TITLE:
ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE POWER TRANSMISSION BELT
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001] This invention relates generally to electrically conductive power
transmission belts, more particularly to static conductive timing belts, and specifically to
a belt with conductive film, fabric, and tensile cord.
2. Description of the Prior Art
[0002] Drive belts are used for power transmission, motion control, transport
applications, as well as for timing applications. Power transmission belts may be in the
form of flat belts, toothed belts, V-belts, multi-v ribbed belts or other special profiles.
They typically are electrically insulating and/or contain electrically insulating materials.
It is sometimes desirable that the belts not retain electrostatic charges, i.e., that the belts
have anti-static properties.
[0003] Anti-static properties may be defined in various standards and generally
include one or more of the following characteristics: surface resistance lower than 10
ohms; volume resistance lower than 109 ohms; and ground bleeder resistance lower than
106 ohms/meter. Standards such as BS PD CLC/TR 50404:2003, D EN 13463-1, and
IEC 60079-0 provide information on the avoidance of hazards due to static electricity.
ASTM D-257 provides a resistance test for various rubber articles. Particularly
applicable to timing belts is the standard, ISO 9563: 1990(E), which states that the
resistance in ohms of new antistatic belts should not exceed 6xl0 5 when measured
according to that standard. Herein, a belt that meets the ISO 9563 standard will be called
"conductive" whether the belt is new or used. In use, a belt can rapidly lose conductivity
from wear or breakdown of the conductive material component.
[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 8,192,316 discloses an elastomeric power transmission belt
with an anti-static, wear-resistant, covering fabric which includes a nonconductive natural
or synthetic polymeric fiber and a conductive fiber. The conductive fiber is a synthetic
polymeric fiber with a conductive metallic coating such as silver.
[0005] JP10184 1OA discloses use of a conductive yarn to thwart counterfeiters of
toothed belts.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,004 discloses a timing belt with an electrically
conductive thermoplastic layer on the surface which contacts a pulley. The disclosure
claims the conductivity of the belt is maintained over an extended use life, and provides
two examples based on a flex tester. The performance in more demanding loaded testing
was not reported.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,389 discloses a flat, plastic-covered-textile belt with
anti-static properties arising from either an electrically conductive filament in the threads
of the textile supporting element or an electrically conductive layer between the textile
support and plastic covering. The conductive filament may be metal or carbon fiber. The
conductive layer may be soot-containing plastic. The plastic covering may be
thermoplastic polyurethane. U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,785 teaches a conductive toothed pulley
made from a conductive thermoplastic. The thermoplastic may be conductive from the
use of conductive microfibers, graphite or carbon black mixed therein.
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 6,228,448 teaches use of an electrically conductive
elastomeric surface ply which is preferably doped with a sufficient amount of carbon
black or other conductive additives to give the outer ply or entire endless belt a surface
resistivity of less than about 10 14 ohm/square.
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,619 teaches a covering canvas impregnated with an anti
static rubber composition based on conductive carbon black. An unwanted side effect of
such coatings is a decrease in the abrasion resistance of the fabric resulting in rapid loss
of the anti-static effect during use. The resulting abraded particles can be detrimental to
nearby electronic or electrical components or systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,530 makes
use of such loss of conductivity to indicate the state of wear of a conductive -rubbercoated
fabric.
[0010] What is needed is a conductive belt which retains conductivity over an
extended use life on demanding loaded applications.
SUMMARY
[0011] The present invention is directed to systems and methods which provide
electrically conductive power transmission belts which maintain conductivity over the life
of the belt on loaded applications.
[0012] The invention is directed to a belt made up of an elastomeric belt body, an
electrically conductive tensile cord such as carbon fiber cord in a cord layer reinforcing
the belt body, an outer layer of electrically conductive thermoplastic material such as
polypropylene film, and an electrically conductive fabric layer residing between the
tensile cord layer and the outer layer and providing electrical continuity between the outer
layer and the tensile cord. An electrically conductive thread or filament may be included
in the fabric and may present at both surfaces of the fabric and contact both the outer
layer and the tensile cord to provide the electrical continuity there between. The
conductive thread or filament may be woven, stitched, needle punched, knit, or the like
into the fabric. The conductive thread may include conductive metal-coated fiber, such as
silver on polyamide. The conductive thread may be bundled with non-conductive fibers
and woven into the fabric with non-conductive threads at a predetermined spacing or
weight fraction. The predetermined amount of conductive thread may be a spacing of 1
mm or more, or in the range from 1 to 10 mm, or from about 3 to about 5 mm, or may be
a weight percent of at least 1%, or 1% to 9% based on the total fabric weight. The
conductive thread or threads may be in the warp or weft direction of the fabric or both
directions.
[0013] In another embodiment the conductive fabric may be a fabric with a
conductive impregnating coating.
[0014] The invention is also directed to a method of making a conductive belt in
which a conductive thermoplastic film, a conductive fabric and a conductive tensile cord
are applied to a belt mold so that the three are in electrical contact.
[0015] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical
advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention
that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the
invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the
invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and
specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or
designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It
should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not
depart from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel
features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its
organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will
be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with
the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the
figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended
as a definition of the limits of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of the
specification in which like numerals designate like parts, illustrate embodiments of the
present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the
invention. In the drawings:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a partially fragmented perspective view of an embodiment of the
invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 is an enlarged partially fragmented section of a portion of the
embodiment of FIG. 1;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a partially fragmented side view of the belt of FIG. 1 after severe
use;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a conductive fabric;
[0021] FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a belt drive layout used to test belt
durability;
[0022] FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a belt conductivity test;
[0023] FIG. 7 is a graphical representation of belt electrical resistance versus hours
on test percent of belt life for a number of Example and Comparative belts tested on the
drive layout of FIG. 5; and.
[0024] FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of belt electrical resistivity versus
percent of belt life for a number of Example and Comparative belts tested on the drive
layout of FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0025] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the inventive conductive belt in the form of
synchronous belt 10 with flat back side 11 and toothed side 17, which includes teeth 15
alternating with lands 13. The internal construction of synchronous belt 10 includes
elastomeric body 12, tensile cord 14 embedded therein, fabric layer 16, and outer layer
18. Tensile cord 14 includes an electrically conductive material such as carbon fiber or
metal wire. The cord may be a hybrid of the electrically conductive material with other
non-conductive cord materials such as glass, aramid, PBO, or the like, provided the
conductive material presents at the surface of the cord at least in a plurality of places.
The fabric layer 16 is likewise conductive. The outer layer 18 is also conductive and may
be a conductive thermoplastic film or a conductive thermoset coating which provides the
belt with a surface conductivity suitable for at least dissipating static charges. The fabric
layer 16 provides electrical continuity between the outer layer and the conductive tensile
cord. The resulting conductive belt is not only conductive at its surface, nor only
conductive via its cord, but is conductive through both cord and surface and there
between through the fabric layer.
[0026] It is common to call the materials covering the elastomeric teeth of a
synchronous belt the "jacket." The conductive jacket of belt 10 thus includes the
combination of the conductive outer layer 18 and the conductive fabric layer 16. Thus,
there is electrical continuity between the conductive jacket and the conductive tensile
cord.
[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates in more detail some of the features of belt 10 of FIG. 1. In
FIG. 2, tensile cord 14 is seen to be a bundle of individual fibers 24 with interstices 22
there between. The elastomeric material of body 12 may penetrate into interstices 22 to
some degree or completely. Alternately, some or all of the interstices may be
impregnated with a cord treatment which may be different from the elastomeric material
of the belt body. Fabric 16 includes warp threads 26 and weft threads 27. As shown the
warp runs generally across the width of the belt or transversely, while the weft threads run
generally along the length of the belt or longitudinally. Depending on the fabric weave,
the warp may be the longitudinal thread and the weft the transverse thread, or the fabric
could be laid at an angle on the belt. Weft threads 27 include conductive fibers 28, 28'
and 28". The conductive fibers 28 illustrate a point of contact with the tensile cord 14.
Conductive fibers 28' illustrate a point of no contact with the tensile cord 14 or outer
layer 18. Conductive fibers 28" illustrates a point of contact with outer layer 18. In a
given belt 10, there will be multiple such contacts between the conductive fibers 28 of
fabric 16 and the conductive outer layer 18 and the tensile cord 14. As a result, the
conductivity of the belt may be established through multiple paths through the cord,
fabric and outer layer.
[0028] The inventive belt exhibits much superior conductivity over prior belts
having only a conductive surface layer, or only conductive cord, or only conductive
fabric. Such prior belts rapidly loose conductivity as the conductive element is damaged
or worn. In fact, it has been proposed to use such an otherwise undesirable loss of
conductivity as a method of determining the state of wear or state of degradation of the
belt. However, in many applications requiring conductivity, it would be more desirable
for the belt to maintain conductivity over the entire life of the belt. The present invention
achieves this goal. Moreover, different applications may produce different types of belt
damage leading to the end of the useful life of the belt, i.e., different "failure modes." A
synchronous belt drive with low tooth loads but small diameter pulleys would likely
experience tensile cord damage before the outer layer or fabric becomes very worn, i.e., a
tensile cord failure mode. If that belt relied on conductive tensile cord for conductivity, it
would gradually lose conductivity during its life. On the other hand, a high tooth load
drive with moderate diameter pulleys would likely exhibit a jacket wear failure mode, or
a tooth shear failure mode. If that belt relied on surface conductivity or fabric
conductivity, it would likely fail to remain conductive as soon as the conductive outer
layer or conductive fabric (as the case may be) was worn through somewhere.
[0029] FIG. 3 shows an example of the belt 10 of FIG. 1 in a severely worn state at
or near the end of its useful life. In FIG. 3, conductive outer layer 18 only remains intact
on the tips of teeth 17. The outer layer is worn away on tooth flanks 47 and in the lands
13. Moreover, conductive fabric 16 is broken through by cracks 45 at the roots of the
teeth. Nevertheless, inventive test belts in such a worn condition are still conductive via
the conductive paths provided from whatever is left as the outer surface through
remaining fabric 16 to tensile cord 14, at least in the land regions 13.
[0030] The anti-static, wear-resistant fabric may be woven of weft and warp yarns
or threads, knitted, or non-woven. Any suitable weave or knit may be used for fabric 16,
such as square weave, twill weave, or the like. FIG. 4 illustrates one possible
configuration for fabric 16, namely a 2x2 twill weave with warp 26 having a conductive
thread 29 every seventh warp or more, and weft 27 having a conductive thread 30 every
sixth weft thread. The conductive threads may be woven into the weft alone, the warp
alone, or both warp and weft. Alternately, the conductive thread or filament may be
stitched, needle punched, knit, or the like into the fabric. The spacing of the conductive
thread(s) may be predetermined to provide the desired conductivity. The predetermined
spacing may be, for example, in the range from 1 to 10 mm, preferably from about 3 to
about 5 mm. The conductive threads may be monofilaments of conductive fiber, bundles
of filaments of conductive fibers, mixed bundles of conductive monofilaments or fibers
with non-conductive fibers or filaments. The conductive threads may be constructed in
any suitable way, e.g., twisted, cabled, wrapped, textured, and the like. Preferably, the
conductive material in the conductive thread presents at the surface of the thread and
therefore at the surface of the resulting fabric in order to establish electrical continuity
with the other components of the belt. For example, the conductive thread could be coreinsert
construction with a non-conductive core wrapped with a conductive filament or
thread. The non-conductive polymeric fibers, as well as the base fibers of metal-coated
conductive fibers, may be any desired natural or synthetic fiber, such as polyester, nylon
or polyamide ("PA"), acrylic, cotton, rayon, aramid, or the like. The fibers may be
textured, twisted, blended, or the like. Hybrid, composite, or blended threads may be
random fiber mixtures, twisted or cabled yarns or threads of various types, or structured
such as wrapped or core-sheath yarns. Preferred nonconductive fibers and base fibers for
conductive fibers are polyester and polyamide, including PA-66. The conductive fibers
may be metal-coated fibers or filaments, carbon fibers, metallic fibers, or the like.
[0031] In an embodiment of the invention, the conductive fiber may make up from
about 1% to about 9% of the total weight of the fabric. In another embodiment, the fabric
may be about 3% to about 6% conductive fiber and the remainder of the fibers a
combination of non-conductive fibers. The fabric may have predetermined spacing and
weight percent of conductive thread as described. The predetermined amount of
conductive fibers or threads in the conductive fabric may be chosen to optimize the fabric
cost and/or properties. One reason one might limit the amount of conductive thread when
adding it to an existing fabric construction used in belts is to minimize potential negative
impact on the load capacity or durability or other property of the product. The fabric
could be made entirely of conductive threads, however, this would likely make the cost
prohibitive and is unnecessary to achieve the static conductivity levels described herein.
[0032] As an alternative to a conductive fabric such as FIG. 4, any suitable nonconductive
fabric may be made conductive by applying one or more suitable conductive
coating or treatment, such as a conductive RFL dip, or a conductive rubber cement, or a
conductive rubber skim or friction layer or other conductive coating(s) which impregnates
the fabric and provides continuity across the fabric. The RFL, rubber cement, or other
coating may be made conductive by use of conductive additives such as conductive
carbon black, graphite, metal particles or fiber, or carbon fiber, including for example
carbon nanotubes, and the like.
[0033] The outer layer may be a conductive thermoplastic film which may be
laminated to the fabric. Examples of suitable materials include polyethylene,
polypropylene, nylons, polyesters, including copolymers, blends, and the like. The
thermoplastic film may be made conductive by addition of conductive additives such as
conductive carbon black, graphite, metal particles or fiber, carbon fiber including for
example carbon nanotubes, and the like. A preferred thermoplastic film is polypropylene
with conductive carbon black. The polypropylene film may be polypropylene
homopolymer or a polypropylene copolymer. The copolymer may be poly(propyleneethylene),
with predominantly propylene, or less than about 10% ethylene. During a
lamination process, the conductive film may be softened or melted and allowed to
penetrate somewhat into the conductive fabric to create some mechanical interlocking to
ensure electrical continuity with the conductive fabric and for robust mechanical and/or
chemical bonding.
[0034] The outer layer may alternately be a thermoset film laminated or applied to
the fabric. The thermoset may be a rubber composition, a crosslinkable thermoplastic, a
polyurethane, epoxy, or the like, which may be made conductive with conductive
additives.
[0035] The elastomeric body material may be any suitable elastomer composition,
including vulcanizable rubber compositions such as nitrile (NBR or FiNBR), styrenebutadiene
(SBR), chloroprene (CR), ethylene-propylene (EPM or EPDM), rubber blends
and the like, or thermoplastic elastomer compositions, or cast polyurethane compositions.
The body material may be conductive, but it need not be. For cast polyurethane belts, it is
preferred that the fabric and cord be untreated, or at least partially open to penetration by
the polyurethane formulation during the casting process. This penetration results in good
mechanical adhesion (in addition to any chemical bonding present) to bond all the belt
components together. For fabrics treated with conductive dips and/or upcoats, it may be
more difficult to obtain good adhesion between all the components and there may be only
chemical adhesion to rely on.
[0036] Any suitable method of manufacturing the belt may be used. Cast
polyurethane timing belts may be made for example as described in U.S. Pat. Nos.
5,231,159, 5,807,194, and 6,964,626, the contents of which are incorporated herein by
reference. In this method, the conductive outer layer may be laminated to the conductive
fabric to make a conductive jacket. The jacket may be placed around a grooved mold and
the carbon tensile cord helically wound onto the jacket. The mold may be placed in a
shell and the cavity filled with the urethane materials, allowing them to penetrate the cord
and fabric before curing. The cured belt slab may be cut into individual belts. The
contact between the fabric and tensile cord established during belt building is thus
maintained in the final belts.
[0037] Vulcanized rubber belts may be made for example as described in U.S. Pat.
No. 6,695,733, and/or the patents referred to therein, the contents of which are
incorporated herein by reference. Because of the high viscosity of rubber compositions,
the fabric and tensile cord are generally pretreated with various dips or rubber cements.
Preferably the treatments are conductive materials so that the continuity between surface
and tensile cord is maintained. The conductive outer layer may be laminated to the fabric
before treatment with a conductive coating or dip or thereafter. If the dip treatment(s) are
suitably conductive, the fabric may not need conductive threads. Lamination may include
a suitable adhesive.
[0038] Long-length thermoplastic belting may be made for example as described in
U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,799, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Belting may be cut into desired lengths and the ends joined to make endless belts. The
belting can be made conductive by establishing electrical continuity from the outer
surface material to the conductive tensile cord as described herein.
[0039] In the following examples, inventive examples are indicated as "Ex." and
comparative examples are "Comp. Ex." Belts were placed on the durability test drive
shown schematically in FIG. 5. The durability test is shown with belt 10 trained about
24-groove pulleys 56 and 58, which are driven at 2000 RPM with a predetermined load
and tension, at room temperature. The tension and HP chosen leads to a tension ratio,
Ti/T2 (tight side over slack side tension). Belts were tested for electrical resistance using
the resistance apparatus 60 shown schematically in FIG. 6 which is based on ISO
9563:1990(E), 1st Edition, 08-15-1990, (hereinafter "ISO 9563"). In FIG. 6, the
resistance of belt 10 is measured by placing two contacts 62a, 62b on the tooth side of the
belt. The contacts are profiled so that they each cover three teeth 1 and two lands 13 of
the belt. Two leads 63a, 63b connect the electrodes to insulation test meter 64. The
spacer handle 65 holds the two contacts apart a distance L, which is set to provide six
teeth 17 and seven lands 13 between the contacts. ISO 9563 calls for use of a conductive
fluid between belt and electrode and support of the belt backside 11 on a rigid insulating
surface without stress. However, because it was desired to follow the resistance of the
belt over the entire life of the belt on the durability test, the test was carried out with the
belt on the durability tester of FIG. 5 under tension with the backside 11 over air. It was
determined first by experiment that repeatable measurements were indeed possible
without a rigid support and without use of the conductive fluid. According to ISO 9563,
an antistatic endless synchronous belt, also known as a static conductive (and hereinafter
just referred to as a "conductive" belt) must have an electrical resistance, in mega-ohms
(MW), not exceeding 0.6 where L is the distance shown in FIG. 6, and w is the belt
width. Thus, resistance measurements, R, can be normalized for belts of different width
and pitch and the requirement for a conductive belt rewritten as Rw/L <0.6 MW.
[0040] In this first series of examples, three different polyurethane synchronous
belt constructions were compared. All three belt constructions were made with cast, nonconductive,
polyurethane bodies and have 8-mm tooth pitch, Gates GT® tooth profile,
16-mm width, and 140 teeth. The laminating and urethane casting process described
above was used. Comp. Ex. 1 included a non-conductive tensile cord of aramid fibers, a
non-conductive nylon fabric and a conductive polyethylene thermoplastic film as the
outer layer. Comp. Ex. 2 was built like Comp. Ex. 1 but with a conductive fabric of
nylon with a conductive weft thread spaced about every 4 mm among the other nonconductive
weft threads. Ex. 3 was built like Comp. Ex. 2 but with conductive carbon
fiber tensile cord instead of aramid. Thus, Ex. 3 provides a conductive path from the
outer layer to the conductive tensile cord at least in the land region of the belt. These
constructions are summarized in Table 1 along with the test results. The belts were run
on the durability test at a 10 HP load and tension ratio of 8, with periodic resistance
measurements made as shown graphically in FIG. 7. The time at which the resistance
exceeded the ISO 9563 maximum for conductive belts (2.1 MW) is reported in Table 2
along with the total test time and reason for ending the test. Note that the comparative
belts both lost conductivity long before the life of a belt on the test was reached (about
378 hours for aramid cord). The inventive belt never lost conductivity and the test was
stopped at 515 hours. The inventive belt needed to be tested at a higher load so the life of
the belt would be in a range more practical for limited test resources.
[0041] In the second series of examples, the inventive belts were durability tested at
19 HP. In addition, various comparative belts currently available in the market and
advertised as conductive were durability tested. The inventive examples, being of
polyurethane construction, are of much higher load capacity than the comparative rubber
belts. Therefore, the test conditions for the rubber belts were chosen to give belt lives in
the range of up to about 150 hours. Since the comparative belts had different widths, the
normalized resistance, Rw/L, was used for comparing the measurements. The belts and
their durability and conductivity results are listed in Table 2. FIG. 8 shows the
normalized resistance measurements over the life of the belt versus the percent of the total
belt life at the time of measurement. When multiple belts of the same construction were
tested, the example number was kept the same and a letter designation used for each
repeat.
[0042] TABLE 1.
Comp. Ex. 1 Comp. Ex. 2 Ex. 3
tensile cord aramid fiber aramid fiber carbon fiber
nylon fabric non-conductive conductive conductive
polypropylene outer layer conductive conductive conductive
durability test time (hrs) 149.8 378 515.9
loss of tensile cord test taking too
reason test stopped
conductivity failure long
never lost
time of conductivity (hrs) 79 303
conductivity
initial resistance (MW) 0.034 0.01 <0.004
final resistance (MW) 332 330 0.012
[0043] All the comparative belts in the second series are rubber synchronous belts.
Comp. Ex. 4 is a rubber belt made static conductive by use of a conductive dip on the
fabric. The fabric itself is made of non-conductive nylon. The conventional rubber may
have some level of conductivity, but would be much too high in resistance to meet the
ISO 9563 requirements for antistatic belts. In addition, Comp. Ex. 4 has non-conductive
fiberglass tensile cord. As shown in FIG. 8, Comp. Ex. 4 meets the ISO 9563 spec
initially, before testing begins, but loses conductivity after a just a few hours of testing,
presumably due to wearing away or breakup of the conductive dip on the tooth surface.
Thus, conductivity is lost long before the end of the useful life of the belt.
[0044] Comp. Ex. 5 and 6 have similar constructions, but Comp. ex. 6 is believed
to have a conductive backside polyethylene film in addition to that on the tooth side of the
belt. These two constructions are believed to be constructed in accordance with the
teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,004. The belts in that patent only had conductivity
through the conductive polyethylene surface layer, but were reported to exhibit
conductivity for the life of the belt. However, the belts in the Ό 04 patent were only
tested on a flex tester, not a loaded test. Flex testing is generally likely to fail the tensile
cord before the jacket, and very unlikely to fail from tooth shear. Yet, many if not most
applications require the belt to carry some load. Loaded tests may likely fail in tooth
shear, jacket wear, and the like. The durability test results on Comp. Ex. 5 and 6 show
that the conductivity on loaded tests does not last the life of the belt.
[0045] The inventive belts of Ex. 7 include a conductive polypropylene surface on
a conductive fabric tooth cover with a carbon fiber conductive tensile member. Ex. 7
belts exhibit electrical continuity between the toothed surface and the tensile member.
The inventive belts of Ex. 7 not only have the lowest resistance from the outset of any of
the tested belts, but they easily reach the end of the load-life durability test without
coming close to losing conductivity. These belts remain conductive even when worn to
the point illustrated in FIG. 3.
[0046] Thus, a combination of conductive outer layer with conductive fabric and
conductive cord, all electrically connected, makes for a belt that remains conductive far
longer than prior belts on severe applications.
[0047] TABLE 2.
Comp.
Comp. Ex. 4 Comp. Ex. 6 Ex. 7
Ex. 5
outer layer conductive cond. conductive conductive dip
PE polyethylene 1 polypropylene
fabric conventional nylon nylon conventional nylon conductive nylon
cord fiberglass aramid aramid carbon fiber
body conventional rubber rubber conventional rubber cast polyurethane
Test ID 4a 4b 4c 5 6a 6b 6c 6d 7a 7b 7c
width (mm) 20 20 16 16 20 20 20 20 16 16 16
T1/T2 8 2.5 8 8 8 2.5 2.5 2.8 8 8 8
load (HP) 11 10 10 10 11 7.5 9 9 19 19 19
belt life (hrs) 35 150 8.4 161 241 18 27 22 164 90 153
conductive
life (% of 1 3 50 86 10 19 35 75 100 100 100
belt life)
This belt is believed to also have a conductive PE film on the backside.
[0048] Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in
detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be
made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the
appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be
limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition
of matter, means, methods, and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary
skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention,
processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps,
presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or
achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein
may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are
intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture,
compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps. The invention disclosed herein may
suitably be practiced in the absence of any element that is not specifically disclosed
herein.

CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A belt comprising an elastomeric belt body, an electrically conductive tensile
cord in a cord layer reinforcing the belt body, an outer layer of electrically
conductive thermoplastic material, and an electrically conductive fabric layer
residing between the tensile cord layer and the outer layer and providing
electrical continuity between the outer layer and the tensile cord.
2. The belt of claim 1 wherein the electrically conductive fabric layer comprises
a fabric comprising an electrically conductive thread which presents at both
surfaces of said fabric and contacts both the outer layer and the tensile cord
thereby providing the electrical continuity there between.
3. The belt of claim 1 wherein the electrically conductive fabric layer comprises
a fabric and a conductive impregnating coating which presents at both surfaces
of said fabric and contacts both the outer layer and the tensile cord thereby
providing the electrical continuity there between.
4. The belt of claim 2 wherein the elastomeric belt body comprises polyurethane.
5. The belt of claim 4 wherein the tensile cord comprises carbon fiber.
6. The belt of claim 2 wherein the conductive thread comprises conductive
metal-coated fiber.
7. The belt of claim 6 wherein the metal coating comprises silver.
8. The belt of claim 6 wherein the metal-coated fiber is silver-coated polyamide
fiber.
9. The belt of claim 2 wherein the conductive thread is bundled with nonconductive
fibers and woven into the fabric with non-conductive threads at a
predetermined spacing.
10. The belt of claim 2 wherein the conductive thread is wrapped around nonconductive
thread and woven into the fabric with other non-conductive threads
at a predetermined spacing.
11. The belt of claim 9 wherein the predetermined spacing is in the range from 1
to 10 mm.
12. The belt of claim 11 wherein the conductive threads run in the weft direction
of the fabric which is oriented substantially in the longitudinal direction of the
belt.
13. The belt of claim 1 wherein the number of conductive threads is about 10% of
the total thread count in the weft.
14. The belt of claim 1 wherein the conductive threads make up from about 1% to
about 9% of the total fabric weight.
15. The belt of claim 1 wherein the conductive thermoplastic comprises
polyethylene.
16. The belt of claim 1 wherein the conductive thermoplastic comprises
polypropylene.
17. A method of making a conductive belt comprising: applying to a belt mold a
conductive thermoplastic film, a conductive fabric, and a conductive tensile
cord layer; wherein the conductive fabric resides between and in contact with
the film and the cord layer providing electrical continuity between the film and
cord.
18. The method of claim 1 further comprising introducing a cast polyurethane
composition to form a belt body and impregnates said fabric and at least a
portion of said tensile cord.
19. The method of claim 17 wherein said film and fabric are laminated together
before said applying to the belt mold.