Dynamics of open and closed belt conveyor systems incorporating multiple drives

The incorporation of conveyor systems throughout industry has seen an increase in demand for systems that exceed the specification of conventional conveyors. This coupled with the demand to convey bulk materials over larger distances, at higher speeds and efficiencies, requires the development of a versatile design approach. This thesis explores the design aspects associated with modern pouch conveying systems, and how they vary, and can be adapted from theories used with conventional troughed conveyors. In particular, the indentation rolling resistance (IRR) is explored in detail, as this can account for up to 60% of the drag forces of a system. This is the drag force that arises due to an asymmetric pressure distribution as the idler roll shell indents the bottom cover of the belt. The potential idler roll arrangements for a generic pouch conveying system are analysed, and compared with experimental values. In addition to this, the drive traction attainable from suitable drive stations is analysed. Troughed conveyors typically wrap the conveyor belt around a large drive pulley, generating large amounts of traction. Given the layout of pouch conveying systems, a different approach is required, at multiple locations. As such, pouch conveyors are typically driven through simply supported drive stations, with small areas of contact with the belt. The useable traction from these point contact drives is considered. These theories are then united and applied to a dynamic package capable of handling multiple conveyor designs. This package utilises Finite Element Modelling (FEM) to model the viscoelastic nature of the system, based on the distributed drag forces, and inputs of the conveyor. Lastly, to qualify this theory, experimental analysis is conducted on an on-site installation, and compared with the theoretical results.