Design Considerations for Conveyor Belt Idlers https://test-bright-hub-engineering.pantheonsite.io/machine-design/8345...

Mechanical Engineering

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Guide to
Hardware for
Engineering and
Machine and Mechanism Design / By Suvo / Industry
Mechanical Engineering
An Engineering
Guide to AC and
DC Motor Designs
The idlers are an important part of a belt
and Operation
conveyor system; they provide stability to the

conveyed materials. There are mainly three How to Work With

Metal Studs
types of idles used in the industry namely, flat

idlers, trough idlers, and garland idlers. In this What is a Data

Table – Examples
article we will discuss only the flat type belt
of Data Tables in

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Design Considerations for Conveyor Belt Idlers https://test-bright-hub-engineering.pantheonsite.io/machine-design/8345...

conveyor idler design. Engineering

Precision Turning
& Tool Making in
Demand: Skilled
Laborers are Still
Needed
Typically, the following inputs are used for
How to Calculate
starting up the design process of the flat idler:
First, Second and
Third Pulley
Capacity of the conveyor generally Systems

expressed in tons per hour.

Bulk density of the conveyed materials

Popular
generally expressed in tons per cubic

meter.

Conveyor belt width generally expressed

in meters.

Belt speed generally expressed in meters.

5 Sheet Metal
The output aims from the design process are: Design Tips for
Easy
Manufacturing
The spacing of the idlers generally

expressed in meters.

The idler speed generally expressed in

meters per second.

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Load on each idlers.

Idler diameter generally expressed in

meters.

Design Guide for

Overhead Cranes

What are
Gimbals? What is
a Gimbal Bearing?

The following design equations are used across

the industry for calculating the different design

RSS Tolerance
parameters of the flat idlers:
Chain Stack up
Analysis – Learn
Spacing of the idlers How to Perform
Assembly
S = (8*T1*H)/ (mb+ml)*g…………..1.1 Tolerance Stack up

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Where, by Root Sum

Square Method

S is in meters Molding Plastic

Parts at Home –
How to Mold
T1= Belt tension near the idlers as shown
Plastic Parts at
in the picture (N) Home

H=Belt sag (m)

mb = weight of the belt (kg/m)

How to Design a
ml =Weight of the conveyed material
Steel I-Beam:
(kg/m) Selection of
Correct Size Steel

g =Acceleration due to gravity for Load

Specifications

The weight of the conveyed material can

be further calculated as

ml= (10*W)/ (36*V)…………1.2

How to Make a
Where, Home Made
Incinerator

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mb is in kg/m. Related

CAD and
W = Capacity of the conveyor (tons per
AutoCAD
hour)
HVAC: Heating,
Ventilation & Air-
V = Belt speed (m/sec)
Conditioning

Machine and
Idler speed
Mechanism
Design
N = (60*V)/ (Π*D)……………1.3
Manufacturing
Technology
Where,
Marine Machinery,
Engines &
N is in RPM.
Controls

Robotics
V = Belt speed (m/sec)

D = Diameter of the idlers

Loads on each idlers

F= (10*W*S*g)/ (36*V)…………1.4

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Where,

F is in Newtons

g = Acceleration due to gravity

W = Capacity of the conveyor (tones per

hour)

S = Spacing between the two idlers.

V = Belt speed (m/sec)

Maximum bending stress on the idlers

b= (8*F*L)/ (3*Π*D3)………………..1.5

Where,

b is in Newtons per square meter

F = loads on each idlers (Newton)

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L = length of the idlers (Meter)

D = diameter of the idlers (meter)

Now, let’s see how to use the basic design

equations for actual design purpose. We will

take the following data as input:

Capacity of the conveyor W = 1000 t/h

Belt speed V =1.68 m/sec

Belt tension near idler T1=50000 N

Idler length L =1.2 m

Belt sag = 0.015 m

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Weight of the belt mb=15 kg/m

Idler speed N= 50 rpm

Design procedure:

First, we will calculate the weight of the

conveyed material using the eqn.1.2 as:

ml = (10*1000)/(36*1.68) = 165.34 kg/m

Now, to calculate the spacing between

the two idlers we will use the eqn.1.1

S=(8*50000*0.015)/(15+165.34)*9.81 =

3.391 m

The diameter of the idler can be

calculated from the eqn.1.3 as below:

D= (60*1.68)/ (3.14*50) = 0.64 m

Total load acted on each idler can be

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obtained from the eqn.1.4 :

F=(10*1000*3.391*9.81)/(36*1.68)=5500

Maximum bending stress applied on

each idlers can be obtained from the

eqn.1.5 as below:

b= (8*5500*1.2)/ (3*3.14*0.643) =

21385.176 N/m2

If the maximum bending stress calculated from

the above equations is higher than the

accepted limit of the bending stress then, you

have to reconsider the input assumed

parameters, for example you may have to set

the lower idler speed or you have to think of

the lower belt sag value, so that idler spacing

got reduced and so the load per idler.

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There are three types of idlers used in the

conveyor industry, out of which only the flat

belt conveyor idler design calculations are

discussed here theoretically. We have not used

the factor of safety in the design calculations

here, or in other words the factor of safety is

considered as one through out the calculations.

The theoretical calculations are ideal for the

preliminary design. FEA tools like Ansys or Pro

Mechanica should be used for the final virtual

validation of the design.

References

Limberoller Belt Conveyor Idlers

Bridgestone Conveyor Belt Design

Manual

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Justin • 4 years ago

I am very interested in your calcs as am trying to
determine maximum bending stress of a
tube. The formula on the front page for 1.3 is different to
third example:. The first formula appears to relate to N
whereas the other appears to be applied to determine
diameter. (same formula)??. On the example given of b=
(8*5500*1.2)/
(3*3.14*0.643) = 21385.176 N/m2, the answer here
appears to be 8717.1 Nm Can you please check your last
calc?
• Reply • Share ›

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