Author: Audrey LaValley

Design engineers are often tasked with reducing manufacturing costs, whether by finding more cost-effective materials, designing products that are easier and cheaper to manufacture, or streamlining production processes. But while reducing operational costs is important, there is also an emphasis on maintaining high quality and reliability standards. Your goal is to optimize costs without sacrificing product integrity or performance.

Our PureSteel® metal conveyor belts offer several advantages that reduce operational costs—including reduced downtime and improved efficiency—without compromising quality, consistency or reliability.

Reduced Downtime

It’s pretty obvious that downtime costs money, so avoiding shutdowns is a huge priority on production lines. Here’s where metal conveyor belts really shine.

Durability and Longevity

PureSteel® metal conveyor belts are highly durable and resistant to wear, corrosion and temperature extremes. Because they can withstand high temperatures and exposure to chemicals without degrading, metal belts are ideal for industries such as food processing, pharmaceutical production and chemical manufacturing, where heat and chemical exposure are common. In addition, one of the many advantages of steel belts is the ability to laser cut directly on the belt.

These characteristics increase the longevity of the belts, reducing the need for frequent replacements and maintenance, minimizing production downtime and lowering overall costs.

Sanitation and Cleanliness

Metal conveyor belts are also easier to clean and sanitize, further reducing downtime. In addition, they don’t harbor bacteria or mold, which helps maintain high hygiene standards and reduces the risk of contamination, leading to fewer product recalls and associated costs.

Reduced Maintenance Costs

Due to their durability and resistance to damage, metal conveyor belts typically require less maintenance than belts made of other materials. In addition to reducing downtime, this also reduces labor and material costs associated with repairs and maintenance.

Improved Efficiency

Reducing downtime is only part of the equation for reducing operational costs. Another key factor is increasing efficiency, something metal belts can also help achieve.

Strength and Load Capacity

Metal belts can carry heavier loads compared to other materials, such as plastic or rubber. This allows for the transport of bulky or heavy items without the risk of belt failure, improving efficiency in handling and reducing the need for multiple conveyance systems.

Energy Efficiency

Metal belts have a high strength-to-weight ratio resulting in lower system inertia, which leads to reduced energy consumption, lower energy costs and a smaller carbon footprint. (As a bonus, metal belts are often recyclable, further contributing to sustainability goals!)

Precision and Control

Metal belts provide precise and consistent movement, which is essential for processes requiring high accuracy, such as in the assembly of electronic components or precision parts. This accuracy helps in maintaining product quality and reducing waste.

Flexibility and Customization

Metal belts can be designed and manufactured to meet specific needs, including different belt widths, lengths and patterns. This customization allows you to optimize the conveyor system for your specific production processes, enhancing efficiency.

But Wait, There’s More

Metal conveyor belts can be used in a wide range of applications, from food processing to automotive manufacturing. This versatility allows you to standardize your conveyor systems across different production lines, reducing the need for multiple types of equipment.

At the end of the day, the advantages of PureSteel® metal conveyor belts really add up, reducing operational costs without compromising product integrity, consistency or reliability. Let’s talk about how our conveyor solutions can help take your production to the next level.

Within the next 5 to 6 years, experts anticipate demand for li-ion (lithium-ion) battery production to grow by at least 27% annually, thanks in large part to exponential growth in demand for electrical vehicles (EVs).¹ Companies producing batteries are gearing up to meet that demand, examining every element of the production chain and identifying opportunities to enhance efficiencies. Precision, reliability and efficiency are paramount to producing safe, durable high-performance batteries—attributes our PureSteel® belts are designed to offer.

Rising to the Challenges of EV Battery Production

There are a number of challenges inherent to the production of batteries for EVs, which PureSteel® belts are designed to overcome. Here are some ways in which steel belts can help you be ready for the li-ion revolution:

Heavy Weights at High Volumes

EV battery production requires an assembly line to manage heavy, bulky materials at high volume. Steel conveyor belts provide reliable, durable support for these materials, helping to minimize breakdowns and interruptions. The strength and durability of PureSteel® belts reduces downtime and maintenance costs, ensuring a steady and reliable production flow.

Extreme Temperature

Essential to EV battery production are thermal management processes, including drying, curing and heat treatment. PureSteel® belts can withstand high temperatures and temperature fluctuations without deforming or losing integrity, ensuring more consistent and predictable battery component quality and minimizing belt-distortion-related production halts and safety hazards. We offer several alloys that operate at temperatures as high as 1,200°F.

Caustic, Corrosive Chemicals

The production of li-ion batteries involves exposure to a number of corrosive chemicals. Stainless steel conveyor belts are highly resistant to chemical corrosion, standing up to caustic chemical byproducts and cleaning solutions to ensure a more reliable, longer-lasting conveyor system.

Cleanliness and Hygiene Standards

It is imperative to maintain a meticulously clean production environment to prevent any impact on safety or battery performance resulting from contamination. The lack of any hidden gaps, recesses or crevices in our PureSteel® belts makes them far easier to clean and maintain, ensuring optimum hygiene.

Static Control

EV batteries contain sensitive electronic components that can be damaged by static electricity. The surface of a belt on a conveyor is continually rubbing against the pulley, creating friction and the potential for static electricity. Metal belts prevent static buildup and discharge static electricity, preventing damage to components.

Precision and Stability Requirements

Our metal belts and conveyor systems provide smooth movement, precise motion and positional accuracy—all absolute necessities when working in extreme environments to produce complex products with small, fragile parts. Stability and reliability also ensure optimum performance of the automated systems commonly used in modern battery production.

Recently, a battery-manufacturer required a high-precision solution for moving lithium material through their proprietary laser-cutting process. To meet the challenge, our team delivered matching pairs of timing belts, each featuring 5,000 welded attachments.

The Need for Adaptability and Futureproof Technology

EV battery designs can vary significantly between manufacturers. Metal belts can be customized to accommodate the full range of sizes, weights and production processes, offering complete flexibility to adapt to a range of specifications. As the industry continues to absorb technical advances in battery production, customizable steel belts can be adapted as needed, providing long-term utility.

PureSteel® is Pure Value

When comparing conveyor belt material options, manufacturers typically compare cost versus performance, benefits and longevity. While steel conveyor belts can have higher upfront costs versus alternatives, those costs are rapidly offset by the durability, stability and lower maintenance costs associated with steel, resulting in a considerable return on investment (ROI).

Steel belts provide essential advantages that result in considerable ROI:

• Durability:

  
  

  Reduced frequency of belt replacements minimizes halts in production. Steel belts’ resistance to heat and chemical damage results in a far greater lifespan.

  
  

• Low Maintenance:

  
  

  Reduced maintenance translates directly to lower operational costs and less downtime.

  
  

• Quality Control:

  
  

  Steel belts’ precision and stability help minimize defects and ensure consistent product quality.

  
  

• Automation Compatibility:

  
  

  Seamless integration with automated systems allows for smooth and efficient scaling of production.

  
  

• Safety and Compliance:

  
  

  Metal belts’ cleanliness and chemical resistance help manufacturers meet regulatory requirements and maintain certifications.

  
  

• Environmental Considerations:

  
  

  As the focus on sustainability continues to grow, many manufactures will consider the impact on the environment of production and disposal of conveyor belts. Metal belts require far less frequent replacement and are fully recyclable.

  
  

• Supplier Reliability:

  
  

  Belt Technologies is well established in the industry, with a proven track record of reliability and superior customer support. We offer the level of after-sales service, technical support and spare parts availability sought after by manufacturers across industries.

  
  

Stainless Steel Belts: The Future of Li-ion Battery Production

The future is powered by li-ion batteries, placing battery production at the front of the pack in growth industries. Battery manufacturers are in a position to prepare themselves for unprecedented growth and resulting rapid progression in production technologies.

Choosing steel belts for battery manufacture systems places your organization at an advantage, not only for immediate improvements in consistency and quality of product, but also for scalability and flexibility in adapting to advances and improvements in production capabilities

Are you a battery manufacturer interested in learning more about the benefit of PureSteel® belts? Reach out to us to discuss your project today!

Addressing a Common Engineering Challenge

The heavier the load it carries, the thicker the drive tape must be. At least that’s the traditional rule. So, what’s to be done when you require drive tapes with smooth, zero-backlash movement that can manage heavy workloads while operating within a very narrow space? You make them thinner, then you stack them up!

That’s exactly the kind of situation our Multi-Layered Drive Tapes are designed to address. Two to seven tapes, ranging in thickness from 0.003 to 0.005 inches, provide the strength of the combined cross sectional area of all the layers. With the strength of a thicker tape and the greater flexibility of a thinner one, the multi-layered tape sees only the bending stresses attributable to each individual layer, allowing for greater durability and reliability while operating with a reduced pulley diameter.  Properly achieving this effect requires a high level of precision in cutting and welding the individual bands together along with any attachment.

The Ideal Choice for Robotics

Our Multi-Layered Drive Tapes serve a wide range of industries and applications. Steel is the preferred material for timing belts and drive tapes in robotics, providing precision and withstanding long-term repetitive operations with minimal wear and tear. Their resistance to microbes and easy-cleaning surfaces are especially desirable in medical, pharmaceutical, scientific, specialty food packaging and other cleanroom applications. The extremely high modulus of elasticity, or stiffness, of steel means that it is highly resistant to the backlash effect.

When used to actuate a robotic arm, two steel belts can operate in tandem, with one belt oriented to drive the reversing motion. Given the inelasticity of the steel belt, this design can manage rapid acceleration and reversing without inducing a backlash and adds stiffness to the designer’s mechanism.

We were approached by a medical equipment manufacturer based in India looking for technology that could assist them in creating a lower-cost surgical robotic system with the goal of providing increased access to surgery and health care for people all over the world—especially underserved communities.

The system’s robotic arms needed to operate in conjunction with one another in a very confined space while holding small instruments. For this reason, the pulleys included in the system had to be as small as possible and provide entirely jerk-free, zero-backlash motion for delicate surgery.

The biggest constraint our engineers encountered for this system was the need to decrease the size of the pulleys while maintaining the relative strength of a thicker metal drive tape. We incorporated a multilayered belt configuration of two PureSteel® drive tapes, each with six layers of 0.127 mm thick stainless steel, stacked on top of one another and precision welded to form one uniform body. This allowed for reduced pulley diameter while also allowing the system to carry heavy working loads.

The pulleys are designed to only rotate 180 degrees, which means there is zero risk for quick, jerky motions. The two drive tapes work in tandem, with one propelling forward and the other driving the reverse motion.

You can find even more details on this project in our online case study.

Solving Challenges Across Industries

The utility of Muti-level Drive Tapes is not limited to robotics alone. Customers have applied them for solutions to a variety of challenges in industries including:

• Industrial automation
• Medical and surgical applications
• Packaging
• Pharmaceutical production
• Semiconductor and electronics production
• Animatronics for the entertainment industry

Could Multi-level Drive Tapes be the solution to your engineering challenge? Reach out to us today and we will be happy to answer all your questions.

We’re often busy extolling the many benefits of metal belts. If you are familiar with Belt Technologies, you probably already know that metal belts are:

• Precisely constructed
• Accurate and repeatable
• Durable
• Tough, with a high strength-to-weight ratio
• Clean
• Cleanroom compatible
• Non-stretchable
• Zero backlash
• Optimal for smooth operation Good thermal and electrical conductors
• Antistatic

But it’s Earth Month, which means one question is top of mind: are PureSteel® belts environmentally friendly? In this age of increased environmental awareness and corporate sustainability initiatives, manufacturers are increasingly looking to incorporate ecologically conscious materials into their production processes. The good news is our PureSteel® metal belts provide environmentally friendly, sustainable options that outperform alternative materials. That’s what we consider a win-win!

Durability for a Longer Lifespan

Waste disposal has a direct impact on the health of our planet, which is why the durability of PureSteel® belts gives them a distinct ecological advantage. They can withstand temperature extremes, vacuum conditions and hostile, caustic environments.

Unlike polyester, nylon or cotton belts with rubber or plastic covers, steel belts are not susceptible to long-term wear and tear like stretching or warping. Thanks to their extended lifespan, our steel belts require less frequent replacement, contributing to a significant reduction in waste over time.

Recyclability: Steel Belts Close the Loop

Once they do finally reach the end of their lifespan, our PureSteel® belts are easily recyclable, further reducing waste in landfills, and promote a circular economy as they are transformed into new products.

Low Friction Saves Energy

PureSteel® provides low friction operation that requires less energy to run smoothly and efficiently. Over its lifetime, a PureSteel® belt can help a manufacturer realize significant reduction in energy consumption. That’s good for both the planet and the bottom line!

PureSteel® Stands Up to the Heat

Our steel belts can withstand extreme temperatures without deformation or degradation. This makes them ideal for conveying hot materials, which is why you’ll find them used in foundries, glass manufacturing and food processing applications. This attribute reduces the need for energy-intensive cooling systems, contributing further toward efficiency and sustainability.

Many of the attributes of PureSteel® belts that make them ideal in terms of reliability, precision and efficiency also contribute to making them the ecologically responsible choice. As always, we welcome you to reach out to us for questions about how Belt Technologies can help you meet your production challenges and sustainability goals.

Please contact us and we will be happy to help!

Integrating PureSteel® stainless steel belts into your industrial automation applications will optimize productivity and operational efficiency while lowering your operating costs. The durability, resilience, accuracy and reliability of PureSteel® belts make them a proven game-changer across a wide range of industries, from assembly and packaging to printing, plating and more!

Why Steel?

Welcome to industrial automation, optimized. Let us count the ways in which stainless steel is superior to traditional belt and chain materials. The list is long, including but not limited to:

• Durability Steel belts are able to withstand sustained exposure to extreme temperatures and hostile environments, including vacuums.

• High Strength-to-Weight Ratio An advantage in nearly every application!

• Lower Maintenance, Higher Reliability A steel belt is a single element, meaning it does not generate any component friction requiring lubrication. This improves reliability while reducing system maintenance demands.

• Cleanliness Unlike HTD or flat neoprene belts, metal belts do not generate particulate, making them ideal for food and pharmaceutical processing.

• Accuracy and Repeatability All our PureSteel® metal timing belts can be fabricated with a pitch accuracy of ±0.0005 inches station-to-station—an asset in designing indexing, positioning or processing equipment.

• No Static Buildup Our metal belts discharge static electricity, making them ideal for the manufacture of electronic components like integrated circuits and surface-mount devices.

• Non-stretchable Spring steels with a high modulus of elasticity make our metal belts virtually non-stretchable—ideal in high-performance applications for precision positioning.

• Cleanroom Compatible No lubricants required and no dust generation make our belts the perfect choice for clean room environments. Plus, they can be sterilized in an autoclave!
• Smooth Operation PureSteel® metal belts are free from the pulsation of chordal action and backlash often seen in other belt types and chains, resulting in precise translation of the control system motion profile.

Where It Works

Let’s examine some of the many diverse industries and applications that can benefit from our PureSteel® stainless steel metal belts.

3D printers

To construct complex parts quickly and cost effectively, many manufacturers elect to use 3D printers. PureSteel® endless belts and drive tapes improve printing quality and accuracy during production. As such, our experts are often called upon by 3D printer OEMs to develop and fabricate parts that aid in the 3D printing process.

Medical applications

A PureSteel® solid, stainless steel conveyor belt with a protective chromium oxide surface layer is the most ideal, long-lasting and sanitary surface for transporting medical equipment. Stainless steel has a smooth, impermeable surface that offers no opportunity for the invasion of microbes or bacteria. It also has a high resistance to corrosion, which allows our steel belts to be rigorously sanitized by high-pressure steam, high-pressure wash or chemical cleaning.

Automated assembly

Successful automated production requires reliable and accurate positioning, timing and fixturing. We have the tools to contribute to your success, producing an array of stainless steel conveyor belts, timing belts and drive tapes for a wide range of automated assembly equipment. Our engineers can deliver automation solutions to improve processes and production quality across the gamut of production industries.

Electronics manufacturing

Electronics manufacturing makes very specific demands of the materials used in production. PureSteel® belts including timing belts, tape casting belts and metal drive tapes deliver repeatable accuracy due to their optimal positioning, handling and smooth movement. This ensures efficient product throughput on the device without requiring significant downtime for maintenance and cleaning. Our belts are not susceptible to oxidation reactions and will not generate static electricity.

Semiconductor wafer fabrication

Smartphones. Smart cars. Smart homes. Microchips are everywhere, and manufacturing these complex devices requires sophisticated fabrication equipment and repetitive, complex processes. Advanced production of the silicon wafers that form microchips, also known as integrated circuits, requires the level of precise, repeatable accuracy delivered by our stainless steel belts, timing belts and drive tapes. Furthermore, our drive tapes do not outgas or generate particulates, making them ideal for the vacuum-sealed cleanroom environment in which the silicon wafers are manufactured.

Specialty packaging

Whether your packaging equipment is intended for the food processing industry, medical manufacturing applications or cosmetics manufacturing, maintaining health and safety standards is paramount. Our PureSteel^® stainless steel belts provide a clean, safe and sanitary surface for all forms of specialty packaging applications and can easily be configured for efficient clean-in-place methods including chemical sprays, hot pressure washing or steam pressure.

Heat sealing

Our PureSteel® stainless steel heat sealing bands are ideal for mid- to high-volume production. They are resistant to impact and corrosion damage, perform well in high temperatures without warping, do not require lubrication, do not generate particulates and do not build up static electricity. Optional Teflon™ coating can further enhance the release properties and durability of heat sealing bands.

Casting/pasting/sintering

Stainless steel conveyor belts give the machine designer a consistent flat surface to perform casting, pasting and sintering operations. Our belts are the preferred choice to support manufacturing processes across an array of industries due to their resilience, thermal conductivity, clean and durable operation and smooth motion control.

Linear motion drives

Our PureSteel® stainless steel drive tapes significantly eliminate chordal vibration, motion loss and backlash that often result in inaccurate positioning. Because they are virtually non-stretchable and have a high strength-to-weight ratio, metal drive tapes provide the same precise positioning for their full operating lifespan.

Printing

PureSteel^® stainless steel vacuum conveyor belt systems provide ultra-accurate part positioning, making them a superior conveying method for the printing industry. These belts offer flat, precise movement in all environments, assisting vacuum conveying of media in printing, cutting and substrate built-up. Our belts’ versatility and material benefits make them a superior choice for a variety of printing applications, assisting in achieving precise indexing, preventing paper jams, aiding in high-speed continuous commercial printing and ensuring smooth, reliable motion.

Plating

Before the plating process, the product must be prepared to ensure proper adhesion of the plating material to the surface. This preparation can include physically or chemically stripping the product of any other coatings, paint, rust or corrosion. Our belts are highly resistant to impact and chemical corrosion, with the ability to withstand aggressive chemicals and high-pressure washing.

Customized to Fit Your Needs

Whether you need a belt to operate in extreme temperatures, need a solution appropriate for a cleanroom, require a zero-backlash solution to drive robotics or require an antistatic medium, we have you covered.

Our team is happy to work with you to engineer an application-specific design that is easy to install and maintain. Call or request a quote online to get started.