Conveying Equipment

Introduction
• Conveying Equipment is a group of machines which move materials in relatively large quantities in a
continuous flow between specific locations over a fixed path.
• There are over 400 types of conveyors.
• The main groups of conveying equipment classified by their design features are:
 Traction-type Conveyors
 Traction less-type Conveyors
Traction-type Conveyors
The main types of traction type conveyors are:
• Belt conveyors
• Chain conveyors
• Push through conveyors
• Indexing conveyors
• Cable conveyors
Traction less-type Conveyors
The main types of traction less type conveyors are:
• Sliding- friction gravity (Chute) conveyors,
• roller conveyors,
• screw or spiral conveyors,
• twin- helical conveyors,
• vibrating and oscillating conveyors,
• hydraulic transport systems,
• Pneumatic conveyors, etc. form the bulk of traction less type conveyors.
BELT CONVEYORS
• A belt conveyor has a supporting structure (frame) with two pulleys arranged at its ends, the
driving pulley at the head end and the take-up pulley at the rear end.
• An endless belt bends around these pulleys and is supported along its entire length by roller supports or
idlers (upper idlers and lower idlers), which are fastened to the frame.
• In some cases, idler rollers may be replaced by a continuous flooring on which the belt can slide.
• The driven pulley is rotated by a drive and moves the belt along the path of the conveyor.

• The material to be conveyed can be loaded onto the belt through one or more filling funnels or hoppers
arranged on the conveyor.
• The material is carried on the upper (carrying) run of the belt, while the lower (return) run is empty.
• It is also possible to convey materials simultaneously on both runs of the belt in two opposite directions.
• The material is unloaded from the belt at the head pulley through an unloading funnel (hopper) or by means
of other type of unloader, such as a plough- or pulley-type unloader.
• The working surface of the belt is cleaned from stuck on particles of the material by a cleaner arranged at
the head pulley.
Types:
• Belt conveyors can be classified into: stationary and mobile.
• According to their design and applications, belt conveyors can be divided into general purpose conveyors and
special ones, such as underground conveyors, conveyors for carrying food, flour, cereals and mixed-feed.
• Belt conveyors may have a rubberized, all-steel rolled or wire belt.
• According to the profile of their path, belt conveyors can be divided into horizontal, inclined and mixed
types.

Components of a Belt Conveyor

Idlers
• The idlers for supporting the material carrying side of the
belt may be flat or troughed.
• Good quality idlers are dynamically balanced and fitted
with proper dust seals to ensure long life.
Pulleys
• Belt conveyor pulleys are either cast or welded and
mounted on roller bearings.
• The diameters of the pulleys are selected sufficiently large in order to reduce the additional bending stress in
the belt while passing over them.
• Driving pulleys are coated with rubber or ceramic materials to increase the coefficient of friction between
belt and pulley.
Belt Path
• The angle of slope for inclined runs of the belt is limited by the coefficient of friction of the material
conveyed and the belt.
• For smooth rubber belt conveyors the maximum inclination is about 18°, however, larger slopes are
possible in individual cases.
• The transitions of the belt path from one inclination to another are laid out as gradual as possible.
Take up
• The importance of ensuring the right value of slack side tension at the driving pulley is obvious. The
arrangement provided for this is known as the take-up.
Belt Cleaner
• Belt cleaners are fitted on a conveyor to remove material particles adhering to the belt after discharge or
which enter the return belt from the sides.
• Fixed scraper, rotary scraper or brush-type cleaners are usually fitted just after the head pulley. The
surface of the belt coming into contact with the tail pulley is cleaned by means of Vee- type scrapers just
before entering the tail pulley.
Supporting Structure
• Simple stringer supports with closely spaced legs are used for mounting the idlers in conveyors which are
laid close to the ground level. For inclined or elevated conveyors, additional steel or reinforced concrete
beams and columns are required.
Specifications:
• Belt speeds range from 2 ft/min to as high as 200 ft/min.
• The most common speed for general package handling is about 100ft/min.
• The customary angle of inclination is 15° but for miscellaneous materials this can be increased to 27°; by use
of a rough-surface rubber belt.
Applications:
• Belt conveyors are employed for conveying various bulk and unit loads along horizontal or slightly inclined
paths and for transporting articles between various operations in production flow lines.
 • They have found wide application in all branches of industry:
– mechanical transport in foundry shops (supply distribution of molding sands and removal of
wastes)
– in fuel-supply systems of electric power stations
– for hauling loads from one location to another within the process
– in line production
– in mining operations for underground, etc
Advantages:
• Belt conveyors have become popular due to a high load-carrying capacity (up to 30,000 ton/h)
• It has smooth and noiseless operation
• light weight, lower power consumption, simple design, easy maintenance, ability to carry packages in
opposite directions and high reliability of operation.
• Belt conveyors can be arranged to convey bulk materials as well as to weigh, sort (magnetically), sample,
batch and blend when necessary.
Limitations:
• Conveyor belting is, however, a costly material with a comparatively short life.
• The loss of light-weight bulk material carried away as dust or spilled from the belt along its path.
• Extremely heavy and abrasive articles are not carried on rubber belt conveyors.
CHAIN CONVEYORS
• Chain conveyors employ single or double strands of continuous chains wrapped around head and tail end
sprockets, which can be either stationary or moving.
• The units are generally operated by motor drives attached to the head drive shaft.
• Material can be carried directly on aprons or pushed in a trough by flights attached to the chain(s)
• Units can be arranged for operation horizontally, inclined or in combination.
• With proper component selection, chain conveyors can be designed to operate at inclines up to 45°.
• A critical component in the design of a chain conveyor is the “engineered chain” used for performing the
function of conveying.
• Engineered chains are available in a variety of materials including malleable iron, chilled iron, manganese
steel, cast steel, welded steel and others.
• Selection is based on required strength, expected operating speed, abrasiveness of material handled and type
of attachment required.
• The capacity of a chain conveyor is the product of the unit's available cross-sectional area multiplied by the
chain speed.
• The speed of the chain conveyor is based on the material that should be conveyed.
• Abrasive materials are conveyed at speeds of less than 10-20 ft/min, while mildly abrasive materials can be
moved at speeds of 100 ft/min or more.
Types: The important varieties of chain conveyors are:
• Apron conveyors
• Bucket elevators
• Car type conveyors
• Drag-chain type conveyors
• En-masse conveyors
• Escalators
• Flight or Scraper conveyors
• Pan conveyors
• Salt conveyors
• Steel plate conveyors
APRON CONVEYORS
• The apron conveyors essentially consist of an endless belt of overlapping or interlocking metal plates or
timber boards (platforms) connected by means of two or more strands of chain or by a slide running on
tracks.
• The chains are bent over the tail and head sprockets and supported in- between suitably.
 • The head sprocket shaft is generally driven and the tail sprocket shaft is provided with adjustment for
pretensioning.

• Rails serve to support the carrying and return runs.

• The conveyor is unloaded over the drive sprockets and loaded through a hopper at any point of the path.
• The aprons are beaded at the front edge to provide for the continuity of the bed in flexing over the
sprockets.
• Skirt boards may be placed along the path to increase cross sectional loading and the handling capacity as
well.
Specifications:
• Due to limitations in the chain speeds, capacities are limited to about 3,000 ton/h.
• The total length of the conveyor rarely exceeds 300 ft. Since long pitch chains are used, chain speeds are
usually limited to a maximum of 75 ft/min only. Speeds for apron feeders are usually below 5 in/s.
Applications:
• They are used for various types of unit loads, piece loads, fine and bulk materials which may be lumpy,
heavy, hot, abrasive, etc. for example, ores, stone, sand, gravel, coal, cullet, foundry refuse and similar
materials.
• The conveyor sections are mounted on light weight under-carriages having wheels or casters and are
usually provided with floor-locking devices to prevent creeping while in service.
• The supporting frames often provide for adjustment to various inclines. An apron conveyor which travels in
a complete circle is called a carrousel.
• The conveyor is generally placed at working level. Operators are stationed at various points along the
conveyor to perform various operations as the materials pass.
Advantages:
• Apron conveyors are rugged in construction.
• They are capable of curving both vertically and horizontally.
• They compare favorably with belt conveyors when load to be handled is heavy, lumpy or abrasive.
• Ability to withstand high temperatures render them particularly practical in applications where conveying
is combined with heat treatment, washing, drying, painting, etc.
Limitations:
• Compared to the belt conveyor the apron conveyor is much heavier, slow running, expensive and more
difficult to maintain.
SLIDING-FRICTION GRAVITY CONVEYORS
• Gravity conveyors have long been known simply as chutes.
• In gravity-type conveying devices, bulk or unit loads move on a declined surface or vertically under the force
of gravity.
• The angle of incline of a chute is determined by the coefficient of friction for the material of its surface and
the material conveyed as well as by the angle of repose.
• To set a load underway, the incline must apparently be some 5 to 100 steeper than the angle of friction at
rest.
• The speed of travel down a chute is decided by the angle of incline, coefficient of friction, nature of the load
and the distance to be covered.
Three types of chutes are common:
• Vertical chute
• Straight chute
• Spiral chute
Vertical chute
• In vertical chutes and pipes, the load moves vertically down under the force of gravity and sometimes falls
freely
 For instance, filling materials can be thrown into a shaft to fill in worked-out areas, wood props can
be dropped from a low height, etc.).
 In some cases calibrated unit loads of uniform dimensions (such as boxes) can be dropped down
through a properly shaped vertical pipe.
Straight Chutes
• The falling speed of bulk loads can be diminished by arranging a stepped (cascade) or ladder chute.
• A stepped chute consists of a vertical pipe with horizontal shelves attached in a staggered order to its walls
on the inside.
• A chute has to be designed carefully to fit a given operation.
• A proper bed, one designed to accommodate the specific kind or kinds of commodities to be conveyed, is
essential.
• The bed can be manufactured of steel, wood or plastic.
Spiral Chute:
• If the height is too high to allow using a straight slide with in a given length, the alternative is a spiral chute
on which the load is lowered following a helical path around a vertical axis.
• It should be designed so that the outer edge is higher than the inner one, otherwise the load may be thrown
off the chute by the centrifugal force set up during the descent.
• A transverse gradient of 10° to 15° degree is regarded as sufficient.
Specifications:
• The speed of loads in spiral chutes is usually 7 -10ft/s and the sloping angle at the periphery, of the order of
450.
Applications:
• Wholesalers practically in every field but especially those distributing groceries, drugs, hardware; electrical
supplies and paper products-utilize spirals for assembling items by conveying them from upper floors to
shipping departments or platforms on lower levels, etc….
• The chute conveyor is often used to link two powered conveyor lines.
Advantages
• They are simpler than gravity roller conveyors and are suitable for both bulk materials and piece goods.
• Their design is simple and they have high throughput capacities.
• The economic and operational advantages of spiral chutes can be stated as follows:
 Low price
 No power required
 Low maintenance expense
 Economical use of space
 Speed of descent controlled
 Selectivity.
Limitations
• Every moving body has a quality known as kinetic energy. This energy causes damage when a package
sliding on a chute runs into another which has stopped.
• Thus chutes are not suitable to handle fragile items-glass, bulb, lampshade; wet or damp cartons and boxes,
tote boxes, hides and similar flat, light items. Chutes are not recommended for sticky or gummy surfaces.
• Their use is limited to short distances.
• Their other drawbacks are wear of the chute and loads and probable blocking of the chute when the
conveying conditions change sharply.
ROLLER CONVEYORS
• The roller conveyor consists of a series of equally spaced rollers on which piece goods are
moved along due to roller rotation.
• The conveyor is commonly made up of a number of sections, each between 7 to 10ft long.
• To roll on the conveyor rollers, the load units should have a flat rigid riding surface,
longitudinally ribbed bottom surface or a cylindrical shape.
• Inclination is an important factor in successful conveyor operation(referred to as slope or pitch) .
• It must be great enough to permit free rolling, but not so great that the articles
ride too rapidly.
• Factor affect the speed of the roller
• weight of the article
• kind of surfaces in contact
• diameters of the wheels and their inertia
• the number of wheels per foot
• the type of bearings
• By the method of operation, roller conveyors are divided into:
 Unpowered (gravity)
 Powered (live) types.
Unpowered (Gravity) roller conveyors
• The driving force is applied directly to loads and as these move, they cause the rollers to rotate.
• mostly installed with slight slope in the direction of motion, so that the loads are moved by the longitudinal
component of their gravity force.
 • The stands may be made extensible to vary the angle of incline of the conveyor.
• It divided into stationary and mobile or portable (mounted on a wheeled undercarriage) types.
• Some portable models are made with sections with scissor-type side rails.
– This construction permits extension and contraction of the conveyor, as well as bending of the
section into a variety of curves on a horizontal plane.
Rollers for Gravity Conveyer
• It is inclined sufficiently to enable the load to roll down due to gravity.
• Rollers for flat bottomed piece goods are similar in construction to belt conveyor idlers.
• It fitted with rolling or sliding bearings.
• For light weight material, full length rollers are cheaply replaced by disk rollers.
• For long piece goods of circular cross section such as logs of wood, paper rolls, etc., double conical rollers or
a pair of inclined rollers are suitable.
• Roller bodies are mostly made from tube sections.
• They have a lower mass and appropriate acid resistance, possess certain elasticity and produce much less
noise.
• In a curved section the rollers must be banked to prevent the load from jumping off the conveyor due to
centrifugal effect.
• If full width cylindrical rollers are used in the curve, side guides are required to guide the material along the
radius.
• Even then, due to the fact that the peripheral velocity of the roller is constant over its width, sliding between
the roller and the material can not be avoided.
• By using disk roller arrangement or tapered rollers it is possible to vastly improve the movement of a
material along the curve path.
Inclinations of Gravity Roller Conveyer
• The inclination of the roller path depends on the type of bearings used as well as the nature of the contacting
body (i.e. the transported piece goods).
• Up to 3° for roller bearings and 7° for sliding bearings are satisfactory values.
• Large inclinations cause the materials to accelerate excessively along the path and difficulties of stopping it
at the destination arise.
Space Between the Rollers
• The roller spacing should be small enough to ensure that at least 2 rollers support each load unit always.
• Smooth operation is obtained by spacing the rollers not farther than 1/3 or 1/4 of the length of load,
• smaller spacings, being used when jolting is intolerable
Vertical Spiral Roller conveyer
• For large vertical drops the rollers can be arranged in a vertical spiral so that minimum floor space is
required.
• The arrangement consists of a number of 90-degree curve sections of gravity roller conveyors set in a spiral
steel framework.
• This conveyor permits a slow and easy descent and the danger of damage to the materials is eliminated.
Applications:
• Gravity roller conveyors are equally suitable for the handling of unit loads: plates, moulds, rolled metal
sections, tubes, boards, bottom plates, containers, boxes, castings and containerised high-volume materials.
• A roller conveyor will handle any material or package of material that is not too heavy and that will fit on the
rollers.
• They have various uses in industrial plants, such as going between machining and packaging operations and
the loading and unloading of motor trucks, railroad wagons, ships and so forth.
Advantages:
• The absence of external power drive is the biggest advantage of this conveyor.
• In contrast with the sliding-friction types, these conveyors provide a less damaging riding surface and
permit slighter angles of inclination.
• These are relatively inexpensive devices. They are also light in comparison with other types.
Limitation:
• The disadvantage is that upward or even horizontal conveyance is not possible.
Power Driven Roller
• The essential elements of a power driven or live-roller conveyor are a source of power to actuate an endless
belt/chain stretched,
 • The rollers themselves and a device for keeping the traction element in contact with the rollers- all mounted
in a frame which has proper supports.

• As a general rule, at least two rollers should be

actuated under the shortest package or article
conveyed.
• Some or all the rollers in a roller conveyor can
be driven externally so that the material is
carried forward horizontally or even up small
inclines.
Specifications:
• Uniform speeds of 40 to 60 fpm are usually
standard for belt-powered rollers, but others
can be secured.
Applications:
• Powered conveyors or live-roll package
conveyors are widely used in rolling mill shops for transportation of metal ingots/blooms to rolling mills,
shears, saws, straighteners, coolers and to the store.
• Manufacturing, processing, bottling plants and warehouses….
Advantages:
• Live-roller conveyors are no longer limited to manually propelled motion over horizontal paths nor to
gravity actuated declines.
• They become capable of carrying their burdens up grades and of controlling their descent down grades.
• If a package carried on the rollers is stopped, the rollers cease to rotate, even though the belt continue on its
way.
– This feature of belt-driven rollers is an advantage in many applications like assembly, inspection, etc.
• One of the outstanding advantages of live-roller conveyors is their ability to receive and discharge smooth.
Limitations:
• Care must be taken not to use powered rollers to convey articles which may shed particles.
• These will drop on the belt and be carried between the belt and the rollers, causing the belt to track
improperly.
SCREW OR SPIRAL CONVEYORS
• Screw conveyors or spiral conveyors are installations serving to move materials
over a U-shaped trough or a tubular casing by rotating a helical plate screw or
worm.
• The friction between the material and the trough as well as its own weight
prevents the material contained between the flights from rotating with the screw.
• Thus the movement of the material mass is analogous to the translating
motion of a non-rotating nut when the screw is driven.
• Due to the frictional drag of the rotating screw on the material particles, the
material mass shifts towards the direction of rotation.
• screw conveyors are usually operated with partial filling of the available
space (40 to 45% maximum) and at limited speeds.
Types of Screw Conveyors

1. Helicoid conveyors: are made in sections as a single spiral running around a shaft.

• The conventional type of spiral can be varied in many ways.

– For example, standard pitch conveyors are used for handling horizontally or on inclines up to 20°.
– Longer pitches are used for high capacity, free-flowing materials, and
– shorter pitches for materials which are fed slowly.
• Full plate flights are used for ordinary, non-packing, uniform sized granular or powdery materials.

2. Ribbon conveyors: are utilized for conveying coarsely broken, large, lumpy and sticky materials (sugar, hot tar,
molasses, etc.),
– The advantage here is there is no chance of the material accumulating near the screw shaft.
Separated flights are also in use.

3. Paddle spirals and cut flights

• Cut flights for mixing and retarding materials,
• Paddles: added to provide agitation for dry, wet, sticky, heavy or semi-abrasive materials.
• Paddle spirals and cut flights are also employed in installations combining transportation with processing
(mixing, crushing, wetting, etc.) ranging in size from powder to medium lumps.
– In addition to these designs, there are multiple-flight types.

Troughs
• The spiral screw mounted to run in either open or covered troughs, usually made of steel.
• Steel linings, both plain and perforated are available for use with wooden troughs.
• A radial gap between the screw flight and the trough is provided from 0.2 to 0.3in
• This gap should be either small enough to prevent a single material particle getting stuck up between the
flight and the trough or large enough to allow the material
particles pass freely through.
• Otherwise particles which get stuck up increase wear and the
frictional resistance.
• The discharge opening should be sufficiently large to prevent
any material being carried across without discharging.
• If hot materials are to be handled, special care must be taken to accommodate the expansion that will occur
in both screw and conveyor casing and,
• If abrasive materials are involved, extra seals should be fitted to the screw shaft bearings, which, of
necessity, are frequently immersed in the materials.
Specifications:
• The throughput capacity of a screw conveyor depends on the screw diameter, lead of screw, rotational
speed (rpm) and the coefficient of filling of screw cross section.
• Vertical screw conveyors can lift material up to 50ft at a rate of 50 ton/hr.
• The trough is commonly fabricated from steel sheet between 0.08 and 0.32in thick.
• The screw pitch is 0.5 to 1.0 times the screw diameter.
• The screw diameter is governed by the lump size in case of unsized bulk materials.
• The screw speed is influenced by the nature of load and screw diameter,
– Increasing inversely with the bulk weight, screw diameter and the intensity of abrasive action of the
material.
• Conveyors handling heavy materials commonly operate at around 50 rpm and those designated to convey
light loads even up to 150 rpm.
• The capacity of ribbon spiral conveyors is 20 to 30 percent less than that of the helical spiral type and
• The power requirements are also smaller by roughly 10 %.
• Screw conveyors up to 250ft long but operating costs of such installations are high.
• Lengths up to 130ft horizontally are common.
Applications:
• They are used to convey pulverized or granular materials.
• They are also utilized for handling starch, animal feeds, slurries, ground cork and various grains like shelled
corn and in cotton oil mills, cotton gins, oil-bearing seed mills, central mixing plants, certain coal processes,
silage, for placement into storage bins and silos, chemical, flour industries and in the manufacture of
building materials.
• It is also used for distribution of dried foundry sand between bunkers.
• The material is supplied from the drying section of a foundry shop by pneumatic transport into a cyclone
from which the sand is poured through a feeding gate into the conveyor trough.
Advantages:
• They are relatively inexpensive, simple in design, easy to maintain, convenient in intermediate unloading.
• Screw conveyors, by virtue of their design ensuring gas-tightness, are widely used to handle dusty or hot
loads and those which liberate harmful gases and unpleasant odours.
• They readily move fibrous materials.
• They are compact and easily fitted into close quarters.
• They can operate in horizontal, vertical or inclined path,
• Although the carrying capacity is reduced as the slope increases.
• The trough can have top covers to form a seal and retain the material or prevent ingress of moisture or
contamination.
Limitations:
• Vertical spirals are most limited in their application.
• They may invite difficulties when the load is abrasive, slumping, coarsely broken or sticky.
• They are not suitable for fragile materials since there is considerable tumbling action during conveying.
• Materials which tend to pack are difficult to convey.
• Stringy material is not suitable for handling by screw conveyors.
• Their other drawbacks are a high unit power consumption,
• substantial rubbing and crushing of the conveyed material, high wear of the screw and trough and a high
sensitivity to overloads which can lead to load accumulation in the trough (especially at the bearings),
• They are used for small capacities and medium lengths only.
OSCILLATING CONVEYORS
Vibrating
• Vibrating conveyor’s operation is typically based on the natural frequency principle.
• At the natural frequency, the conveyor will vibrate indefinitely with only a small
energy input.
• Once the drive initiates the conveyor's vibration, the supporting springs, by alternately
storing and releasing most of the required energy, help maintain constant motion under the
conveyed load.
• Depending on the frequency and the size of the object can reach speeds as high as 35 fpm
• Can handle various sizes and shapes
• Used in pharmaceutical and mining industries.