1. What is an air supported belt conveyor
Air supported belt conveyor (air cushion belt conveyor) is a modern continuous conveying system that utilizes high-pressure airflow to create an air cushion layer between the conveying belt and carrying surface, enabling the belt to operate in a suspended state. The core principle is to deliver air to the airtight chamber through the fan. The airflow is sprayed from the nozzle at the bottom of the chamber, forming a uniform air film under the belts, thus greatly reducing friction resistance between the belts and supporting surface, and achieving highly efficient and energy-saving material conveying. Air Supported Belt Conveyor is widely used in electric power, chemical, building materials, metallurgy, grain, ports, coal, machinery and other related industries, conveying various powdery, granular and small lump materials with bulk density of 400~2500kg/m³.
2. Key advantages
(1) Ultra-low energy consumption operation.
The air cushion system replaces traditional idlers in supporting both the conveyor belt and its load, transforming rolling friction into fluid friction mediated by air. This innovation reduces motion resistance to merely 1/3-1/5 of roller-supported systems, achieving remarkable energy savings (over 40% power reduction).
(2) Super-efficient conveying capacity
Belt speed increase: The air cushion support reduces the running resistance of the belt by more than 60%. The belt speed can be increased to 3.5-4.5m/s (traditional roller type is usually only 2-3m/s), and the capacity can be increased by more than 30%.
(3) Drastically reduced maintenance workload
The system completely eliminates vulnerable components found in traditional conveyors – including rollers and bearings – thereby eradicating all routine maintenance operations such as roller replacement and lubrication
The number of moving parts of the whole machine is reduced by more than 80%
(4) Ultimate environmental performance.
Integrated enclosed design with dust collection achieves air supported belt conveyor complete dust containment, while roller-free operation reduces noise emissions by >15dB at 1m compared to conventional conveyors.
3. Initial equipment commissioning
3.1. Pre-test preparation
After all the parts of the machine are installed, no-load pilot run can be started, the time should be no less than two hours. The corresponding preparatory work should be done before the pilot run.
(1) Equipment installation should be in line with GB/T44970 in 7.2 mechanical requirements of the relevant provisions; in particular, 7.2.2 for the installation of the disk groove requirements.
1> Parallelism of the two flange end faces of the gas chamber and the perpendicularity tolerance of the flange end face of the gas chamber and the centerline of the disk groove should be not less than GB/T1184 in 12 levels.
2> The surface of the air chamber plate grooves should be regular and smooth, there should be no local bumps, dents and obvious creases, and there should be no burrs in the air holes.
3> The straightness tolerance of the centerline of the air chamber plate grooves is 1/1000 of the length of the air chamber plate grooves.
4> The height differential of pan-type channel plates at adjacent air chamber junctions shall not exceed 1.0 mm along the belting running direction and 0.2 mm against the belting running direction.
5> Air supported belt conveyor body centerline straightness tolerance should be consistent with the provisions of Table 2, and to ensure that the straightness tolerance in the length of 25m does not exceed 5mm.
| Table 2 Air supported belt conveyor body centerline straightness tolerance | ||||||
| Conveyor length L/m | ≤100 | 100< L ≤300 | 300< L ≤500 | 500< L ≤1 000 | 1 000< L ≤2 000 | >2 000 |
| Straightness tolerance/mm | 10 | 30 | 50 | 80 | 150 | 200 |
(2) Check whether all bearings and power part are sufficiently lubricated and greased.
(3) Check whether there are any tools and materials or other stuff left inside the machine. Please remove them if any to avoid any malfunction.
(4) Check whether all the connecting bolts of each part have been soundly tightened, especially all the pulley taper bushing bolts and shaft bearing bolts must be re-tightened, and check whether there is any lack of weld in the weld seams at site, etc.
(5) Check whether the protection and insulation of the electrical control system are in good condition, etc.
(6) Jog the motor to confirm its running direction. For units with fluid couplings, keep the coupling drained before jogging. For non-coupled units, disconnect the high-speed coupling first.
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Post Time: 2025-06-19