COMPARISON WITH PVC BELTS

In the beginning the textile belt appeared as a system of internal transport. Later on it was succeeded by the PVC belts, but with the arrival of the modular belt, both of them became obsolete due to obvious reasons of cleaning, maintenance, and life span.
The external surface of the PVC uses to get chapped, due to the mechanical action of the working conditions or the chemicals of the conveyed product, showing the internal textile weft which endows it with enough resistance for accomplishing the traction. It favours the introduction of debris and bacteria which are absorbed by the textile materials and get spread inside the belt itself, being the cleaning and sanitation almost impossible.
Other harmful effect of this superficial deterioration is the peeling of the belt surface, so that some PVC particles could migrate to the product flow.

As the traction is made by the friction of drums at both ends of the conveyor, the belt can move across those drums what can cause damages to the belt itself and continuous stops for adjustments. Although there are several systems for reducing this problem, only the traction by combining loose sprockets with a central fixed sprocket, which is characteristic of the modular system, eliminates it entirely.

The PVC belts use to be supplied:
– In a continuous loop: for its installation, it will be required a conveyor with a detachable structure, which will be more expensive to be built than a conventional conveyor.
– Cut at the length required: the joint has to be made on site, on the conveyor, and special tools will be needed for it. Normally it will be carried out by qualified personnel from the supplier’s company, which will increase the costs.

The intervention of qualified staff with specific tools (weld plates, fans, etc.) will be necessary for repairing any damage, whereas a modular belt will be repaired by personnel without any special qualification, taking a minimum cost of material and downtime.