In situations where application engineers have an opportunity to design a new conveying system (and where there is a need for handling wide products), there is a cost-effective alternative to the industry standard roller conveyor available. Glide-Line’s multi-strand timing belt and multi-strand roller chain conveyors are an economical solution compared to traditional roller conveyors, especially when you’re manufacturing wide products.
The design specifications for wide product conveying systems need to consider everything from the roller diameter, wall thickness, and shaft size to the load type and radius’ required for curves required. Making the wrong selection or failing to address all the constraints – such as product behavior, control, and the manufacturing environment – will cost the company time, effort, and possibly a lot of money.
Traditional roller conveyors are appropriate for many production lines, but when you have a wider product, they can get expensive, come with width limitations, and can be subject to roller deflection, unless they are massively upsized.
And typically, when the system includes other design elements like curves, transverse lifts, the cost of purchasing the conveyor will also increase exponentially. An alternative solution like a multi-strand timing belt design can overcome most of these challenges.
A modular, multi-strand timing belt conveyor system is much less expensive (to buy, maintain, and modify) compared to traditional systems. When specifying for a customer, application engineers should highlight the decreased cost as one of the main benefits of a multi-strand timing belt (or roller chain) conveyor system.
Glide-Line’s modular design allows you to configure the ideal conveyor system for wide products, and you can include a range of material handling solutions at any stage on the line. The multi-strand system can support any width product (we’ve done up to 24 feet wide!). If your product is heavier, we use our same basic multi-strand concept, but use a roller chain drive system instead, making it a heavier-duty solution without the need for bulky rollers.
To discuss your wide product conveying requirements with one of our application engineers, reach out to Glide-Line today.