A conveyor pulley is a mechanical device used to change the direction of the belt in a
conveyor system
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...
, to drive the belt, and to tension the belt. Modern pulleys are made of rolled shells with flexible end disks and locking assemblies. Early pulley engineering was developed by Josef Sitzwohl
[Josef Sitzwohl, "Welded Conveyor Pulleys", Victoria, Australia, 1948 ] in
Australia in 1948 and later by Helmuth Lange
[Helmut Lange, 1963 ]Leibniz University Hannover
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...
Ph.D. Thesis and Walter Schmoltzi
[Schmoltzi, W, "Designing Drums with transverse Shafts for Belt Conveyors". Thesis for Doctorate in Engineering, Hannover, 1974.] in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.
Components
Pulleys are made up of several components including the shell, end disk, hub, shaft and locking assembly. The end disk and hub may be one piece. The locking assembly may also be replaced with a hub and bushing on lower tension pulleys. The shell is also referred to as the rim in some parts of the world.
The pulley shaft is typically sized following CEMA B105.1 in the Americas or AS 1403 in Australia.
Design programs
* Pulley Maven, software for designing and analyzing conveyor pulleys
* Conveyor Soft, pulley design program
* Helix delta-d Conveyor Pulley to AS1403 Software
Historic manufacturers
Pulley manufacturers in East Germany (DDR) in 1962 included Zemag, Lauchhammer, and Köthen.
[Von Jonnes Bahr, 1962, Neue Probleme der Bantechnik, Freiberger Forschungs-Hefte A 207, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, S. 55-72.]
References
Simple machines
Mechanical power transmission
Belt drives
Bulk material handling
Material-handling equipment
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