1 BELT CONVEYORS 1.1 Definition Description fabric A belt conveyor consists of an endless flat and flexible belt of sufficient strength, made of in bber, plastic, leather or metal, which i laid over two metallic flat pulley at two ends, and driven e tion by driving one of the two end pulleys. Material is placed on this moving belt for transpor tion. The active half of the belt is supported by idler rollers or slider bed. The return half of the belt ay or may not be supported, as it generally does not carry any additional load other than its own eight. The endless belt is kept taught by a belt tensioning arrangement. 1.2 General Characteristics (i) Belt conveyors operate in one vertical plane, horizontally or with an inclination (up or down) dépending on the frictional property of the load conveyed i) For changing direction of the materials being conveyed, in the horizontal plane, more than one belt convey are needed. (iii) Conveying capacity of conveyor can be controlled by changing belt speed a (iv) Belt conveyors are generally employed for continuous flow of materials. (v) Metal special belts can carry hot, abrasive or reactive materials 1.3 Types of Belt Conveyors (a) Flat Belt Conveyor: In this conveyor, the active side of belt remains flat supported by ength and suitable cylindrical rollers or flat slider bed. The conveyor i generally short manufacturing. ship- for conveying unit loads like crates boxes, packages bundles etc. in ping, warehousing and assembly operations. Flat belts conveniently used for convey are ing parts between workstations or in an assembly line in mass production of goods Fig. 6. 1.1 shows a flat conveyor