Flexible Drive Belt Pocket for Protected Electronics Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drive belts in capital-intensive agricultural machines and industrial plants face damage and costly downtimes due to the limitations of conventional electronics integration methods, such as vulcanization, which can damage components and disrupt the belt structure, and the challenge of precise localization during separation.
Innovation Solution
A flexible drive belt with a pocket attached to its radial outside for housing electronics, allowing for post-manufacturing installation and avoiding the need for vulcanization, ensuring precise placement and maintaining mechanical integrity, with electronics connected via adhesive, cold vulcanization, or sewing to prevent damage from operational stretching and compression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If electronics are vulcanized into the drive belt material, then the electronics are integrated into the belt structure, but the electronics are damaged due to high vulcanization temperatures and pressures
Solution Approach 1:
The belt is divided into two functional parts: the vulcanized belt body and the separately attached pocket containing electronics. This segmentation allows the electronics to avoid exposure to harmful vulcanization conditions while maintaining integration with the belt structure through the attached pocket.
Solution Approach 2:
The pocket is pre-formed and attached to the belt before the electronics are installed. This preliminary preparation creates a protected environment for the electronics that is independent of the vulcanization process, allowing the belt to be vulcanized first and the electronics to be added later in a controlled manner.
2Reliability
If a pocket is formed in the drive belt material to house electronics, then the electronics are protected, but the belt structure is damaged or inhomogeneized
Solution Approach 1:
The pocket is separated from the belt body as an independent component that is attached to the belt surface. This segmentation allows the pocket to be formed and attached without disrupting the homogeneous structure of the vulcanized belt material, maintaining structural integrity while providing protection for the electronics.
3Reliability
If electronics are vulcanized into the belt winding, then the electronics are integrated into the belt, but the electronics cannot be precisely located during separation into individual drive belts
Solution Approach 1:
The pocket is pre-attached to the belt winding with precise positioning features before the belt is vulcanized and separated. This preliminary positioning ensures that when individual belts are cut from the winding, the electronics remain accurately located on the belt surface, avoiding damage and ensuring proper function.
4Reliability
If electronics are vulcanized into the drive belt, then the electronics are integrated into the belt structure, but the electronics are damaged when belts are turned inside out after separation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of embedding the electronics within the belt structure where they are vulnerable to damage during turning and inversion operations, the electronics are placed in a pocket on the outer surface of the belt. This inverted approach protects the electronics from mechanical damage during belt handling while maintaining their functional integration with the belt.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a belt (1) made of a flexible material, on which electronics (16) are arranged, by means of which at least one state variable of the belt (1) can be measured and wirelessly transmitted to a remotely arranged receiving unit (20). For the cost-effective and reliable manufacture of such a belt, it is provided that a pocket (6) is attached to the radial outer surface (5) of the belt (1), and that the electronics (16) are arranged in a receiving space (11) of this pocket (6).