Finite Element Analysis Of Drive Pulley Body Structure

Bulk material handling equipment is an indispensable technology and equipment in modern transportation and modern logistics industries, and an important part of the national equipment manufacturing industry. Belt conveyor is the key part of bulk material transporting and handling equipment, the performance and reliability of which directly affect working efficiency and capacity of the whole conveying system. As the core and the most vulnerable part of belt conveyor, pulley functions driving force transmission and travel direction change of belt, and service life of which even determines the steady operation of belt conveyor. If excluding support structure, pulley takes10%-20%of conveyor weight in proportion. If weight reduction of pulley is available, it would not only decrease weight and fabricating cost of belt conveyor to a large extent, but also greatly reduce operating cost and shorten replacement cycle for clients. For equipment with booms as stacker&reclaimer, pulley weight also directly impacts stress distribution of the whole structure. The weight of pulley made at domestic, for instance, is heavier than that of Sandvik by roughly25%, which indicates that there is a great space for optimization in terms of pulley weight reduction.With the crucial tendency of low consumption and energy saving, a significant presentation of which will be made by reducing pulley weight on a highest level while performance requirement can be met. Related studies have shown:it is completely feasible to reduce pulley weight by adopting strengthening rings, but the link between structure parameter of strengthening rings and diameter and thickness of pulley shell has not been specially studied, which, to a large extend, has negatively affected the use of this structure. The paper aims to adopt structural optimization method and finite element analysis techniques to solve the technical issue, and provides theoretical reference to improve pulley design.Based on the object of drive pulley of spreader belt conveyor in Pingshuo project, driving principle and stress condition are analyzed, and the traditional drive pulley structure is improved mainly by means of adding strengthening ring to improve stress on drive pulley and reducing pulley weight. Various pulley models are built respectively with finite element software according to data change of quantity, position, thickness and inner diameter of strengthening rings. FEA are made targeting some of the main parts, and the result of which provides curves of strengthening ring data and pulley main stress. With analysis of the curves and comprehensive consideration of pulley weight under different conditions, the ideal pulley structure and the optimum strengthening data are given, indicating the lightest pulley with the best stress in this case.