V-Belt Slippage Causes and Solutions

Belt slippage is one of the common problems on a V-Belt driven system that caused delay & reduces the worth of a Machine.  It’s indirectly or directly affects our Time, Money & Labour.

Reasons like Worn or Damaged Sheaves, Wrong Belt Section, and Insufficient Tension, Excessive Grease or Oil, Excessive Moisture and Insufficient Wrap on Small Sheave are the causes for V-Belt slippage but frequently it happens due to V-Belt Stretchiness.

Improper Installation is also a major reason for Slippage. Generally what happen, when during Installation more Tension is applied on the V-Belt for faster Installation, It causes V-Belt to stretch more than normal.

In case of Slippage Problem we should ensure that the belt on the machine is the correct size and has not stretched. Sheaves also need to be checked. The worn and/or damaged Sheaves will cause the belt to slip. The way to determine whether or not the pulleys are at all defective is to either purchase a tool that sits in the pulleys to make sure that the sides are making contact with the belts, or replace the pulleys.

Always choose the belt as per the requirement of machine to get the maximum output out of it. For example if your machine is being used in areas of extreme moisture then that could be the culprit. Or, if your belt runs on a machine that may have a leak of any sort of liquid that could be the problem as well.

Apart from the above reason one major area of focus is the Cord used in the V-Belt. The Cord used in a V-Belt as a tension member is most often constructed out of a Polyester material and this decay over time. Latest development in Cord is the invention of Kevlar Cord. Kevlar Cord increases life of a V-Belt and give a longer life than the Polyester Cord V-Belt and also offer solution to Slippage Problem.

Another interesting situation is like let’s say that the belt goes from one pulley to a pulley that is only two inches in diameter. A standard belt will have a hard time making sufficient contact with the pulley. To resolve it, use a V-Belt with Cogged instead of a Standard V-Belt.