Dynamic Load Sharing For Conveyor Belts With Multiple Drive Stations

The characteristics and limitations of multiple drive station belt conveyors are explored and computational method is presented as a means of providing drive coordination which can skirt some of the limitations. This paper will describe some of the design parameters of concern for belt conveyors, including belt tension and how it varies with load, how the unpredictably non-uniform loading of the belt affects performance, and will explore the relationship of friction between the belt and a drive pulley and how this limits the amount of horsepower which can be transmitted to the belt. The way in which these parameters change in configurations with multiple drives and multiple drive stations is outlined. The two main means of employing booster drives are presented; tripper booster and linear booster. The tripper booster technology is amenable to tension control, in which the torque provided by each drive station is controlled by the tension in the belt measured immediately downstream of the drive station. This approach has proved successful in belt systems with as many as four booster drive stations, operating at belt loads in excess of 3200 tons per hour over 1 2,000 ft of belt. The linear booster arrangement does not allow convenient method of measuring belt tension, thus a computational algorithm was devised to take advantage of the geometry of the belt system to control tension of the belt within certain limits without the use of tension feedback. This approach has proven useful in 10,000 foot belt system which has a single booster drive station, operating at loads up to 4000 tons per hour.