How Vertical Conveyors Work In Their Appropriate Applications
Friday, November 25, 2011 11:25Vertical conveyors can be used in pharmacy automation to raise or lower materials to various levels during the handling process. These conveyors are applied in many different industrial assembly situations, commonly referred to as freight lifts and material lifts. In some applications, these conveyor systems such as those found on cornerstoneautosys.com may be used to transport certain materials to specific floors of the facility. Despite looking very similar to freight elevators, vertical conveyors are not capable of personal transportation, only material transportation. Two adjacent, parallel conveyors will simultaneously move upward while remaining adjacent to each other. One of these conveyors will contain space apart flites which store bulk food items for transportation. Both conveyors rotate in opposite directions of each other, but are always operated from a single gear box to ensure equal belt speed. Vertical lift conveyors are either automatically controlled or manually operated, and can be systematically integrated with horizontal conveyors. Both systems work together to create a cohesive material handling assembly line.
Spiral conveyors raise and lower materials to specific levels of a facility, just like vertical conveyors. The benefit of using a spiral conveyor is the continuous flow of material that it enables. Industries that have a higher output requirement will favor this kind of system over vertical conveyors – they work better in applications where food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and case packaging is being processed. Sliding and tumbling is prevented due to the lower placement angles of spiral conveyors during operation.
Vertical conveyors that utilize forks are capable of transporting material loads continuously like spiral conveyors. Loads can be taken from horizontal conveyors and placed onto other conveyors at different levels. Adding more forks will tend to increase product transport capability. A conventional vertical conveyor is typically limited by input and output restrictions – the inputs and outputs must maintain the same directional process throughout.
