Explore Program > Belt Analyst > Pulley

The selection of pulley diameters is typically based on the belt construction and the tension in the belt at the pulley location, but in some cases may be affected by wrap angle and shaft diameter.

When calculating with any of the CEMA calculation methodologies and letting the program select the pulley diameters, they are selected based upon the requirement given by the belt manufacturer for the belt tension range at the pulley locations and the belt construction. Within Belt Analyst this means the program is looking at the belt being used in the calculation, and referencing the pulley minimum diameter requirement from the data that has been input into the belt database.

These input diameters are based upon the minimum requirement per the belt manufacturers, and not necessarily what the user may select.

Pulleys with less than 30% wrap angle will have the same minimum diameter as required for those recommended for pulleys operating in the 0 to 40% of rated belt tension.

In addition to this pulley diameter selection based on belt construction, standard mode also uses a ratio of pulley diameter to shaft diameter as a selection criteria. This ratio default is 4:1, but can be changed using the Defaults > Pulley >General Design Criteria menu item.

When the user selects the pulley diameters within the program, all calculations are updated to reflect the change.

It can be important for the designer to check the manufacturer's recommendation for the belt selected. The program databases are based on data that has been provided by manufacturers or data they have published, but manufacturers can change it.

To change the default pulley diameter used by the program:

•Create a new Belt Analyst belt database file for the data

•Adjust the Belt Analyst file for the current conveyor by using the "Custom" option and manually update the data on a per case basis.

Results may vary between the Basic, Standard and Advanced pulley design approaches.

Pulley Diameter

Pulley Diameter