ropes
Wire ropes (or cables) are made out of several strands of steel
wires twisted in the shape of a helix.
Wire ropes are used in many different applications such as in
hoists, elevators, transportation industry, aircraft, etc.
There are two basic ways of winding of
wire ropes:
Regular lay: wires and strands are
twisted in opposite directions (do
not kink or untwist).
Lang lay: wires and strands are
twisted in the same direction (more
resistance to wear and fatigue).
Ropes are designated by size (nominal diameter) and
configuration.
For example: 25-mm 67 rope means: diameter is 25
mm and has 6 strands each having 7 wires, as shown in
the figure.
Wire ropes are available in a wide range of sizes starting
from less than 1 mm and going all the way to more than 100 mm.
The core of wire ropes is usually filled with small diameter wires that are mainly
used to maintain the shape of the wire but does not contribute much to the load
carrying capability of the rope.
When a rope passes around a pulley, bending stress develops in the rope
(especially in the outer wires) due to flexing. The smaller the pulley diameter, the
higher the stress is. Thus, it is recommended to use larger diameter pulleys when
possible.
Wire rope manufacturers specify a minimum pulley diameter to be used with
each type of ropes where the minimum recommended diameter increases as the
rope diameter increases. Typical values of the minimum recommended pulley
diameter range from 20 to 40 times the rope diameter.
The fatigue failure of wire ropes is not sudden, as in solid bodies, but rather
progressive. It shows as breaking of the outside wires (since they are subjected to
highest stress). Therefore it can be detected by periodic inspection.

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