Domestic technical textiles Industry Segment-wise consumption of ...

The transmission belts can be classified as Flat, Vee, Poly-Vee, Timing/synchronous belts etc. Vee
belts (or V Belts) are the most widely used belts. V belt drives replaced flat belt drives for many
applications because higher power could be transmitted with more compact drive arrangements. V
Belt Drives achieve drive efficiencies of about 95%.
V belts are used in alternators, air conditioning compressors, power steering pumps and water pumps,
apart from fans in automobiles as well as a number of industries. There are different types of V-belts;
some of them are wedge section V belts; high capacity narrow V-belts; hexagonal V-belts; multi rib
poly V-belts; automotive timing belts; auto wrapped belts in wedge and classical types; and variable
speed drive belts for two wheeler applications. Generally three types of V belts are commonly used:
raw –edged, v-ribbed, and wrapped. They come in five standard sizes A, B, C, D and E. The top width
of A is 12.7 mm (1/2 in) and that of E is mm (1) and the thickness varies between the different sizes.
When power transmitted is heavy multiple belts are used in pulleys having a number of grooves as
required.
The selection of the type of V belt depends on the power capacity of the drive and the small pulley's
shaft speed (rev/s), acceptable limits of the speed ratio, pitch length of the belt(s), and diameters of the
two pulleys etc. When correctly specified, V belts can be expected to deliver 25000 hours of service
(around 3 years continuous, or 5 years normal use) before belt replacement is required.
Market dynamics
V belts find applications in textile industry (textile machinery, textile spinning, texturing, weaving
units), chemical and fertilizer industry, steel, engineering, railways, pharmaceuticals, cement and
paper industry (printing & packaging, paper conversion) among others. The market for V belts can be
broadly divided into two segments- industrial and automotive. The industrial belts account for 55-60
% of the total market.
Key manufacturers
The major manufacturers of V belts are Fenner India, Pix transmissions, Nirlon Ltd and L.
G.Balakrishnan & Bros Ltd. The production details are given in the following table.
Market size
Company Volume ( in number of pieces) Value (Rs Crore)
Fenner 8047000 79
Pix 8225165 84
Nirlon 485721 4.4
Good Year 253000 3
Source: Capitaline, Industry survey