Armstrong Pipe Conveyor and Belt Scraper

 From practical experience over the past three years while developing and operating a diamond recovery plant, the following pipe conveyor system, Patents 2002/00644 and 2006/3646 have been developed.

The entire conveyor belt both in the forward and reverse or return direction is arranged to run within the conveyor pipe. With this system the following advantages over conventional conveyors are achieved.

1  No guide rollers are required to support the belt as the belt is supported within the pipe. This results in the conveyor being more stable in windy conditions as there is no external return belt to create wind resistance, conveyor instability and vibration.
2  There is no appreciable increase in power required to drive this conveyor even when under load.
3  The complete rubber belt is installed by pulling an accurately hot-spliced complete belt into the pipe by hand or using the motorized drive pulley. Removal of the belt is done in the same way. There is therefore no necessity to join the belt into the conveyor system as is the case for alternate conveyor systems. A PVC belt can be used which can be easily installed and removed by hand.
4  No conveyor belt guide pulleys are required except for the entry and exit guide pulleys which keep the belt clear of the pipe ends. The pipe takes over the function of any guide pulley assemblies.
5  The cradles on both the drive and idler pulleys are both easily adjustable with additional fine adjustment on the idler pulley. Once the belt is adjusted to run in the center very little if any adjustment is required.

6  Where conveyor belts are joined on site an attachment is available to grind the splice to the exact thickness of the belt patent 2006/3646.
7  The uniform nature of the spliced belt allows for a segmented spring loaded scraper to be used for a belt running on a straight or crowned pulley, copyright. This scraper is highly effective.     
8   The conveyor system can be supplied in multiple flanged lengths of 6 or 12 meters and of various pipe diameters and motor sizes.
9   The conveyor system is easy to assemble, disassemble, transport and install, and does not require intermediate supports over lengths up to 18 metres. 3 x 12 meter conveyors can be transported on a trailer setup using the conveyors as the trailer chassis and using a 4 wheel SUV or small truck.