Beginners Guide

Basics

Functional Description (refer to figure below)

A troughed belt conveyor comprises an endless, rubberized flat belt (a) suspended between pulleys at either end and supported along its length by a number of rotating idler rollers (b). The belt is driven via one of the pulleys (usually the head pulley (c)) and the tension in the belt is maintained by using a sliding pulley (d) which is tied to a gravity take-up unit (e).

The material (f) is loaded onto the conveyor at the tail-end via a chute (g) and is transported along the carrying-side (h) to the head-end where it discharges into a discharge chute (i) which guides the product onto the downstream equipment.

Impact idlers (j) are located at the loading point to support the belt where the load impacts onto the belt as it is dropped down the loading chute.

Once the material has been discharged from the carrying belt, the return belt (k) is guided back to the tail pulley on return idlers (l). 

The impact, carrying and return idlers are spaced at different intervals. On the carrying-side, the mass of the belt plus the load conveyed is greater than the mass to be supported on the return-side and thus, for the tension in the conveyor belt (by the take-up and induced by the drive unit), the idler spacing is selected accordingly. This 'sag' in the belt between the carrying and return idler sets must therefore be designed on the basis of the heaviest load that the conveyor is to transport.

Snub pulleys (m) are sometimes incorporated into the design of a conveyor in order to increase the angle of wrap (n) of the belt on the drive pulley. The greater wrap angle on the pulley allows more power to be introduced into the belt as is passes around the drive pulley without slip occurring. In this way, fewer drives are needed on longer conveyors or conveyors with high conveying loads.

For a detailed view of a troughed belt conveyor click here to be routed to the "anatomy" of a trough belt conveyor, or click the appropriate item on the contents bar to the left of your screen.