A computer program used to model the elasto-mechanical
time transient behavior of a belt conveyor during starting
and stopping. Its value is in predicting excessive transient
forces in the conveyor system (e.g., shock waves analogous
to hydraulic "water hammering"), which can:
- Overload mechanical and structural components
- Cause material instability on inclines and declines
- Cause abnormal vertical curve behavior, such as lifting of the belt off the idler
bed or festooning of the belt at regions remote to the
control locations
- Cause unwanted take-up excitation or validate the take-up response capabilities to meet the
design requirements
- Cause excessive belt sag resulting in spillage, mal-tracking and large take-up motion.
It is used primarily as a final step in refining or validating
the design of conveyors in which the effects of the chosen
starting or stopping methods are not certain. BELTFLEX
simulates the transient behavior of the conveyor as explicitly
set forth by the conveyor designer, and will not make
any design selection or decision.
Animation:
View the first 18 seconds of this MPEG animation of BELTFLEX
in action. This is a 4.45MB MPEG file, and will take some
time to download for modem users. [
link ]
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