Conveyors

A conveyor is very important piece of mechanical system that moves material between locations. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transportation of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow quick and efficient transportation for a wide variety of materials, which make them very popular in the material handling and packaging industries. So it is very important thing to understand about conveyors designing and operating process. Conveyors are generally powered by electric motors, hydraulic motors, or by gravity. When selecting a conveyor the following factors must be carefully defined 

• Type of material transported. Is it bulk material, or unit goods.
• Physical characteristic of transported goods.
• Flow rate, tons per hour or number of units per hour.
• Load carrying capacity of structure.
• Distance traveled (Conveyor length).
• Direction of travel.(head to tail or tail to head)
• Conveyor height from floor.
• Level change. (Horizontal, Upward or downward path ).
• Support type (Floor stand, ceiling suspended, wall mounted, etc).
• Environment and operating conditions (Food grade, moisture, water splash etc.).

Detailed description about widely used conveyor types can be mentioned as following

Gravity roller conveyor

A gravity conveyor moves the load without utilizing motor power sources, usually down an incline or through a person pushing the load along a flat conveyor. Gravity conveyors transport products or work in process from one work area to another. Low cost, low maintenance are the advantages of this type of conveyors.

Power roller conveyor

Power roller conveyor is same as gravity roller conveyor, main difference is there is a motor or other equipment to power the system. Without a powered conveyor, materials handling can be difficult, time consuming and costly. Power roller conveyors can have significant advantages, depending on the type of materials that need to be transported.

Roller Bed Conveyor

Roller Bed Belt Conveyors are utilized for the transportation of hard to convey items such as small parts or items with inconsistent shapes or sizes Roller bed conveyors have a much higher load weight capacity than slider bed conveyors by reducing the friction caused by the belt against the bed surface.

Bucket Conveyor

This type of conveyors are very important , because they are designed to gently transport a wide variety of products, both horizontally and vertically, without transfer points. Capable of handling most dry, granular, free flowing products, these machines also work well with many non-free flowing products.

Screw conveyor

A screw conveyor or auger conveyor is a mechanism that uses a rotating helical screw blade, called a "flighting", usually within a tube, to move liquid or granular materials. They are used in many bulk handling industries. Screw conveyors in modern industry are often used horizontally or at a slight incline as an efficient way to move semi-solid materials, including food waste, wood chips, aggregates, cereal grains, animal feed, boiler ash, meat and bone meal, municipal solid waste, and many others. The first type of screw conveyor was the Archimedes' screw, used since ancient times to pump irrigation water.

Pneumatic Conveyor

pneumatic conveying systems move bulk materials that are suspended in an air stream that is introduced by a positive pressure blower upstream of material intake points, or by a vacuum pump that removes air from the system downstream of material discharge points. Material is separated from the conveying air at the use point, then discharged on a batch basis via butterfly or slide gate valves, or continuously via rotary airlock valves.

Flexible conveyor

The flexible conveyor is based on a conveyor beam in aluminum or stainless steel, with low friction slide rails guiding a plastic multi-flexing chain. Products to be conveyed travel directly on the conveyor, or on pallets/carriers. These conveyors can be worked around obstacles and keep production lines flowing. They are made at varying levels and can work in multiple environments. They are used in food packaging, case packing, and pharmaceutical industries but also in retail stores such as Wal-Mart and Kmart.

Vibrating conveyor

A Vibrating Conveyor is a machine with a solid conveying surface which is turned up on the side to form a trough. They are used extensively in food grade applications where sanitation, wash-down, and low maintenance are essential. Vibrating conveyors are also suitable for harsh, very hot, dirty, or corrosive environments. They can be used to convey newly cast metal parts which may reach upwards of 1,500 °F (820 °C). Due to the fixed nature of the conveying pans vibrating conveyors can also perform tasks such as sorting, screening, classifying and orienting parts. Vibrating conveyors have been built to convey material at angles exceeding 45° from horizontal using special pan shapes. Flat pans will convey most materials at a 5° Incline from horizontal line.

Figure No 01 : Conveyor types 

Conveyor systems are being used widespread across a range of industries due to the numerous benefits they provide. Some of the benefits can be mentioned as following

• Conveyors are able to safely transport materials from one level to another, which when done by human labor would be strenuous and expensive.
• They can be installed almost anywhere, and are much safer than using a forklift or other machine to move materials.
• They can move loads of all shapes, sizes and weights. Also, many have advanced safety features that help prevent accidents.
• There are a variety of options available for running conveying systems, including the hydraulic, mechanical and fully automated systems, which are equipped to fit individual needs.

Conveyor systems are commonly used in many industries, including the automotive, agricultural, computer, electronic, food processing ,aerospace, pharmaceutical, chemical, bottling and canning, print finishing and packaging. Although a wide variety of materials can be conveyed, some of the most common include food items such as beans and nuts, bottles and cans, automotive components, scrap metal, pills and powders, wood and furniture and grain and animal feed. Many factors are important in the accurate selection of a conveyor system. It is important to know how the conveyor system will be used beforehand. Some individual areas that are helpful to consider are the required conveyor operations, such as transportation, accumulation and sorting, the material sizes, weights and shapes and where the loading and pickup points need to be.

When considering above mentioned all the facts, it can be mentioned that conveyors are very important piece of mechanical equipment which makes lot of benefits for production floor.