A tubular belt conveyor system includes a conveyor belt having a cross-sectionally closed, curvilinear, tubular configuration including a zone of overlapping edge portions. A plurality of support and guide assemblies for the conveyor are situated along the conveyor path. Each assembly includes a plurality of support and guide rollers held about the cross-sectionally closed conveyor belt in a contacting relationship therewith. In each assembly one roller is in engagement with the cross-sectionally closed conveyor belt at the edge overlap. The closed tubular configuration in each length portion of the conveying path has an oval cross section. The support and guide rollers force the conveyor belt into the closed tubular configuration of oval cross section. The first support and guide roller of each assembly is settable onto the zone of overlapping edge portions.

There are some advantages and disadvantages for the tubular pipe belt conveyors, SKE team will show you more as below:

Advantages:

1) The conveyor belt selected for tubular pipe belt conveyor is similar to the general conveyor belt, so it is suitable for the user's habits and is easy to be accepted by the user. The conveyor belt selected for other types of enclosed conveyor belt conveyors is not the same as the general belt type, which has big difference. 

2) It can prevent external debris from being mixed into the transported materials, and can also prevent the materials from being exposed to rain or sun.  It can complete the carrying section and the return section completely closed and transported. In principle, it can avoid material leakage and spilling, which can meet environmental protection requirement.

    3) It can complete flexible layout planning, can complete small-radius three-dimensional space turning, avoid the establishment of intermediate transfer stations and the capital and maintenance costs of corresponding auxiliary equipment!  Especially suitable for transportation lines in a small space or a messy environment such as obstacles Construction shortens the transportation interval and reduces the total cost of the project.

   4) It can complete transportation at a large inclination angle. Generally, trough-angle belt conveyors can only increase the viewpoint to about 18° at most. However, because the conveying belt encloses the materials in the tube, the pipe belt conveyor increases  the friction between the material and conveying belt, and the transportation viewpoint can be further improved. The round tube belt conveyor that has been put into normal use can reach a maximum of 30° inclined transportation, and there is also a proposal to choose a round tube belt conveyor for vertical elevation. 

5) It can easily complete the two-way material transportation, because the tubular tube belt conveyor uses closed tubes for transportation in the load-bearing section and the return section. If the feeding point is installed in the return section, the return section can still transport materials, and the intermediate feeding can be completed by opening and closing the conveyor belt at any point

6) The width of the frame is small, and the tubular pipe belt conveyor uses a circular cross-section to transport materials, and obtains the same effective transport area with a lower bandwidth. According to statistics, in the case of the same transportation section, the use of tube pipe belt conveyors can be reduced by 1/3 of the original in the width direction, and then reduce the space requirement during civil construction, reduce the consumption of structural materials such as steel, and reduce related costs and Working hours.

 Disadvantages

 1) The raw materials and production requirements are relatively high. Although the conveyor belt selected for the tubular pipe belt conveyor is still a flat conveyor belt, it is necessary to guide the conveyor belt into a round tube shape and require sealing at the same time, so the margin of the conveyor belt is different from the general belt conveyor . In order to guide the conveyor belt into a circular tube shape and maintain the circular tube shape during the operation of the conveyor, the rigidity requirements of the conveyor belt are also different, which requires special consideration in planning and production.

 2) Because the material is enclosed in the tube during the operation of the conveyor, the squeezing force between the material and the conveyor belt is increased, so the operating resistance coefficient of the conveyor is larger than the general belt conveyor.

3) Compared with general belt conveyors, the conveying volume is small under the same belt speed and bandwidth. For example, when the bandwidth is 1000mm, the maximum cross-sectional area of the material of the universal belt conveyor is 0.0944m2. The idler groove angle is 35° and the accumulation angle is 10°, while the material cross-sectional area of the tube belt conveyor is only 0.0409m2.

4) Design calculations are troublesome. Because the structure of the tube belt conveyor is more messy than the general belt conveyor, its planning and accounting are more messy. In particular, it should be pointed out that the running resistance of the tube belt conveyor increases with the increase of the running speed, and it is difficult to select the running resistance coefficient in the practical planning.

5) From the structural point of view, the "tubular pipe belt conveyor will not cause the belt deviation problem like the general belt conveyor, but there is a problem of changing the conveyor belt. In severe cases, the edge of the conveyor belt will enter the two idlers. In the gap, causing damage to the conveyor belt.