Determination and calculation of

light conveyor belts

Required data
MUST for belt selection
Type of goods Adhesive or non-adhesive conveying side Slider bed or carrying rollers ? Smallest pulley diameter

MUST for determination and calculation

Total load Belt width

MUST for special applications

Chemical influences Max. / min. temperature

Conveying length
Material of slider bed

Height of inclination
Arc of contact on driving pulley Driving pulley steel or with friction cover

Acceleration Accumulation Special requirements: Diverting FDA; USDA; EU Flame-retardant Profiles Low noise, etc. Perforation etc. Spec. operation conditions Antistatic requirements Curved application Knife edge (edge radius)

Special requirements ?

Head / tail / center drive

Reverse operation

Procedure by stages
1. Selection of the optimal belt type:

material properties structure

2. Determination of the required belt tensile class
3. Exact calculation of peripheral force, belt tensile force, initial tension, shaft load, required motor power etc.

1. Selection of the optimal belt type

Conveying side material structure
PVC, TPU, PUR, NBR, EPDM, SI, etc.

properties Hard, non-adhesive, adhesive, soft

Smooth, mat (rough), impregnated Textile, waffle, grooves Non-woven (fleece) Fabric, impregnated, covered, low noise Non-antistatic / antistatic / conductive Suitable for smallest pulley diameter / knife edge FDA / USDA / EU conformable Temperature or chemical resistance Suitable for power turns, metal detectors Flame-retardant

Running side Special characteristics

2a. Determination of the belt tensile class

With the given data
Total load (mass of carried goods on total conveying length) m [kg] Belt width b0 [mm] Coeff. of slider friction mG [-] (for slider bed) Conveying length lT [mm] (for carrying rollers) Ratio of inclination hT/lT [-] Arc of contact b [] Driving pulley steel or lagged

the required belt tensile class can be determined

In most cases 3 values are sufficient for a conveyor belt determination

1. Belt type
(Material, surface structure, tensile class)

2. Belt width bo (given through application) 3. Belt length lg (given by installation design)
Conveyor belts are normally tensioned according to the actual application (load, operation conditions etc. )
The recommended minimal initial tension has to be observed: PES-fabric belts emin = 0.3 % PA-fabric belts emin = 0.5 %

3. Exact calculation
In cases where data like the following are required an exact calculation has to be done:
Exact initial tension eo Shaft load FW on driving pulley and rollers Required motor power Pulley deflection Minimal diameter and wall thickness of pulleys

First of all the peripheral force FU has to be determined.

Peripheral force FU with slider bed

Peripheral force

FU 12 mG m mB

m Total mass of carried goods [kg] mB Mass of the belt carried over the slider bed m = lT bo m"B [kg] mG Dynamic coefficient of friction between belt and slider bed [-]

Coefficient of friction mG *
Slider bed material Stainless steel Approx. value mG * 0.15

Pickled steel
Duroplastic Hard wood

0.20
0.25 0.30

* For belt running side of fabric and fabric impregnated

Forces on the driving pulley

FU = F1 - F2

Equation of Eytelwein

F1 e F2
F1 F2 mA b e

mb

Tensile force in the tight side [N] Tensile force in the slack side [N] Coefficient of static friction between belt and pulley [-] Arc of contact on driving pulley [rad] 2.718; Euler's constant, basis of natural logarithms [-]

Place of the driving pulley

Depending on the place of the driving pulley, the initial tension eo and the shaft load FW are different: Head drive Tail drive

Centre drive

Head drive

Initial tension

e1 3 e2 eo 4

%
Shaft load on tail roller FWU = 2 F2 [N]

Shaft load on driving pulley FWA = F1 + F2 [N]

Note: With reverse operation, the formulas are different

Tail drive

Initial tension

3 e1 e2 eo 4

%
Shaft load on head roller

Shaft load on driving pulley

FWA = F1 + F2

[N]

FWU = 2 F1

[N]

Highest possible shaft load!

Center drive
Initial tension

eo

2 e1 2 e2 4

%
on driving pulley on tail roller

Shaft load on head roller

FWH = 2 F1

[N]

FWA = F1 + F2

[N]

FWU = 2 F2

[N]

Highest possible shaft load!