Bennett’s Conveyor Solutions Ltd have designed, developed and are now in full production of a revolutionary new belt turning device (patent application ref No:1320323.7) designed specifically to fit straight into any standard field conveyor but can be designed bespoke to suit any belt conveyor.
The belt turner is a fabricated unit with welded sides and bolted cross members to enable easy retro-fitting into existing standard field conveyors. It utilises heavy duty rollers to guide the belt at each end and to form the circle in the middle which makes the rubber belt turn through 180°.
Two belt turner units are required for each conveyor, one close to the head to turn the return strand of the belt over, and one close to the tail to turn the belt back before going around the tail drum.
The conveyor belt turners are fully mesh guarded in accordance with current legislation. They are designed to exactly replace two standard field conveyor bays from any 600mm, 750mm, 900mm or 1000mm wide field conveyor.
The advantages of turning the return strand of the field conveyor while running its full length are as follows:-
- Removes the chance of spillage from the return strand of the belt which normally causes environmental issues leading to substantial costs in cleaning up.
- Removes build up of material on the return belt rollers as the dirty side is no longer in contact with the rollers. This reduces costs in replacement rollers as they will no longer stick due to build up of waste material. This will also reduce energy costs as the return rollers will not stick which would lead to high frictional losses.
- Due to the absence of build up on the return rollers the conveyor will experience far fewer tracking problems which normally results in the belt cutting through the conveyor supporting structure which will extend the life of the belt and the structure and will greatly reduce frictional energy losses.
- Due to the bolted cross members each unit is easy to retro-fit without cutting the belt.
- Fits straight into any standard field conveyor directly replacing two bays with no requirement for costly modifications.
- All rollers are fitted with internal sealed for life ball bearings.