Conveyor Inquiry
Belt and roller-powered conveyors are specified for a variety of reasons within a given conveyor system. The reasons almost always come down to load characteristics and functionality. Both can be used in transportation, sortation, and accumulation applications. This article delves into the differences and the specific advantages each conveyor type offers.
Curves allow systems to effectively use space by letting you redirect product direction at critical points. Many curve applications are based on rollers, but there are situations where belt curves are preferable. When is a belt curve your best option? The main reason you’d specify a belt curve is usually the same one you would use to specify a belt conveyor rather than a roller: belts can handle different load types of loads and control them better than rollers. When a product’s position and orientation are critical, belt conveyors are a better solution. Loads slip less and stay where you need them to on a belt. Belted curves are typically more specialized and expensive than roller curves.
More importantly, even for loads that don’t have issues with fragility, alignment is critical. You may need to align your products for a scanner, scale, taper, or other machinery. Belts let you keep the product exactly where you want it, in the direction you want it.
Rollers can accommodate accessories like pins, package stops, pop-up rollers, blades and other options to help stop and precisely control the load. Some possibilities include:
Rollers control the load less precisely than belts but offer more types, configurations, and accessories. When a tote or carton is conveyed on rollers, it can move across the rollers and bump the guardrails. For most products, the impacts are minor and don’t cause issues, but for some more fragile loads, you need finer control provided by belt conveyors.
Above: order pickers can easily slide totes loaded with books conveyed on a roller system at Educational Development Corporation
Rollers are easier to deal with when people must push, pull, remove, rotate, and interact with the load. Due to their low coefficient of friction, it’s much easier for a person to slide a tote across rollers than a belt. This is why picking and packing applications are frequently specified with roller conveyors. When you have side-by-side lines that merge loads, roller is the ideal conveyor, whether that’s done by people or mechanical pushers.
Load characteristics may affect the rate of speed an item moves on a roller conveyor. Heavier, larger loads may move slower than light ones on rollers. This may or may not be important to your application, but keep it in mind if the constant flow is desired.
Most pallet and pipe conveyors tend to be roller systems, due to high capacities. These high-duty loads tend to be better suited for roller systems, although there are specific cases where they are best conveyed by belt.
Your needs, application, load, and system will eventually determine the type of conveyor needed. In many cases, belts and rollers are used at different points within a conveyor system for maximum control and efficient flow.
Tags: Conveyor
Scott Stone is Cisco-Eagle's Vice President of Marketing with more than thirty years of experience in material handling, warehousing and industrial operations. His work is published in multiple industry journals an websites on a variety of warehousing topics. He writes about automation, warehousing, safety, manufacturing and other areas of concern for industrial operations and those who operate them.
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