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Many manufacturers have figured out that using the vertical space in their facilities can be a game changer. Whether you are taking advantage of tall ceilings or multiple levels of manufacturing space, making elevation changes in a conveyor line usually brings long inclines and declines that can often be detrimental to space savings. But how else can we reach those new heights?
Well, if you’re an empty or filled tote, an Elevator and Lowerator conveyor may be the right solution. Pack Air Inc. recently developed a fully automated specialty conveyor device to handle empty and filled totes within a tight footprint. Let’s see how this unique piece of equipment handles these totes.
Roller conveyors on an upper floor level transports empty totes into a right angle end stop that resides before the Lowerator’s infeed. A pneumatic Pusher right angle transfers the tote into the top of the Lowerator where it rests on dual parallel flights. The chain driven flights simultaneously index downward one space at a time when the next tote is called for. Totes that reach the bottom of the Lowerator are then conveyed into the filling area between the Lowerator and Elevator.
The downward totes are met by a Plastic Modular Belted Conveyor that conveys them into the middle filling area. Totes are then filled with 90 pounds of bulk product through a centralized custom fabricated chute. Attached sensors recognize the tote, and a pneumatic pin stop holds the totes in the fill zone so the bulk product can drop in. Infeed and outfeed sections of the filling station conveyor were added if the operator needs to add or reject a tote. When the totes are full, they then travel into the infeed of the Elevator.
Once inside, the parallel flights index the full totes upward to the top where a pneumatic pusher transfers them onto the connecting upper level conveyor. The Elevator and Lowerator conveyors are capable of handling 90 pound totes on each flight with 4 totes sitting within the carry way. Both the Elevator and Lowerators are built with mostly the same components, but the exception is that they travel in opposite directions.
