Bearing, Traction or Drive Element Made of an Elastomer Material Having Embedded Electronic Components

A band designed running around rollers or pulleys and made of an elastomer material, the band comprising:

• embedded reinforcing elements or tension members extending in a longitudinal direction;
• one or more elongate tubular receptacles embedded in the elastomer material, the one or more elongate tubular receptacles having a plurality of electronic components;
• and
• wherein the tubular receptacles have a longitudinal axis oriented substantially transversely to a bending direction of the band.

A method for producing a drive belt, the method comprising:

• build up an elastomer top ply in one or more layers on a belt building drum to build a drive belt blank;
• winding one or more strengthening members on the elastomer top ply;
• applying a fabric ply over the one or more strengthening members;
• inserting the drive belt blank having the applied fabric ply into a vulcanization mold, where the vulcanization mold has a slightly greater diameter than the drive belt blank;
• introducing tubular hollow bodies between layers of the drive belt blank after inserting into the vulcanization mold;
• and
• heating the drive belt blank from an inside to an outside and compressing the drive belt blank to generate a vulcanized drive belt having tubular receptacles associated with the tubular hollow bodies.