| 14 Roller
Zones can Theoretically Move Very Heavy Loads
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Picture color
code:
Orange -- 1/8" thick x 1.25" wide flat belts
Red -- Powered roller
Yellow
-- Pseudo powered rollers
Green -- .235" HT (High-Tension) O-ring belts
Blue -- 1/8" thick PVC roller covers |
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| The flat belts are designed to add extra
drive to 4 rollers, effectively making them "pseudo powered rollers".
We have taken a zone with one powered roller and made it look like it
has 5 powered rollers, so the O-ring belts think they are only moving
one slave (or at most 1.5 slaves.) This makes the O-ring belts much
more efficient, minimizing the loss in RPM of slaves far from the powered
roller. |
| This design is very low cost because it uses only four
4 flat belts. The O-rings are slightly oversized (.235") so that they
protrude about .025" above the roller after being stretched 20%. Placing
the flat belts over the O-ring grooves allows us to use the O-rings
as the crown for the flat belts, thus eliminating the need for tracking
sleeves. The grooves edges should have a minimal radius in order to
provide more surface contact between the rollers and the flat belts.
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| This cost advantage is somewhat offset
by the need for PVC sleeves to raise the OD of the rollers to the OD
of the flat belts, but these should cost significantly less than one
or two more powered rollers, plus they provide other advantages, e.g.,
more grip and less noise. Of course, sleeves would not be necessary
if boxes were prevented from riding up on the flat belts. |
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Note that we can add more flat belts and PVC sleeves to
cover any open spots on the rollers.
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