Conveyor Capacity Calculator
Volume and mass flow on a troughed belt, from width, speed and material
Inputs
Mass flow
2,223t/h
At 90% fill factor
Volume flow
1,389m³/h
Cross-sectional area
0.1715m²
Usable belt width 1030mm
Load per metre
247.0kg/m
Material carried per metre of belt, useful for a first look at tension and idler loading.
How it's calculated
Belt and material
Width, trough, surcharge
Cross-sectional area
Trough + surcharge cap
Capacity
3600 × A × v × ρ
Mass flow = 3600 × A × v × ρ, where A is the cross-sectional area of material on the belt in m², v is belt speed in m/s and ρ is bulk density in t/m³.
Cross-sectional area is the troughed trapezoid plus the surcharge cap above it. Usable width is taken as 0.9B − 0.05 m for belts up to 2m, which leaves the standard edge margin. The trough area uses three equal idler segments, and the surcharge is treated as a proper circular segment rather than a triangle, which a triangular approximation overstates by roughly half.
The fill factor then discounts the theoretical figure for uneven loading, surge and feed variation.
This is a concept sizing estimate. Detailed design accounts for incline, idler geometry, material lump size, tension, drive power and takeup, and is normally done against CEMA or ISO 5048 or your own engineering standards.
Why it matters
Conveyor capacity is where a lot of bulk handling problems start. Size a belt on optimistic assumptions and every downstream chute, crusher and stockpile inherits the error. Size it on the design point alone and it will struggle the first time the material comes through wetter, finer or faster than the specification said it would.
The two inputs that catch people out are bulk density and surcharge angle. Density is often quoted as solid density rather than loose bulk density, which overstates tonnes on the belt. Surcharge angle is material behaviour, not a constant, and it drops as material gets wetter or is loaded off-centre. Running the numbers across the real range, rather than at one design point, tells you whether the belt has genuine headroom or only has it on paper.
Related reading
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