Construction and Testing of Belt Conveyor System for Auchi Polytechnic Demonstration Farm

Materials handling is a very important aspect of post-harvest operation, the socio-economic value and shelf life of crops especially perishables depends largely on how they are conveyed from one place to another, a conveyor is a mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Many kinds of conveying systems are available, and are used according to the various needs of different industries. The aim of this paper is to construct a belt conveyor machine for Auchi Polytechnic demonstration farm. This paper contains the design calculations and considerations of belt conveyor system, in terms of size, length, capacity and speed, roller diameter, power and tension, idler spacing, type of drive unit, diameter, location and arrangement of pulley, angle and axis of rotation, control mode, intended application. The completed work will help to reduce human effort and at the same time increase the productivity and accuracy levels that cannot be achieved with manual operations. Keywords: Materials handling, Post-harvest operations, Belt Conveyor, Frame, Material handling equipment, DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-18-03 Publication date:September 30th 202