A belt conveyor system is essential for the transportation of material from one end to the other, in an industrial unit. These systems consist of a couple of pulleys, also referred to as drums, with an endless or rotational loop for creating a pulling effect to carry the medium on the belt. To move the belt and the material forward and backwards, one or more pulleys should be power-driven. Today, these systems find use across industries. Incorrect use of the system can cause belt slippage, motor burnout, broken component, and more such damages. Thus, for efficient usage and long service life, conveyor belts should be well maintained. This post explores the core care and required maintenance tips when working with an unused, surplus and used conveyor belt system
Tips to Keep Conveyor Belt in Good Shape
Conveyor belt preventive maintenance is essential for its proper function and long operational life. Doing this will ensure lessening downtime and also save money. Here are top belt conveyor maintenance tips for keeping the belt conveyor system running at optimal efficiency for years. So, let’s have a look at it.
- Keep it Clean: Proper maintenance of conveyor belts, pulleys, and rollers is crucial to their long-term viability and preventing excessive wear and tear. Dirt, dust, and debris accumulation can increase friction which causes overheating or failure of components if left alone for too long. Use cleaning solutions compatible with your belt material instead of harsh chemicals that could potentially cause irreparable harm.
- Regular Check for Wear and Tear: Routine inspection of a conveyor belt’s condition for signs of wear and tear is vital for early identification of issues before they become more significant issues. Cracks, frayed edges and worn-out pulleys and rollers may lead to costly repairs and downtime requiring costly replacement components immediately.
- Proper Tension: Establishing and maintaining the appropriate tension on a conveyor belt is paramount to safe and efficient operation. A loose belt could cause products being transported to spill over, become misalign or become misalignments; while an overly tight one could result in excessive wear and tear; proper tension can reduce slippage to ensure product delivery smoothly and reduce slippage during transportation.
- Lubrication: Lubricating conveyor belts, pulleys and rollers appropriately is crucial to minimizing friction and wear on these components. Use only recommended lubricants designed for your belt material; excessively lubricated parts could attract dirt and cause slippage. Plus, proper lubrication reduces noise and increases efficiency – not only saving money!
- Alignment: Aligning conveyor belts correctly is critical for minimizing wear and tear as well as avoiding product spillage or misalignment, and costly repairs or downtime. Regular checks and adjustments of this aspect of conveyor operation should be conducted to ensure efficient performance.
- Checking Tension and Tracking: Regular checks of belt tension and tracking are crucial for ensuring optimal alignment and tension, which could result in costly repairs and downtime due to improper tensioning and tracking. Regular adjustments can help identify issues early and identify them before becoming major problems.
- Training: Ensuring the safe and efficient operation of a conveyor belt system requires training of its operators and maintenance employees to prevent accidents or injuries, and ensure maintenance procedures are being followed consistently and correctly. Regular training helps ensure this.
- Choose the Appropriate Conveyor: One of the important steps to start is to choose the right conveyor for your application. There are several factors to be considered when investing in a belt conveyor. Some of these factors include the type of product being conveyed, product weight, speed and direction required to keep the product moving, and temperature. Do try to get a conveyor that can handle more than what you need. This will enable you to increase production without wearing out the conveyor.
- Keep the Motor Clean: A motor can fail due to bearings and windings. Many times, bearings account for a majority of failures than any other reason. The major cause of non-functional bearings is friction due to a lack of lubrication. Thus, it is important to lubricate bearings regularly. Additionally, a motor covered by grease, dust, and dirt often causes clogging, also causes the motor to overheat. An overheated motor needs to be replaced as it will eventually burn out. To avoid overheating and other issues, make you periodically clean the conveyor motor or get it done by a professional.
- Clean Belts Properly: Cleaning a conveyor belt is an utmost important step. A dirty belt will cause damage and will substantially reduce the conveyor’s weight-carrying capacity. Regular cleaning of the belt will ensure an extended life of the conveyor.
- Check the Bearings and Pulley Alignment: Regular inspection of bearings will help save your conveyor breakdown. Bearings should be lubricated during maintenance procedures. You can also opt for self-aligning sealed bearings, which require minimal lubrication. Similar to bearing inspection, pulley alignment plays a vital role in keeping your conveyor system up and efficient. Correctly aligned pulleys create equal belt tensioning on each side of the belt, which is required to extend the belt life. If pulleys are unevenly aligned, then the belt tensioning won’t be equal. This will cause premature stretching on one side.
- Implement Preventative Maintenance: Implementing preventative maintenance practices helps keep your conveyor efficient and spot any repair or fixes on time. This saves on cost as well as production downtime. Do follow all the OEM’s recommendations, inspect all components, replace weak components that show wear, and upgrade cables and wires to a higher quality if required. This will avoid costly breakdown and will extend the life of the conveyor.
All these conveyor belt maintenance tips will help in the efficient functioning of the conveyor and extend its life. If you plan to invest in a new conveyor, then make sure you source it from a reliable supplier in the industry like JM Industrial. The company provides used and surplus conveyor systems, conveyor drives, flexible screw conveyor from well-recognized brands such as Omni Conveyor, Rapistan, TWG Conveyor, and more.
