Belt damage goes on to cause other symptoms. A gouge taken out of the top cover (Fig. 1) will likely fill with the burden material (particularly when the material becomes wet) and is unable to be removed with a conventional scraper. This fugitive material will generate spillage around the system and build up on rollers (Fig. 2) causing belt tracking issues due to the varying diameter of the roller across its face width.
Fig. 1: Belt top cover damage.
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Fig. 2: Fugitive material build up on a return roller.
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Additional components for concern are the idlers. Idlers are in place to support the belt in a low friction manner. When idlers suffer severe impact damage or seize, the friction causes additional strain on the drive and can tear the belt due to the roller wearing down to a blade like surface (Fig. 3) or the frame roller supports contacting the belt after the roller has collapsed (Fig. 4). The same can be said of impact bars and slider rails. Once they wear down and/or fail, the risk to the belt is that the low friction support surface no longer exists, and the belt may tear on the impact bar rail, installation bolt or frame structure (Fig. 5).
Fig. 3: Worn through roller shell.
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Fig. 4: Idler frame support junction.
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Fig. 5: Impact bar wear nearing the aluminium track. Note the centre roller has fallen away indicating it too is taking impact. This has furthered wear on the centre bars.
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A high impact transfer point is one that has a large lump size, a high density conveyed product and a high drop height as this increases the impact energy that must be absorbed. The application on which this paper is based, is extreme in all three aspects.
