What Are The Most Common Types of Industrial Conveyors?
Whether it’s being used for in the production line for a car manufacturer, or to move bottles around a warehouse for capping, industrial conveyors come in a variety of different shapes and sizes and have all kinds of important uses.
Generally as a rule of thumb you have floor mounted conveyors and then you have overhead conveyors to maximise floor space and to help move anything from packaging foods to wet spray painting around a warehouse.
So to answer the question posed in the title of this article. These are the main types of conveyor that you will come across in a warehouse environment:
Belt Conveyor
A belt conveyor or conveyor belt as more commonly known is your main type of conveyor. It’s the simplest to use and essentially moves one object from one side of the belt to the other-side at a speed set by the user.
Gravity Roller Conveyor
Instead of a flat belt moving items from one side to another, gravity rollers are a set of rollers that are positioned either side of a conveyor to help objects from one end to another by themselves. To move by themselves the rollers need to be positioned at an angle.
Chain Conveyor
With the first two simple and most common conveyors covered we now look at the more intricate rollers, the first being a chain conveyor that is a slow moving conveyor. The chain conveyor is floor mounted and is used primarily for moving around heavy objects around such as engines, pallets and containers. The chain has three contact points situated on each outer-side and down the middle of the conveyor.
Slat Conveyors
A slat conveyor is very similar in looks to your standard belt conveyor, just replacing the belt with slats. The slat conveyor is also essentially a two-strand chain conveyor with slats connected to the chain. They are ideal for loading and unloading high-temperature ovens, heavy products or dirty and arduous conditions.
Overhead Conveyor
The standard overhead conveyor is made up of chain that runs inside the track, to carry objects around a specific course. The overhead conveyor is usually ideal for painting and finishing, as the object can be hung and moved around to dry.
Perfect for items that are long or tall in nature.
Power and Free Conveyors
Also in the overhead conveyor family is the power and free conveyor. It’s like a regular motorized overhead conveyor, except it has two tracks. In one track, the chain is continuously running. In the other track, the trolleys are moved along by the chain with pusher mechanisms. They can start, stop, buffer and re-sequence which makes them a very popular choice of overhead conveyor.