Triple weave makes better conveyors
Problem: If a manufactured product requires cooling or warming as it is conveyed around, it is desirable that the conveyors incorporate a lot of holes.
It is quite difficult, however, to devise a construction that fulfils this requirement while maintaining strength and the right combination of stiffness and flexibility.
Solution: A team led by Professor Klaus Nendel at the Technical University of Chemnitz, in Germany, has developed mesh conveyors which achieve all the required goals by using combinations of three different constructions – often fabricated in three different materials.
Strength along the belt's length comes from flexible woven strands which are held apart, at the correct distance, by a stiffer cross-woven monofilament polymer. The whole construction is reinforced at intervals by solid, transverse rods. These rods may be steel, copper, polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE). Length-wise woven strands can be PP, polyester or even carbon fibre. Reinforcing monofilament lateral fibre can be polyester, or PMF (recycled PP).
Says Professor Nendel: "We are not sure why some combinations of materials work better than others. We just try different approaches until we find one that works well for us."
Application: Industries which will find a use for this type of belt design include food, textile, leather, tobacco, paper and agricultural feed industries, and environmental technology. TS Prof Klaus Nendel
