Like can someone explain the physics behind a flat belt naturally tracking towards the highest point in it’s path? Why does it want to make itself tighter?
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The belt is somewhat elastic, if you pull one edge of it tighter than the center, it will bow towards the tight side. Then that bowed part gets rolled onto the pulley, moving the belt towards whichever side is tighter.
Suppose the belt has drifted to the left, off the crown of the wheel: in that case, the *right* side of the belt will be stretched out a little bit more than the left side (because it’s on the bigger radius of the wheel, up at the crown), and be under more tension. So it will tend to drag the belt to the right, correcting the misalignment.
I think your question is wrong. There’s a few types of crowned pulleys. What you are referring to is a convex crown. Unless the belt is designed to work with a convex crown the belt usually won’t want to stay on centre.
If it’s a concave crown then it’s self centering on a normal flat belt.
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