Do you ever get involved in the household shopping? If so, while you're waiting to pay, you'll often be standing next to a product in which Monosuisse plays its part. The conveyor belt at the checkout would not be able to perform its function without the transverse stability that is ensured by a monofilament yarn.
Transport or conveyor belts are the obvious solution whenever goods and products have to travel along a defined and constant path from A to B. Different solutions are available depending on the weight and size of the items to be transported and the distance to be travelled. Long distances and heavy weights for transportation (in sectors such as the mining industry) require suitably rugged conveyor belt designs. Heavy rubber structures with multiple reinforcements are often used for these applications.
Lightweight conveyor belts, as they are known, are more suitable for shorter distances and goods that weigh less. This design basically consists of one or more layers of fabric, generally coated with TPU or PVC. Considerable potential for saving energy can be exploited by making the structural design as lightweight as possible. The conveyor belts are tensioned over a roller arrangement in the direction of travel. This creates forces that the reinforcement fabrics have to absorb, so they must remain very dimensionally stable. Lighter belt structures make it more likely that undulations will form in the transverse direction. This is where monofilament yarns from Monosuisse play their part. Polyester yarns with the highest possible rigidity are used to reinforce the conveyor belts transversely to the transportation direction. The stiffening effect they achieve depends on the diameter of the monofilament and the number of threads per centimeter.
Demanding requirements for monofilament yarns
The coating is applied to the conveyor belts with the help of the squeegee or hot-melt calendaring process. In extreme cases, the calendars can be more than five meters wide; they join the different fabrics and coating components together in several work steps carried out under heat. This means that our monofilament yarns have to meet very demanding requirements, especially as regards the uniformity of the thermoshrinkage and the appropriate shrinkage force. It is important to assist adhesion between the fabrics and the coatings, but also to ensure good processability in the weaving plant: to achieve these objectives, the use of a special spinning preparation is a factor that requires additional attention.
Our Monosuisse special yarns are constantly "on the move" in countless applications – examples include processing conveyors in the manufacturing industry (for food, pharmaceuticals and industrial component production), logistics solutions (to sort mail, printed materials or luggage), and conveying solutions for piece goods and bulk goods.
Talking of being on the move: when was the last time you kept yourself in shape on the treadmill in the fitness center – with Monosuisse yarns under your feet?
