Intermediate Drive Conveyors
The driving force behind most technology advances is need. In the early 1980s, underground coal miners in the USA wanted to build longer Conveyors to handle larger capacities but continue to use fabric reinforced belting and mechanical fasteners. Intermediate Drive Conveyors were certainly the answer but achiev- ing reliable designs required a significant learning curve. Basic design methodologies had to evolve including advanced simulation of starting and stopping, and complex control techniques and logic. Some components also evolved as specific performance requirements changed. Today, in addition to underground mining, the technology has been used extensively in the tunneling industry where the need was belt tension control to negotiate tight horizontal curves.
An intermediate drive conveyor system is disclosed. The drive includes at least one, and preferably a plurality of spaced parallel drive sprockets gang mounted on a common drive shaft. In the preferred embodiment, each sprocket engages a separate Conveyor Belts to drive it in the same direction in an endless path along a conveyor guide rail. Each guide rail includes a recessed portion that preferably matches the contour of the corresponding sprocket. By juxtaposing each sprocket in the recessed portion, engagement between each drive sprocket and the corresponding modular link belt is made. The drive may also be used along a curved section of the conveyor system, in which case the drive sprockets have different diameters for driving the belts at different speeds, and the contour of the recessed portions correspond to the adjacent drive sprocket.