Belt Conveyors

Belt Conveyor
Belt conveyors are the most widely used and versatile mode of mechanical conveying systems
employed to transport materials horizontally or on an inclined either up or down.
Advantages
• It can easily convey the large volume of materials.
• It is cost efficient and has given a relief to the labor efforts.
• Increases the level of productivity rapidly.
• It can transport the materials both vertically as well as horizontally.
• It also helps to stack the transported materials at the end of the production line.
• It saves the product from getting damaged and also prevent injuries.
• It consumes less power and is durable in nature.
• It can transport the materials in all the directions and proves to be long lasting.
• It can be easily installed anywhere and used in numerous applications.
Applications
Manufacturing industries Power plants Flour mills
Pharmaceuticals Bakeries and confectioneries Ice-cream plants
Food producing industries Textile industries Chemical plants
Packaging industries Laundries Shipyards
1. Belt, which forms the moving and supporting surface on which the conveyed material rides.
2. Idler, which form the supports for the carrying and return strands of the belt.
3. Pulleys, which support and move the belt and control its tension.
4. Drive, which imparts power to one or more pulleys to move the belt and its load.
5. Structure, which supports and maintains the alignment of the idlers and pulleys, and supports
the driving machineries.
 Types of Belt Conveyors
1. Flat Belt Conveyor
• Active side of belt remains flat supported by cylindrical rollers
• short in length and suitable for conveying unit loads like crates, boxes, packages,
bundles etc. in manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and assembly operations.
• Flat belts are conveniently used for conveying parts between workstations or in
an assembly line in mass production of goods.
2. Troughed Belt Conveyor
• Wide flat belt is supported on troughed carrying rollers
• Return side of the belt is kept flat
• Higher capacity than a flat belt of equal width
• Used for materials which may slide off flat belts
• ‘‘normal’’ or ‘‘transfer’’ conveyors – used within a plant. Shorter
lengths, straight line path in horizontal or inclined plane.
• ‘‘long-centre’’ conveyors – used for long distances. Series of
conveyors over combination of inclines, declines and horizontal
section paths. High belt tension, low belt stretch, low acceleration
Long-centre conveyors are used for:
(i) transportation of the output of mines to the processing plants,
(ii) materials from shipping ports to the storage/transport loading sites,
(iii) materials from outdoor storage yards to inside plants,
(iv) movement of materials between plants etc.

3. Closed Belt Conveyor

• Specially fabricated belt, after being loaded with the
material, can be wrapped completely around the load.
• Forms a closed tube moving along with the material.
• It can handle fragile materials safely and without breaking by
reducing inter particle collision,
• It can handle fine bulk materials without being swept by air,
• Ability to handle corrosive and reactive materials without
contamination
• The tubed belt can travel around bends in more than one
plane and hence versatile in layout.
4. Metallic Belt Conveyor
• Cold rolled carbon steel/stainless steel strip belt of thickness 0.6 – 1.2 mm
Ends of the steel strips are lap jointed with special wide flat head rivets
• Apart from strip steel belts, wire-mesh belt (more flexible) is also used.
• Usually flat belt of short length is used.
• Used in food, chemical industry and for conveying hot and reactive loads.
• Used to handle lump materials from furnaces, as mobile base for baking
industry and also for wetting, cooling, dehydrating and similar operations.

5. Portable Conveyor
• Short length flat conveyors carried on a wheeled structure.
• Particularly useful for loading and unloading of trucks / transport vehicles.
• The inclination of the conveyor can generally be adjusted to suit application.
6. Submerged Belt Conveyor
• A portion of the belt moves through a metallic trough (casing) which is filled with free
flowing, powdered material at the loading end.
• The moving belt with holes, makes the material flow to the unloading end of the trough.
Parts of a Belt Conveyor

1. Conveyor Belt 6. Loading and unloading devices

2. Idlers 7. Belt Cleaners
3. Conveyor Pulleys 8. Training idlers
4. Drives for Belt Conveyors 9. Conveyor structure
5. Take-ups or Belt Tensioning Devices 10. Transfer terminals
1. Conveyor Belt

• Most common type of conveyor belting is rubber/plastics covered textile belting.

• The internal carcass of woven fabric gives the longitudinal strength of pulling the loaded belt and transverse
strength for supporting the load. The cover of rubber/plastic protects the carcass from damage.
• Specification, requirements and testing procedures of rubber/plastic covered textile belts given in IS 1891:1994.

Grades of Belt Covers

1. Grade M24: Natural rubber compound with superior resistance to cutting, gauging and abrasion.
2. Grade N17: Compound rubber with high abrasion resistance with inferior cutting & gauging resistance compared to M24 grade
3. Grade N17(Synthetic): Composed mainly of synthetic rubber with higher abrasion resistance. Belt made of carcass with
chemical or other superior bonding system should be used for this grade.
4. Grade HR: Suitable for handling load at high temperatures, upto 150°C for lumps or 125°C for powdered materials.
5. Grade FRAS: Used for underground mining and processes where fire resistance and antistatic charge properties, are required.
6. PVC Grade: Used in fire resistance, oil resistance and hygienic belting.
 Belt Designation
• As per IS 1891 (Part I): 1994, belts are designated by IS No., grade of the cover, the ‘‘type’’ of belting defined by the full
thickness breaking strength in KN/m and number of plies.
• For example, a conveyor belt with cover grade N17 and type 250 having 4 plies shall be designated as: Conveyor Belt IS
1891 (Part I) N17-250/4.
• Steel cord belting is designated by prefix ‘‘ST’’ followed by the full thickness breaking strength in KN/m. Example ST-1800.

Belt Width (standard widths of belting as per IS specification)

• 300, 400, 500, 600, 650, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1800 and 2000 mm with a tolerance of ± 5 mm up to
500mm width and ± 1% of belt width for widths higher than 500 mm.

Belt Splicing
• Two ends of a belt may be joined either by metallic belt fasteners or by vulcanization.
• Metal fastener joining is easier and acceptable for flat belt conveyors.
• Vulcanized belt splicing is a superior technique suitable for troughed belt conveyors. Several plies of two ends of the belt are
vulcanized together to make a joint of strength almost equal to the solid belt.
2. Idlers
The rollers used at certain spacing for supporting the active as well as return side of the belt
are called idlers. There are two types of idlers used in belt conveyors:
1. straight carrying and return idlers, which are used for supporting active side of the belt for
a flat belt conveyor and also for supporting the return belt in flat orientation in both flat or
troughed belt conveyor.
2. troughing idler set consisting of 2, 3 or 5 rollers arranged in the form of trough to support
the active side of the belt in a troughed belt conveyor.
• Idlers are generally made from steel tubes conforming to IS 9295:1983.
• The tubes are mounted on antifriction bearings over a fixed steel spindle.
• The idlers may be made of heavy steel tubes for severe service condition (like in material
loading section) or cast iron in corrosive application (handling coke etc.).
• Idler dimensions are standardized in IS 8598 :1987. Carrying and return idler diameters in
mm are : 63.5, 76.1, 88.9, 101.6, 108, 114.3, 127, 133, 139.7, 152.4, 159, 168.3 and 193.7.
Roller diameter increases with bulk weight of load in kg/m3, particle size and belt speed.
• Length of the idlers vary from 100 mm up to 2200 mm. The smaller lengths are generally
made in smaller diameters while longer lengths are made in larger diameters.
• Troughing angle (angle of inclined roller with horizontal) in troughed idler sets is 15°, 20°,
25°, 30°, 35°, 40° and 50°. Troughing angle of 15° is applicable only to 2-roll troughed idlers.
3. Conveyor Pulleys
• At each of the two ends of a belt conveyor, one large diameter pulley is installed against which the belt turns and changes
direction. These pulleys are called terminal or bend pulley.
• Drive is imparted to the belt through friction by one of the terminal pulleys called drive pulley.
• As the conveyor belt passes around these bend pulleys, the plies of the belt are elongated in proportion to the distance of
the ply form center of the pulley. The differential elongation of one ply over the other is taken up by the rubberized bonding
between two plies. Larger the pulley, less is differential elongation between the plies hence less tendency to ply separation.
This is the reason the bend pulleys are made large.
• The conveyor pulleys are either fabricated from rolled steel plates or of cast iron construction. The central steel shaft is
keyed into the pulley drum and then the finished dimensions are machined.
• The pulleys are generally given a crowning at the face for keeping the belt at the centre of the pulley. The face length is
generally 100 mm to 200 mm more than the belt width.
• The surface of the pulley may be left bare smooth, or may be covered up to a thickness of 6 to 12 mm by rubber,
polyurethane or ceramic layer with herringbone patterned grooves to increase the friction between the pulley and belt.
• The pulleys are mounted on heavy duty antifriction bearings in suitable bearing housings.
4. Drives for Belt Conveyors
• The belt conveyors are generally driven at the head end pulley, where material is discharged.
• The drive pulley is connected to the drive motor through suitable speed reduction gear box and flexible shaft couplings.
• Drive of an inclined conveyor necessarily includes a braking device which prevents downward movement of the loaded belt in
case of power failure of the motor.

5. Belt Tensioning Devices

• Endless conveyor belt need to be tightened so that sufficient frictional force is developed between the drive pulley
and the belt, to make the belt move. Belts working under tension invariably gets elongated with time, which needs
to be taken-up to maintain the desired tension in the belt.
• A belt conveyor generally have a screw-type (mechanical) or a gravity-type counterweighted take-up unit, also
termed as belt tensioning device.
• In the screw-type take-up, the bearing blocks for the tail end pulley are located in guide ways, so that these may be
moved by rotating two screws as and when belt tension needs to be increased.
• In gravity take up, the tail end pulley is mounted on a movable carriage which is pulled backwards along the length of
the conveyor by a vertically hanging counterweight connected through a steel rope and deflecting pulleys. In an
alternate design, the return side of the belt passes by the bottom of a counter-loaded deflector roll which is free to
move down to keep the belt taught.
 Typical gravity take-up arrangements
6. Loading and unloading devices
• Free flowing material may be directly delivered from a hopper, bin or storage pile through a chute, the delivery rate being
controlled by a regulating gate at the hopper / bin output.
• For non free flowing materials a suitable feeder unit with a chute is used for loading the material centrally onto the belt as
evenly and gently as possible.
• For unloading of materials at the end of the head pulley, no device is required excepting proper chutes to guide the
discharged materials.
• For discharging at any point along the length of the conveyor, a plough or a belt tripper is used. A plough consists of a rubber
tipped blade extending across the belt width at an angle of 60°. The plough may be one-side discharge or a V-shaped blade
for two-side discharge.
 7. Belt Cleaners
• For cleaning the outer surface of the belt a wiper or scraper blade is used for dry particles adhering to the belt.
• A rotary brush type cleaner is used for wet and sticky materials.
• To clean the inner surface of belt, if warranted, a scraper is placed near the end of return run before the tail end pulley.

8. Training idlers • For various reasons like eccentric loading, sticking of material to belt or idlers
etc., the belt may tend to move out of centre line. To prevent this tendency, belt
training idlers are used which automatically maintain belt alignment.
• It consists of an ordinary troughed idler which is mounted on its base by pivot
shaft about which it can swivel within a limited angle. Two short vertical rollers,
mounted on bearings are fixed at the two ends of the idler, such that they are
perpendicular to the belt edges. The vertical rollers are placed slightly ahead of
the idler centre line.
• When the belt shifts off centre, it makes contact with one of the vertical rollers
which makes the entire idlers frame to swivel through an angle. This skewed
position of the idler creates a force which tends to bring the belt back to its
central position. In a long conveyor, trainer idlers may be spaced at ~ 30 meters.
• To align belt travel, at times, troughed idlers having its side idlers tilted to a small
angle not more than 3°, are used. However, this tilted rollers cause the belt to
wear rapidly, hence should be used with caution.
9. Conveyor structure
• The structure supporting the pulleys and idlers consists of suitable sized channel
stringers, with supporting legs to the main structure or floor.
• For long conveyors, lightweight truss sections are used that permit longer spans
between supporting legs, and economical structural cost.
• A decking is provided to allow return run of the belt which also lends lateral
rigidity to the structure.
• For long centre conveyors, sidewalk ways are provided for inspection and
adjustment to idlers.
• The structures are often covered by tin plate at the top and sides to protect the
materials being conveyed under the sky outside the plant.

10. Transfer terminals

• In a long-centre conveyor, direction of the conveyor is changed in a transfer terminal where materials from one conveyor is
transferred into another conveyor. The second conveyor is laid out at certain angle (generally 90°) to the first one.
• The discharge from first conveyor takes place at a higher point, and materials is directed to the second conveyor situated at a
lower height, through properly shaped and sized transfer chute. This transfer is a critical operation.
• The transfer terminal is enclosed within a structural framework, covered in all sides, called a junction tower.
Belt Conveyor Design
The major points in selection and design of a belt conveyor are:
1. Checking/determining capacity of a conveyor.
2. Calculating maximum belt tension required to convey the load and selection of belt.
3. Selection of driving pulley.
4. Determining motor power.
5. Selection of idlers and its spacing.

1. Checking/Determining Conveyor Capacity

• Check at what rate (tons/hrs. or units/min) a belt conveyor of a given belt width and speed can convey a particular
bulk material or unit loads.
• Conversely, it is to find out the size and speed of the conveyor to achieve a given conveying rate.
 1. Determining Capacity of a Belt Conveyor

Capacity of a Flat Belt Conveyor • On a flat belt, free flowing materials will assume the shape of an
isosceles triangle.
• The angle of dynamic repose ‘‘f1’’ may be considered to be equal to
0.35f, where ‘‘f’’ is the static angle of repose for the material.
1
• To avoid spillage, the belt width ‘‘B’’ is taken at least 25% more than
the base of triangle ‘‘b’’. Thus b = 0.8B.
• As per IS 11592, b = 0.9B – 0.05 m for B ≤ 2 m. Therefore, the
assumption b = 0.8B is more conservative for B > 500 mm.

Cross sectional area of the load on a flat belt:

Conveying capacity “Qf” of a flat belt conveyor:

g = bulk density of material in tons /m3

V = velocity of belt in m/sec
B = Belt width in metres
Capacity of a Troughed Belt Conveyor
• For a three roller troughed belt conveyor, where the length of the carrier
rollers are equal, the length of each roller can be taken as a l r = 0.4B.
1
• Let the trough angle be ‘‘l’’.
• Then, cross sectional area of the load, F = F1 + F2.
The trapezoidal area

This is based on the assumption that the base “b” of top triangular area is given by b = 0.8B, as considered in (i).

Capacity of troughed conveyor, Qtr =

Capacity of Flat belt carrying unit (box shaped) load:

• Belt width “B” is taken to be ~ (width of the load + 200 mm).
• Capacity of the conveyor in terms of number of unit loads conveyed per unit time depends on orientation of unit loads on belt
and speed of belt.
• Orientation of load depends on strength of the belt to carry unit load as well as on stability of the load on conveyor.
Belt Speed:
• Recommended belt speed depends on the width of the belt as well as lump size factor of the bulk material, its air borne
factor and also its abrasiveness factor.
• IS: 11592:2000 gives the maximum recommended belt speeds for different sizes of belts based on ‘‘speed factor’’
• Speed factor = lump size factor + air borne factor + abrasiveness factor
• Higher belt speeds may be considered under special design conditions only.

Lump size factor

 Abrasiveness Factor

Maximum Recommended Belt Speeds (m/s)

• For a conveyor sloping up (ascending), a slope factor ‘k’ is multiplied with the calculated conveyor capacity to get
the actual capacity.
• The ‘k’ factors with angle of inclination is given in following table:
2. Determining Belt Tension
In belt conveyor, the motive force to draw the belt with load is transmitted to the belt by friction between the belt and the
driving pulley rotated by an electric motor.

Euler's law of friction drive, considering no slip between the belt and pulley

T1/T2 = ema (v)

T1 = Belt tension at tighter side, T2 = Belt tension at slack side

a = Wrap angle in radian, m = Coeff. of friction between pulley and belt

Te = T1 – T2 = is the effective pull in the belt which is pulling the loaded belt against all resistances against the belt movement.

Te = T1 – T2 = T2(ema – 1) (vi)
 Estimation of effective pull, Te
• Te is the sum of all resistive forces against the motion of the belt carrying the load.
• Main resistance, R comprising of:
I. The resistance force caused by rolling friction in the bearings of the carrying and return idlers.
II. The belt advancement resistance caused due to sagging of belt between idlers.
• Secondary resistance, Rs comprising of:
I. The inertial and frictional resistances, Ra due to the acceleration and friction of the material at loading area.
II. The force, Rw required for bending (or wrapping) of the belt over pulleys.
III. Resistance, Rska due to sliding friction between belt and side walls of the skirt at loading area.
IV. Bearing resistance, Rb of pulleys (except driving pulley, which is overcome directly by driving motor).
• Special main resistance, Rsp1 comprising of:
I. Drag due to forward tilt of idlers.
• Special secondary resistance, Rsp2 comprising of:
I. Resistance from belt cleaners.
II. Resistance from discharge ploughs and belt trippers.
• Slope resistance, Rsl, which is the vertical component of the loaded belt when the conveyor is inclined to horizontal by an
angle, δ.
Thus effective pull, Te can be written as:

f = artificial coefficient of friction taking care of rolling resistance of idlers and belt advancement resistance
(f = 0.02 for horizontal belt conveyor, and f = 0.012 for a down hill conveyor requiring a brake motor.
L = length of the conveyor, m.
mc = mass of carrying idlers per metre length of conveyor, kg/m.

mr = mass of return idlers per metre length of conveyor, kg/m.

mb = mass of belt per meter of belt length, kg/m.

mG = mass of load per metre of belt length, kg/m.

δ = angle of inclination.
L Sin δ = lift of conveyor between loading and discharge point
 Secondary resistance, Rs = Ra + Rw + Rska + Rb
Ra = inertial and frictional resistance of material at loading area = Q × 1000 × ρ(V – V0) (viii)
Q = Volumetric conveyor capacity, m3/s.
r = bulk density, tonnes/m3.
V = vel. of belt, m/sec.
V0 = vel. of material at the point of loading, m/sec.
Rw = wrapping resistance between belt and pulley

For fabric carcass belt

For steel cord belt

Following values of Rw may be assumed as a thumb rule.

Other resistances Rska , Rb , Rsp1 and Rsp2 are either small or not always applicable.
Once Te is estimated, tensions at the slack side (T2) and tight side (T1) are worked out using eqns. (vi) and (v).
Friction Coefficient between Driving Pulley and Rubber Belting
Checking for belt sag
Minimum tensile force Tmin which should be exerted on the belt to limit belt sag between two sets of idlers

(xi)
lc and lr are idler spacing in meters
S = maximum allowable belt sag = 0.005 to 0.02 m
(xii)

If Tc min and Tr min are higher than the tensions T1 and T2 calculated from total resistance consideration, these higher values
of belt tensions should be achieved through proper belt tensioning and should be considered in calculation of different
design parameters.
In order to increase the effective pull without slippage, the wrap angle (α) of belt over driving pulley or pulleys is generally
increased by different drive arrangements.
Selection of Belt Carcass
Maximum peripheral force Te max occurs when starting up the completely loaded conveyor from rest.

Te max = xTe x = 1.2 – 2.2

Based on this maximum tensile force (T1 max) in belt, the belt carcass should be selected from manufacturers' catalogues
3. Selection of Driving and Other Pulleys
• Driving and tail end pulleys are fabricated from steel plates.
• The pulley faces are given a crown of around 0.5% of the pulley diameter, but not less than 4mm.
• Diameter of pulley is selected based on the belt carcass thickness.
• Thumb rule  pulley diameter, D ≥ ki, where i = no. of plies of belt, and k = 125 to 150 (for i = 2 to 6), and k = 150 (for i =
8 to 12).
• Calculated D is rounded off to the larger standard sizes of 250, 315, 400, 500, 630, 800,1000,1250,1400,1600, 1800 and
2000 mm.
• Length of the barrel is kept 100mm to 200 mm more than the belt width.
• The drive pulley may be covered (lagged) with a layer of suitable material like rubber, polyurethane, ceramics etc,
whenever necessary, to increase the coefficient of friction between the pulley and belt.
• The thickness of such lagging may vary between 6 to 12 mm, and having a hardness between 55 to 65 shore A scale.
4. Calculation of Motor Power
Power required at the driving pulley just for driving the belt

Pd = driving power, in kW
Te = effective tension = (T1 – T2), in Newton
V = belt speed, in m/sec

Actual power required (considering wrap resistance between belt and driving pulley, and driving pulley bearings resistance)
Rwd = wrap resistance between belt and driving pulley.

Rbd = driving pulley bearing resistance

Additional power requirements should be considered for each belt tripper, and belt cleaner.

Motor power, PM = PA/h h = efficiency of the transmission system (gear box, chain / belt drive, coupling etc.)

Actual motor is chosen with a power rating of 15% to 20% greater than the calculated motor power P M.
5. Selection of Idlers

Idler Classification
Recommended Idler Spacing
Chain Conveyors
• One or multiple strands of endless chains that travel entire conveyor path, driven by one or a set of sprockets at one end and
supported by one or a set of sprockets on the other end.
• Materials to be conveyed are carried directly on the links of the chain or on specially designed elements attached to the chain.
• The load carrying chain is generally supported on idle sprockets or guide ways.
• The endless chains are kept taught by suitable chain tensioning device at the non-driven end.
• Advantages: Chain easily wraps around sprockets of small diameter, and the drive is positive i.e. no slippage takes place
between chain and sprocket. The chain stretch is also little.
• Disadvantages: High weight, high initial cost, higher maintenance cost and most importantly, limited running speed because
of dynamic loading that come into play in chain-sprocket drive causing intensive wear at high speeds. Maximum length and
maximum lift of chain conveyors are limited by the maximum allowable working tension of the chain used.
Components of Chain Conveyor
1. Chain
2. Sprocket to drive and support the chain
3. Take-up arrangement
4. Drive arrangement
5. Various other components specific to various type of chain conveyors

1. Chain
• Consists of a series of journal bearings held in precise relationship to each
other by constraining link plates.
• Each bearing consists of a bearing pin and bush on which the chain roller
revolves. The bearing pin and bush are case-hardened to allow articulation
under high pressures, and to contend with the load carrying pressure and
gearing action imparted via the chain rollers.
• There is, for each strength of conveyor chain, a range of pitches; the minimum
pitch being governed by the need for adequate wheel tooth strength; the
maximum pitch being normally dictated by plate and general chain rigidity.
• When required, the normal maximum pitch can be exceeded by the use of
strengthening bushes between the link plates, and suitable gaps to clear the
bushes must be provided in the wheel teeth.
Slip Fit: Loose fit between shaft and hole when fitted together
Press Fit: Interference fit between shaft and hole when fitted together
Pin (CP): The most important role of the pin is connecting the inner link to the outer link. Along with the plate, it receives chain
tension along the direction of travel while receiving vertical reactive forces from the conveyed items. The outer diameter of the
pin suffers wear from sliding against the bush inner diameter when the chain articulates. The pin is an essential strength bearing
part and requires high wear resistance.

Bush (B): The bush is a strength-bearing part, receiving tension from the chain during sprocket engagement, but its major role is
as a bearing part. The outer diameter of the bush suffers wear from sliding against the roller inner diameter during roller
rotation, while the bush inner diameter suffers wear from sliding against the outer diameter of the pin when the chain
articulates. Bush inner diameter wear is directly expressible as pitch elongation.

Roller (R-R): Forms a slip fit with the bush. Rotates when engaging with the sprocket, while alleviating the shock and wear from
the teeth. Rotation also lowers running resistance.

Plate (PLP-A, PLP-B, BLP): The plate mainly receives the tensile load along the chain's direction of travel while receiving vertical
reactive forces while supporting the conveyed item. The outer plate and inner plate slide against each other during chain
articulation, as well as against the sides of the sprocket teeth during sprocket engagement. Plate holes are either round or flat.

Attachments: For attaching items to the chain.

T pin (T-PIN): After the outer plate is press-fitted to the pin, a T pin is inserted and bent to prevent the pin from falling out.

The Three Basic Chain Dimensions: The three basic dimensions of conveyor chain are pitch, roller diameter, and inner link inner
width. When these dimensions are the same, the chain and sprocket are compatible. (1 pitch = 1 link)
HOLLOW BEARING PIN CHAIN
• Hollow bearing pin type chain affords ready facility for fixing attachments to outer links by bolting through the hollow
bearing pins and is suitable for use in all normal conditions.
• The attachments may be bolted up tight or held in the hollow bearing pin in a “free” manner.
• Bolted attachments should only span the outer link, as a bolted attachment spanning the inner link would impair the free
articulation of the chain.

SOLID BEARING PIN CHAIN

• Solid bearing pin chain, while having exactly the same gearing dimensions, i.e. pitch, inside width and roller diameter as the
equivalent hollow bearing pin chain, is more robust.
• Recommended for use where arduous conditions may be encountered.

HOLLOW BEARING PIN CHAIN

SOLID BEARING PIN CHAIN
DEEP LINK CHAIN
• Deep Link chain has side-plates with a greater depth than the normal chain plates; thus providing a continuous carrying edge
above the roller periphery.
• Available in Hollow or Solid Pin versions.
CHAIN ROLLERS
• In general, the use of chain incorporating rollers is recommended, but bush chain, i.e. chain without rollers, can be used on
certain applications.
• Rollers of the plain or flanged type, with a choice of size and material, are listed for most chain series - size and material
being dependent upon the type of application.

DEEP LINK CHAIN CHAIN ROLLERS

Standard Conveyor Chain
Standard Conveyor Chain
Attachments
• Attachments are parts fitted to a base chain to adapt it for a particular purpose as a conveying medium.
• Attachments may form an integral part of the link plate or may be built into the chain as a replacement of the normal link.
• Other attachments (according to type) are fixed to the chain plates by projection or fillet welding, to either one or both sides
of the chain.

F Attachments provide a flat surface at right angles to the K Attachments provide a platform parallel to the
chain plate. chain line and bearing pin axis.

L Attachments are integral with the chain outer

plates.
 2. Sprockets
• Mismatching of chain and sprocket will hurt smooth operation as well as shorten life of both chain and sprocket.
• Teeth contour and pitch must be accurate and uniform.
• Sprocket must have strong wear resistance.
• Sprocket structure must be robust with high shock resistance.
• Sprockets are made of good grade cast iron with chilled hardened teeth or from cast steel. The teeth are
machined to suit type of chain used.
• The advantage of using a large sized sprocket with greater number of teeth is to obtain smoother operation.
However, larger sprockets are costlier and take larger space. Thus a compromise is made in selecting the size of a
conveyor sprocket.
Sprocket types
BW & CW:
Hub is welded
with sprocket

BW1 & CW1:

Hub passes
through sprocket

Tooth profiles Important dimensions

1. Pitch circle diameter (Dp)
2. Outer diameter (Do)
3. No. of teeth (N)
4. Tooth width (T)
5. Hub diameter (DH)
6. Hub length (DL)
7. Shaft diameter (d)
3. Take-up arrangement
• Take-up arrangement is used for adjusting the length of the belt/chain to compensate for stretch or wear, and to
maintain proper tension.
• Excessive tensioning will increase rate of chain wear.
• Insufficient tensioning causes noisy running and some increase in wear particularly at higher speeds.
• The take-up bearing assembly consists of a housing that is mounted to a frame.
• A shaft connects two take-up bearings, one mounted on each side of the assembly.
• The bearing is guided along the frame by a slot in the bearing housing or other means.
• The take-up assembly contains a screw for adjusting its location along the frame.
• The take-up bearing is adjusted via the screw to provide the appropriate amount of tension on the system.
4. Drive arrangement
• Electric motor coupled to a speed reduction gear unit which in turn is coupled to the driving sprocket.
• The drive is generally located at the delivery end.
• Drives may have fixed or variable speed.
• For a long chain conveyor, synchronously working multiple motor drives at different sections are employed which
decrease the total tension in the chain.

5. Frame structures
• Frame structures supporting the entire conveyor, chain guide rails or troughs, skirt plates are the other components
which are common to most type of chain conveyors.
• Frame structures are generally custom designed to suit the location and application.
• The frames may be floor supported, set below the floor, be hung from the roof or bracket from wall/columns, as
required by the different types of conveyor.
Aspects of Chain Conveyor Design
(a) Dynamic Phenomena in Chain Conveyors
• Engagement of sprocket to chain being discontinuous in nature, the linear velocity of the chain between two
successive engagements with sprocket teeth becomes non-uniform.
• The reason for this is that the chain does not wrap around the driving sprocket on the pitch circle, but traces a
pitch polygon, a phenomenon known as chordal action.
• The period of irregularity is equal to the time taken by the sprocket between two successive engagements (i.e.
time taken by the sprocket to rotate by one pitch)
 • Pull is transmitted by the tooth 1, is in
mesh with chain link 1’.
• As the sprocket rotates clockwise, tooth 2
engages with link 2’, then tooth 3 with link
3’ etc.
• At constant angular velocity of the
sprocket, the peripheral speed of the tooth
remains constant, i.e. v = wR, while the
chain translatory speed in the direction of
the chain movement will be v = v0 cos f =
wRcos f, where f is the variable angle
formed by the contacting tooth radius O1
with vertical axis OY.

Analysis of chain movement over sprocket

• Thus the chain speed v during period t0 required by the sprocket to turn
by one pitch α0, is represented by section of cosine curve.
• The chain speed reaches its peak value, vmax = v0 = wR when f = 0, and its
minimum when f = - a0/2 and f = a0/2
• Acceleration of chain, f is determined as the first derivative of the speed
with time, or as the projection of centripetal acceleration of sprocket, f0 =
Rw2 to the direction of chain travel, i.e. f = f0 sin f = Rw2 sin f.
• Acceleration of the chain becomes zero when f =0 and reaches its peak
value at f = - a0/2 and f = a0/2. fmax = +Rw2sin(a0/2)
• At the point of next sprocket 2 engaging the chain, the acceleration changes abruptly from – f max to + fmax.
• If M is the mass of the moving parts of the conveying machine and the load, the inertial force at the moment is
2Mfmax. As the force is applied instantaneously, the dynamic inertial force FA = 2 × 2Mfmax = 4Mfmax.
• This inertial force is to be added to the static tight side tension of the chain to obtain total theoretical tensile
effort the chain is subjected to.
• To keep the variation of tension in the chain to a tolerable limit, the speed of the chain conveyor is kept low.
• Chordal action of chain links when going round the sprocket also imparts a pulsating motion at right angles to
direction of chain, to the conveyor chain.
• This is more pronounced when sprockets with fewer teeth i.e. increased pitch angle α0 is used. When conveyor
centre distance is short, the pulsation is less noticeable.
(b) Chain Pull and Conveyor Horsepower
• The entire weight of materials and the moving parts of a chain conveyor is pulled by the chain or chains
employed. It is, therefore, important to calculate the tension of each chain and select the chain with adequate
strength to work safely under the working pull, the chain will be subjected to.
• Total chain pull = Force required to raise material up an inclination + Force required to raise conveyor parts up
the inclination + Frictional resistance to the movement of loaded conveyor parts in the carrying run + Frictional
resistance of empty conveyor parts during return run.
• T = mG.g.V + mc.g.V + mGg.fH + 2mc.g.f.H – mc.g.V + FA = mG.g(V + f.H) + mc.g.(V+f.H) + mc.g.(f.H – V) + FA

F = Dynamic inertia force

H = L cos b
L V = L sin b
mg sin b mg cos b
mg
b f mg cos b
• If V > fH, then gravitational pull overcomes the frictional resistance of the conveyor return run. In this condition
the term mcg(fH – V) is taken to be zero. If fH > V, then this additional pull is necessary to pull the return part of
the conveyor.
• If ‘C’ is capacity of the conveyor in tonnes/hr, we can write mG = 16.66 C/S kg/m

+ FA

• Friction coefficient ‘f’ depends whether the chain is sliding or rolling. For non-roller flat linked chain, sliding on
steel track or trough, ‘f’ may be taken as 0.2 and 0.33 for well lubricated and dry run respectively. Rolling friction
depends on roller size, condition of track etc. For 50mm diameter it is 0.15 while for 150mm it is 0.06.
• When the load on conveyor passes through stationary skirt plates, additional frictional pull due to rubbing, must
be added to the chain pull ‘T’ obtained from above formula. This pull in Newton per meter length of skirt plate, Y
≅ 2.3h2/k. (h = height of materials rubbing in skirt in cm, and k is a factor depending on material as given in the
Table below.)
Power for driving the conveyor

1.15 × S × Total chain pull

P= kW
1000 × 60

• This formula takes care of 10% headshaft and 5% tailshaft friction. However, for actual motor power
calculation, the efficiency of the drive system consisting of gearbox, pulley and belt, coupling etc. have to be
considered.
High Angle Conveyors
• A high angle conveyor can be defined as any conveyor that transports material along a slope exceeding the
dynamic stability angle of the transported material.
• High Angle Conveyors (HAC), are proven versatile systems for elevating or lowering materials continuously
at steep angles to 90°. Widely varying industries have exploited the benefits of HAC. Materials handled
include coal, coarse copper ore (-250 mm), hot clinker, municipal sludge, wood chips, gypsum, slag,
excavated earth, various grains and RDF (refuse derived fuel - garbage).
• HACs are widely used for various elevating duties from underground and open pit coal mines, to screening,
to prep plant, to coal loading etc.
• Costs of truck haulage from mine pits are high and spiraling with inflation, increasing haul distances and
depths. A high angle conveying system is an economic and energy saving alternative, with the capability of
achieving very high, steep angle lifts and capacities up to 15000 ton/hour.
• By combining the flexibility of trucks with the low cost of conveyors, an alternative is offered by the
application of movable crushing plants followed by belt conveyor systems in conjunction with steep angle
conveyors for the main haul out of the pit.
• Truck haulage can be restricted to travel between the working face and the pit crusher. This means that
trucking is limited to level haulage on individual shovel benches and to very little inclined haulage. It is on
the inclines where a truck's efficiency is so low.
• There are two basic designs – (i) the sandwich belt system, (ii) the pocket belt system.
• In a sandwich belt design, two ordinary rubber belts are employed on top of each other sandwiching the
material between them. The geometry and design features of the HAC provide sufficient friction at
material/belt and material/material interfaces to prevent the material sliding back. Careful selection of
radii, belt tensions and pressing forces are required. The bottom belt is carried on troughing idlers and the
top, or cover belt, is softly pressed onto the conveyed material by fully equalized pressing rolls.
• Material is loaded onto the tail end of the bottom belt in the conventional manner and sandwiching
commences at the start of the concave radius leading into the inclined position.
Material (1) is loaded onto a troughed belt (2) at the loading point via a loading
chute (3). The material is accelerated to belt speed and allowed to settle on the
troughed, lower belt in accordance with conventional belt theory. This section of the
conveyor could range in length from a few meters to hundreds of meters.

At the point where the material is to commence elevating (4) a second conveyor belt
(5) is introduced on top of the load stream and is forced down onto the lower belt
and load stream. At this point the top belt is supported from above by means of
inversely troughed idler sets (6) and the lower belt enters a vertical curve.

As the lower belt enters the curve it rises up off of the bottom idlers (7) and the
tension in both belts ensures that the material is securely supported by the belts.
The belts are supported / guided by the inverted idler sets through the first curve. As
the initial vertical curve comes to an end and the required angle of inclination has
been reached, the sandwich conveyor continues to support the load along the
inclined section (8) until the discharge point (9) is reached.
At the discharge, the material can be ejected in a number of different configurations
i.e. a horizontal or inclined discharge.

In the case of the 'Snake' conveyor, the features are similar to those of a H.A.C.
however, the inclined portion adopts a 'snaking' profile to achieve the required
hugging pressure between the belts as opposed to the H.A.C. conveyor, which uses
spring-loaded pressing mechanisms to keep the belts and material securely in
position. This 'snaking' effect is the hallmark of the DSI Snake Conveyor.

Notwithstanding these differences in the two brands, both types of sandwich

conveyors employ two separate, endless rubberized conveyor belts. The bottom belt
(2) passes over the head / drive pulley (10) and is scraped clean (11) before it
commences its return to the tail pulley (12). The return-side belt is supported on a
series of flat return idlers (13) and a plough (14) cleans the return belt before it
enters the tail pulley.

at the discharge the 'top' belt (5) rises above the load stream and also passes over
its' drive pulley (15) and is scraped clean. As with the bottom belt, the top belt is
guided along its return path via flat return idlers (13) to its tail pulley (16).

Both tail pulleys are used to impart the required tension in the belts. The take-ups
(18) are either hydraulic rams or a gravity-type tower imparting the tension to the
trolley-mounted tail pulleys.
Advantages
• Simplicity of Approach: The use of all conventional conveyor hardware. Operating experience thus far has revealed that
HACs have very high availability and low maintenance costs.
• Virtually Unlimited in Capacity: The use of conventional conveyor components permits high conveying speeds. Available
belts and hardware up to 3,000 mm (120 inch) wide make capacities greater than 15,000 t/h possible.
• High Lifts and High Conveying Angles: Lifts beyond 300 m (1000’) are possible with standard fabric belts, and much
higher single-run lifts are possible with steel cord or aramid fibre belts. High angles of up to 90 degree are possible.
• Flexibility in Planning and in Operation: The Continental Conveyor sandwich belt lends itself to multi-module conveying
systems using self-contained units as well as to single-run systems using externally anchored, high angle conveyors. In
either case, the conveyor unit may be shortened or lengthened or the conveying angle may be altered according to the
requirements of a new location.
• Belts are Easily Cleaned and Quickly Repaired: Smooth surface belts allow continuous cleaning by belt scrapers or plows.
This is especially important in handling wet and sticky material. Smooth surface belts present no obstruction to quick
repair of a damaged belt by hot or cold vulcanizing.
• Spillage-Free Operation: During operation, the material is sealed between the carrying and cover belts. Well-centred
loading and ample belt edge distance result in no spillage along the conveyor length.
 Raw coal feed to prep plant

HAC for coal crushing and screening

Vertical coal haulage from underground by HAC

HAC to coal silo

Vertical HAC raises clean coal to tall train loading silo

pocket belt/Leg-wall system
Cable Belt Conveyors
• In conventional belt conveyor the belt moves along idler rollers. In this system
the belt is the carrying medium and also has the driving force applied to it.

• In a cable belt conveyor system the driving and carrying mechanisms are
separated. The driving forces are provided by two steel wire ropes (cables)
and the material carrying medium is a rubber conveyor belt.

• Ropes are supported by grooved pulleys at regular intervals along each

length.

• The belt rests on the ropes and is retained thereon by a pair of "shoeforms".
Each shoeform has two triangular legs, which together form a V-shaped
groove, this engages and grips the underlying rope.
• Friction losses are considerably reduced principally because of the significantly lower number and weight of
moving parts.

• Drive cables are used in sizes up to 60 mm diameter and breaking loads of 260 tonnes.
• Along the line of the conveyor it is supported at intervals of between 5 and 10 meters by grooved pulleys with a
replaceable rubber lined tread approximately 300 mm in diameter. These pulleys are mounted in pairs on
articulated arms which allow the conveyor to self align and equalize the loads on each pulley.
• In slope conveyors of less than 750 kW or level conveyors of less than 3000 metre length the Cable Belt is not the
most competitive solution. Above these parameters capital cost of Cable Belt becomes increasingly competitive.
• In level conveyors where the power due to friction losses is a substantial part of the total, the operating costs of
the Cable Belt system are becoming increasingly attractive.
• Recent developments in the Cable Belt system show that it can effectively compete with rail transport over
distances which until now have not been regarded as suitable for conveyor systems. As an example there is
currently being constructed in Western Australia for Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. a two flight, 52000 metre Cable
Belt conveyor system.
Pipe conveyor
• The conveyor resembles a conventional troughed conveyor at its tail end where the material is loaded. The open
belt then passes through a series of transition idlers to form a pipe shape, which is maintained for the length
of the conveyor.
• Just before the discharge pulley, the belt opens up again and allows the material to be discharged in the normal
fashion. On the return side, the belt is again formed into a pipe shape.
• The pipe conveyor overcomes several of the problems commonly associated with conventional conveyors, e.g.
spillage of material, limited angle of incline, horizontal curves and multiple flights.
Standard Sprcifications
Bucket Elevator
• These are powered equipment for conveying bulk materials in a
vertical or steep inclined path, consisting of an endless belt, or
chain/s to which metallic buckets are fixed.
• With the flexible belt/chain, the buckets move unidirectionally
within a casing and collects bulk materials at bottom end of the
equipment and delivers it at the top end.
• Bucket elevator is a simple and reliable equipment widely used in
process plants for lifting of bulk materials like lime stone, foundry
sand, coke, coal, grain, dry chemicals and many more.
• Bucket elevators are generally low cost equipment requiring little
floor space.
• However, bucket elevator is not suitable for large sized (100mm or
above), hot or sticky materials because buckets are generally loaded
by scooping action in the boot section and discharge from the
buckets by centrifugal force or gravity.
• Chain type, with one or two chain, elevators are suitable for a speed
range of 0.6 to 1.55 m/s, while belt type are recommended to be
used in a speed range of 1.15 to 2.85 m/s.
1-belt; 7-lower casing section (boot);
2-bucket; 8-manholes;
3-driving pulley; 9-drive unit;
4-take-up pulley; 10-take-up;
5-upper casing section; 11- holdback brake;
6-intermediate casing sections; 12-guides
Major components
Types of bucket elevators

(i) Centrifugal discharge elevators

• Buckets are spaced at a regular pitch to avoid interference in loading and discharging.
• The charging of buckets is by scooping action and the discharge is by centrifugal action.
• These elevators are generally used in vertical configuration and used for practically all types of free flowing,
small lump materials like grain, coal, sand, clay, sugar, dry chemicals etc.
• Both belt and chain may be used and the speed of these elevators range between 1.1 to 2 metre per minute.
(ii) Positive discharge elevators

• Similar to centrifugal discharge type excepting that the buckets are side-mounted on two
strands of chains (i.e. buckets lie between two strands of chains), and are provided with a pair
of snub sprockets under the head sprockets to invert the buckets for complete discharge.
• The speed of the elevator is in the range of 0.6 to 0.67 metre per minute.
• These elevators are used for light, fluffy, sluggish and slightly sticky materials.
• The feeding is through scooping or digging by the buckets.
• An inclined elevator is particularly suitable for perfect gravity discharge.
(iii) Continuous discharge

• V-type buckets are used without any gap between them.

• These elevators are employed for handling larger lumps and materials that may be difficult to handle by centrifugal
discharge.
• The charging of the buckets are by direct filling. The discharge is by directed gravity i.e. when the buckets pass over
head wheel, the flanged end of the preceding bucket act as a chute to deliver materials gently to the discharging
spout. This type of charging and discharging is particularly effective for handling fragile materials.
• Both belt and chain are used as pulling medium. Speed is generally kept low.
• These elevators are used vertically or inclined. When inclined, special supports are provided for belt/chain in the
return run, and wider casing is provided to allow for return run sag.
Pneumatic Conveyors
• Pneumatic conveying is the process of conveying
granular / powdered materials by floating the
materials in a gas, primarily air, and then allowing it to
flow to the destination through a closed pipe.
• The operating principle common to all types of
pneumatic conveying is that motion is imparted to the
material by a fast moving stream of air.
• Thus any pneumatic conveyor consists of an air supply
equipment (blower or compressor), pipelines, product
storages, air lock feeders and dust filters.
• Pneumatic conveying system is used for delivery of
non-sticky, dry materials via pipelines to various
storage or process points which are economically
inaccessible by conventional conveyors.
Advantages of Pneumatic Conveying
• Materials can be picked from one or more points and can be delivered to one or more points in a plant or even
outside to a different plant.
• The conveying of materials take place through air tight piping and auxiliary system and hence neither pollutes
the environment nor the materials get contaminated with foreign materials.
• It offers plant and operator safety in handling fine powdery materials which may be toxic in nature or fire prone.
• If offers a flexible system. The conveying pipe lines can be routed and rerouted with little efforts as per demand
of the operations.
• It makes possible unloading of materials from ships, barges, transport vessels directly to storage bins.
• It is self cleaning system, preventing accumulation of materials in the conveying system. Because of this, the
same installation may be used for conveying different materials.
• It offers a low maintenance cost system.
• It can be operated automatically and can easily be integrated into manufacturing processes as feeders.
Disadvantages of Pneumatic Conveying
• The types of materials suitable for pneumatic conveying is limited to materials which are dry, granulated,
pulverized, crushed etc. and essentially free flowing.
• Friable or too abrasive materials are not suitable to be transported by pneumatic conveyors.
• Relatively high energy consumption per unit weight of materials transported.
• The length of pneumatic conveyors are limited. Vacuum systems are limited to 500 m while high pressure
systems up to 2 kms or marginally more.
Basic Pneumatic Conveying Systems

1. Positive Pressure System • A positive displacement blower/compressor sucks air from

the atmosphere through a suction filter and delivers
pressurized air into the conveyor pipe line.
• Solids are introduced into the pipeline from the feeding
bin/hopper through different types of air lock feeder.
• The materials so introduced are immediately air laden and
blown to one or a number of receiving bins / silos through
diverting valves, also called change over valves.
• The diverting valves (manual/remote controlled) are
generally designed for one inlet and two outlets, but multiple
outlets are also possible.
• The air, after the material get discharged at the receiving
hoppers, is passed through an appropriate dust removal
system, before it is allowed to escape back to atmosphere.
• Advantage: Blower/compressor does not handle dusty air.
• Disadvantage: Leakage of high pressure air along with
materials to the surroundings.
2. Negative Pressure Systems • A positive displacement blower creates a vacuum in
the conveyor pipe line, which causes the material
to be sucked through one or multiple nozzles and
conveyed to a receiving hopper.
• The conveyed material is separated from the air
stream and collected in the hopper.
• The air is passed through a dust collector to be
freed from remaining finer particles and then
released to the atmosphere.
• In this system, materials from multiple storage
points may be collected and transported to a
• single storage point.
• Advantage: Air pollution through materials leakage
is virtually nil. Therefore, this system is particularly
useful for toxic and very fine powdered materials.
• Disadvantage: If the air is not totally separated
from the conveyed materials, then dust laden air
passes through the blower and tends to damage it.
Moreover, the distance and volume of conveying is
also limited because the actual vacuum created
inside the pipeline is often not below 0.3
atmosphere.
 Parts for Pneumatic Conveyor
(a) Suction nozzle
(b) Feeding/Intake units
(c) Change-over or diverter valves
(d) Separator/receiver
(e) Dust collector (filter)

(a) Suction nozzle • These are used for sucking materials into the pipe of suction conveyors.
• It is a piece of pipe connected with the main conveying pipe through flexible hose.
• Part length of this pipe is jacketed by another concentric tubular piece.
• The jacket is closed at the bottom with inner pipe, while it is open at the top.
• Number of holes are created at the bottom side of the inner pipe.
• When this assembly is dropped into the material, part of the nozzle end gets buried into
heap of the material.
• When the suction blower is switched on, air enters between the jacket and the inner
pipe through opening at the top, passes through the holes at the bottom part of the
inner pipe, through the materials and picks up the particles up the nozzle into the
conveying pipe.
(b) Feeding/Intake unit: (i) Air-lock gate, (ii) Screw feeder, (iii) Blow tank/chamber feeder

(i) Air-lock gate

• Also called as rotary feeder/rotary valve/rotary airlock
• Used in low pressure system, for pressure up to 1.4 atm (g)
for introduction of materials from storage hoppers/silos into
the conveying pipe.
• The material is fed from the top funnel.
• The partitioned rotary drum takes this material and
discharge at the bottom by gravity.
 (ii) Screw feeder
• Used for feeding materials into pipelines working under medium pressure systems, up to 3.0 atm (g).
• Screw feeders are short length screw conveyors with screws having differential pitch decreasing in the direction of
load discharge. This feature makes the load to pack at the discharge end and prevents the high pressure air to
escape through the feeding mouth of the feeder.
• The material is discharged into a mixing chamber, where the pressurized air enters through a series of nozzles. The
air jet loosens the feed materials and carries it along the conveying pipe to discharge point.
(iii) Blow tank/chamber feeders

• Used for charging powdered materials into the pressure line.

• Consist of a cylindrical vessel with conical bottom.
• The material is fed into the upper part of the chamber through
a port and after filling the vessel, it is shut off.
• Then compressed air is introduced into the lower part to aerate
the material, and also at the top of the vessel to force the
loosened material to move though the feeding pipe into the
main line of the pressure conveyor.
(c) Change-over/diverter valves
• These valves allow pneumatically conveyed material in a pressure system, to be
delivered to a specific point out of the multiple storage points.
• These valves consist of a CI body having one flanged inlet and more than one
flanged outlets.
• At the junction of the multiple outlets, an adjustable disk valve or flap is provided
to close all but one of the outlets at predetermined settings.
(d) Separator/receiver
• Separates solid materials from the conveying air.
• Classified into (i) gravity type and (ii) cyclone type.
• In the gravity/inertia type, the solid laden air is
admitted into a large volume chamber, called the gravity
chamber, in which the high velocity air losses its velocity
within a range of 0.2 to 0.8 m/s, and the solid falls due
to gravity. In certain designs, the air is passed through a
number of baffle plates, where the air has to abruptly
change direction, and solid being heavier cannot change
its inertia proportionately and separates out.
• Cyclone separator is a conical bottom container or hopper
provided with a suitable discharge valve at the bottom.
Materials laden air enters tangentially at the upper part of the
separator, moves along the outer wall of the equipment and
looses its velocity and pressure, when the material separates
from the air stream and falls at the bottom. The air escapes to
the top from the cyclone separator through a pipe placed
centrally and projecting down up to certain length of the
hopper.
(e) Dust collector (filter)
• The air that escapes from a separator of a storage silo
after depositing the bulk of conveyed material, may still
contain some amount of fines/dust.
• To prevent atmospheric pollution, and ingress of such
fines though the blower of a suction system, often dust
collectors are provided at the output end of a
separator/storage silo.
• Various types of dust collectors are used to separate dust.
Some of these are: bag filters, wet filters, electrostatic
precipitators (ESP) etc.
• According to the degree of cleanliness of air, filters are
classified as coarse and fine.
3. Combined Negative–Positive Pressure Systems
• Principles of both positive pressure system and
suction system are employed.
• Particularly employed when materials from more
than one points have to be picked up and
simultaneously delivered to multiple delivery points.
• Generally one blower is used. Two separate blowers
may also be used for the suction line and pressure
line of the combination system.
• Suction side of the blower conveys material from the
storage points to an intermediate receiving station.
The suction air passes through this intermediate
receiving station and then through a cyclone
separator and a further dust cleaner, if required, and
enters the blower.
• The compressed air is then thrown into the delivery
pipe, into which the material from the intermediate
storage is discharged through necessary air lock
feeder. From there, material is conveyed to multiple
storage silos as per a positive pressure system.
Pneumatic Conveying Phase Diagram
Vg, actual =
Qg/A actual

A actual = A pipe
– A particles

Vg, superficial =
Qg / A pipe
P1 > P2
Force Balance in Pipe
Hydraulic Conveying
• Hydraulic conveying of bulk solids, or 'slurry transport', involves the conveyance of solid particles in
suspension in a moving liquid. The mixture of solid materials and liquid is termed as slurry/pulp.
• High-tonnage, long-distance transportation of coal, iron, copper, phosphate, limestone and various
other minerals in hydraulic pipelines is now a well established commercial alternative to other modes
of bulk solids transport such as lorries, railway trains and barges.
• Some of the other popular uses are to dispose ash and slag from boiler rooms, deliver materials from
mines and sand and water to fill up used mines, to remove slag from concentration plants, to move
earth and sand in large construction projects and for land filling etc.
• In general, slurry transport has applications where:
 Essential elements of a hydraulic conveying system

• Initially the bulk solid must be prepared, and this may involve several stages of size reduction by milling and
grinding, followed by mixing with water (or other liquid) to an appropriate consistency.
• The slurry is then held in storage tanks, and agitated to keep the solid particles in suspension, before being
pumped into the pipeline.
• Depending upon the length of the pipeline, additional pumping stations may be required at intermediate points.
• At the reception terminal it is usually necessary to remove most, if not all, of the carrying liquid in a 'de-watering
plant', after which the bulk solid passes on to the next process.
Advantages

Disadvantages
Components of a hydraulic conveying system
1. Pump
• Wide variety of pumps are available for handling slurries, which fall into two main categories: reciprocating
pumps (subdivided into plunger type and piston type), and rotodynamic (centrifugal) pumps.
• Reciprocating type, being a positive displacement machine, can attain higher pressures (even to the extent of
restarting flow in a blocked pipeline) whereas the centrifugal pump is used for high flowrate.
• Selection of pumps for a slurry pipeline project would be governed by three factors: the pressure required, the
flow rate required and the nature of the slurry in terms of the size of solid particles and their abrasiveness.

Performance capabilities of slurry pumps

Slurry pumps should be designed for specific operating requirements:

• They must be able to pump high-density abrasive slurries while maintaining reasonable wear life.
• They must also be able to pass large solids.

Compared with conventional water pumps, the above requirements result in a larger pump that is less efficient.

• Components in contact with abrasive slurry are expected to wear. This wear can be minimized through design
and material selection and proper pump application. Additionally, pumps can be unlined or fully lined with
abrasive resistant materials. In either case, thick casings are installed.

• Large clearances are provided within the impeller casing to allow large solids to pass, thus reducing internal
velocities and wear. Slurry pump impellers are usually larger than those of water pumps. This is meant to
lower impeller speed while achieving required head. Closed impellers are used for high wear applications.

• Moreover, to minimize wear and allow large particles to pass, slurry pumps have thicker and fewer pumping
vanes. While water pump impellers have five to nine vanes, slurry pumps feature fewer, four to five being the
most common. Heavy-duty slurry pumps have short, thick vanes, which produces a pump curve that is flatter
than that of equivalent-duty water pumps and can be as much as 10% less efficient than water pumps.
In determining which type of slurry pump is best suited for your particular application, follow these four simple steps.

STEP 1
DETERMINE THE NATURE OF THE MATERIALS BEING PUMPED
• The particle size, shape, and hardness (impacts on the likelihood for abrasion and corrosion of the pump's components)
• The corrosiveness of the slurry solution

STEP 2
CONSIDER THE PUMP'S COMPONENTS
• What is the material used to construct the pump constructed? Higher alloys such as AL-6XN or Hastelloy C-22 are best for
pumping highly abrasive slurries.
• Are the pump's discharge components appropriate for the slurry to be pumped?
• What is the best sealing arrangement for the application?
• Will the solid size pass through the pump?
• It's also important to consider the chemical compatibility of the slurry with any elastomers in the pump. Once one has
addressed both the nature of the slurry and the components of different types of pumps, you may select the potential
candidate slurry pump for the application.
STEP 3
DETERMINE WHAT SIZE THE PUMP SHOULD BE
The most important thing here is figuring out the pump horsepower needed to deliver a specific fluid flow rate at the desired or
required differential pressure. Look at the following:

The concentration of solids in the slurry — measured as a percentage of the total volume.
The length of the pipeline. The longer the pipeline, the greater the slurry-induced friction that will need to be overcome by the
pump.
The slurry pipe diameter.
The static head — i.e., the height to which the slurry must be lifted in the piping system.

STEP 4
DETERMINE THE PUMP'S OPERATING PARAMETERS.
To reduce component wear, most centrifugal slurry pumps run at fairly low speeds — typically less than 1200 rpm. Find the sweet
spot that allows the pump to run as slowly as possible but fast enough to prevent solids from settling out of the slurry precipitate
and clogging the lines.

Then, lower the pump's discharge pressure to the lowest point possible to further reduce wear. And follow proper piping layout
and design principles to ensure constant and uniform delivery of the slurry to the pump.
2. Slurry preparation plant
• Slurry preparation consists of milling or grinding the bulk solid down to a size suitable for pumping and then
mixing it with the carrier liquid before introducing it into the conveying pipeline.
• If the bulk solid needs to be milled to a small size for a subsequent process (as would be the case with minerals
extraction from ores, for instance) a fair proportion of the cost of the mills can be assigned to this.
• In all cases, slurry preparation will involve striking a balance between the size of particles giving optimum slurry
flow characteristics and the size needed for any subsequent processes, which includes de-watering at the
discharge end of the pipeline.
• Thus, if the particles are extremely fine, de-watering will be difficult, although the flow qualities of the slurry
would be good. Coarse particles, however, generally require higher conveying velocities (and therefore cause
higher energy consumption and greater rates of wear).
• The two most important variables in slurry preparation are the density of the slurry and the top size of the
particles since both affect the flow characteristics.
Ball Mill Rod Mill
 Impellers of Mixing Tank

Mixing Tank
3. Pipeline
• First consideration when specifying the pipeline is that it should withstand the applied pressure. However,
attention must also be given to the effects of corrosion and erosive wear.
• Where there are significant changes of elevation in a long distance pipeline the variation of pressure can be
substantial. Worthwhile savings in the cost of the installation can then be made by using pipe sections of
reduced wall thickness on the high levels where the pressure is lower.
• Majority of operational slurry pipelines are of mild steel. Typically, steel pipe for slurry pipelines will have a wall
thickness in the range 5 - 15 mm.
• Other materials are used for slurry pipelines, including reinforced concrete, abrasion-resistant steel and high-
density polyethylene (HDPE), the latter being particularly useful where erosion and corrosion are major
problems.
• Linings of rubber or plastic may be used to combat erosive wear when handling abrasive slurries.
• Erosive wear of slurry pipelines is likely to become a problem when conveying velocities exceed about 3 m/s,
especially where the conveyed material is abrasive in nature.
4. De-watering equipment
• Removal of the water, or other carrier liquid, at the discharge end of a pipeline can be a major problem, and this
alone can be the deciding factor in a slurry pipeline feasibility study.
• In general, the finer the particles in the slurry the more difficult (and, therefore, expensive) it will be to de-water.
• There are essentially three processes involved in de-watering:
a. Particle sedimentation, which may be either natural (that is, by gravity) or assisted by centrifugal action. Bulk
of the water is removed by thickening to produce a pulp of ~ 55% - 65% solids by weight.
b. Filtration, where the water drains through a cake of the solid. This may occur naturally or with assistance by
centrifugal action, pressure or vacuum. Filtration produces a moist cake of ~ 80% - 90% solids by weight.
c. Thermal drying produces product of ~ 95% solids by weight.
• Any or all of these processes may be involved in a de-watering plant, the selection of the method depending
upon the nature of the slurry to be dewatered, the final dryness required and, of course, cost considerations.
 GRAVITATIONAL SEDIMENTATION/THICKENING

• Settling of solid particles in a liquid produces a clarified liquid which can be decanted, leaving a
thickened slurry.
• Factors affecting sedimentation: size and shape of particles, weight % and volume % of solids in
slurry, fluid viscosity, specific gravity of solids and liquid.
• Very fine particles of only a few mm diameter, settle very slowly by gravity alone, and centrifugal
sedimentation may have to be performed.
• Alternatively, the particles may be aggregated or flocculated, into relatively large clumps, called flocs,
that settle out more rapidly.
• The continuous solid bowl centrifuge is the most
widely used centrifuge in the minerals industry.
• It consists of a horizontal cylindro-conical revolving
bowl, inside which a screw conveyor rotates in the
same direction at a slightly different speed. The bowl
rotates at ~ 1600 – 8500 rpm.
• The feed pulp is admitted to the bowl through the
centre tube of the revolving screw conveyor.
Continuous solid bowl centrifuge
• The slurry is immediately subjected to a high
centrifugal force, causing the solids to settle on the
inner surface of the bowl.
• The separated solids are conveyed by the scroll out of the liquid and discharged through outlets at the
smaller end of the bowl.
• The solids are continuously dewatered by centrifugal force as they proceed from the liquid zone to the
discharge.
• Excess entrained liquid drains away circumferentially through the particle bed. When the liquid reaches
a predetermined level, it overflows through the discharge ports at the larger end of the bowl.