Conveyor belts, as a component of larger conveyor systems, play a crucial role in the development of the manufacturing sector. Distribution centers, production lines, and airports use it to move and store goods. This helpful tool has simplified transporting materials like sand, coal, and grains. The conveyor belt has many applications and is used in many different sectors, including the manufacturing and packaging industries, the food production sector, the energy sector, the textile sector, and many others.
A poorly maintained conveyor belt will negatively affect the system’s efficiency. Selecting the correct belt conveyors is crucial to the smooth operation of your system. How can you choose the best belt for your setup when so many options are available? Here are some key considerations that should simplify your choice-making process.
Important Factors While Choosing Conveyor Belts
- Cost
The conveyor belt accounts for a sizeable portion of the initial investment and ongoing maintenance fees. The belt and its splices should have as long a life as possible. Therefore, your initial investment and the potential future maintenance should be factored in when selecting the right belt conveyors.
Straight losses to the operation, as well as costs in clean up and collateral damage, might come from using a conveyor belt that is not volumetrically adequate for the duty. Many belts are built with too optimistic surcharge angles and lower edge clearances or run beyond their original design constraints.
Conveyor belt wear, damage to carcasses, belt tracking, and belt life are all increased by improper loading. A 20-kilometer conveyor (40-kilometer belting) will cost $8 million ($200 x 20 km). Each hour of downtime on 5,000-ton-per-hour conveyor results in a $400,000 loss, according to the current iron ore price of roughly $80 per tonne. Unexpectedly replacing just one reel of the belt would cost over $25 million in time, materials, and lost production if done over two days.
- History of the Belt’s Work
Ideally, a conveyor belt would last for at least a few years, preferably no less than ten, before giving up due to fatigue. Unfortunately, premature deaths are common in the mining business. Belts are susceptible to the same three forms of failure: wear, fatigue and overstress, and damage.
Transportation of low abrasive ores presents a lesser threat of cover wear. Having a thick enough cover, properly designing the loading chute, and paying attention to the speed and direction of the loads will all contribute to a long life for the belt.
Wear on short cycle conveyors of one millimeter per month has been seen while transporting abrasive ores like iron ore. For longer conveyors, a cover life of three years is adequate. Designing a load chute and skirt to reduce wear at the load point and selecting a cover material and thickness that extends the chute’s helpful life are both crucial. When a worn belt is wrapped around pulleys, the strain is redistributed because of the belt’s altered cross-section.
- The Conveyor Belt’s Design
The belt should wear evenly across its width when a conveyor is adequately planned, built, and run. Bias in tension and fatigue over the belt’s breadth is often the result of poorly designed transitions and turnovers, curves, tripper, and shuttle approaches. Localized high stresses in the belt, usually on the borders of the center, can lead to early fatigue if ore builds up on the pullies or if the cover wears significantly.
Damage to the cover and carcass, like cracked compounds and broken wires, is caused by fatigue. However, misalignment and over-tensioning can also cause uneven stresses across the belt. If even a small section of the belt’s width has given way, the belt’s overall strength has been compromised, and further failure is likely. This can cause the belts to break suddenly if not checked.
- Material
The material being moved and the nature of the associated material handling operations are key considerations when settling on the best conveyor design. Conveying and feeding are the two most common types of operations. When something is conveyed, it is moved from one location to another. The materials can be fed in either discrete batches or a continuous stream, and the delivery rate can be adjusted to accommodate time-sensitive orders. In short, think about how the material of your conveyor belt will be impacted by the type and quantity of the material being moved. Your material’s weight will test your belt’s strength, so be sure to take that into account when selecting a belt. When handling metal or other materials with sharp edges, you’ll want to ensure you’re using something sturdy. Your belt conveyor’s materials, including its belt’s thickness, must adhere to the standards of your industry.
- Operation
To operate, a conveyor must meet the demands of its intended purpose. Details and explanations are needed for certain aspects of the operation. There are two primary methods for transferring materials within a process: conveying and feeding. Manufacturers must recognize the distinction between the two when deciding on a conveyor system.
Simply put, conveying is the process of transporting goods from a collection point to a destination collection point. The rate at which this is completed is typically set in stone, and the time frame for delivery, while significant, is typically constrained to a minimum and maximum. One common application of conveyors is to restock surge hoppers, feeders, and other process machinery.
To describe how a conveyor should function, you must specify the following:
- Setting parameters for the volume of material and the available timeframe for its relocation.
- Knowing drop-off demand (where there may be multiple discharge points).
- To avoid accidental starvation, it is necessary to establish refill priority and determine the conditions that will trigger or halt a refill. This is especially necessary if there are multiple discharges.
When batching, it’s crucial to grasp delivery parameters like quantity, timeliness, and precision requirements. The amount of time the feeder is at rest between batches is also critical information to have. When feeding continuously, it’s essential to specify the rate and the accuracy.
Final Thought
When it comes to batch or continuous processing, the selection and sizing of a conveyor are two of the most critical factors in achieving output targets. It’s not easy to pick a suitable conveyor because many variables exist. Selecting the best conveying technology for your unique needs and maximizing your return on investment requires carefully considering the abovementioned factors and collecting as much accurate data as possible related to each component, ideally in collaboration with a reliable, experienced supplier.
