Such a belt in a car

A belt transmits power between two axes, as he is excited about the pulleys. So it transmits the rotation of the drive shaft to the output shaft.
The belt-drive principle is very old, so special is its V-wedge-shaped (trapezoid-shaped) design. This causes a much higher friction between the belt and pulley as a flat belt.
The belt also has a lower slip (slip is not as strong) and thus can transmit a higher torque. In the motor vehicle to be driven by the alternator belt, fan and other auxiliary units.Material and production of the V-belt
The belts used in vehicles made of rubber, is placed in the textile and metal, usually steel. They are manufactured as endless belts and cut only when installed in the vehicle to the appropriate length and welded at the ends.
V-belt in a motor
Over time, stretch belts inevitably some and then have to be changed. In previous years, the automobile was the sudden crack of a belt is a feared breakdown, the East German Trabant that damage was legendary.
The owners often had a spare belt here, folklore also tells of how broken fan belt, which prevented the only air-cooled satellites further travel, have been replaced with a nylon stocking of the passenger.
Modern V-belts are manufactured in four main types of classical design with the coated layer of fabric in a variety of profiles, the narrow belt, the raw edge V-belts with improved wear characteristics and the Timed V-belt, which is increasingly being used.
The latter has on the inside of teeth and therefore a further reduction in slip. This idea is not new, but the production is only in recent years by inexpensive technologies possible. The terms of this belt extended, it will transfer more power and less

Automotive Use

Be driven almost all sub-components, depending on the vehicle varies with V-belt. These include

     * The alternator, which supplies the engine with the start of the required on-board electrical power
     * The fan for air cooling
     * The water pump for water cooling
     * The hydraulic pump for the hydraulic oil to power steering
     * The compressor for the air conditioning refrigerant

Sometimes these units are arranged on a shaft, so suffice it one or a few belts in the car to power them.

It is crucial that they have to run with the start of the engine.

Without the alternator, there would be no continuous ignition, the light and other electric consumers would fail without air and water cooling would be the engine in seconds or minutes to overheat, no power steering would be the steering very schwer.Einzig the air conditioning is unnecessary.

The belt is therefore essential and must therefore be very reliable. One wonders, why the power transfer is made by gears that are mechanically stable, but the belt is first priced and second flexible, it protects with its natural hatching the mechanical parts of the sudden start from zero to a relatively high rotation, and he takes a little space.

Therefore, the application has held until today, and modern belts are very reliable. The stories of how East German satellites do not hear anymore.