Extend the life of your Vee Belt using polyurethane
The team at Brain Industries has developed an innovative solution to extend the life of a customers’ Vee Belt equipment by a factor of four using the power of polyurethane.
Vee belts are an important asset. Extending the life of a belt gives you a better return on your initial investment. Replacing belts less frequently not only saves you money in capital expenditure but also in terms of downtime.
Our customer’s problem
Our customer makes wire rope from steel strands. As part of this process, they draw a thread of wire from a large steel wire spool on a constant basis.
The single piece of wire is moved along a pulley system, with two rubber Vee belts driven by four pulleys – two pulleys on each side. The friction of the back of the rubber Vee belt makes the wire travel.
Our customer’s two, back-to-back, four-grooved, banded Vee belts backed with rubber. They were wearing out prematurely and the rubber was lifting at the spliced joins due to the small diameter pulleys in operation. The rubber that was applied to the outside of the Vee belt was joined with a Skive joint (cut on an angle and joined). The Skive joint failed because it continually revolved around small pulleys.
Brain’s genius solution
Brain’s expert design team recommended replacing the rubber with moulded polyurethane.
Instead of using a rubber backing that needed joining, Brain moulded an 8mm layer of polyurethane onto the Vee Belt where the belt face comes in contact with the travelling wire.
The moulded polyurethane is continuous and has no join, so it can cope with continuous revolutions around small diameter pulleys.
The power of polyurethane
Polyurethane is a plastic material which safely and effectively shield exposed surfaces from the elements and various forms of pollution, so that they last longer.
Polyurethanes are versatile, modern and safe. The durability, flexibility, corrosion resistance, fire resistance and weather resistance of polyurethanes makes them suitable for coating all kinds of surfaces.
It is particularly useful in pulley lagging but Brain also uses it for belt scrapers and belt cleaners, on conveyor idlers and many more places.
Our clients from across industries from mining to agriculture, oil & gas, marine & shipping, transport tunnelling to waste management, are all benefitting from our polyurethane products.
More information on Brain polyurethane products
For more information about how our polyurethane products can help your business, read our new polyurethane products page or call us on +61 2 4969 2111 today.
