Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Hello Briec,
Good luck on you project.
The first idler arrangement you described is the standard (most common) style used in the industry. As such, you can get information on the from a number of manufacturers - as you are studying a specific system, you should concentrate on the specifications available from that manufacturer - paying particular attention to the bearing system used.
The second system is a rubber-disc catenary idler system - which enjoys a much lower usage rate. These systems provide a relatively seamless support (i.e. no idler junction points - but they are prone to rapid wear as the rubber discs can freeze too easily (for those not using bearings on the discs) or become jambed from debris. Again, if you know the manufacturer - get their sales pitch on where their idlers should be used.
Regards, ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Thank you for your help Dave,
Regarding rubber-disc catenary idlers, I don’t know any manufacturer so if anyone knows any, please let me know.
Thank you and regards, ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Hi Briec,,
Sorry, I missed that you did not know the manufacturer of the rubber disc idler arrangements.
Possible resources include (but are not limited to) the following:
1) check the e-directory on this website and it will lead you to www.rulmeca.com and www.rulmeca.it
2) try www.kinder.com.au
This company has a very good website. Click on products and open their conveyor product line product list.
3) try www.tyton.com.au for a good cross section of conveyor components.
Hope this helps. ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Dear Mr. Briec,
The wire rope catenary idlers you have mentioned will have difference that the belt is bending in transverse direction more uniformly, as compared to sudden change of direction from middle roller to side roller. So, narrow & thick belt can trough on that catenary type idler easily. The second difference is it will have only two bearings instead of six bearings. However, as Mr. Dave Miller has stated, the wire rope catenary type idlers use is limited, as compared to 3 roll idlers. The comparative technical reasons, advantage, disadvantage would certainly be there, which is a subject of discussion in context of application.
Regards,
Ishwar G Mulani.
Author of Book : Engineering Science and Application Design for Belt Conveyors.
Advisor / Consultant for Bulk Material Handling System & Issues.
Email : parimul@pn2.vsnl.net.in
Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25882916 ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Hello Briec,
I can give you information about the rubber disc flexible roller since in Galda s.l. we are manufacturing this type of roller for a long time ago.
This roller, being rubber made, is highly corrosion resistant and the risk of scratching the belt does not exist. The roller has two sealed bearings (one in each end of the roller) protected by a casted iron hook and located away and above the moving belt. The hook has a bichromated treatment, which is highly corrosion resistant.
The design and materials used in the manufacturing process of the flexible roller make it to prolong belt life.
The flexibility of the roller avoids damage on installations where off-centre loading or overloading occurs.
Made of Neoprene, it is resistant to chemicals and temperatures from - 35ºC to 120ºC, and the alternating flexing action of the wire rope avoids material build-up.
The load centres automatically due to the bottom troughing point being on the same vertical line as the centre of gravity of the load.
The flexible roller can be quickly installed and removed thanks to the hooks that go at each end of the roller, by comparison corrosion can often make conventional rollers difficult to remove.
The flexible roller is used in installations conveying fertilizers, sand and gravel, ores, coal and coke, chemicals and food, foundry sand, and many more materials.
In case of needing more details please contact us, we will be happy to help you,
Galda s.l.
Urkizuaran nº 4
48230 Elorrio (Bizkaia)
Spain
Tel: 0034/946231589
Fax:0034/946584518
Mail: galda@galdasl.es
Web. www.galdasl.es ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Hello all..
About 20 years ago we were introduced to the flexible catinery rolls as described.
They were called "Limber-rolls" or something like that.
They never became popular here in South Africa though.
LSL Tekpro ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Hello Graham,
Do you know the reason why they never became popular?
I'm very interested in the answer since they work perfectly well in Europe where we are exporting broadly.
For example the advantage of this roller in corrosive atmosphere is clear.
I would like that you could see them working!
Regards, ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
I believe you are all refering to the Joy Limber Rolls that used to kick around, it was a rubber covered catenary type with a funny mounting end.
Maybe cost was an issue why they didn't succeed, also, they weren't very good for heavier application. ■
Idlers In A Belt Conveyor
The flexible idler which you describe is a light duty catenary idler, marketed in North America under brand names, like:
Limberroller by Joy Manufacturing
Cableroller by Conveyor Components Company
Beltrol by Ward Ironworks Ltd.
I do not know how current these names are.
I suggest you search the internet.
The reason for using the flexible idler, rather than the 3-roll trough idler, is that it forms a natural curve across the belt, avoiding sharp bends between fixed 3-roll idlers.
Advatages are shock absorption and resistance to abrasion and corrosion. It also keeps the load central and therefore keeps the belt aligned.
Disadvantages are light duty, limited speed because of small diameter of roller (76 mm).
Have you checked with Rulmeca in Italy, also known as Interrol?
Bill Potma ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Well said, Larry. It is interesting that the original difficulty we had in South Africa with these idlers was based on the fact that we were loading hard rock in lumps of +200 mm, hence the rapid failure. It is also interesting that yodieszoy noted that his experience is in the fertilizer industry, where the material is generally reasonably granular.
Yodieszoy also said the following, which is far more chilling : "Another point to stand out is the self-cleaning effect, I don’t have to stop the conveyor and send a man to clean the debris now and then. I do not need to stop the conveyor to change an idler either, we can do it in seconds while the conveyors carry on working." There is absiolutely no way you should be allowed to, or allow any one else work on a moving conveyor. In order to change an idler - any idler - or in fact work on the conveyor in any way, it is absolutely essential that the system be locked out and tagged BEFORE any work is carried out .
Incidentally, Briec, since you started this whole thread, have you managed to source Limberollers and if so, how have they behaved?
Graham Shortt ■
Re: The Importance Of The Idlers In A Conveyor
Good morning all,
First of all I would like to thank everybody for your invaluable help,
All of your comments have been very useful to me. Since I started my research I read a lot about both types of idlers (steel and rubber disc catenary) and I visited some installations too. I’m still far from my final conclusions but I can point out some of the things I’ve seen.
- It’s clear that steel idlers are much broadly used than catenary idlers. The literature you can find about steel idlers is limitless and there are many manufacturers that produce steel idlers in every country so the competition between them is big.
- Every steel idler is not the same, there are differences in the seal type, bearings, lubrication, roll construction, etc. It’s important to choose the best idler for each use to avoid problems as a roll has stopped turning before the expected time, a roll has a hole worn through its shell etc in those cases the belt life can be reduced considerably and even the belt can get torn.
- The catenary limberoller is the great unknown, many productions working with belt conveyors don’t know about the catenary idler. Nevertheless, I have visited three installations with conveyors wearing catenary idlers. One is a salt pitch, another one conveys very sticky clay and the third one is an alimentary belt conveyor that conveys grain. The owners are happy with their installations in every case. Corrosion resistance, easy cleaning and fitting and the long life of the idlers are three of the more repeated qualities of the idler.
- In the loading points if one idler is not enough to absorb the impacts we will need to reduce the distance between the idlers or if the impacts are very important there are different solutions like impact beds.
- The manufacturers of the catenary idlers consider essential that each frame holding each idler be installed in a straight line and square with the center line of the conveyor. We must make sure that the idler contact the troughed belt completely across its width and if necessary we will have to increase the spacing between the idlers to drop the belt.
- Finally there is a lightly different rubber disc catenary idler. The main difference is that the center rubber disc of the idler has been replaced by a housing that accommodates two bearings and each one makes independent the rotation of each half of the idler. At that rate, each idler has six bearings (two into each hook of the two ends of the idler and two in the housing of the center). This idler is manufactured with rubber disc 90mm diameter and it’s sturdier than the normal catenary idler, its rotation is much smoother and it has been designed to bear bigger weights.
Does everybody know this variation of rubber disc catenary idler?
Once again I’d like to thank you for every contribution to this thread, I’ve been positively amazed for the big amount of information. ■
Why The Steel Rope Idler Roll Was Not Successfull
The principal of trying to support the belt with low or no transition line lineally is ideal and this was supposedly the answer. However, the point was forgotten that a steel rope does not have a fixed cross-sectional contact plane which is maintained on the square line across the belt lineally. ie: The contact must maintain a perfect square across the belt when running as in the fixed idler set application.
Reason why the system failed are: 1/ As contact load friction pulls the centre loaded rolling discs along in the direction of belt travel, the "wing sections discs" become divergent causing cross wear of the discs. 2/ Any belt wander to one side, the belting wanders further to that side as the discs on that side are driving the belt due to the rolling action of the discs due to the increased contact area of belt to discs. (This caused severe tracking issues in belts I worked with). 3/ The rope tended to fray from continual flexing. 4/ The end bearings also tended to fail due to design in my opinion.
I hope this gives you an inside into cable rope idler rollers.
Tecmate ■
Idlers For Conveyors
Hello everybody,
The idlers of pos. 1 are with French measures, or german-mines measures.
For the future it is better to take it 89mm Ø! Because the price is the same!
The idlers of pos. 2 you can look for "limber-rolls" etc. But the wire instead of rollers have always the problem to break after using it every day many hours. It is better to change it in garlands with three idlers.
Please remark for my innov. idlers made out of recycelt full plastic with many new features!
[EMAIL="foerderschuettgut@arcor.de"] ■
Idlers In A Belt Conveyor Is Very Important
hi, glad to read all the contents inn this page, i found one a best manufacturer of Idlers for conveyor belt. ■
Idler Produces Belt Alignment To Ensure Material Is Accurately …
Hola.
This idler produces belt alignment to ensure that the material is accurately centered on the belt. There is no material spillage. Due to the rotary motion of the brake disc, it has a self-cleaning effect. It has excellent wear resistance and extremely low wear rate, making it more durable than metal idler gear. Therefore, the life of the belt is greatly extended. If a fault occurs, the belt will not be cut.
The breaking strength of the idler gear is about 15.000 lb. When the belt width is 16 ", 20", 24 ", 26" and 32 ", there is a ball bearing at both ends of the idler. When the belt width is 42", 48 " and54", there are two balls at both ends of the idler. The conveyor shall operate at a maximum speed of 3 m/sec. If you follow their advice, you will have a good idler. I listed the advantages of this problem in my earlier post.
In the past 20 years, the curing process has been greatly improved, and the steel wire is now perfectly combined with neoprene.
Use a unique wire rope made of 180 kg/m2 wire. Before vulcanizing the wire rope with neoprene, our rust prevention treatment on the wire rope helps to reduce the bending stress of the wire rope.
You can view more information about this treatment on: www.zoomryhi.com ■
Some Comments About The Belt Conveyor
hello everyone.
In the past 20 years, the curing process has been greatly improved, and now the steel wire has been perfectly attached to the neoprene.
This idler produces belt alignment to ensure that the material is accurately centered on the belt. There is no material spillage. Due to the rotary motion of the brake disc, it has a self-cleaning effect. It has excellent wear resistance and extremely low wear rate, making it more durable than metal idler gear. Therefore, the life of the belt is greatly extended. If a fault occurs, the belt will not be cut.
Since the bearing is located inside the hook, the bearing is more protected.
The breaking strength of the idler gear is 7.000 kg (about 15.000 lb). When the belt width is 400mm (16 "), 500mm (20"), 600mm (24 "), 650mm (26") and 800mm (32 "), there is a ball bearing at both ends of the idler. When the belt width is 1000mm (42"), 1200mm (48 ") and 1400mm (54"), there are two balls at both ends of the idler. (4 bearings per idler gear). The conveyor shall operate at a maximum speed of 3 m/sec. If you follow their advice, you will have a good idler. I listed the advantages of this problem in my earlier post.
Use a unique wire rope made of 180 kg/m2 wire. Before vulcanizing with neoprene, the anti rust treatment we carried out on the wire rope helps to reduce the bending stress of the wire rope.
You can see more information about this treatment on www.zoomryhi.com
Originally Posted by tecmate
Reason why the system failed are: 1/ As contact load friction pulls the centre loaded rolling discs along in the direction of belt travel, the "wing sections discs" become divergent causing cross wear of the discs. 2/ Any belt wander to one side, the belting wanders further to that side as the discs on that side are driving the belt due to the rolling action of the discs due to the increased contact area of belt to discs. (This caused severe tracking issues in belts I worked with). 3/ The rope tended to fray from continual flexing. 4/ The end bearings also tended to fail due to design in my opinion.
I hope this gives you an inside into cable rope idler rollers.
Tecmate
■
Less Deformation
Compared with the trough type idler, the flexible idler has less influence on the deformation of the belt. It is flexible and shock-absorbing and resistant to wear and corrosion but the light weight lead to limited speed.
Zoomry Heavy Industry Co.,LTD
Nova || Market Coordinator
----------------------------------------------
Mobile/Whatsapp: +86 18522097795
Web:www.zoomryhi.com
Add: Zhangxin Industry Zone, Zaoqiang county, Hengshui city, Hebei Province, China ■
Less Deformation Of The Belt
Compared with the trough type idler, the flexible idler has less influence on the deformation of the belt. It is flexible and shock-absorbing and resistant to wear and corrosion but the light weight lead to limited speed.
Zoomry Heavy Industry Co.,LTD
Nova || Market Coordinator
----------------------------------------------
Mobile/Whatsapp: +86 18522097795
Web:www.zoomryhi.com
Add: Zhangxin Industry Zone, Zaoqiang county, Hengshui city, Hebei Province, China ■
The importance of the idlers in a conveyor
Hello everybody,
I am an industrial engineering student and I need to compare the advantages and disadvantages of two different belt conveyors.
The idlers of one of those conveyors are steel idlers Ø 60x290mm (3 idlers in each support) and the idlers of the second conveyor are rubber made flexible idlers (1 idler in each support). The body of this idler is a rubber vulcanized steel wire, eleven Ø76mm rubber discs being assembled on.
Does anybody know this type of idler? And where can I get further information about them? Why should I choose one or the other one for my belt conveyor?
Any help will be appreciated….. ■