# US 12,181,044 B2 · Optimizing belt and wheel systems

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- Number: US 12,181,044 B2
- Document ID: US12181044B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/960,062
- Filed: 2022-10-04
- Published: 2023-11-09
- Granted: 2024-12-31
- Earliest claimed: 2022-05-06
- Assignees: The Gates Corporation
- Applicants: Gates Corporation
- Inventors: Thomas S. Moss, III; Leslee W. Brown; Jennifer E. Pease; Walt Lifsey; Kyle Spring
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12181044B2

## CPC

- F16G 1/10: with textile reinforcement
- F16H 7/023: {with belts having a toothed contact surface or regularly spaced bosses or hollows for slipless or nearly slipless meshing with complementary profiled contact surface of a pulley}
- F16G 1/28: with a contact surface of special shape, e.g. toothed
- F16H 55/171: {Toothed belt pulleys}
- B65G 15/42: having ribs, ridges, or other surface projections
- B65G 23/06: with projections engaging abutments on belts or chains, e.g. sprocket wheels
- F16G: BELTS, CABLES, OR ROPES, PREDOMINANTLY USED FOR DRIVING PURPOSES; CHAINS; FITTINGS PREDOMINANTLY USED THEREFOR
- F16H: GEARING
- B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D)

## Abstract

Belt systems, such as toothed systems, having a belt and a wheel (e.g., a pulley, gear, sprocket, etc.) that have the fit of the wheel optimized for the fit of the belt, and vice versa. The systems utilize combined techniques and materials to create a belt and wheel interface that improves and even maximizes performance by increasing the efficient transfer of power between belt and wheel, and by distributing the forces across multiple teeth of the wheel. A coating on the wheel can be used to modify the pitch of the wheel.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A belt system comprising:
a flexible, endless, toothed belt having a belt pitch, a belt pitch line and a belt pitch line diametrical difference (belt PLDD);
a toothed driver wheel having a driver wheel pitch at the belt pitch line dependent on an outer diameter of the toothed driver wheel; and
a toothed driven wheel having a driven wheel pitch at the belt pitch line dependent on an outer diameter of the toothed driven wheel;
wherein the driver wheel pitch is within 5% of, but not equal to, the belt pitch at the belt pitch line; and
wherein the driven wheel pitch is within 5% of the belt pitch at the belt pitch line and is not equal to the driver wheel pitch.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The belt system of claim 1, wherein, upon meshing teeth of the toothed belt with teeth of the toothed driver wheel and teeth of the toothed driven wheel, a load between the toothed belt and the toothed driver wheel is equally distributed across the teeth of the toothed belt that are meshed with the teeth of the toothed driver wheel, and a load between the toothed belt and the toothed driven wheel is equally distributed across the teeth of the toothed belt that are meshed with the teeth of the toothed driven wheel.

### Claim 3

A method of optimizing a belt system having a toothed belt and a toothed wheel, the method comprising:
determining a pitch of the toothed belt;
determining a desired pitch of the toothed wheel, the difference between the pitch of the toothed belt and the desired pitch of the toothed wheel defining a desired fit between the toothed belt and the toothed wheel; and
modifying an outer diameter of the toothed wheel to obtain the desired fit between the toothed belt and the toothed wheel;
wherein modifying the outer diameter of the toothed wheel comprises increasing the outer diameter of the toothed wheel by applying a coating to the toothed wheel having a thickness of at least 10 micrometers.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the outer diameter of the toothed wheel comprises modifying surface properties of the toothed wheel at the outer diameter.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein determining the desired fit of the toothed belt comprises determining a belt pitch line location.

### Claim 6

A method of optimizing a belt system having a toothed belt and a toothed wheel, the method comprising:
determining a pitch of the toothed belt;
determining a desired pitch of the toothed wheel, the difference between the pitch of the toothed belt and the desired pitch of the toothed wheel defining a desired fit between the toothed belt and the toothed wheel; and
modifying an outer diameter of the toothed wheel to obtain the desired fit between the toothed belt and the toothed wheel;
wherein the determining the desired pitch of the toothed wheel comprises: using computational or experimental means to determine the pitch of the toothed wheel that minimizes maximum tooth loads on any tooth of the toothed belt in mesh on the toothed wheel and minimizes or eliminates negative tooth loads on any tooth of the toothed belt in mesh on the toothed wheel.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6 wherein the belt system comprises one or more additional toothed wheels, and the method of claim 6 is applied to one or more of said additional toothed wheels.