Chain drives can often let food and beverage manufacturing operation down. They require more time to lubricate and maintain, and they may fail only a few months into their lifetime, requiring expensive replacement. Downtime costs businesses in lost productivity and earnings yet they continue, claiming “That’s how we’ve always done it.”
A Better Alternative
Building on decades of experience in creating optimum solutions for belt drives in both automotive and industrial applications, Gates PolyChain GT Carbon belts are well equipped to handle the demands of any manufacturing environment. PolyChain GT Carbon is Gates’ most powerful synchronous belt and is specifically designed for optimum performance on the sort of high torque, low speed drives often seen in industrial applications.
An excellent alternative to chain drives, PolyChain offers many benefits to your business.
The benefits of PolyChain begin with the belt’s innovative, state-of-the-art construction. The body and teeth of PolyChain GT Carbon are constructed of a lightweight polyurethane compound that is specially blended to adhere to the cords and fabric. Carbon fibre tensile cords provide extraordinary power carrying capacity as well as exceptional flex fatigue life. Combined, these factors mean PolyChain GT Carbon has the strength to withstand shocks and surge loading and is virtually immune to abrasions. Being much lighter than steel chain, PolyChain GT Carbon also reduces overhung loads.
Additionally, PolyChain GT Carbon has power ratings up to 30 per cent higher than previous incarnations of PolyChain – and yet, it has a multi-year service life, up to three times longer than chains. Similarly, pulley life for PolyChain is up to ten times longer than roller chain sprockets.
Maintaining chains – lubricating, re-tensioning, removing links – takes up a lot of time. Imagine how much more efficiently businesses would run if they didn’t have to dedicate valuable production time to these tasks. PolyChain GT Carbon belts are completely maintenance free. They do not require messy lubrication or oil baths (a hazard for any food handling environment), or re-tensioning every few months. They will not stretch during service. That means less downtime spent maintaining drives, and more uptime getting on with the job. It offers 400 per cent greater capacity than HTD belts, 5 per cent energy savings over V-belts, and 99 per cent efficiency for the life of the drive.
PolyChain GT Carbon is inert to most acids, chemicals and water, making it an ideal solution for wet environments – unlike roller chains, which can rust, potentially contaminating food-handling spaces.
Poly Chain GT Carbon belts operate on Poly Chain GT pulleys and do not require any adaptation of existing GT2 applications.
The Specifications
PolyChain GT Carbon comes in a range of lengths, including short and extended, to suit a variety of manufacturing purposes.
Short length versions of the belt are suitable for industrial markets requiring a short centre distance but high-density power and offer all the benefits listed above. They are suitable for temperatures from -54°C to + 85°C and are available in 8mm and 14mm pitch sizes.
PolyChain GT Carbon is now available in extended lengths to handle longer drive centre distances than ever before, while still delivering the same high-power capability, long life, freedom from maintenance that you’ve come to expect from the shorter lengths. PolyChain also offers a massive 96 per cent weight saving versus traditional, comparable transmission roller chains.
Available in 5M pitch shorter drives, to the more common 8M and 14M pitch, Gates now offers 19M PolyChain GT Carbon extended length. This 19M pitch belt can replace even bigger roller chains, open gears and wide multi V-belt drives. The extended length allows for custom belt lengths with any tooth count (within minimum and maximum length range), a product that is truly tailored to your needs.
All PolyChain GT Carbon belts are fully operational in temperature extremes of -54°C to +85°C and can be used for applications in general manufacturing, food and beverage, timber, agriculture, oil & gas, cement and more.
PolyChain GT Carbon is ideally suited to a range of different environments, from food production to fans and pumps. Already, plants around Australia have converted their tired, dirty old roller chains to the efficient Gates alternative and are seeing the benefits.
PolyChain GT Carbon is an excellent problem solver. It offers reduced width drive conversions for existing roller chain applications, and over 120,000 possible ratio combinations, making it easy to switch drives.
Stay ahead of the curve
In today’s fast-paced manufacturing environment, it is critical for businesses to stay ahead of the curve. By converting tired, old roller chain drives to highly efficient Gates PolyChain GT Carbon belts, they can set themselves up for future operating success. Space-saving, weight-saving, time-saving and money-saving, Poly Chain GT Carbon drives offer a long and reliable service life.