Conveyor belt From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about industrial conveyor belts.

For information on the global f low of sea currents, see Thermohaline circulation. Point of contact between a power transmission belt and its pulley. A conveyor be lt uses a wide belt and pulleys and is supported by rollers or a flat pan along its path. These conveyor structures contain belts for moving bulk sulfur from railcars to storage piles and from the piles to ships. A conveyor belt (or belt conveyor) consists of two or more pulleys, with a conti nuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or bot h of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forwa rd. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport industrial and agricu ltural materials, such as grain, coal, ores, etc. generally in outdoor locations . Generally companies providing general material handling type belt conveyors do not provide the conveyors for bulk material handling. In addition there are a n umber of commercial applications of belt conveyors such as those in grocery stor es. The belt consists of one or more layers of material. They can be made out of rub ber. Many belts in general material handling have two layers. An under layer of material to provide linear strength and shape called a carcass and an over layer called the cover. The carcass is often a cotton or plastic web or mesh. The cov er is often various rubber or plastic compounds specified by use of the belt. Co vers can be made from more exotic materials for unusual applications such as sil icone for heat or gum rubber when traction is essential. Material flowing over the belt may be weighed in transit using a beltweigher. Be lts with regularly spaced partitions, known as elevator belts, are used for tran sporting loose materials up steep inclines. Belt Conveyors are used in self-unlo ading bulk freighters and in live bottom trucks. Conveyor technology is also use d in conveyor transport such as moving sidewalks or escalators, as well as on ma ny manufacturing assembly lines. Stores often have conveyor belts at the check-o ut counter to move shopping items. Ski areas also use conveyor belts to transpor t skiers up the hill. A wide variety of related conveying machines are available, different as regards principle of operation, means and direction of conveyance, including screw conv eyors, vibrating conveyors, pneumatic conveyors, the moving floor system, which uses reciprocating slats to move cargo, and roller conveyor system, which uses a series of powered rollers to convey boxes or pallets. Contents [hide] 1 Belt conveyor systems 2 Long belt conveyors 3 History 4 See also 5 References [edit]Belt conveyor systems Conveyors are durable and reliable components used in automated distribution and warehousing.[1] In combination with computer controlled pallet handling equipme nt this allows for more efficient retail, wholesale, and manufacturing distribut ion. It is considered a labor saving system that allows large volumes to move ra pidly through a process, allowing companies to ship or receive higher volumes wi th smaller storage space and with less labor expense. Rubber conveyor belts are commonly used to convey items with irregular bottom su rfaces, small items that would fall in between rollers (e.g. a sushi conveyor ba

r), or bags of product that would sag between rollers. Belt conveyors are genera lly fairly similar in construction consisting of a metal frame with rollers at e ither end of a flat metal bed. The belt is looped around each of the rollers and when one of the rollers is powered (by an electrical motor) the belting slides across the solid metal frame bed, moving the product. In heavy use applications the beds which the belting is pulled over are replaced with rollers. The rollers allow weight to be conveyed as they reduce the amount of friction generated fro m the heavier loading on the belting. Belt conveyors can now be manufactured wit h curved sections which use tapered rollers and curved belting to convey product s around a corner. These conveyor systems are commonly used in postal sorting of fices and airport baggage handling systems. A sandwich belt conveyor uses two co nveyor belts, face-to-face, to firmly contain the item being carried, making ste ep incline and even vertical-lift runs achievable. Belt conveyors are the most commonly used powered conveyors because they are the most versatile and the least expensive. Product is conveyed directly on the bel t so both regular and irregular shaped objects, large or small, light and heavy, can be transported successfully. These conveyors should use only the highest qu ality premium belting products, which reduces belt stretch and results in less m aintenance for tension adjustments. Belt conveyors can be used to transport prod uct in a straight line or through changes in elevation or direction. In certain applications they can also be used for static accumulation or cartons. Belt Conveyor systems at a Packing Depot

Baggage Handling Belt Conveyor systems

Accumulation conveyor for cartons and totes in a fashion distribution centre [edit]Long belt conveyors The longest belt conveyor system in the world is in Western Sahara. It is 98 km long, from the phosphate mines of Bu Craa to the coast south of El-Aaiun.[2] The longest conveyor system in an Airport is the Dubai International Airport bag gage handling system at 92 km. It was installed by Siemens and commissioned in 2 008, and has a combination of traditional belt conveyors and tray conveyors.[cit ation needed] The longest single belt conveyor runs from Meghalaya in India to Sylhet in Bangl adesh.[3][4][5] It is about 17 km long and conveys limestone and shale at 960 to ns/hr, from the quarry in India to a cement factory in Bangladesh (7 km long in India and 10 km long in Bangladesh). The conveyor was engineered by AUMUND Franc e and Larsen & Toubro. The conveyor is actuated by 3 synchronized drive units fo r a total power of about 1.8 MW (2 drives at the head end in Bangladesh and 1 dr ive at the tail end in India). The conveyor belt was manufactured in 300-meter l engths on the Indian side and 500-meter lengths on the Bangladesh side, and was installed onsite by NILOS India. The idlers, or rollers, of the system are uniqu e in that they are designed to accommodate both horizontal and vertical curves a long the terrain. Dedicated vehicles were designed for the maintenance of the co nveyor, which is always at a minimum height of 5 meters above the ground to avoi d being flooded during monsoon periods. [edit]History Primitive conveyor belts were used since the 19th century. In 1892, Thomas Robin s began a series of inventions which led to the development of a conveyor belt u sed for carrying coal, ores and other products.[6] In 1901, Sandvik invented and started the production of steel conveyor belts. In 1905 Richard Sutcliffe inven ted the first conveyor belts for use in coal mines which revolutionized the mini

ng industry. In 1913, Henry Ford introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines at Ford Motor Company's Highland Park, Michigan factory.[7] In 1972, the French society REI created in New Caledonia the then longest straight-belt conveyor in the wor ld, at a length of 13.8 km. Hyacynthe Marcel Bocchetti was the concept designer. [citation needed] In 1957, the B. F. Goodrich Company patented a conveyor belt t hat it went on to produce as the Turnover Conveyor Belt System. Incorporating a half-twist, it had the advantage over conventional belts of a longer life becaus e it could expose all of its surface area to wear and tear. Mbius strip belts are no longer manufactured because untwisted modern belts can be made more durable by constructing them from several layers of different materials.[8] In 1963-64, First Indian Small Scale Industrial Unit with Japanese Plant for Rubber Belts fo r Conveyor / Elevator / Transmission was installed near National Capital Territo ry of Delhi and its MrBelts Conveyor Belting has been widely used in Steel, Ceme nt, Fertilizer, Thermal Power, Sponge Iron Plants and Coal / Mineral establishme nts / Mines, Port Trusts and similar material handling applications of Industry for the last over 4 decades;