Belt conveyors are used for low cost efficient transport of packages or items from point A to point B. Belts are typically used on longer spans within a system to keep costs lower where no logic is needed in that section. Slider belts are belted conveyors that are on top of a solid conveying surface and good for many low speed applications where weight is not an issue. Belt over roller is used to reduce friction with heavier items on the conveyor. Belt over roller is also good for higher speed applications, or for long runs of conveyor where one motor is driving a long section.
Gapping conveyor (Gapper) may be used when gaps in the incoming product need to be pulled to ensure proper reading and sorting before passing through printers or label applicators, barcode scanners, inline scales, and end of line sortation. You can optimize the throughput and minimize the distance between goods entering the sorter by accelerating or decelerating the gapping conveyor.
When a merge is eliminated, cartons must be split by gaps before scanning and sorting to ensure proper reading & sorting of barcodes. A gapping conveyor is composed of two carriers with a marginally higher speed than the incoming flow of totes/cartons, which creates a gap between adjacent totes/cartons. Gap requirement can vary based on needs over a scale or to sort at the end of the line. The gapping conveyor can be dynamic and static, depending on the software and control systems used.
Gapping conveyors run at a constant speed, and the ratio between the conveyors is constant, or may vary if servo drives are used for high speed applications. The pitch or distance between the products’ leading edges is typically a fixed distance.
tekv has experience across various industries in gapping conveyor installations. Let us help you reach new automatic sorting precision speeds.
