Can Aramid Conveyors Become an Energy-saving Alternative to Steel Belts?

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Since the 1970s, aramid has been used for a wide range of applications requiring high strength, high modulus and low weight. Its use in ballistic protection is particularly well-known, such as in bulletproof vests (which need to be light for comfortable wearing), and in lightweight ballistic shields for moving vehicles or aircrafts. Less visible but equally widespread is the use of aramid to reinforce car engine hoses: aramid can easily withstand the heat, chemicals and vibration around the car engine.

In addition, aramid is used to reinforce drive belts (which require high strength and fatigue resistance for long life) and brake pads (in which heat-resistant aramid replaces carcinogenic asbestos). When aramid is used in a conveyor belt, the whole system weight can be reduced substantially. This has been verified by Professor, Delft Technical University, the Netherlands, Gabriel Lodewijks.

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Prof Lodewijks calculated this weight reduction in an existing conveyor belt installation in South Africa, which was used to transport coal from the mine to a power plant. This installation, which uses steel-cablereinforced belts, was recalculated for comparison with aramid-reinforced belts. The results speak for themselves. The use of aramid would reduce the belt weight from 32 to 19 kg/m, which would mean that the system weight of the carrying belt, the coal load and the empty belt on the return side would be reduced from 170 to 144 kg/m. This is equivalent to 15 per cent less moving mass.

Taking a Closer Look at the Rolling Resistance of Conveyor Belts

On a long conveyor belt, more than 60 per cent of driving energy is lost by indentation rolling resistance (refer Figure 3). This is the hysteresis loss when a rubber belt passes over its support rollers and deforms.

Sulfron, an aramid-based rubber ingredient produced by Teijin Aramid, offers a solution to this problem. When used in the rubber running layer of a conveyor belt, Sulfron lowers hysteresis. In the same study by Prof Lodewijks, Sulfron was included in the belt drive power calculation.

The combination of low-weight aramid reinforcement and less rubber rolling resistance was shown to reduce belt power consumption by an impressive 25 per cent. So how relevant is this saving? The South African installation covers a distance of 15 km with four conveyor belts. Under full load, the energy usage is equivalent to the daily consumption of a town with 20,000 inhabitants. The energy saving on just one large conveyor installation is therefore, equivalent to the domestic electricity use of 5,000 people. And this saving is 24/7. At the end of the year, it adds up to savings on the energy bill of hundreds of thousands of dollars for this single conveyor operation.

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