4 Tips to Help You Select the Right Conveyor

Dorner Conveyors are constantly bringing new products to the market and expanding current product lines. Their products fit in a multitude of applications and it is important to specify the correct conveyor.

You have a new application. Where do you begin?

We created a small list of tips (and questions) to help you determine the best conveyor system to meet your project needs.

Here are 4 tips that can help you select the correct conveyor for your application.

1) What is the product you are moving?

This is the most important question when selecting your conveyor. There isn't a one-size fits all solution. What is the overall dimensions? How much does it weigh? The answers to both questions will help you pick and configure the most cost-effective conveyor for the application.

2) What is your production rate?

The production rate directly determines the speed requirements. Feet per minute is used by Dorner to determine the gearmotor and drive package. Here is a helpful equation to calculate the required speed in ft/min:

Belt Speed in Feet / Minute : ( Product Length in inches + Required Gap in inches) × Rate in products/minute ÷ 12 inches per foot ( L + G ) × R ÷ 12 Belt Speed in Meters / Minute: ( Product Length in mm + Required Gap in mm) × Rate in products/minute ÷ 1000 ( L + G) × R ÷ 1000

3) Environment?

Dorner manufacturers two different conveyor "families". One for industrial applications and the other for sanitary applications. It is important to know which one you fit into. First question you need to ask yourself is will moisture be present in your application. If you answered yes, then you need to look at the AquaGard and AquaPruf series. Other factors, such as industry regulations may affect the decision process, but it always starts with the moisture question. A improperly spec'ed conveyor will provide you with headaches, increased costs, and lost productivity.

4) Understand The Control Requirements

How are you planning on making the conveyor go? How will it interface with current machines and processes? Dorner offers three main conveyor control packages. Fixed speed, variable speed, and indexing. Understanding the control requirements will help guide your decision to the correct controls package. The reccomended choice for most conveyor applications is the variable speed package. The variable speed package gives you the ability to increase or decrease the speed of the conveyor to match fluctating production rates. Another advantage of the variable drive is you can increase the speed if a process upstream becomes more efficient. No need to worry about changing out the conveyor.

Work through the 4 tips and questions presented above and you will be heading down easy street.

Dorner provides multiple tools to assist with the process of chossing the correct conveyor and The Knotts Company has trained team members to help as well.