BELT TENSIONER COMBINATION AND A METHOD OF INSTALLING A TENSIONER ON A BELT

摘要

A combination (12) comprises a belt (14) trained about a plurality of pulley s (16, 18) and a tensioner assembly (10) including a rotary member (30) rotatively engaged by one side of the belt (14) at an operative position. Th e rotary member (30) is rotatably mounted on an arm (20) pivoted about a fixed pivotal axis (41) and has a rotational axis (31) parallel with the fixed pivotal axis (41). The vector force (70) applied by the belt (14) to the periphery of the rotary member (30) at the bisector of the belt wrap angle (72) extends through the rotational axis (31) and is related by at least a small angle (74) to a line (76) passing through the rotational (31) and pivotal axis (41). The vector force (70) acts in a direction to bias the arm (20) to pivot about the pivotal axis (41) in a direction to move the rotary member (30) into the operative position. The rotary member (30) is initially installed into the operative position by moving the arm (20) in the directio n from an installation position.