Dave Wolstencroft Technical Manager
4B Components
HOW STEEL WEB ELEVATOR BELT & SJ BUCKETS ENHANCE THE
PERFORMANCE OF BUCKET ELEVATORS
Introduction
With the demand for larger capacities, for more efficient and cost effective elevators to carry
industrial products such as cement, 4B Components has researched, tested and supplied the
industry for over the last nine years with an integrated system of steel web belting, SJ buckets and
elevator designs for compact industrial elevators.
4B Components have designed, developed and successfully introduced the Polysur Ferro steel
reinforced elevator belt system and high capacity Starco Jumbo elevator buckets to achieve very
high capacity at a comparatively lower cost than using chain or traditional belting with fabricated
buckets.
Traditional Systems
In the majority of cement and other heavy industrial elevators have traditionally been installed
with chain on a worldwide basis. Chain, however, can be very expensive and have immense
maintenance implications after installation.
Chain bucket elevators traditionally uses large casing dimensions, large cumbersome elevator
buckets, which are pitched apart at quite a large distance. Chain operates at quite low speed (1.3
m/s), due to frictional and noise problems, which has a net result of limiting the case size. Also
high strength, large construction chain, large motors etc are required on chain and bucket
elevators. All these combinations contribute to an expensive elevator, in initial cost, further
maintenance costs, and expensive downtime.
Large cumbersome fabricated elevator buckets can also used with belting. These are also a very
expensive option like the chain, because they also take up a lot of volume within an elevator
casing, and fabricated buckets are very expensive compared to their pressed counterpart. As a
result the casing will also become larger and more expensive.
The SJ and Steel Web Belt alternative
As an alternative to this old fashioned tried and tested approach, 4B have developed a Ferro steel
reinforced belting system, incorporating the unique SJ bucket design.
The Starco Jumbo and Steel web belting can use multi rows (one to four rows of three different
sizes) of closely spaced, heavy-duty Jumbo seamless steel buckets and purpose designed steel web
system, high temperature elevator belt.
Elevator belt will wear significantly less than the chain alternative. This is mainly due to lack of
moving parts as compared with the chain links and sprockets. As the chain will undergo constant
friction between each part, thus causing constant wear, then eventually downtime.
The elevator buckets are pressed from 4mm mild steel and will therefore have extensive lifetime
of use. A wearband, welded onto the front edge and sides of the buckets is an option if the product
is particularly abrasive. The buckets are designed to achieve very high capacities through their
unique optimum design characteristics, which maximizes bucket fill and will ease product release.
The buckets are also design in such a way, that they can be spaced at very tight intervals, unlike
the traditional system. The buckets can also be used upto 2.3 m/s on the larger pulley diameters
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(which is still gravity discharge), which will enable high capacity. This all has a positive effect on
the reduction of the casing size.
Comparisons between traditional chain system and our steel web belt / SJ system
As previously described, using our SJ system and steel web belt, you can achieve far higher capacities
for the given space provided. The following comparison demonstrates the differences between chain
and bucket with the steel web belt and SJ buckets. This shows that you can use much smaller case
sizes, due to the faster speeds and more efficient bucket size and spacing. In general terms you can
save around a third of the case size compared with the SJ buckets.
Traditional chain elevator to jumbo and steel cord belt to handle 300M³/hour.
Chain and Bucket Steelcord Belt and SJ Buckets
Sprocket 900 PCD Pulley Dia 900 dia
Chain speed 1.3M/S Belt Speed 1.9 m/s
Bucket DIN 15234 1250*400 Bucket 2 rows of SJ370-250
Case 1400*560 Case 930*400
= Reduced case and Lower machine cost
Super Jumbo bucket, Steel cord belt and case size
The following table illustrates the various different combinations of capacities that can be achieved
using our system. The differing combinations are achieved using various size pulleys and multi rows of
SJ buckets, as opposed to using large cumbersome fabricated buckets.
Cement Elevator Capacities with SJ Buckets at 4.9/Metre
Material Portland Cement at 1.12 Density and with 90% fill or Water Level
BKTS 250 MM PROJ SJ470 SJ470 SJ470 SJ370 SJ370 SJ370 SJ370
ROWS 1 2 3 1 2 3 4
BELT WIDTH MM 520 1040 1560 410 820 1170 1600
CASE WIDTH MM 650 1150 1620 540 930 1320 1640
CASE DEPTH MM 400 400 400 400 400 400 400
CAPACITIES
PULLEY DIA MM 900 900 900 900 900 900 900
BELT SPEED M/S 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9
TPH 350 700 1050 280 560 840 1120
M3/HR 313 625 950 250 500 750 1000
PULLEY DIA MM 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
BELT SPEED M/S 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02
TPH 375 754 1130 298 595 890 1190
M3/HR 335 670 1010 260 530 800 1060
PULLEY DIA MM 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200
BELT SPEED M/S 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25
TPH 420 840 1260 330 664 995 1325
M3/HR 375 750 1125 295 590 890 1185
High capacity – low maintenance System for Industrial Elevators
* Compared to traditional chain and bucket elevators Polysur Ferro Steel web belt fitted with
Starco Jumbo buckets offer you:
a. Up to double the elevator capacity;
b. Throughputs up to 1300 TPH and over;
c. Much lower capital investment;
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d. Longer trouble free life;
e. Reduced maintenance and spares cost;
f. Opportunity to upgrade capacity of existing elevators.
Polysur Ferro Steel Web Belt
The steel web belt has less frictional and wear points as compared to chain. The Belt also has very
thick covers (usually 4 or 5 mm) to withstand the rigors of cement and other abrasive industrial
products.
Due to the construction of Polysur Ferro belt, the belt will have near zero stretch. In the past the
other fear with using elevator belts as opposed to chain, is that the belt will stretch under initial
use, this will not happen with steel web belt, due to the special Ferro E-cords in the warp and weft.
4B can offer belt strength up to 2000KN/M, which will cope with the toughest of applications.
The belt is also guaranteed and can last for many years depending on application. All belts come
with punched holes on application.
A special Allan key head bolt can be used to enable ease of use and access into the holes of the
belt by using an electric drill with an Alan key bit to screw the bolt through the belt (see sketch).
Nut Dome Washer Elevator Bucket Belt Bolt
Alan key head bolt complete with view of belt, bucket, domed washer and nut.
The elevator belt has a constant operation temperature of 120ºC with peaks of 150°C, which will
allow for most cement and other industrial applications. Thick covers, usually 4 mm are used on
the belt, to cope with high abrasion and temperature levels that can be experienced with many
industrial applications.
* Specially constructed to suit the SJ buckets and fasteners
* Weft as well as warp cables to add strength stability and bolt holding
* Strengths from 800 to 2000 kn/m
* Operating temperature up to 120 ºC – peaks of 150’c
* Negligible Belt Stretch
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Belt fasteners and bucket arrangement
* Specially designed Clamp for Starco
jumbo buckets and Polysur Ferro steel web
belt combination.
* Standard clamp for up to 1200 KN/M belt
– made in aluminum
* Clamp for 2000KN/M belt – made in steel
and aluminum
The Starco Jumbo Elevator Bucket
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The buckets also have the ability to have a very small space in between each bucket; therefore
very high capacities can be achieved.
SJ buckets are pressed from 3 or 4 mm mild steel, and can be fitted with wear bands if the product
is particularly abrasive.
Case Studies
We have successfully completed numerous elevator designs for new elevators. 4B can offer free
engineering design specifying the correct buckets, belting, bolts, case sizes, motors etc, etc, in
order that the bucket elevator manufacturers can manufacture the optimum and most cost-effective
elevator. This service can also be offered to the end users, such as cement plants, whereby their
existing elevators can be changed over from chain and the capacity increased, and even doubled.
Here are two example of elevators one showing a new elevator we designed and one we retrofitted
from chain, using our SJ and steel cord belt.
The first example is for an elevator were the elevator did not reach the anticipated capacity of 180-200 TPH
and frequently lost buckets due to bucket fixing bolts being pulled through the belt. The belts often mis-
aligned, also the casing side was damaged by off-tracking belts.
Polysur Ferro belt with higher safety factor and cross rigid construction was fitted for improved tracking.
The belt speed and belt strength was increased. The large fabricated buckets were replaced by the SJ370
buckets at a reduced pitch to achieve the desired capacity of minimum 200 TPH (actually calculated – 285
TPH). Retrofit using – T130’c belt 4+4 covers, SJ370-250 (4 mm thick) pressed steel buckets and M12x50
alan key DIN bolts with high temperature resistant locknuts, and a special aluminum clamp.
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The next example is of an existing chain elevator in Australia that was upgraded from 120 TPH of cement,
upto 250 TPH by retrofitting and installing one row of SJ470 buckets and using Ferro belt SW1000 4+4.
The original elevator 25 meters high, had chain installed, and it was decided to change over to Ferro belt
with SJ buckets to improve the performance and life.
The head lagging is shown during installation of the belt.
To complement their elevator components supply, 4B Components have a free detailed engineering
design service. The service will give engineering drawings, optimum speeds and elevator sizes etc, to
take away the worry of capacity and size calculations from the machine manufacturer. This facility is
also available to the end user, with respect to the upgrading of existing elevators.
In conclusion the SJ and Polysur Ferro belt can offer the following features and advantages:
SJ system for cement
* Replaces traditional chain and bucket elevators
* Replaces very large cumbersome belt and very large slow bucket elevators
Traditional chain and bucket elevators are limited because:
* Uses heavy chain and large fabricated buckets
* Limited number of buckets per meter
* Max speed 1.3 M/S restricts capacity
* Chain and sprockets wear quickly
* High maintenance and replacement costs
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* High capacity requires very large elevator construction
Starco Jumbo and Polysur Ferro belting elevator are advantageous because:
* Uses 1 to 4 rows of closely spaced heavy-duty starco jumbo seamless steel buckets
* In conjunction with purpose designed steel cord high temperature elevator belt
* Capable of up to 2.3 M/S belt speed
* Achieves far greater capacities per case size then chain – up to double
* Saves 33% of components costs
* Much lower capital investment
* Belt wears less than chain
* Reduced maintenance and spares cost
* Reduces down time and maintenance costs
* Throughputs up to 1300 TPH and over
* Ferro belt does not stretch
Reference Lists on request.
Dave Wolstencroft B.Eng, C.Eng, MIEE
Technical Manager
4B Components
Date - 3/30/05
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729 Sabrina Drive East Peoria, Illinois 61611 USA
www.go4B.com
[email protected] Telephone: 309.698.5611 Fax: 309.698.5615
