It’s an honest question; if component misalignment or condition is responsible for a belt mistracking on my conveyor, why does it ever stop? In truth, there can be many reasons, but ultimately, it comes down to a balance of forces.
Take for instance, a belt that is fed mistracked from a tail pulley, onto the carry strand of a bulk material conveyor. Generally, carry idlers on such conveyors are configured with wing angles that lift belt edges and assist in the containment of bulk materials. But as a belt finds itself climbing one side of an idler, that side of the belt experiences an increase in tension it its carcass. This tension naturally wants to relieve, which will occur as the relevant section of the belt tracks back towards the centreline of the conveyor.
At a certain point, the increase in tension will balance with the misalignment loads that forced it to mistrack in the first instance. At this point the belt will cease to mistrack. Furthermore, as the belt moves away from the source of mistracking, the related loads diminish and the residual tension in the carcass will eventually cause the belt to return to centre.
Key considerations to keep belts from drifting
While there are many factors that can cause a belt to mistrack, they will generally do so by increasing or decreasing Friction, Pressure or Tension
If a belt is mistracking it is under influence of these unintended forces. Observe the complete range of the mistracking and understand that if it is occurring over a long section of the conveyor that the sources of those loads may be multiple
What are your balancing forces? If they are insufficient they may not correct the mistracking themselves, requiring your intervention
Subtle changes in conveyor specification or operating parameters can exacerbate the influence of mistracking factors. Not every situation is unique, but you should investigate under the assumption that it is
Similar effects are observable wherever a belt may mistrack, be it through a gravity take-up system where excessive loop length can encourage uneven carcass elongation, or on concave curves where component misalignment has far greater influence on belt behaviour. For this reason, IPI developed the Belt Tracker HackerTM tool, to serve as a guide in identifying potential sources of mistracking and to help our customers zero in on the most cost-effective solutions available to them. Belt TrackerHackerTM can be easily adapted to the specific plant configurations of any site, so if interested don’t hesitate to contact IPI for a demonstration today.

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