MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT

Lecture Four
Conveyors

Outlines
 Introduction
 Belt conveyors
 Oscillating conveyors
 Chain conveyors

By: Amanuel D.
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Definition
– A conveyor is a mechanized device to move materials in
relatively large quantities between specific locations over a
fixed path.
– Conveyor is equipment used to move materials over fixed
path between specific points.
Conveyors are used:
– When material is to be moved frequently between specific
points.
– To move materials over a fixed path
– When there is a sufficient flow volume to justify the fixed
conveyor investment
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Benefits of Conveyors
– Automation of the flow of products
– Continuous flow of materials
– May be set up almost any place
– Can be utilized to move almost anything
– Improve safety, order accuracy, labor cost
– Shorten time from order to shipment

Conveyors can be classified in different ways:

– Type of product being handled: unit load or bulk load
– Location of the conveyor: in-floor, on-floor, or overhead
– Whether loads can accumulate on the conveyor or no
accumulation is possible
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 Some types of conveyors are:-

1. Chute conveyor 10. Vibrating conveyor

2. Wheel conveyor 11. Screw conveyor

3. Roller conveyor
4. Chain conveyor
5. Slat conveyor
6. Belt conveyor
7. Magnetic belt conveyor
8. Troughed belt conveyor
9. Bucket conveyor
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By: Amanuel DiribaOscillating conveyors
12. Pneumatic conveyor
13. Vertical conveyor
14. Cart-on-track conveyor
15. Tow conveyor
16. Trolley conveyor
17. Power-and-free conveyor
18. Monorail
19. Sortation conveyor
20.
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 1. Belt conveyors
• A belt conveyor consists of an endless flat and flexible belt of
sufficient strength, made of fabric , rubber, plastic, leather or metal,
which is laid over two metallic flat pulleys at two ends, and driven
in one direction by driving one of the two end pulleys.
• The endless belt is kept taught by a belt tensioning arrangement

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• Belt conveyors occupy an outstanding position in the field of
bulk material handling.

• They are the most multipurpose and widely used of all conveyors

• The range of sizes, which may be handled, is limited only by the

width of the belt.

• They can handle a wide range of capacities over longer

distance than possible with other types of conveyors system.

• Many varied arrangements or paths of belt conveyors are

possible.

• They can be any combination of horizontal ascending or

descending path.
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• Belt conveyors are the mostly used for transport of solid
objects and bulk materials at great speed, covering great
distances (up to 30 km)
General Characteristics
i. Belt conveyors operate in one horizontally or with an inclination
(up or down) depending on the frictional property of the load
conveyed.
ii. For changing direction of the materials being conveyed, in the
horizontal plane, more than one belt conveyors are needed.
iii. Conveying capacity of a conveyor can be controlled by changing
belt speed.
iv. Belt conveyors are generally employed for continuous flow of
materials.
v. Metal/special belts can carry hot, abrasive or reactive materials
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Advantages of Belt Conveyor
Silent continuous transport.
Require less manpower.
Economical, low power consumption.
Require simple arrangements both at loading and unloading
ends.
Low maintenance cost.
Multipoint loading is convenient.

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Disadvantages
 Vertical transportation can not be done.
 A separate arrangement for material handling is required.
 Hot materials can not be transported.
 High initial cost for short distances.
 Not suitable for shorter distance and inclination > 20º
 Not suitable for dust particles and slurry.

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 Belt conveyors components
• The belt conveyor is composed of the belt, the idlers, the
pulleys, the driven equipment, the take-up and the supporting
structure.

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1. Conveyor belting
• The belt is an endless moving rubber covered conveyor for
transporting materials.
• The belt conveyor is made of special wear and impact resisting
rubber compound with cord breaker strip impeded in tough
rubber.

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2. Belt idlers
• The idlers are used to carry and train the belt.
• Idlers must be selected to properly protect and support the belt
and load to be carried.
• The types of belt idlers with in the series include 20 degree
and 45 degree toughing cushion, belt training, flat belt and
return idlers.

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3. Drives
• The drive equipment used for transmitting power from the
motor to the driving pulley or pulleys.
• Practically all belt conveyors are driven by an electric motor
directly connected to a speed reducer unit through a flexible
coupling.

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4. Take – ups
• The take – ups used to maintain the slack side tension

• Every belt conveyors must be equipped with a take – ups to:

– Allow for stretch and shrinkage of the belt due to variation of

temperature and atmospheric pressure.

– Insure that the maximum tension in the belt is sufficient to

prevent undue sag between idlers.

– Insure that the tension in the belt in the back of the drive
pulley is sufficient to permit such pulley to transmit the load.

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Cont..
• The basic types of take – up used for belt conveyors are automatic
counter weighted types(a and b) and manually adjusted screw
types (c) for vertical or horizontal travel.

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5. Pulleys, shafts and bearings
• The pulleys with their shafts and bearing used to drive the belt
and change its direction of travel.
6. Supporting structure
• The structure is which supports and maintain alignment of idlers,
pulleys and the drive.

• The adhesion ( wheel grip) between the belt and the driving
pulley can be increased by
i. Changing the pulley
ii. Increasing the arc of contact
iii. Using stretchers(take – ups)

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 Types of Belt conveyors
(a) Flat Belt Conveyor :
• In this conveyor, the active side of belt remains flat supported
by cylindrical rollers or flat slider bed.
• The conveyor is generally short in length and suitable for
conveying unit loads like crates, boxes, packages, etc. in
manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and assembly operations.

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(b) Troughed Belt Conveyor :

• In this conveyor, comparatively wide flat belt is supported on

troughed carrying rollers or shaped supporting surface so
that the two edges of the active side of the belt are elevated from
the middle part to form a trough.

• This provides a greater carrying capacity than a flat belt of equal

width for conveying bulk materials or those materials which
would slide off flat belts.

• These conveyors are used in handling bulk materials of different

classes.

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(c) Closed Belt Conveyor:
• In a closed belt conveyor, the specially fabricated belt, after
being loaded with the material, can be wrapped completely
around the load.
• It essentially forms a closed tube moving along with the
material.
The advantages of a closed belt conveyor are:
i. it can handle fragile materials safely and without breaking by
reducing inter particle collision,
ii. it can handle fine bulk materials without being swept by air
(however, it is not really air tight at loading and unloading
points),
iii. ability to handle corrosive and reactive materials without
contamination and
iv. the tubed belt can travel around bends in more than one plane
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(d) Metallic Belt Conveyor:
• This is a flat belt conveyor where the flexible belt is replaced
by a cold rolled carbon or stainless steel strip belt of
thickness from 0.6 mm to 1.2 mm.
• Metallic strip belt conveyors are used in food, chemical industry
and for conveying hot and reactive loads.
• Wire-mesh belts are being widely used to handle unit and lump
materials through furnaces (up to 1000°C temperature), as
mobile base for baking industry and also for wetting, cooling,
dehydrating and similar operations.

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(e) Portable Conveyor:
• Short length flat conveyors carried on a wheeled structure is
termed portable conveyor.
• These are particularly useful for loading and unloading of trucks
/ transport vehicles.
• The inclination of the conveyor can generally be adjusted to suit
application.

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(f) Chain or Rope Driven Belt Conveyor:
• In which the specially designed belt is driven by a moving
chain or rope, where belt only serves as load carrier, and
motion is by a chain or rope conveyor

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(g) Submerged Belt Conveyor :
– In which a portion of the belt moves through a metallic
trough (casing) which is filled with free flowing, powdered
material at the loading end.
– The moving belt with holes, makes the material flow to the
unloading end of the trough.

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 2. Oscillating conveyors
• A type of vibrating conveyor having a relatively low frequency and large
amplitude of motion
• Oscillating conveyors move materials in a uniform, continuous flow
by the upward and forward oscillating motion of a continuous metal
trough, mounted on robust inclined reactor legs.
• The angle of α Inclination of the conveyor arm may vary from 25 to
30degree.
• The movement of the conveyor follows harmonic motion and is governed by
the equation.

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Advantages of Oscillating Conveyors:
– simple construction and easy maintenance,
– high strength and hard mining conditions resistance,
– relatively low investments costs,
– easy to disassemble, move and assemble,
– easy and quick extension and shortening of trough,
– safety ,
Disadvantages of Oscillating Conveyors:
– unable to lift material (above 4° ineffective),
– moving of material causes its attrition and increases dust,
– poor efficiency .

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 Types of oscillating conveyors
• There are basically three types of oscillating conveyors for light,
medium and heavy duty service.
a. Flexmount oscillating conveyors
 They are used for light duty applications.
 They have simple construction, remarkably rugged, compact
and require minimum maintenance and attention.
b. Coilmount oscillating conveyors
 They are used for medium duty service.
 They are rugged, well strengthened and require minimum
maintenance.
 The coil springs operate in the natural frequency rang.

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Cont..
c) Torqmount oscillating conveyors
 They are used for heavy and extra duty applications.
 They are rugged, dependable and easy to adjust and
maintain.
 Torsion bars fixed at one end and steel backed rubber
bushed at the other end, absorb the energy of the
trough movement at the end of the stroke at all
points of support along the trough length.

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 3. CHAIN CONVEYORS
• A chain conveyor is a machine that transfers material or
objects from one point to another by means of a moving
chain.
• The conveyor chain is driven by a head sprocket or roller, also
called a drive wheel.
• A conveyor chain may have plates, blocks or bars attached to it
which are designed to fastener, push or drag the object or
material which is to be moved.
• Chain conveyors are used for moving products down an
assembly line and/or around a manufacturing or warehousing
facility.
• Chain conveyors are generally easy to install and have very
minimum maintenance for users

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 Chain, compared to belts of a belt conveyor, have certain
advantages as well as disadvantages.
 The major advantages are:-
– The chain easily wrap around sprockets of small diameter,
and the drive is positive.
– No slippage takes place between chain and sprocket.
– The chain stretch is also little.
 The disadvantages of chain are:-
– Its high weight,
– High initial cost,
– Higher maintenance cost and
– Limited running speed

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 CHAIN CONVEYOR APPLICATIONS
• Transporting heavy products from one location to another.

• Moving product through high temperature zones, for instance

through ovens where other conveyor types may not be suitable

• Conveying of products in either continuous or indexing modes

(i.e. the chain stops and starts each time to move a product to the
end of the chain using a sensor)

• Changing the speed is necessary. Importantly when fitted with a

VFD (variable frequency drive), a chain conveyor is a simple
conveyor to adjust the speed on.

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 Types of Chain Conveyors
(a) Apron or Pan Conveyor:

• This is the most common type of chain conveyor.

• It consists of one or more strands of endless chain, usually

link plate roller type, running in steel guides.

• The carrying surface of the conveyor is composed of a series

of plates or shapes called apron, which are attached to the links
of the chains through cleats.

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(b) Cross-Bar Conveyor:
• This type of conveyor consists of a single or two strands of
endless chain, to which are attached spaced, removable or
fixed arms (or cross members) from which materials are hung
or festooned.
• The arms may be replaced by shelves/trays to support
packages or objects to carry them in a vertical or an inclined
path.

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(c) Car-Type Conveyor:
• This type of conveyor consists of a series of small platform
cars, propelled by an endless chain, running on a closed
track.
• Car-type conveyors may have vertical runarounds over
sprockets having horizontal axis. However, more often they
are designed with horizontal runarounds (carousels) over
sprockets (or sheaves for rope drive) with vertical axis.
• This type of conveyor is also called a carousel conveyor or a
pallet-type conveyor.

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(d) Carrier chain & Flat-top chain conveyor:
• Carrier chain conveyor consists of one or more number of
endless chains to which may be attached one of the many different
attachments for the purpose of carrying unit materials or objects.
• In many cases, the materials are conveyed while being directly in
contact with the chain/chains.
• Different designs of attachments are used for different types of
materials

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(e) Trolley Conveyor:
• These conveyors consist of a series of trolleys supported from an
overhead endless track and propelled by an endless chain or
cable, with the loads usually suspended from the trolleys.

• This is one of the most multipurpose type of chain conveyors

which can work in horizontal and inclined paths, vertical curves
and horizontal turns to follow complicated routes

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