Think you don’t need an enclosed track? Think again!

In recent years, industries has been shifting from traditional I-Beam overhead conveyors to enclosed track conveyor designs. An enclosed track overhead conveyor consists of a chain running within a round track, such as our PAC-LINE™ overhead conveyor. Loads are suspended from the chain pendants that stick out of the slot of the track. Some enclosed track conveyor styles such as our PAC-MAX™ can also be inverted.

An advantage of the enclosed track design is to prevent contamination of the conveyor chain. The enclosed track protects the chain against build-up and residue that could ultimately cause damage. For example, you can see in the image below of our enclosed track conveyor used in a heavy duty powder coating system. This is extremely important to maintaining the life span of an overhead conveyor system. Imagine the image above was an I-Beam style conveyor with exposed chain and track, the difference would be easy to see!

There are other advantages of an enclosed track conveyor such as:

• lower cross section height
• finger pinch points are reduced with internally running conveyor chain
• prevents contamination of the products below
• smaller radii on horizontal and vertical bends
• some designs allow an inverted “slot up” position with minimal or no modifications

While there are still some applications such as carrying very heavy loads that would benefit using an I-Beam style conveyor, the advantages an enclosed track can offer are superior. Particularly in the paint and finishing industry where product and chain contamination are a great concern.

Contact one of our engineers to learn more about our different styles of enclosed track overhead conveyors today! Phone: 1-800-955-8860 Email: sales@pacline.com

PACLINE Overhead Conveyors has developed a pre-engineered system for handling the 10 to 12 foot long copper bars used in Electro-Plating shops. This sophisticated design has eliminated the necessity of using hand operated trolleys for the transfer of workloads to and from the hoist lines of plating tanks.

The PAC-LINE™ overhead conveyor, using our standard No. 175 Bar Carrier Trolley, can transport loads in excess of 400 lbs. Our special design allows the 10 to 12 foot long work bar to manoeuver the standard radius curves of the overhead conveyor with ease. Loaded racks can be easily transferred from the overhead conveyor to the hoist for dipping as required.

This system is designed to allow the transfer of the loaded work bar directly from the hoist to the overhead conveyor. This loading signals the conveyor to run until the empty No. 175 trolley is in position to receive the next loaded work bar from the plating line.

The same system applies to the opposite end of the plating tanks. Loaded work bars are automatically delivered to the front of the line of plating tanks. The hoist can quickly pick up the loaded bar carrier, beginning the plating process.

The entire conveyor system is synchronized to allow both the empty bar carrier and the loaded carrier to stop automatically at opposite ends of the elecroplating line, so that the loading and unloading of the hoist can be completed simultaneously between the conveyor’s cycles.

This proven Electro-Plating system can substantially increase your production and at the same time eliminate unnecessary labor. For additional information on your specific requirements, contact us PACLINE at 1-800-955-8860

Overhead chain conveyors have developed a reputation as the workhorses of the conveyor industry. Low maintenance and operating cost is their trademark. Simplicity of design is key.

Some basic application rules apply and when followed, these systems will normally outlast several generations of the products they are used to carry. It is not unusual for an overhead conveyor to last eight to ten years or even longer, with only minimal maintenance performed on it throughout its life. Maintain them, and these machines will last a lot longer than that.

The primary applications of the overhead chain conveyor are paint lines and the transferring and buffering of manufactured parts. Both applications are most commonly seen in the automotive manufacturing sector. Walk through any plant in this industry and you would be hard pressed not to bump into one in your travels.

This sector and in particular, the paint line application, is probably the most severe environment to which you could subject a piece of equipment. Some paint lines incorporate spray washers with detergents to descale or degrease parts prior to painting. Not only do you get overspray and mist, add a dose of a corrosive substance to boot. Next, you take those parts through a dry-off oven where you increase the temperature to help evaporate the water and detergent, creating a nice steam-bath environment. Of course, your chain and track have now lost their lubrication through the process. Conveyor chain is subjected to this abuse once per cycle of the conveyor.

Now you’re set to thoroughly abuse your conveyor. Why not cake it with paint or primer and bake it at 450 degrees or so? It seems like a fitting conclusion to a cycle of machine abuse.

If you are going to submit your conveyor to this kind of abuse, you had better take some time to consider the overhead conveyor styles made today. It could save you money in the long run, while reducing your day-to-day maintenance costs. Your choice may even improve the quality of your product.

There are two styles of conveyor on the market today. The I-beam system has been around for almost 100 years and has been applied to almost every task known to the manufacturing world – from carrying plastic parts to entire automobiles. It has a wide capacity range. It is bulky and ugly. But it gets the job done through brute force.

The disadvantages of the I-beam are numerous. It has a tall cross-section. It has many components that are exposed to the elements. Dirt, paint, water and other contaminants can adhere to these exposed components and fall off at the most inopportune moments, and as Murphy’s Law would have it, just after fresh paint has been applied to the parts hanging below. You’ll have to protect the chain from the elements or clean it regularly. The tall cross-section means you’ll need a taller paint booth, washer and oven.

These factors were probably the impetus for creating a new conveyor design.

Enter the enclosed track conveyor. The basic premise is to run a conveyor chain inside a round or square shaped track, thus eliminating most of the possibility for contamination from the elements. In designing the conveyor this way, additional benefits were to be had. Benefits like low cross-section height can mean lower costs for ovens, washer and spray booths.

The enclosed design is inherently safer due to the reduced number of components that are directly exposed to the workers. The enclosed track conveyor even has additional flexibility not possible with an I-beam monorail conveyor. You can invert it or create over / under units (vertical loops). Certain manufacturers have conveyor designs that can actually be used in any configuration – slot down, slot sideways or slot inverted (up) – to give you the best solution for your application. And last but not least, the enclosed track conveyor is lighter and less bulky than its I-beam ancestor. Subsequently, the enclosed track conveyor has a bolt-together design with no welding required for easy on-site assembly. This will save a bundle on installation and allow you to make changes without hacking your conveyor apart each time. Worn track components can be replaced a lot quicker if necessary, too. Not a bad list of advantages to consider next time you are in the market for an overhead chain conveyor system.

By Karl Scholz GM, PACLINE OVERHEAD CONVEYORS

Published in Ontario Industrial Magazine, March 2000

The overhead conveyor industry has come a long way since a young engineer by the name of Jervis B. Webb teamed up with a 20th century manufacturing revolutionary named Henry T. Ford. Images of the Charlie Chaplin movie short on the assembly line come to mind, which was avante garde at the time. Industrial engineering profoundly changed during this period of time. The I-beam overhead conveyor was conceived and developed to set up an assembly line into a synchronous single line layout of progressive tasks.

These overhead conveyors have the following advantages over the traditional belt and roller type floor conveyors:

• product was non-conveyable on other conveyor designs
• maximize plant layout by utilizing unused overhead space (cubic utilization)
• free up valuable floor space for manufacturing equipment and operating personnel
• smaller radii for the vertical and horizontal bends can be achieved

The continuous chain conveyor path:

• saves in drives.
• reduces costly controls when making a transfer or change in direction.
• by not transferring between-conveyors the product damage is minimized.
• inventory can be easily controlled via FIFO.

The bottom line in today’s manufacturing environment is to maximize the efficiency of the capitalized equipment in harmony with the manpower. Work in process is costly both in inventory and storage space. Work that is in the queue or ready maximizes the process uptime. These are fertile conditions for the power and free non-synchronous conveyors. Power and free not only incorporates the above listed overhead solutions but further enhances the following situations or applications:

The conveyor can be divided into separate distinct zones:

• delivery
• buffer or storage
• sortation (varied product mix into various spurs)
• process
• loading and unloading

The product can be spaced or changed in speed by merging onto a separate chain.

The product can be closely packed via bias banking.

The part clearances can be regulated by the release from air operated stops, which is important for:

• loading and unloading
• queuing infront of process equipment or assembly areas
• reducing oven space

Bypass spurs and re-circulation loops can efficiently control the product process sequencing.

Lift sections can aid in dipping operations or when tight elevation changes are required.

Each individual carrier can be held in an air operated stop which will achieve:

• higher quality in the process
• locational accuracy when interfacing with robots
• each zone can work independent for the balance of the system

The 21st century has seen a movement from the traditional structural I-beam type overhead conveyors to the enclosed track design. In the late 1960’s the enclosed track conveyor systems emerged. By the mid 1970’s the power and free version of enclosed track conveyors was in its infancy.

The advantages of the enclosed track when compared to the I-beam overhead conveyors are:

• lower cross section height
• finger pinch points are reduced with internally running conveyor chain
• prevents contamination of the conveyor chain and the product below
• smaller radii on horizontal and vertical bends
• some designs allow an inverted “slot up” position with minimal or no modifications

The bolted assembly is more suited to the enclosed track, than the I-beam, because the chain and trolleys run inside the track section. Ford Motor Company’s, Body & Assembly engineering developed the bolted construction modular build specifications almost 15 years ago, which incorporate the following advantages:

• The assembly is considerably easier then onsite welding.
• Onsite installation time is greatly reduced which reduces downtime and allows more of a window of opportunity for the commissioning phase.
• Shop test set-ups can be broken down and reassembled easier.
• The air piping and shop pre-wire can be easily incorporated into a bolt together module.
• The ‘mechano set’ design transcends into the engineering and the entire system can be prefabricated with a match marked layout drawing
• More adaptable to layout changes and retrofits.

The material handling challenges of the future include shorter leadtimes, space restrictions, cost effectiveness and flexibility to layout retrofits are met head-on with the bolted and enclosed track solution. The ingenuity and foresight of Misters Webb and Ford have withstood the test of time with these minor improvements. The mechanical equipment designs are basically intact with the major changes in the electrical controls portion of the system.

By Ron Phillips, PACLINE OVERHEAD CONVEYORS

Published in Metal Finishing, February 2003

Overhead Conveyor Performs Double Duty
Unpublished

Mechanization of the distribution center has become commonplace, to the point that certain tasks within the distribution process are mechanized as the standard approach. Mangers don’t even consider doing these tasks manually.

Split case or “less than carton” distribution is considered to be the most difficult of applications to mechanize. The full case distribution center is easily automated with barcode labels, pick-to-belt conveyors, high-speed carton sorters, direct trailer loading and electronic data capture devices.

Not so in the split case distribution center. The challenging part of this operation is dealing with individually picked items, located in a high density storage area, without individual item labeling, generally non-conveyable and requiring a shipping medium like a carton or tote, requiring a quality control check, resulting in the generation of trash cartons…and the list goes on.

However difficult this type of picking is, it is a fact of life. Most distribution centers contain split-case product and the requirement to pick this type of order will not go away. Actually, the trend may be to a higher volume of split case items per order as retailers wrestle with shrinking store shelf space and pressure to reduce inventory levels.

To address these issues, split case distribution centers with the goal of high efficiency, have incorporated Overhead Chain Conveyors into their new distribution center model. Their typical installation includes a number of separate overhead conveyor systems with several thousand feet of overhead chain. Actually, the overhead chain conveyor is only part of a total material handling solution involving several different styles of equipment.

The model incorporates a high-density storage pick “module”. These modules are 4 levels high for best cubic efficiency. They incorporate flow racking within and are loaded with full carton goods from the perimeter, with the full cartons flowing to the middle for picking. The pick module has a gravity/power/gravity conveyor located down the middle. Order picking begins with the generation of a picking list and a shipping label. An order picker will choose a shipping container (carton or tote) and affix the label. The container or tote is made available to the picker via an Overhead Chain Conveyor located above the triple-wide conveyors running down the middle of the pick module.

Operators may add a new carton or tote box from the carrier of the Overhead Chain Conveyor as the need arises, applying the label and beginning of continuing the pick. An unfinished order is passed from picker to picker via the gravity conveyor and when the order is complete, the order is pushed to the center, powered conveyor. The completed order moves to a checking area and then to the shipping door.

As the breaking down of master cartons in the picking aisles occurs, trash corrugate is generated. As the original cartons are emptied of their contents, the operator needs to dispose of these without walking too far. Once again, the Enclosed Track Overhead Chain Conveyor comes to the rescue. The operator places the empty carton on a special trash carrier (tray) that is attached to the same Overhead Chain Conveyor. Trash carriers and empty carton carriers are mixed in a specific ratio of 1:4. The Overhead Chain Conveyor carries the trash out of the picking module and over to the hopper of a compactor. An automatic trash dump station is located there and as the carrier is conveyed over the hopper, it is tilted, allowing trash to slide off to the compactor infeed below.

Pacline Overhead Conveyor Corporation located in Mississauga has been a supplier of Overhead Chain Conveyors to distribution centers throughout Canada and the United States for the past twenty-five years.

By Karl Scholz, President, PACLINE OVERHEAD CONVEYORS

Under-body frame parts for the Auto Industry are successfully handled on this Pacline Overhead Conveyor. These irregular- shaped metal stampings convey smoothly between welding operations by being handled on the PAC-LINE™ enclosed track overhead conveyor as shown.

Two 600 ft. long systems in a two-tier formation provide a buffer-zone for accumulation using a minimum of floor space. The PAC-LINE™ Conveyor chain travels inside the tubular conveyor track. Pendants are standard on 6-inch centers. The enclosed-track design protects the chain. Lubricant is kept clean; free of abrasive atmospheric dust and other contaminants.

Small-radius curves for horizontal and vertical or sideways and up and down travel are standard. Roller turns, traction wheels, or sprockets common with I-beam type conveyors are not necessary. This promotes operator safety by reducing the number of pinch points, and significantly lowers the amount of maintenance required.

The conveyor can be powered for continuous or intermittent variable speed travel. For additional information on your specific requirements, contact us.