Question

In a multiple V-belt drive, if one of the belt is broken, then we should replace

(a) the broken belt only

(b) all the belts

(c) the broken belt and the belts on either side of it

(d) none of the mentioned

The question was asked during an interview.

My question comes from Types of Belts topic in section Belt, Rope and Chain Drives of Machine Kinematics

Answer 1

The correct option is (b) all the belts

Explanation: In multiple V-belt drive, all the belts should stretch at the same rate so that the load is equally divided between them. When one of the set of belts break, the entire set should be replaced at the same time. If only one belt is replaced, the new unworn and unstressed belt will be more tightly stretched and will move with different velocity.