Why flat belts need crowned pulleys.

[npbryant]

Hi Tony, very comprehensive description for a subject that is not intuitive, well done for your efforts - I specialise in heavy duty conveyors in both above and underground mining conveyors where belt tracking is a constant problem and crowned pulleys are not uncommon for that reason - A simple explanation that I use in my training courses is that "Belts will always track to the high tension side of a pulley" - Hence your explanation above.

Basic understanding of this principle is critical for those who have to maintain and adjust conveyor belts that are sometimes worth million's of $ and where belt edge damage can drastically shorten the life of a belt - Not to mention the cost of lost production.