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Conveyor Belt Entrapment Damage

Not every kind of damage conveyor belts suffer is always what it first appears. Chapter four of Martin Engineering's Foundations notes one of the prime examples is entrapment damage, which at first glance appears to be caused by the slow abrasion of a belt by the protective skirting, particularly with steel skirtboards.

Small pieces of material are pinned between the skirtboard and covneyor belt.
Material becomes wedged into this "pinch point," forming a spearhead to gouge or abrade the surface of the belt as it moves past."

Most often this damage appears as a pair of heavily worn lines along the edges of the belt, around the area of the skirting.

While this might at first appear to be an issue of excessive pressure from the skirting, most often it is actually the result of small amounts of material that have become trapped beneath the skirt. This material can be lodged under the skirt through a variety of different means, ranging from the belt dipping below the level of the guard to installing the skirtboard directly along the path of the material in a chute.

Once materials are trapped underneath the skirt, they will steadily abrade the belt as it pushes them back up against the guard, resulting in those twin lines as well as scalloping in the skirt itself. Because the material is pressed between the belt and the guard, entrapment can also lead to the loss of materials from the conveyor.

Aside from proper installation of the skirt, entrapment can also be prevented by reinforcing the belt with bar supports to prevent sagging.

Topics: Conveyor Belt Component Damage, Material Spillage

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