A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another.

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.[1] Many kinds of conveying systems are available, and are used according to the various needs of different industries. There are chain conveyors (floor and overhead)[2] as well. Chain conveyors consist of enclosed tracks, I-Beam, towline, power & free, and hand pushed trolleys.[3]

Industries that use conveyor systems

A lineshaft roller conveyor conveys boxed produce at a distribution center

A Conveyor belt conveys papers at a newspaper print plant

Roller conveyor for carton transport in the apparel industry

Conveyor systems are used widespread across a range of industries due to the numerous benefits they provide.

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,[4] 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. [edit]Care

and maintenance of conveyor systems

A conveyor system is often the lifeline to a companys ability to effectively move its product in a timely fashion. The steps that a company can take to ensure that it performs at peak capacity, include regular inspections, close monitoring of motors and reducers, keeping key parts in stock, and proper training of personnel. Increasing the service life of your conveyor system involves: choosing the right conveyor type, the right system design and paying attention to regular maintenance practices. A conveyor system that is designed properly will last a long time with proper maintenance. Here are six of the biggest problems to watch for in overhead type conveyor systems including I-beam monorails, enclosed track conveyors and power and free conveyors. Poor take-up adjustment: This is a simple adjustment on most systems yet it is often overlooked. The chain take-up device ensures that the chain is pulled tight as it leaves the drive unit. As wear occurs and the chain lengthens, the take-up extends under the force of its springs. As they extend, the spring force becomes less and the take-up has less effect. Simply compress the take-up springs and your problem goes away. Failure to do this can result in chain surging, jamming, and extreme wear on the track and chain. Take-up adjustment is also important for any conveyor using belts as a means to power rollers, or belts themselves being the mover. With poor-take up on belt-driven rollers, the belt may twist into the drive unit and cause damage, or at the least a noticeable decrease or complete loss of performance may occur. In the case of belt conveyors, a poor take-up may cause drive unit damage or may let the belt slip off of the side of the chassis. Lack of lubrication: Chain bearings require lubrication in order to reduce friction. The chain pull that the drive experiences can double if the bearings are not lubricated. This can cause the system to overload by either its mechanical or electrical overload protection. On conveyors that go through hot ovens, lubricators can be left on constantly or set to turn on every few cycles. Contamination: Paint, powder, acid or alkaline fluids, abrasives, glass bead, steel shot, etc. can all lead to rapid deterioration of track and chain. Ask any bearing company about the leading cause of bearing failure and they will point to contamination. Once a foreign substance lands on the raceway of a bearing or on the track, pitting of the surface will occur, and once the surface is compromised, wear will accelerate. Building shrouds around your conveyors can help prevent the ingress of contaminants. Or, pressurize the contained area using a simple fan and duct arrangement. Contamination can also apply to belts (causing slippage, or in the case of some materials premature wear), and of the motors themselves. Since the motors can generate a considerable amount of heat, keeping the surface clean is an almost-free maintenance procedure that can keep heat from getting trapped by dust and grime, which may lead to motor burnout. Product Handling: In conveyor systems that may be suited for a wide variety of products, such as those in distribution centers, it is important that each new product be deemed acceptable for conveying before being run through the materials handling equipment. Boxes that are too small, too large, too heavy, too light, or too awkwardly shaped may

not convey, or may cause many problems including jams, excess wear on conveying equipment, motor overloads, belt breakage, or other damage, and may also consume extra man-hours in terms of picking up cases that slipped between rollers, or damaged product that was not meant for materials handling. If a product such as this manages to make it through most of the system, the sortation system will most likely be the affected, causing jams and failing to properly place items where they are assigned. It should also be noted that any and all cartons handled on any conveyor should be in good shape or spills, jams, downtime, and possible accidents and injuries may result. Drive Train: Notwithstanding the above, involving take-up adjustment, other parts of the drive train should be kept in proper shape. Broken O-rings on a Lineshaft, pneumatic parts in disrepair, and motor reducers should also be inspected. Loss of power to even one or a few rollers on a conveyor can mean the difference between effective and timely delivery, and repetitive nuances that can continually cost downtime. Bad Belt Tracking or Timing: In a system that uses precisely controlled belts, such as a sorter system, regular inspections should be made that all belts are traveling at the proper speeds at all times. While usually a computer controls this with Pulse Position Indicators, any belt not controlled must be monitored to ensure accuracy and reduce the likelihood of problems. Timing is also important for any equipment that is instructed to precisely meter out items, such as a merge where one box pulls from all lines at one time. If one were to be mistimed, product would collide and disrupt operation. Timing is also important wherever a conveyor must "keep track" of where a box is, or improper operation will result. Since a conveyor system is a critical link in a companys ability to move its pr oducts in a timely fashion, any disruption of its operation can be costly. Most downtime can be avoided by taking steps to ensure a system operates at peak performance, including regular inspections, close monitoring of motors and reducers, keeping key parts in stock, and proper training of personnel. [edit]Types

of conveyor systems

Belt driven roller conveyor for cartons and totes.

Flexible conveyor

Gravity roller conveyor Gravity skatewheel conveyor Belt conveyor Wire mesh conveyors Plastic belt conveyors

Bucket conveyors Flexible conveyors Vertical conveyors Spiral conveyors Vibrating conveyors Pneumatic conveyors Electric Track Vehicle Systems Belt driven live roller conveyors Lineshaft roller conveyor Chain conveyor Screw conveyor aka Auger conveyor Chain driven live roller conveyor Overhead conveyors Dust proof conveyors Pharmaceutical conveyors Automotive conveyors

[edit]Pneumatic

conveyor systems

Every pneumatic system, makes use of pipes or ducts called transportation lines that carry mixture of materials and a stream of air. These materials are such as dry pulverized or free flowing or light powdery materials like cement, fly ash etc. These materials can be transported conveniently to various destinations by means of a stream of high velocity air through pipe lines. Products are moved through various tubes viaair pressure, allowing for extra vertical versatility. Pneumatic conveyors are either carrier systems or dilute-phase systems; carrier systems simply push items from one entry point to one exit point, such as the money-exchanging tubes used at a bank drive-through window. Dilute-phase systems use push-pull pressure to guide materials through various entry and/or exit points. It is important to note that either air compressors, vacuums, or blowers can be used to generate the air. This will all depend on what the engineers think will be the most efficient and economical way of developing the system. [5] Three basic systems that are used to generate high velocity air stream: 1. Suction or vacuum systems, utilizing a vacuum created in the pipeline to draw the material with the surrounding air.The system operated at a low pressure, which is practically 0.4 0.5 atm below atmosphere, and is utilized mainly in conveying light free flowing materials. 2. Pressure-type systems, in which a positive pressure is used to push material from one point to the next. The system is ideal for conveying material from one loading point to a number of unloading points. It operates at a pressure of 6 atm and upwards. 3. Combination systems, in which a suction system is used to convey material from a number of loading points and a pressure system is employed to deliver it to a number of unloading points. [edit]Vibrating

conveyor systems

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, washdown, 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. [edit]Flexible

conveyor systems

The flexible conveyor is based on a conveyor beam in aluminium 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.[6]

[edit]Vertical

conveyor systems and spiral conveyors

Vertical conveyor - also commonly referred to as freight lifts and material lifts - are conveyor systems used to raise or lower materials to different levels of a facility during the handling process. Examples of these conveyors applied in the industrial assembly process include transporting materials to different floors. While similar in look to freight elevators, vertical conveyors are not equipped to transport people, only materials. Vertical lift conveyors contain two adjacent, parallel conveyors for simultaneous upward movement of adjacent surfaces of the parallel conveyors. One of the conveyors normally has spaced apart flites for transporting bulk food items. The dual conveyors rotate in opposite directions, but are operated from one gear box to insure equal belt speed. One of the conveyors is pivotally hinged to the other conveyor for swinging the pivotally attached conveyor away from the remaining conveyor for access to the facing surfaces of the parallel conveyors. [7]Vertical lift conveyors can be manually or automatically loaded and controlled.[8] Almost all vertical conveyors can be systematically integrated with horizontal conveyors, since both of these conveyor systems work in tandem to create a cohesive material handling assembly line. In similarity to vertical conveyors, spiral conveyors raise and lower materials to different levels of a facility. In contrast, spiral conveyors are able to transport material loads in a continuous flow. Industries that require a higher output of materials - food and beverage, retail case packaging, pharmaceuticals - typically incorporate these conveyors into their systems over standard vertical conveyors due to their ability to facilitate high throughput. Most spiral conveyors also have a lower angle of incline or decline (11 degrees or less) to prevent sliding and tumbling during operation.

Vertical conveyor with forks

Just like spiral conveyors also a vertical conveyor that use forks are able to transport material loads in a continuous flow. With these forks the load can be taken from one horizontal conveyor and put down on another horizontal conveyor on a different level. By adding more forks more products can be lifted at the same time. Conventional vertical conveyors have the restriction that the input and output of material loads must have the same direction. By using forks many combinations of different input- and outputlevels in different directions are possible. A vertical conveyor with forks can even be used as a vertical sorter. Compared to a spiral conveyor a vertical conveyor - with or without forks - takes up less space. [edit]Heavy

duty roller conveyors

Heavy Duty roller conveyors are used for moving items that are at least 500 lbs. This type of conveyor makes the handling of such heavy equipment/products easier and more time effective. Many of the heavy duty roller conveyors can move as fast as 75 feet/minute. Other types of heavy duty roller conveyors are gravity roller conveyor, chain driven live roller conveyor, pallet accumulation conveyor, multi-strand chain conveyor, and chain & roller transfers.

Gravity roller conveyors are extremely easy to use and are used in many different types of industries such as automotive and retail. Chain driven live roller conveyors are used for single or bi-directional material handling. Large heavy loads are moved by chain driven live roller conveyors. Pallet accumulation conveyors are powered through a mechanical clutch. This is used instead of individually powered and controlled sections of conveyors. Multi-strand chain conveyors are used for double pitch roller chains. Products that can not be moved on traditional roller conveyors can be moved by a multi-strand chain conveyor. Chain & roller conveyors are short runs of two or more strands of double pitch chain conveyor built into a chain driven line roller conveyor. These pop up under the load and move the load off of the conveyor. [edit]See

also

Manufacturing Moving bed heat exchanger Material handling Belt conveyor Chain conveyor Checkweigher Lineshaft roller conveyor Moving walkway Treadmill

Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt (or belt conveyor) consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport industrial and agricultural materials, such as grain, coal, ores, etc. generally in outdoor locations. Generally companies providing general material handling type belt conveyors do not provide the conveyors for bulk material handling. In addition there are a number of commercial applications of belt conveyors such as those in grocery stores. The belt consists of one or more layers of material. They can be made out of rubber. Many belts in general material handling have two layers. An under layer of material to provide linear strength and shape called a carcass and an over layer called the cover. The carcass is often a woven fabric having a warp & weft. The most common carcass materials are polyester, nylon and cotton. The cover is often various rubber or plastic compounds specified by use of the belt. Covers can be made from more exotic materials for unusual applications such as silicone for heat or gum rubber when traction is essential. Material flowing over the belt may be weighed in transit using a beltweigher. Belts with regularly spaced partitions, known as elevator belts, are used for transporting loose materials up steep inclines. Belt Conveyors are used in selfunloading bulk freighters and in live bottom trucks. Conveyor technology is also used in conveyor transport such as moving sidewalks or escalators, as well as on many manufacturing assembly lines. Stores often have conveyor belts at the check-out counter to move shopping items. Ski areas also use conveyor belts to transport skiers up the hill. A wide variety of related conveying machines are available, different as regards principle of operation, means and direction of conveyance, including screw conveyors, vibrating conveyors, pneumatic conveyors, the moving floor system, which uses reciprocating slats to move cargo, and roller conveyor system, which uses a series of powered rollers to convey boxes or pallets.
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[edit]Belt

conveyor systems

Conveyors are durable and reliable components used in automated distribution and warehousing.[1] In combination with computer controlled pallet handling equipment this allows for more efficient retail, wholesale, and manufacturing distribution. It is considered a labor saving system that allows large volumes to move rapidly through a process, allowing companies to ship or receive higher volumes with smaller storage space and with less labor expense. Rubber conveyor belts are commonly used to convey items with irregular bottom surfaces, small items that would fall in between rollers (e.g. asushi conveyor bar), or bags of product that would sag between rollers. Belt conveyors are generally fairly similar in construction consisting of a metal frame with rollers at either end of a flat metal bed. The belt is looped around each of the rollers and when one of the rollers is powered (by an electrical motor) the belting slides across the solid metal frame bed, moving the product. In heavy use applications the beds which the belting is pulled over are replaced with rollers. The rollers allow weight to be conveyed as they reduce the amount of friction generated from the heavier loading on the belting. Belt conveyors can now be manufactured with curved sections which use tapered rollers and curved belting to convey products around a corner. These conveyor systems are commonly used in postal sorting offices and airport baggage handling systems. A sandwich belt conveyor uses two conveyor belts, faceto-face, to firmly contain the item being carried, making steep incline and even vertical-lift runs achievable. Belt conveyors are the most commonly used powered conveyors because they are the most versatile and the least expensive. Product is conveyed directly on the belt so both regular and irregular shaped objects, large or small, light and heavy, can be transported successfully. These conveyors should use only the highest quality premium belting products, which reduces belt stretch and results in less maintenance for tension adjustments. Belt conveyors can be

used to transport product in a straight line or through changes in elevation or direction. In certain applications they can also be used for static accumulation or cartons.

Belt Conveyor systems at a Packing Depot

Baggage Handling BeltConveyor systems

Accumulation conveyor for cartons and totes in a fashion distribution centre

[edit]Long

belt conveyors

The longest belt conveyor system in the world is in Western Sahara. It is 98 km long, from the phosphate mines of Bu Craa to the coast south ofEl-Aaiun.[2] The longest conveyor system in an Airport is the Dubai International Airport baggage handling system at 63km. It was installed by Siemens and commissioned in 2008, and has a combination of traditional belt conveyors and tray conveyors.[3] Boddington Bauxite Mine in western Australian may claim the Record for the worlds longest and second longest single belts with a 31 km long belt feeding a 20 km long belt. This system feeds bauxite through the difficult terain of the Daring Ranges to the Alumina refinery at Worsley. The longest single belt international conveyor runs from Meghalaya in India to Sylhet in Bangladesh.[4][5][6] It is about 17 km long and conveyslimestone and shale at 960 tons/hr, from the quarry in India to a cement factory in Bangladesh (7 km long in India and 10 km long in Bangladesh). The conveyor was engineered by AUMUND France and Larsen & Toubro. The conveyor is actuated by 3 synchronized drive units for a total power of about 1.8 MW supplied by ABB (2 drives at the head end in Bangladesh and 1 drive at the tail end in India). The conveyor belt was manufactured in 300-meter lengths on the Indian side and 500-meter lengths on the Bangladesh side, and was installed onsite byNILOS India. The idlers, or rollers, of the system are unique in that they are designed to accommodate both horizontal and vertical curves along the terrain. Dedicated vehicles were designed for the maintenance of the conveyor, which is always at a minimum height of 5 meters above the ground to avoid being flooded during monsoon periods. [edit]History

Primitive conveyor belts were used since the 19th century. In 1892, Thomas Robins began a series of inventions which led to the development of a conveyor belt used for carrying coal, ores and other products. [7] In 1901, Sandvik invented and started the production of steel conveyor belts. In 1905 Richard Sutcliffe invented the first conveyor belts for use in coal mines which revolutionized the mining industry. In 1913, Henry Ford introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines at Ford Motor Company's Highland Park, Michigan factory.[8] In 1972, the French society REI created in New Caledonia the then longest straight-belt conveyor in the world, at a length of 13.8 km. Hyacynthe Marcel Bocchetti was the concept designer.[citation needed] In 1957, the B. F. Goodrich Company patented a conveyor belt that it went on to produce as the Turnover Conveyor Belt System. Incorporating a half-twist, it had the advantage over conventional belts of a longer life because it could expose all of its surface area to wear and tear. Mbius strip belts are no longer manufactured because untwisted modern belts can be made more durable by constructing them from several layers of different materials. [9] In 1970, Intralox, a Louisiana based company, registered the first patent for all plastic, modular belting.