KJD 3173/Belt Drives Tutorials

1. A flat-belt drive is used to transfer 100 kW of power. The diameters of the driving
and driven pulleys are 300 mm and 850 mm, respectively and the center distance is
2000 mm. Determine the contact angles and the length of belt for an open
configuration.

2. Find the power transmitted by a belt running over a pulley of 600 mm diameter at
200 r.p.m. The coefficient of friction between the belt and the pulley is 0.25, angle
of lap is 160° and maximum tension in the belt is 2500 N.

3. A leather belt 125 mm wide and 6 mm thick transmit power from a pulley of
diameter 750 mm at 500 rpm. Angle of lap for smaller pulley is 150°, coefficient of
friction is 0.3, density of the belt is 1 kg/m3 and the maximum permissible stress is
2.75 MPa. Find the maximum power that can be transmitted.

4. Two pulleys, one 450 mm diameter and other 200 mm diameter are on parallel
shafts 1.95 m apart and are connected by a crossed belt. Find the length of the belt
required and the angle of contact between the belt and pulley. What power can be
transmitted by the belt when the larger pulley rotates at 200 rev/min, if the
maximum permissible tension in the belt is 1 kN and the coefficient of friction
between the belt and pulley is 0.25?

5. A shaft rotating at 200 rpm drives another shaft at 300 rpm and transmits 6 kW
through a belt. The belt is 100 mm wide and 10 mm thick. The distance between
the shafts is 4 m. The smaller pulley is 0.5 m in diameter. Calculate the stress in the
belt, if it is an open belt and a cross belt drive. Take μ = 0.3.

6. A 120 mm-wide and 5 mm-thick open flat belt transfer power from a 250-mm-
diameter driving pulley to a 700-mm-diameter driven pulley. The belt has a mass
per length of 2.1 kg/m and a coefficient of friction of 0.28. The input power of the
belt drive is 60 kW at 1000 rpm. The center distance is 3.5 m. Determine
i) the maximum tensile stress in the belt,
ii) the tensions on the pulleys.

7. An open flat belt drive connects two parallel shafts 1.2 meters apart. The driving
and the driven shafts rotate at 350 rpm and 140 rpm respectively and the driven
pulley is 400 mm in diameter. The belt is 15 mm thick and 80 mm wide. The
coefficient of friction between the belt and pulley is 0.3 and the maximum
permissible tension in belt is 1.4 MN/m2. Determine the diameter of driving
pulley, maximum power that may be transmitted by belt and the required initial
tension.

8. An open-belt drive connects two pulleys, 1.2 and 0.5 m diameter, on parallel shafts
3.6 m apart. The belt has a mass of 0.9 kg/m length, and the maximum tension in it
is not to exceed 2 kN. The 1.2 m pulley, which is the driver, runs at 200 rev/min.
Due to belt slip on one of the pulleys, the velocity of the driven shaft is only 450
rev/min. Calculate the torque on each of the two shafts, the power transmitted and
the power lost in friction. μ = 0.3. What is the efficiency of the drive?

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 KJD 3173/Belt Drives Tutorials

9. Determine the width of a 9.75 mm thick leather belt required to transmit 15 kW

10. A leather belt is required to transmit 7.5 kW from a pulley 1.2 m in diameter,
running at 250 rpm. The angle embraced is 165° and the coefficient of friction
between the belt and the pulley is 0.3. If the safe working stress for the leather belt
is 1.5 MPa, density of leather 1 Mg/m3 and thickness of belt 10 mm, determine the
width of the belt taking centrifugal tension into account.

11. An open belt running over two pulleys 240 mm and 600 mm diameter connect two
parallel shafts 3 metres apart and transmit 4 kW from the smaller pulley that rotates
at 300 r.p.m. Coefficient of friction between the belt and the pulley is 0.3 and the
maximum stress in the belt is not to exceed 1.5 MPa. The thickness of the belt is 10
mm. Determine :
i) minimum width of the belt,
ii) initial belt tension, and
iii) length of the belt required.

12. A belt drive consists of two V-belts in parallel, on grooved pulleys of the same size.
The angle of the groove is 30°. The cross-sectional area of each belt is 750 mm2
and μ = 0.12. The density of the belt material is 1.2 Mg/m3 and the maximum safe
stress in the material is 7 MPa. Calculate the power that can be transmitted between
pulleys 300 mm diameter rotating at 1500 rpm. Find also the shaft speed in rpm at
which the power transmitted would be maximum.

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 KJD 3173/Belt Drives Tutorials

13. A compressor, requiring 90 kW is to run at about 250 rpm. The drive is by V-belts
from an electric motor running at 750 rpm. The diameter of the pulley on the
compressor shaft must not be greater than 1 metre while the centre distance
between the pulleys is limited to 1.75 metre. The belt speed should not exceed 1600
m/min.
Determine the number of V-belts required to transmit the power if each belt has a
cross-sectional area of 375 mm2, density 1000 kg/m3 and allowable stress of 2.5
MPa. The groove angle of the pulley is 35°. The coefficient of friction between the
belt and the pulley is 0.25. Calculate also the length required of each belt.

14. Two shafts 1 m apart are connected by a V-belt drive to transmit 90 kW at 1200
rpm of a driver pulley of 300 mm diameter. The driven pulley rotates at 450 rpm.
The angle of groove is 40° and coefficient of friction between the belt and the
pulley rim is 0.25. Area of the belt section is 400 mm2 and the permissible stress is
2.2 MPa. Density of belt material is 1100 kg/m3. Calculate the number of belts
required and the length of the belt.