A Guide to Conveyor Systems
Material handling equipment that help in transferring products from one place to another are called conveyor systems. In a conveyor system materials such as meat, raw materials, chemicals and other products are transferred from one processing area to another. Some of these processing areas are production, inspection, packing, dispatching and others.
You can pick from among different types of conveyor systems available, and each of these systems will have their own type of conveyor for stainless steel fabrications. The different types of conveyors are belt, overhead, bucket, food, pivoting bucket and pendulum bucket. Electric motors, vacuum or air pressure can be the sources of power that drive these conveyor systems.
Moving assemblies and foods from one processing area to another normally use overhead conveyors. Overhead conveyors are not cheap, but the savings of the company using it is in their operational cost is great because it does not require much manpower to operate it. Using less space and safety in its use are just some additional benefits that you gain from having an overhead conveyor aside from its being cost effective. Other industries using overhead conveyors are tires, white goods and car exhaust industries.
Overhead conveyors from www.mundell-eng.co.uk take up less space and are usually hung from ceilings or walls that are constructed out of steel. Because overhead conveyors can handle all transportation needs without human help, then it leads to a conservation of manpower. These systems are widely used in assembly lines and manufacturing, in warehouses and distribution centers, and in handling of food items.
A bucket elevator type of conveyor is mainly used if there is a bulk item that needs to be carried vertically. Light or heavy bulk materials, or fine and large, lumpy materials need a bucket elevator type of conveyor for transfer. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine for facts about these machines.
If processing involves different points, then a belt conveyor system is used for moving numerous bulky or individual loads from one point in the system to another. These conveyor systems are not very expensive. These can be used for specific products and it is easy to control the system with push buttons with an intelligent control system to provide accuracy in movement.
Roller conveyors are versatile and cost effective and are widely used with heavy duty materials. .This type of conveyors are used when a very heavy object is to be loaded and it needs the aid of machine or forklifts, and this also includes pallet handling and storage of heavy products.
Conveyor systems are mostly used in factories where the most common type used in the overhead conveyor. These systems are very effective because it uses less space and can be suspended in the ceiling.