Surface World June 2019 Surface World June 2019 | Page 64

CONVEYORS & MATERIALS HANDLING
Power and Free conveyors
According to Stewart Gill Conveyors the
perfect solution for all your material handling
Nowadays modern
industrial enterprises have
a lot of logistical options
as it comes to transport
materials effi ciently from
one part of the factory
to another and between
different production or
processing stages.
Before overhead chain conveyors were used
to transport materials through various
processes. As this was a continuous running
chain, all handling like loading and
unloading, had to be done in movement too.
Due to the demand for more flexible
conveyor systems which would allow for
various speeds throughout the system,
flexible routes aswell as bigger and heavier
loads, the Power and Free system had been
developed. Stewart Gill Conveyors Ltd(SGC),
part of the Railtechniek van Herwijnen Group
since 2000, is an international industry
expert in conveyor systems, who provides
complete solutions for complex requirements
in the field of material handling. According
to Stewart Gill Conveyors, P&F conveyor
systems offer a high degree of flexibility,
enable complete automation and therefore
provides the perfect solution for all your
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JUNE 2019
material handling. In the following SGC will
briefly explain how it works.
Functioning
Power and Free conveyor systems basically
consist of two parallel rail systems mounted
on top of each other, in which a chain
continuous runs through the upper rail.
The chain is equipped with moving pusher
dogs, which drive the free trolleys running
underneath which are carrying the load.
Due to this the chain does not carry the load,
but only needs to overcome the friction.
Therefore long (e.g. 15 meter) and heavy
products (e.g. 5.000 kg) are no exception
Buffers
Often buffers are used for sorting, loading/
unloading products, ovens and handling
different process speed. Stop stations allow
the free trolleys to release from the pusher
dog and stop underneath the Power chain.
Where ever a stop is desired, a stop station
can be installed. The Carriers on the back
will automatically buffer against their
predecessor. The buffer capacity is monitored
by the control systems to ensure that the
buffers cannot be flooded.
Custom made systems
With manufacturing and engineering
resources in The Netherlands, Germany,
Italy, France and Moldova, Stewart Gill
Conveyors offers in-house design,
engineering,
installation and
servicing of a wide
range of custom
made conveyors.
Every company is
different, so each
system demands a
custom solution.
For example it
depends on the
production which
conveyor speed is
used or that multiple
different speeds are
required. Therefore we often apply ‘logistic
speeds’ outside of the process and slower
‘process speeds’ during e.g. degreasing,
blasting or painting of products. It is also
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