Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
(OP)
Hey,
I am purchasing a particle-size reducer and need to decide the type of drive I want to use. The piece of equipment comes standard with a belt drive. I know belt drives are usually cheaper but usually have lower performance. Are there any other advantages/disadvantages? Such as maintenance, product/seal leakage, reliability, etc..
Any suggestions would be of great help.
Che51
I am purchasing a particle-size reducer and need to decide the type of drive I want to use. The piece of equipment comes standard with a belt drive. I know belt drives are usually cheaper but usually have lower performance. Are there any other advantages/disadvantages? Such as maintenance, product/seal leakage, reliability, etc..
Any suggestions would be of great help.
Che51





RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
Belts will:
1. Age and deteriorate
2. Have bigger losses
3. Cause vibrations
4. Break in time
5. Cost money when replacing
6. Have availability and lead time factors to be remembered
7. Etc.
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
1. Belts absorb some of the shock during starting (something analogous to a fuse, sacrificing the belts rather than the driven equipment? :) ) in the drive train.
2. Belts allow you to mount your motor in a more accessible location, thus resulting to ease of installation & maintenance.
3. Some loads operate at speeds not directly possible with direct drive set-up.
God bless!
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
We have only <5% of our machines belt drive. We tend to have relatively lot of problems with them and more difficulty aligning and sometimes takes a few attempts to get the right tension. Then again, it is partly a function of our expertise... if we had more belt drives we would be better at it.
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
Typically you get a mechanical advantage if the load sheave is larger than the motor sheave.
If you were to go to direct drive... this factor would have to be evaluated... and the motor would have to be sized to provide the necessary torque to the load that the belt drive did.
As an example, a 5 hp 1750 rpm motor develops 15 ft.lbs of torque. Couple the motor to a 2:1 belt reduction and you now deliver 30 ft.lbs torque to the load at 875 rpm.
If you remove the belt drive, and couple the 5 hp motor direct to the load... you may not have enough torque to support the load; particularly if the load torque is greater than 15 ft.lbs....
In this case you could opt to replace the 5 hp 1750 rpm motor with a 5 hp 875 rpm motor.... and have enough torque for the load.
But 5 HP - 8-pole motors are not that common and so, are more expensive.
if the ratio of the sheaves .... motor to load.... is 1:1...then the above consideration is not necessary.
The belt drive vs direct drive argument is usually one of ongoing maintenance costs that are elminated with direct drive.
jO
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
Che51
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
Joseph,
How do "Belts can help the motor to achieve the higher than synchrounous speeds."
Please explain.
(I know this is gonna be good!)
Or perhaps you meant that belting can run the load at a speed higher than the synchronous speed of the motor ?
jΩ
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive
RE: Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive