Finite Element Analysis: Troughing idlers for conveyor belts

I have a fair degree of FE experience. What is it that you are expecting from an analysis if a conveyor?

I need to ascertain the distribution of stress along the cross section of the troughing idlers to see where are the high stress concentation areas and high wear areas.

We could perform a static FE analysis on a portion of the system if can establish the loading conditions. FE is probably not the tool to do this dynamically with the whole system.

The worst condition might be at the traction rollers or maybe where the payload first strikes the conveyor. Does operating experience indicate where? What is the payload and how is it placed on the conveyor, I mean manually, robotically or fed from another part of the line maybe by gravity?

There's a lot more to ascertaining how long the conveyor belt will last. Such as how many ply is the belt and what width? Is it unfaced, pvc, rubber press cured, chevron or rough top? Does it travel under deflectors or drop off the head end. What is it transporting? Are there impact cones, pnuematic tires or just a slider bed.

Preventive maintenance dealing with tracking, lubricating return and load rollers as well as drive and snubber pulleys also determines belt life span. If it's not tracking correctly belt wear on the edges can cause lacing to tear or the belt to jam and rip. You may consider vulcanizing the belt rather than alligator or pin lacing. Take-up assemblies can also reduce impact on the belt. For longer or larger belts, gravity take-ups or horizontal cable and weights can adjust for impact reduction and less jarring of the components. Preventive maintenance cannot be stressed enough for extended life of all components. Grit and contaminants can be your greatest enemy. What kind of drive is there and what is controlling it. Is it chain, belt or direct drive? Is there a smart motor controller or VFD or is it just instantaneous start up with jam relays and overloads? All these factors can affect your belt.

Do your P.M. regularly and monitor the wear. You will eventually see that regular usage will dictate when a belt should be ready for failure and plan ahead to have one on hand.

Any good belt manufacturer will be happy to assist you in choosing the right belt for the job. They will even bring samples in for you to examine.

Good Luck

Thanks guys,

The information that you provided will help a lot.