Study on Belt Skew (3rd Report, Out-of-Plane Roller Misalignment Case)

We simulated skew phenomena of a flat belt running between cylindrical rollers with out-of-plane angular misalignment by means of the FEM software MARC. We investigated the effects of roller misalignment angle, belt initial tension, coefficient of friction, and an added tension roller on the belt skew. The results indicate that the skew transient state disappears very quickly and the skew rate is proportional to the roller misalignment angle and is about 60% in magnitude comparing with the inplane misalignment case. The tension roller greatly reduces the belt skew due to the out-of-plane misalignment, when it is placed in a suitable position with a certain in-plane angular misalignment. Both skew generating mechanism and skew reducing mechanism are also discussed.