What is chain drive? Chain drive types and applications

Chain drives are used in several industries for several purposes such as Transportation Industry, Agricultural Machinery, Material Handling Equipment, Building Construction.

What is chain drive?

Chain drive is a method of transferring mechanical power from one place to another. Chain drives are widely used in vehicles such as bicycles and motorcycles, to transmit power to the wheels. It is also used in many other types of machinery such as industrial conveyors.

Typically, power is transmitted by a roller chain, known as a drive chain or drive chain, which is transmitted through a sprocket, with the teeth of the gear meshing with holes in the links of the chain. The gear is rotated, and this pulls the chain, which introduces mechanical force into the system.

The chain is made up of a number of rigid links that are held together by dowel joints to provide the flexibility needed to wrap the drive wheels. Chains are mainly used to transmit speed and power from one shaft to another when the center distance between their axes is short.

Chains also used in conveyors are typically block chains and consist of solid or multi-layered blocks connected by side plates and pins. The blocks engage with the teeth on the sprocket. Depending on the material being moved, buckets, hooks or other devices are connected to the blocks.

Types of chain transmission today

There are three types of chain drives in use today:

- Traction and lifting chain drive
- Conveyor chain drive
- Transmission chain drive

1 - Traction and lifting chain drive

A device for lifting or lowering a load using a drum or a forklift wheel with a rope or chain. It can be operated manually, electrically or pneumatically and can use chains, yarns or ropes as lifting means.

This type of drive is best known as the elevator, the transport of which is raised and lowered by a lifting mechanism. Most hoists are attached to their load by a lifting hook.

2 - Conveyor chain drive

Conveyor chains are a type of chain specially developed for chain conveyor systems. It consists of a series of plain bearings held together by connecting plates. Each bearing includes a pin and a bushing for the chain roller to rotate.

These chains are used to continuously lift and convey materials at speeds up to 2 m/s. There are two types of conveyor chains:

- Removable or hook-up chain: This type of chain is used in conveyors where the length between the drives is short.
- Closed-joint chain: This chain consists of a barrel and a link and is molded into a single block, then the chain is heat-treated to provide high strength.

Conveyor chains are usually made of ductile cast iron. These chains do not have a smooth running characteristic. The conveyor chain operates at a slow speed of about 0.8 to 3 m/s.

3 - Drive chain drive

The transmission chain is used to transfer mechanical energy when the distance between the shaft centers is short. These chains have provisions for effective lubrication. Transmission chains are of the following three types.

- Block chain or dust
- Dust roller chain
- Chain of silence

Advantages of chain drive

Here are some advantages of a chain drive over a belt drive:

- They can be used for both long and short distances
- Several shafts and driven from a single chain
- They are compact and have a small overall size
- Even in the fire hazard, it does not face any bad problem.
- Temperature and environmental conditions do not affect their operation
- Initial tension is not required in the chain drive.
- They are very efficient (up to 96%)
- No slip and creep during power transmission, ensuring a perfect speed ratio.
- Chain drive for easy installation.
- Low-maintenance chain drive
- They can withstand abrasive conditions
- They can work in wet conditions

Disadvantages of chain drive

- Chain drive systems cannot be used where slip is required by the system
- It requires precise alignment with respect to belt drive
- The output of the chain drive is higher than that of the belt drive.
- Chain drives require regular lubrication
- Less load capacity than gear drive
- Conventional chain drives vibrate due to the bowstring effect.
- They are not suitable for non-parallel axes
- They cannot be used where precise movement is required
- Chain drives need to be installed correctly and carefully.
- They require slack adjustments like tensioners

Application of chain drive

Chain drives are used in many types of industrial applications, such as:

- Equipment widely used for power transmission where the shafts are separated at a distance greater than the distance where the gears are used in practice.
- Making truss and moving heavy materials
- Operation of hydraulic forklift
- Increase or decrease the driver output speed by changing the gear ratio between the driver and the driven sprocket
- Overhead hoist
- Conveyor operation
- Chain drives are used in several industries for several purposes such as Transportation Industry, Agricultural Machinery, Material Handling Equipment, Building Construction.

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