TAIL PULLEY

The tail pulley is the non-powered drum located at the loading (or tail) end of a belt conveyor. Its primary job is to redirect the return belt 180° back up to the carrying side at the start of the carry run; it does not transmit torque to the belt. Because it sits directly under the loading chute, it also defines the geometry of the load zone — chute skirts, impact bars and dust skirts all reference the tail-pulley centreline.

Tail pulleys are typically smaller in diameter than the corresponding [drive pulley](/glossary/drive-pulley-conveyor) because they only handle the slack-side tension T2 plus return-belt weight, not the full T1 of the drive. Minimum diameter still follows DIN 22101 against belt rating, usually one or two size steps below the drive. The drum shell is often crowned (a slight outward taper of 0.5–1.0 % of face length) to help the belt self-centre as it climbs onto the carry run, and lagging is typically plain rubber (8–12 mm) to protect against material spillage trapped between belt and drum.

Common variants include the wing tail pulley (open spoke design that lets trapped material fall away — useful when fines work past the chute skirts), and the spiral-vane tail pulley (similar self-cleaning behaviour with better balance at high speed). On reversible conveyors, the tail and head positions swap function depending on running direction, so both terminal pulleys are usually built to drive specification even though only one is powered at a time.