1. Ribbed belts

1.1 Context of use

Ribbed or poly-v belt drives (figure 1 ), also known as serpentine belts, are widely used in the automotive and other industrial sectors to drive production machinery. The great flexibility of these belts and their light weight enable the design of transmissions driving several accessories at the same time, with sinuous belt runs and small winding radii (figure 2 ). These belts are being used more and more, and are gradually replacing V-belts. For example, in the case of automotive engines, where several V-belts were needed to drive the various...