🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>> We are training racing thoroughbreds on high speed treadmills--fast
>>>> conveyor belts with rubber surfaces. ...
>>>> 
>>>> The belt gradually climbs to a temperature of 100F and stops getting
>>>> warmer at that point, but the shoes of the horse (steel, aluminum,
>>>> titanium, and plastic shoes have been tried, as well as bare feet)
>>>> continue to become hotter and hotter until, at 4 miles of 3:00 rate
>>>> work, we've seen temperatures as high as 240F. this heat buildup is
>>>> probably pathologic at 120F and up, since nails travel through the
>>>> shoes and into the sensitive laminae of the hoof. 


As others have posted regarding this phenomenon, the heat is likely
generated by the viscoelastic rubber in shear contact with the shoes
and hoof nails.  Cooling the belt may work, but probably not very
efficiently, as the contact time from the shoes to the belt is
very short, so thermal conduction will be poor;  this is why the
shoes and nails are so much hotter than the belt.  You might try
to fit the hooves with slippers, or rubbers, which fit
tightly over each hoof, and are lightweight so they don't alter
the form of the gallop in training.  The slippers should probably
be rubber on the outside to provide good traction and if the
viscoelastic properties are similar to those of the belt, it
may reduce heating of the shoes.   The inside of the slipper could
be lined with a cloth or fabric to reduce frictional contact with
the shoes.  You could always precool something like this, if they
don't completely solve the problem.  Materials selection for
something of this nature may be nontrivial.

Indeed an interesting problem...I didn't notice, but have you
crossposted this to any thermal groups?


-- 
Joseph A. Paulus                                  |    TEAM    |__
japaulus@icaen.uiowa.edu                 __0      |  MOSQUITO  ||*\_
"Two wrongs won't make a right,        _ \<,      |____________|____|
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