Chain Conveyor Calculator

Slat and apron chain conveyors carry product on a series of pans or platforms bolted to one or two chain strands, so unlike a belt, the drive has to move both the empty return strand and the loaded carry strand at once. This calculator builds chain pull from three pieces: friction on the full chain circuit (chain-and-slat weight per strand, times the number of strands, times the round-trip path of carry plus return, times your friction factor), friction from the product load — applied only over the loaded carry-strand length, and a gravity term if the conveyor lifts material vertically. Dividing total chain pull by the number of strands gives chain pull per strand, which is what you actually check against a chain's rated capacity, and multiplying that by an 8x safety factor gives the minimum breaking strength to specify. Motor power comes from total chain pull times chain speed over drive efficiency.

The sprocket sizing section makes a practical assumption: it picks a 6-inch (152.4 mm) pitch chain if your load exceeds 100 kg/m or a 4-inch (101.6 mm) pitch otherwise, then sizes a 9-tooth drive sprocket's pitch circle diameter from that pitch using the standard trigonometric relationship for chain-on-sprocket wrap, and derives sprocket RPM and drive torque from there. Throughput is a simple linear-load-times-speed conversion to tonnes per hour, useful as a cross-check against your actual capacity requirement. Because the friction factor, chain weight, and pitch selection are all defaults tuned to typical steel-on-steel installations, verify them against your actual guide material (UHMW guides run notably lower friction) before finalizing chain and motor selection.