Belt Conveyors
Definition
Belt conveyors are the most commonly used powered conveyors because they are the most versatile and the least expensive.
Application
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 large volumes of resources and agricultural materials such as grain, salt, coal, ore, sand, overburden and more.
Product is conveyed directly on the belt so both regular and irregular shaped objects, large or small, light and heavy, can be transported successfully.
Construction
Belt conveyors are generally fairly similar in construction consisting of a metal frame with rollers at either 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 from the heavier loading on the belting.