Radius limit adjustment on radius conveyor belts

摘要

Plastic conveyor belts made up of modules interconnected by transverse rods and capable of straight or radius travel are adjusted to a minimum radius, the belt can traverse by restricting collapsibility at the inner edge of the belt. This can be accomplished using shims (62) in the slotted apertures (28) of the link ends, preventing full rod travel in those apertures, at each row or at alternating or selected rows of the belt, shims (56) otherwise placed in the belt to prevent full collapse, by using different modules in certain rows, with less collapsibility; or by substituting different edge modules in belts of multiple modules per row. In this way, a basic radius conveyor belt can be defined with a relatively tight minimum radius, and can be modified to be custom-fitted to a spiral conveyor or other belt systems having specific curve radii which are larger than the radius of the basic belt.