Abstract: As an important transportation equipment in the industrial field, belt conveyors have been gradually developing in the direction of long distance, large volume and high speed. During the starting process, it is always accompanied by huge tension fluctuations, which affect the normal operation of the system. Therefore, it is particularly important to achieve effective control of the tensioning system for the conveyor. Considering the nonlinear problem of hydraulic tensioning system, this paper establishes the state equation of hydraulic servo system, derives the force tracking adaptive control law based on Lyapunov stability theory, and builds the model of tensioning system and control strategy in Matlab/Simulink. In view of reducing the tension fluctuation of the conveyor belt, it is proposed that the three-point, head, medium and tail, tensioning method. The conveyor belt model was built in Amesim. By simulation combining Amesim with Matlab/Simulink, the control strategy has great force tracking performance and steady-state accuracy, which effectively reduces the tension fluctuation of the conveyor belt.