How do Flat Belt Conveyors work?
Flat Belt Conveyors work by friction between the roller and the belt. The drive end roller has a motor to drive it. It can be done by directly mounting the geared motor to the roller or by giving indirect speed with a chain or timing belt. It is called Drive End. The other end is called Driven end or Tension end. When the belt has appropriate tension, it starts rotating by friction between the roller and belt. If there is no tension to the belt, i.e., the belt is loose, and it will not function.

The belt has no reason to run at the center. The belt may go on any side of the conveyor while running. The belt will run in one position when the belt tracking is proper. How is conveyor belt tracking done? Please read here.

What are types Or Applications of Flat Belt Conveyors?
Depending on the application, there are different types of belt conveyors as

Inclined Flat Belt Conveyor

• The inclination of the conveyor should not go beyond 25-30degrees. The preference also depends on the product dimensions, especially the height. Eka Mining Solutions generally keep the angle of inclination at 25degree.
• You can watch a video of inclined belt conveyors here manufactured by Eka Mining Solutions.
• Inclined flat belt conveyors have use for various purposes like floor to floor handling, truck loading conveyor, and many other purposes. Inclined flat belt conveyors convey various articles such as carton boxes, plastic crates, totes, bags, components.

Printing Conveyor

• Flat belt conveyors for printing application, it is called printing conveyor.
• The printer on the conveyor can print various information such as the date of mfg, expiry date, plant number.
• Printing conveyors can print on different types of articles such as plastic bottles, carton boxes, food pouches, pharmaceuticals bottles, tablets
• A typical printing conveyor has a printing head on the top, a side guide for adjustment of the article on the belt, and CPU below the belt.
• A variable frequency drive to regulate the speed of the conveyor is a must for such conveyors to match belt speed with printing speed.

Knife Edge Belt Conveyor

• When the product dimensions are tiny, the product may fall or stuck in the gap between the conveyors at transfers.
• The drive or driven end rollers create the gap between conveyors. Due to which tiny products may get stuck in the difference.
• Knife-edge conveyors have application in such cases. As the name suggests, the knife-edge conveyors have very smaller diameters at the conveyor ends to create a knife-like portion. Due to which product transfer is smooth between conveyors.
• The use of a single or both low side diameter is optional and depends on the application.
• There are particular types of conveyor belts to be used based on such claims.
• The conveyor manufacturer should discuss the belt application with the manufacturer in detail to select the right belt. The selected belt should be suitable for knife-edge application

Food Grade Belt Conveyor

• It is nothing but a belt conveyor designed for food-grade applications.
• The belt is suitable for food grade and ideal for use.
• The structure may or may not be stainless steel.
• The design of the conveyors should be according to the standard of HACCP or ISO 22000.

PVC Belt Conveyor

• It is a usual conveyor with the material of the belt PVC.
• There are a lot of other materials available, depending on the application.
• While selecting the belt, the conveyor designers should share all the possible details with the belt manufacturer for screening. The application details, speed conveyor, component weight construction, roller diameters, end industry of installation.

Cleated & Side Wall Belt Conveyor

• These are the accessories that are available with the belt.
• Inclined conveyors generally use Cleats & sidewalls.
• Cleats and Sidewalls are ultrasonically welded to the belt.
• Straight flat belt conveyors also use cleats to locate the product in applications such as pick & place.
• The designers should take care of the mounting position of the support rollers of the return path for cleated belts carefully.\
• Either cleated belt or either walled side belt or with both the options belts are available.

Checkweighers

• Most of the time, check weighers have flat belt conveyors.
• The design of the conveyor is very different from typical belt conveyors.
• Checkweighers measure the weight of the component without stopping the conveyor. Typically after keeping pressure on the weight balance, it needs to be stable to come the reading.
• Generally, check weighers are installed at the End of the packaging Line to ensure the product weight is in the given range. Since the production speeds are high, it is difficult to ensure the pressure manually. Checkweighers does this at a very high rate.
• Checkweighers generally have pneumatic pushers to reject the products which are out of the range.
• Checkweighers have been an essential part of a production and packing line due to stringent norms of the Government.

Warehouse Conveyors

• Warehouse conveyors can be of any type, such as a belt, rollers, modular belt inclined.
• Bar Codes, Bar Code Scanners, RFIDs, RFID Scanners, Forklifts, ASRS, Warehouse Management Softwares are also required to manage the warehouse operations efficiently.

Sorting Conveyors

• Sorting Conveyors are in use for applications such as incoming fruit material sorting to parcel sorting.
• Sorting conveyors has been used in various industries like food, pharma, parcel sorting, e-commerce.

Weighing Conveyors

• A weighing conveyor is a static weight balance with a conveyor.
• For low production speeds, check weighers are not economical, and so static weighing conveyors are a cheap option.

Packing Belt Conveyor

• Generally, companies use packing conveyors to pack products in carton boxes or a container with multiple items. Operators create a packing line, with a series of operations or tasks. Such as cake manufacture may provide a spoon, a coupon voucher for next time purchase, and cake, which uses a packing conveyor line.
• Packing Conveyors have platforms on both sides of the conveyor where operators are working.

Carton Box Conveyors

• When belt conveyors are used to carrying carton boxes, they are called carton box conveyors.

Crate Conveyors

• Belt conveyors carrying or conveying plastic crates are crate conveyors.

Metal Detector Conveyors

• Belt Conveyors with metal detectors detect metal contamination in various materials such as food, chemicals.
• Metal detectors have some unique designs.
• Food & pharma companies use metal detector conveyors or types of equipment to check metal contamination.
• A typical metal detector conveyor has a metal detecting device and a belt conveyor running through it.
• The range of metal detecting devices is an important selection criterion while buying a metal detector conveyor.

Telescopic Conveyors

• Truck or container loading and unloading use telescopic conveyors.
• Telescopic conveyors have a fixed portion length, and the rest is adjustable.
• They have multiple features such as up-down height adjustment, horn/siren system, safety features, fixed or movable.

Belt Over Roller Conveyors

• Belt over roller conveyor is just another type of belt conveyor.
• Generally, belt conveyors have sheets as support plates.
• If the product is heavy, it increases friction between belt and sheet due to which motor power increases.
• Gravity rollers are added below the belt conveyor so that due to rolling contact, less motor power is required.
• Generally, bag stitching machines have a belt over roller conveyor at the bottom.
• Bag conveyors also have rollers below the belt.

Truck Loading & Unloading Conveyors

• Truck Loading Conveyors have a lot of variety.
• Truck loading conveyors have height adjustment features. Height adjustment can be made using hydraulic, pneumatic, or motorized.
• Most of the time, height adjustment is made using hydraulic, which is easy to use and standalone.

Mini Belt Conveyors

• Mini Belt Conveyors are very small in widths of around 30mm to 120mm width.
• These are generally used for tiny spaces and varied industries.
• Please check here for the video of the mini belt conveyor made by Eka Mining Solutions.