We communicated closely with the overseas OEM supplying the component to ensure they thoroughly understood the performance we required.
Ryotaro Suefuji
Managing Corporate Officer, MB Production and Technology
Raw Materials Development Group
MB Materials Development Department
The key is to persistently and continually think it through.
Atsushi Miyashima
Development Group No. 1
Industrial Products and Technical Department
Industrial Products Division
The development concept was to provide an even better conveyor belt to customers.
Gang Hou
Technical Planning & Administration Group
MB Materials and Development Department
It was a difficult challenge, but I gave it my utmost efforts knowing that a rubber company should never be beat by another company when it comes to a rubber product.
Hidehiro Sasakuma
Raw Materials Development Group
MB Materials Development Department
A More Energy Efficient Eco Conveyor Belt
One of core products of the Yokohama Rubber MB Division is conveyor belts. These conveyor belts are used to transport goods at quarries and in factories as eco-friendly solutions that feature superior quality and environmental performance.
ECOTEX, which was first developed in 2001 and has since undergone several modifications, optimizes the visco-elasticy of rubber using proprietary rubber compounding technologies to reduce the running resistance of conveyor belts. ECOTEX has earned a strong reputation among customers for its ability to curb power consumption during use, the phase of the lifecycle that produces the largest environmental impact next to development, production, and disposal.
The mission behind this project was to develop the undisputed leader in eco-friendly conveyor belts, with further improvements in environmental performance beyond ECOTEX, which had already reached the limits of resource saving and energy efficiency. Of course, this was no easy task. One of the development team members honestly thought it wasn’t possible to squeeze any more performance out of ECOTEX.
The development team focused on the rolling resistance that occurs when the conveyor belt passes over the spinning roller to transport goods. Reducing the resistance that occurs where the roller and belt contact would reduce the amount of energy needed to spin the rollers and in the process reduce the amount of electricity used. Even the smallest improvement on a part of the each roller will have a great impact on overall energy reductions because these conveyor belts can span up to one kilometer in length with a large number of rollers. However, simply looking at reducing rolling resistance to curb electricity usage could mean that the required durability and strength of the rubber gets overlooked. The question becomes how can something be made more energy efficiency while maintaining the same materials? The answer to this question of finding the perfect balance was found with Yokohama’s groundbreaking eco tires.
The expertise gleamed from daily research on rubber compounding used reduce roll resistance between the road and tire, and improve fuel economy served as a big hint for the development of an eco conveyor belt.
Also, the team repeated a trial and error approach with the structure and materials of other components besides rubber. Until now Yokohama Rubber’s eco conveyor belts had mainly attempted to reduce the use of resources and electricity through rubber compounding alone. This time, they looked at optimizing the entire conveyor belt structure. This approach led to a major step forward in the project.
Repeated Failures Turned Out to be the Key
Development team members look back and find that their daily dedication and repeated failures actually turned out to be the key to success. There were times when the prototype turned out for some reason to have poorer performance than existing conveyor belts. The team never gave up, and instead thoroughly looked at why that happened, which produced new knowledge to use. These repeated efforts lead to the successful development.
These efforts to develop the undisputed champion in eco conveyor belts and greatly reduce environmental impacts during usage represent the true embodiment of Yokohama Rubber’s commitment to protect the environment and people around the world. Yokohama Rubber is set to leverage its strength of enhancing durability, reducing weight and employing the same technologies in other products to tackle the challenge of addressing the many challenges that society faces.