Abstract
Perforated belts, which are used in vacuum conveyor belts, can have significantly different mechanical properties like strength and elasticity due to a variety of used materials and can have different thickness from very thin (0,7 mm) to thick belts (6 mm). In order to design a complex machine for mechanical perforation, which can perforate whole range of belts, it is necessary to research the influence of the cutting edge geometry on the parameters of the perforation process. Three most important parameters, which describe the perforation process are the cutting force, the velocity and the temperature of the piercing punch. The results presented in this paper consider two different types of punching (a piercing punch with the punching die or with the reducer plate) and different cutting edge directions, angles, diameters and material properties. Test were made for different groups of composites belts – with polyurethane and polyester fabric, polyamide core or aramid-fibre reinforced polymers. The main goal of this research is to specify effective tools and parameters of the perforation process for each group of composites belts.
Highlights
Conveyor belts are used to transport goods from one point to another and most commonly are made as multilayer composite flat belts
This paper shows the analysis of the influence of the cutting edge geometry, the temperature and the velocity of a piercing punch on the cutting force necessary to perforate a composite belt and on the quality of holes
Tests were performed with default velocity and room temperature for 7 different piercing punches with diameters of 10 mm and for two belts, which represent both groups of conveyor belts – strong rigid belt with polyamide core TFL10S and light elastic belt with polyester fabric, as a traction layer LAB12E
Summary
Conveyor belts are used to transport goods from one point to another and most commonly are made as multilayer composite flat belts. There are two main types of conveyor belts: strong rigid belts with polyamide or aramid cord traction layer (Fig. 1a) and light elastic belts, which are made of polyurethane, polyester fabric or PVC (Fig. 1b) [1,2,3]. That is why vacuum belt conveyors are commonly used in paper manufacturing and converting, printing machines, food industry, pharmaceutical industry and as conveyors for material handling. This type of belts can be made from both flat and toothed belts by using proper modifications, which are the perforation and the milling. Milling can be used to create slots in order to increase suction surface area or to create flat suction track by machining part of teeth [4,5,6]
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