Material spillage is a costly proposition. Add it up – tons of lost material per year, additional labor for cleanup, significant safety risks, and excessive wear and damage to conveyor components caused by resulting belt mistracking. Yet, material spillage is common to many operations due to a lack of good preventive maintenance.
Use this simple, three-step program and you will certainly minimize any spillage problems.
1. Check Transfer Points
Ideally, each transfer point should be designed to load the belt in the center and at a uniform rate. Off-center loading can be corrected by using systems such as deflectors, liners, baffles, screens, grizzly bars, or curved loading chute–all of which are designed to consistently direct material flow onto the center of the belt.
2. Maintain Proper Scraper Tension
For effective cleaning, belt scrapers should be installed at the appropriate locations and at the proper angles. Since multiple belt cleaning systems are often factory-installed, operators need only concern themselves with maintaining accurate belt scraper tension and replacing worn scrapers.
The majority of blade-to-belt cleaning systems feature some form of tensioning device, which should typically be checked or adjusted on a weekly basis. An improperly adjusted belt scraper will lead to material carryback, premature wear to components, and eventual spillage and belt mistracking headaches. When retensioning is required, the cleaner and tensioning unit should allow for easy access and maintenance, without the need for special tools or multiple service technicians. Tensioning instructions are often located on the side of the belt scraper manufactures bracket.
3. Select Proper Skirtboards
Skirtboards are key to preventing material spillage in and around the loading zone – from the moment that material leaves the loading chute and until it reaches belt speed. So skirting usually extends from the loading chute and along some distance of the conveyor. As a rule of thumb, skirtboard length will average 2- to 3-feet per 100 feet-perminute (61 to 91cm per 30m-per-minute) of belt travel.
