Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) Idler rollers for conveyor belt

Introduction of the product

Jinan Somba Trading Co.,Ltd is a professional manufacturer and supplier of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) Idler rollers.

The company has developed a new generation of high-performance, cost-effective idler rollers, consisting of a roller skin, a sealing assembly, and a shaft.

The core of this product is its unique sealing technology, which effectively prevents contamination between the bearing and the external contact.

The roller skin is made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) material, offering advantages such as lightweight, wear resistance, non-adhesion to materials, a low coefficient of friction, and self-slip properties. UHMWPE idler rollers can extend equipment lifespan, save energy, and effectively improve the working environment. They are widely applicable to open-air environments with high dust and corrosiveness, such as mining, metallurgy, power generation, cement, coal, chemical, and port industries. They are an ideal replacement for steel idler rollers used in belt conveyor machinery.

UHMWPE Idler Roller Relevant Standards and Parameters

The pipe body uses ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) manufactured by Jinan Somba Trading Co., Ltd.

Pipe body material:

UHMWPE, currently the engineering plastic with the best comprehensive performance in terms of wear resistance and other properties, with a molecular weight of approximately 2.7 to 4.5 million. It is lightweight and possesses excellent wear resistance, self-lubricating properties, impact resistance, corrosion resistance, etc.

The pipe body is produced using vacuum sizing and drawing equipment, with a cross-sectional roundness ≤0.5mm, wall thickness error ≤0.5mm, and straightness ≤0.5mm. The pipe surface has a uniform color, smoothness, and gloss.

The bearing housing and bearing end caps are made of one-piece injection-molded non-metallic material.

The bearings are KA roller-specific bearings manufactured by Harbin Bearing Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

The roller shaft is made of 0235-A cold-drawn round steel.

The seal employs a special labyrinth seal design, effectively protecting the bearing; one-time installation, lifetime maintenance-free.

Uses and features

The role of the roller is mainly to support the conveyor belt and the weight of the material. Roller operation must be flexible and reliable. Reducing the friction between the conveyor belt and the roller plays a key role in the life of the conveyor belt, which accounts for more than 25% of the total cost of the conveyor.

Main characteristics of idler rollers:

1. Excellent sealing performance;
2. Able to withstand certain axial loads;
3. Smooth operation without obstruction;
4. High versatility and interchangeability;
5. Lightweight and easy to replace;
6. Convenient disassembly, easy maintenance, and high reliability.

Main advantages of idler rollers are as follows:

1. Long lifespan; Over 5 times the lifespan of steel idlers.
2. Excellent cost-effectiveness; Slightly more expensive than steel idlers, but offers significant cost savings over its service life.
3. Belt protection; The high-polymer roller skin has a smooth, non-magnetic surface that does not attract iron powder, dust, or various sticky substances; it has an extremely low coefficient of friction with the belt and is self-lubricating. These advantages effectively protect the belt and extend its service life. Using the entire belt can extend its lifespan by more than 20%, resulting in significant cost savings for the user.
4. Lightweight; Only one-third the weight of steel idlers and one-fifth the weight of ceramic idlers, making installation easier and providing excellent energy savings.
5. Special labyrinth seal: design effectively protects the bearings; one-time installation, lifetime maintenance-free.
6. Noise level is only half that of steel idlers, effectively improving the working environment.
7. Resistant to various corrosive chemical media such as acids, alkalis, and salts.
8. Can operate continuously between -269℃ and +80℃
9. The overall material has excellent toughness, effectively absorbing vibration, protecting bearings, and extending service life.
10. Effectively avoids production accidents caused by belt tearing when steel idler rollers are damaged; and avoids the risk of fire caused by increased friction between steel idler rollers and the belt when steel idler rollers are not rotating.

Based on the numerous advantages of polymer idler rollers, such as long service life, excellent cost performance, belt protection, energy saving, easy replacement, and environmental protection, they can change the design of the entire conveyor machinery in terms of conveying power and will gradually replace steel and ceramic idler rollers on a large scale, making them an ideal upgrade product.

Technical parameters of UHMWPE Idler Rollers

1. Radial runout: (The value varies depending on the specification), the indicator conforms to the national standard MT821-2006.

2.Axial movement; under an axial load of 500N, the axial movement of the idler roller is ≤1.2mm.

3.Rotational resistance:

4. Service life is more than 5 times that of steel idlers.

5. The idler tube is produced by vacuum sizing and drawing equipment, with a cross-sectional roundness ≤0.5mm, wall thickness error ≤0.5mm, and straightness ≤0.5mm.

6. Impact strength 32.6kV/m. The overall material has excellent toughness, effectively absorbing vibration, protecting bearings, and extending service life.

7. The tube is anti-aging and resistant to various chemical corrosive media such as acids, alkalis, and salts. The tube hardness is approximately 95.4hr; it can operate continuously between -269℃ and +80℃.

8. Flood sealing: After the idler runs in water at 1450r/min for 24 hours, the water ingress for idlers using non-contact sealing devices must not exceed 105g.

Application Areas and Advantages

Slurry Transportation: Utilizing the advantages of UHMW-PE pipes such as wear resistance, impact resistance, self-lubrication, non-scaling, good resistance to environmental stress cracking, high internal pressure strength, and lightweight, it replaces steel pipes and expensive alloy steel pipes and stainless steel pipes for the transportation of slurry-like solid-liquid mixtures in various industries, solving the problems of pipe wear, corrosion, and scaling during the transportation process.

Fluid Transportation: Utilizing the advantages of wear resistance, impact resistance, low-temperature resistance, self-lubrication, good resistance to environmental stress cracking, high internal pressure strength, and lightweight, it can be used for fluid transportation in various industries, such as: transportation of various corrosive media in the chemical industry; crude oil and refined oil transportation in the petroleum industry; pipelines for ships and ports in coastal areas (where large amounts of halogenated air and seawater severely corrode steel pipes); and water supply and drainage in municipal engineering.

Gas Transportation: UHMW-PE pipes possess excellent impact resistance, corrosion resistance, environmental stress cracking resistance, resistance to rapid cracking, good flexibility, excellent low-temperature resistance, and resistance to freezing damage. They can also withstand a certain degree of impact and deformation without breaking under mechanical vibration, foundation settlement, or earthquakes.

Thermal Power Generation: Fly ash transportation, return water pipelines.

Oil Extraction: Long-distance transportation of crude oil and natural gas.

Coal Industry: Coal powder transportation, coal-water slurry transportation.

Mining Industry: Tailings and slurry transportation, and backfilling pipelines.

River Dredging: Transportation of dredged silt and sand.

Chemical Industry: Transportation of corrosive media.

Marine and Lake Salt Chemical Industry: Sea salt transportation, brine transportation.

Comparison with traditional metal idlers

Compared with traditional metal idlers, ultra-high molecular weight polymer double-resistance idlers have the following advantages:

1. High Precision: The tube body is made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) tubing. UHMWPE is a high-quality, high-rigidity, and high-precision material processed using advanced extrusion equipment and proprietary technology developed by our company. It boasts high coaxiality, high roundness, high straightness, and uniform wall thickness.
2. Long Service Life: Under the same conditions, its service life is more than three times that of standard metal idlers.
3. Lightweight: Weighing approximately one-third less than equivalent metal idlers, it is easy to handle and install, significantly reducing labor intensity, shortening maintenance time, and improving production efficiency.
4. Corrosion-Resistant and Wear-Resistant: The tube body and bearing housing are made of high-strength, wear-resistant, and corrosion-resistant UHMWPE engineering plastic, making it both wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant, with a wider range of applications.
5. Excellent Sealing: Utilizing a special labyrinth seal design, water and dust cannot easily penetrate, effectively protecting the bearings. One-time installation requires no maintenance for its entire lifespan.
6. Noise Reduction and Environmental Protection: Thanks to the shock-absorbing properties of thermoplastic materials, the noise level between the belt buckle and the tube in belt conveyors is approximately 15 decibels lower than that between the belt buckle and the metal tube, resulting in a more environmentally friendly working environment.
7. No Damage to the Belt: Its surface hardness is slightly higher than the belt and it is non-abrasive. Under conditions of idler roller stagnation, the tube is briefly worn away from the belt, thus protecting it.

Therefore, it has better compatibility with belts.

8. Energy Saving and Consumption Reduction: Its lightweight rotating parts require less driving force, saving tens to hundreds of thousands of kWh of electricity per kilometer of belt conveyor per year. Simultaneously, its lightweight rotating parts result in a smaller moment of inertia-half that of a standard metal idler roller reducing motor starting current, lower running resistance, and easier braking.
9. Recyclable: after rotating parts fail, the idler roller shaft can be recycled and reused several times due to the absence of weld joints, and bearings and plastic parts can be recycled into scrap steel and plastic.
10. High safety: during operation, the rollers will not generate sparks from wear against the belt buckle, nor will they generate high temperatures from friction with the belt due to deformation of the conveyor frame or other reasons that could prevent the rollers from rotating.

Combined with these advantages, using our ultra-high molecular weight polymer double-resistant rollers will significantly reduce overall costs, save energy and protect the environment, ensure equipment operational reliability, improve production safety, and align with the national circular economy policy.

Based on the long lifespan, excellent cost-effectiveness, belt protection, energy saving, easy replacement, and environmental protection advantages of polymer rollers, they can change the design of the entire conveyor machinery in terms of conveying power and will gradually replace steel and ceramic rollers on a large scale, making them an ideal upgrade product.