Transient Torsional Analysis of a Belt Conveyor Drive with Pneumatic Flexible Shaft Coupling

Development and application of pneumatic flexible shaft couplings have been in the center of our department research activities for a long time. These couplings are able to change torsional stiffness by changing pressure in their flexible elements – air bellows. Until now we have dealt with the use of pneumatic flexible shaft couplings for tuning mechanical systems working with periodically alternating load torque at steady state. Some mechanical systems, however, operate with a static load torque at constant speed (e.g. hoists, elevators, etc.), where it is necessary to consider the suitability of shaft coupling in terms of load torque at transient conditions (run-up and braking). Therefore we decided to analyze the use of pneumatic flexible shaft couplings also in this type of mechanical systems on an example of conveyor belt drive.