April 19, 2013 - Force Control Industries says its Size 30 Posidyne clutch brake with Oil Shear Technology can be operated as a clutch only for applications such as pumps or fans, or as a clutch brake for cycling or indexing applications. This brake dynamically accelerates or decelerates high inertia loads without wear on friction discs, says Force, promising years of maintenance-free, no-downtime operation. It is suitable for bulk materials handling applications, such as use on conveyors and load-out conveyors, as well as bulk loading applications like rail car dumpers, portside conveyors and other critical applications.

Maintaining the power transmission components of a high capacity, high-power bulk material handing conveyor belt requires treating it as system. This system includes a motor that creates the torque to drive the conveyor, a gearbox to reduce the speed and increases the torque, and a conveyor pulley assembly that transmits the torque to the conveyor belt. These components are connected with high-speed and low-speed couplings.

Replacing components is costly and time consuming, but by scheduling machine downtime to properly maintain each piece of the system, a user can increase the effective long-term life of machinery. Bearings, seals and gears are wear components. This means they will fail — it’s just a matter of when.

Inspecting and observing components should always be included in the preventative maintenance guidelines for a conveyor system. Monitoring lubrication, temperature, noise, vibration, wear and alignment will help uncover potential problems prior to failure.

Routine vibration measurements of the entire equipment train should be taken at regular intervals so that problems can be found well in advance of a component failure. The foundation and equipment base should be checked regularly for movement or looseness.

Motor
The majority of motor failures can be divided into two categories: bearings and windings.

More motors fail due to bearing problems than for any other reason. The leading cause of bearing failures relate to a variety of issues surrounding lubrication. Antifriction bearings should be re-lubricated on a regular basis. The lubrication schedule depends greatly on the motor’s operating environment and service conditions. While failures may occur due to lack of lubrication, bearings may also fail due to grease contaminated by water or other materials.

The second most common cause of motor failures is stator-winding failures. To insure long motor life, it is important the motor operate within the temperature class of its insulation system and be kept clean and free of particle build up on the frame surface, air inlet and fans.
 
There are several simple tests that can be performed to detect and prevent premature failure of a motor winding. First, motor current can be measured to determine if a motor is overloaded. Measurement of voltage imbalance is the second test. Voltage imbalance between phases may increase motor temperature and cause the motor to exceed rated temperature. The third test uses non-contact infrared pyrometers to help identify potential motor temperature problems by identifying abnormal hot spots, bearing problems, air flow and cooling problems. You can also perform an insulation resistance test. Motor insulation systems may deteriorate because of contamination, mechanical movement, cracking, attack by solvents, mechanical impact, or many other factors.

Technology today also offers the mine engineer sophisticated tools that evaluate the health of a running motor. There are tools available that evaluate the current signature and vibration of a motor concurrently to provide a comprehensive evaluation of motor health. This type of analysis can be performed as a routine survey throughout the mine, or these monitors can be installed on specific critical machines for continuous monitoring. These tools allow the easy transmission of motor data back to motor engineers who can perform a detailed analysis of the data collected from anywhere in the world.

Gearbox
The gearbox is a key component of the conveyor drive and one of the most expensive. Proper lubrication is critical to maintain long-term performance. The oil has two main purposes: it keeps the components from wearing and also keeps them cool.
 
An oil-sampling program is an effective way to monitor the health of a gearbox. Periodic oil analysis indicates if water is getting into the oil, if the oil is breaking down, or if there is gear or bearing wear. Sampling also can be used to establish oil-change intervals based on the actual condition of the lubricant. When inspecting the gearbox, check for leaks at the shaft seals.
 
Temperature monitoring is another useful tool. After establishing a baseline, subsequent readings can be used as comparisons, and the data can be trended. A rise in temperature or localized hot spots can indicate problems with the gears or bearings.
 
 A person’s ears are also a useful preventative-maintenance tool. Abnormal sounds are often the first indicator that something is wrong with the gearbox. Vibration readings can be a good indicator of gearbox health, and this analysis can help detect coupling misalignment, improper foundation support (soft foot), and gear or bearing damage. Take a baseline reading with the gearbox installed and connected to the conveyor. Like temperature measurement, trends can help tell what is happening inside the gearbox.

Conveyor Pulley Bearings
Routine maintenance and proper lubrication will ensure a bearing’s maximum life span. The bearings on a conveyor pulley normally run at low speeds and should be filled 100-per-cent full of grease before they leave the factory. This helps prevent water from getting into the bearings during shipping and storage. This fill also helps keep contaminates out during operation.
 
Effective lubrication is critical to prevent premature bearing failure. If the bearing is not re-lubricated properly then its life is essentially only as good as the service life of the grease. Therefore, re-lubricating the bearing at predetermined intervals is recommended. Most instruction manuals list re-lubrication intervals based upon speed and hours of operation. However, these are typically general recommendations and don’t reflect how temperature and environment may impact the bearing. The manufacturer will be able to supply more detailed recommendations.

When it is time to re-lubricate the bearings, it is important to use with the proper type of lubricant. Not all lubricants, whether grease or oil, are compatible. Contamination, including dirt, dust, moisture, etc., will wreak havoc on a bearing once it has penetrated the seal cavity. It is best to lubricate just before shutdown, especially in moist or humid environments.

Noise and audible vibrations are other easy characteristics to identify. When bearings begin to show audible signs of noise and vibration there is something wrong and a scheduled inspection is due. Vibration is a key characteristic growing in popularity to identify bearing trends and predict failure. Accelerometers can be used to measure vibration on the equipment. Bearing frequencies that correlate with vibration measurements might identify inconsistencies on the raceways or rollers; signs of on setting fatigue failure. Routine measurements should be recorded for future comparisons.

Conveyor Pulley
The pulley needs to be monitored for rim or lagging wear. Typically a pulley is not designed with additional material added for wear. So if the pulley in use on a conveyor is not lagged, and the user is experiencing rim wear, lagging should be applied. However, lagging wear also needs to be monitored because uneven wear can cause problems with belt tracking.
 
On the drive pulley you can monitor the wear by looking at the depth of the grooves. The grooves are there to allow water and other material that gets between the pulley and the belt to move to the edge of the pulley and out from under the belt. When the grooves are almost gone, or you start to have problems with the belt slipping, it is time to replace the lagging. On non-drive pulleys, the lagging should be replaced before it has worn down to the rim.
 
The pulley may also be monitored for noise and vibration, which can detect cracks in the rim or end disc.

Couplings
Metallic, grid or gear couplings are most commonly used on large conveyor drives. They require grease lubrication, which should be monitored and changed normally every six to 12 months. Particles found in the grease would indicate the coupling is wearing, typically caused by misalignment. Vibration monitoring of the gearbox can also help determine if there is a problem with misalignment.

Instead of focusing on one or two components of a conveyor system, creating a maintenance program that encompasses the entire system will lead to longer effective life of machinery. Inspecting, observing and caring for the system as a whole will help prevent unplanned downtime and increase productivity.

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David Keech is a mining industry engineer with Baldor Electric, a member of the ABB Group. For more information, visit www.blador.com.

Quality Meat Packers Ltd., the Toronto operator of a pork processing plant, was fined $70,000 today for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.

On Feb. 3, 2011, a worker at the Toronto plant was cleaning a conveyor using a hose. The conveyor was guarded to prevent access to its moving parts. But, when the water pressure in the hose dropped, the worker lifted a guard to get better access to the conveyor with the hose. The worker believed lifting the interlocked guard would stop the conveyor from moving but an electrical switch malfunction stopped this from happening. When the worker put a hand on the still-moving conveyor, the worker's arm was pulled into its gears.

Quality Meat Packers Limited pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the machine was cleaned only when motion that may endanger a worker was stopped.

The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace David Hunt. In addition to the fine, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Sticky powders present manufacturers and processors with unique material conveying challenges involving volumetric auger fillers that dispense powders, granulars, and flakes for packaging. 

When the U.S. government decided to switch to a bio based laundry detergent for the military and other government entities, the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) had the potential to expand its manufacturing and fulfillment division by coming up with a system where it could produce the detergent in an efficient and economical manner.

ABVI’s manufacturing and fulfillment division employs approximately 60 individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Its mission is to prepare and empower people who are blind or visually impaired to be self-sufficient and contribute to their families and the community.

ABVI employees convert, assemble, package, and distribute a wide range of high-quality products for federal and state government use and partners with companies like 3M and Ecolab.

“This was a totally new process for us,” says Leon France, Quality Manager at ABVI.  “Our first step was to work with a soap manufacturer that could develop a bio based product that met government specifications, and then create a production line that could give us the competitive edge.” 

After successfully developing a detergent with a supplier manufacturer, France contacted Per-Fil for an auger filling station to dispense the detergent into boxes containing two 13-pound cartons. However, he still needed a system that would deliver the detergent to the auger filler from 2000-pound super sacks, and “Per-Fil recommended we contact VAC-U-MAX for a solution,” says France.

VAC-U-MAX, an early pioneer of vacuum technology best known for handling free and non-free-flowing powders, specializes in design and manufacture of pneumatic conveyor systems and support equipment for conveying, weighing and batching of dry materials. The primary technology for conveying is vacuum, but positive pressure pneumatic conveying systems as well as mechanical conveyors, like flexible screw conveyors, are used as applications dictate.

Detergents are challenging to convey due to their adhesive characteristics and because moving and dispensing powder at high volume can potentially change the density, component blend and texture, producing inconsistent fill rates or volumes, causing production interruptions, and possible degraded particle size that compromises quality control standards.

With a vacuum conveying system, powder isn’t forced mechanically and there are no moving parts to come in contact with the powder to disrupt it.

France says that when he contacted the conveyor manufacturer and explained what ABVI was trying to accomplish and the nature of the product the company requested material samples to ensure particle size distribution didn’t change upon vacuuming from a super sack into the hopper.

The conveyor manufacturer has a fully functional test and demonstration facility equipped with a multitude of equipment configurations and vacuum conveying tests to simulate actual conditions at customer’s sites and performs testing at no charge to potential customers.

Because the powder can change density in the auger filler head, leading to improper fills, keeping the head full and at proper density is critical. VAC-U-MAX utilizes a variety of methods such as specialized finishes and a proprietary designed coneless vacuum receivers that reduce powder sticking inside the system eliminating the need for external flow promotion.

France says, “we decided upon this system because the manufacturer invited us to their facility to demonstrate their equipment with our product, offered us a couple different options based upon our product needs, and we were able to make a decision of which way to go.”

Pneumatic conveying systems are flexible, and when working with an expert that has intimate knowledge of  material characteristics and manufacturing processes, users can have semi-custom pneumatic conveying systems using standard components that are adapted to fit manufacturing needs.

Once ABVI was granted the contract, it commenced building a room with proper ventilation for the process and ordered the equipment.

Because the controls from the two systems needed to be integrated to signal the vacuum system to convey more detergent when the auger filler hopper emptied, France says, “we wanted to make sure that when we got the whole system on site, the line would be fully functional and everything worked properly.” 

To confirm this, the conveyor manufacturer set up its system at Per-Fil’s facility and demonstrated to ABVI representatives that the two systems were fully integrated and operational.

“We really appreciate the fact that VAC-U-MAX was willing to send someone to the auger filler manufacturer to guarantee their equipment was able to interface properly with the other equipment,” says France.

The conveying system vacuums the detergent from super sacks at floor level using a large wand that an individual moves around inside the sack when necessary, into the hopper of the filling machine. 

The filling system has been designed so that individuals who are blind or visually impaired can operate the line. Audible alarms on the auger filler alert operators that they need to move the wand to a different location within the bag in the event that the conveying system is not sucking detergent into the hopper.

When the boxes are full, an audible signal lets operators know they can move it away from the filling station to another location where the box is sealed and packaged. The system also utilizes a touch screen for further assistance that provides audible explanations of whether the process is working properly or not.

The production line has a demonstrated daily capacity of 200, two-carton boxes and is staffed with three operators.
 
“The system runs very clean,” says France. “Overall we are impressed with the system and the expertise that VAC-U-MAX provided in the process.”
www.vac-u-max.com.

Two fatalities in just one year — related to the same piece of equipment — led to important improvements in worker protection. Arguably, these did not go far enough, but one solution may help provide an extra boost of safety.

Mining, as anyone who works within it knows only too well, can be a dangerous industry. It is not just underground and at the coal face where serious (and even fatal) accidents can occur. There is one piece of equipment in particular that has led to serious accidents: the inclined conveyor. But a solution from Renold Couplings promises to alleviate the risk, and Rio Tinto is just one company that has taken advantage of the innovation to protect its workers.

The mining industry would find it hard to function without the inclined conveyor to transport coal. However, in the event of a loss of power, their design means that they can run backwards, out of control, if in a loaded condition. For that reason, for many years, these systems have been fitted with backstop sprag clutches. These work by allowing a shaft to rotate in one direction as the sprags slip. But if the shaft tries to turn the other way — as it will do if the conveyor begins to run backwards — the sprags immediately stand up and lock.

These same safety components are also fitted to theme park rides to prevent cars from running downhill in the event of a power failure.

Although this effectively solves the problem it was designed to, another associated problem can also occur, for which it is not only no help but is also actually the direct cause.

If a blockage occurs between the lower belt and the return end shaft, the conveyor will stall. The backstop sprag clutch then comes into operation to prevent the belt from running backwards — but as a result, tension builds in the upper belt, because the slack in the lower belt can’t feed back through the drive.

The natural reaction of the operator is to remove whatever is causing the obstruction to get the conveyor back in operation as quickly as possible. But if the tension in the upper belt isn’t released first, the sudden release that occurs when the blockage is removed will cause it to pull the lower belt rapidly around the return roller with huge force. This force can be so powerful that it has been known to cause the load on the top belt to explode in all directions, and has even pulled the worker removing the blockage into the conveyor.

One answer, developed by Renold, is the tension release and torque limiting safety holdback sprag clutch, which has been designed to enable the extreme tension in the upper belt to be released in a controlled way through controlled friction slippage of the sprag clutch element of the backstop.

With the tension released in this controlled manner, maintenance work can be carried out to remove the blockage and get the conveyor up and running again, quickly and safely.

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This is an edited article provided by Renold Couplings. For more information, visit www.renold.com.

Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) are computer-controlled material handling machines for automatically depositing, storing and retrieving unit loads from defined storage locations. Central to the ASRS is its stacker cranes which permit full-pallet load and layered-pallet inventory to be moved quickly, safely and precisely within a high-bay warehouse environment.

Stacker cranes offer reliability and accuracy that exceed the capabilities of forklift trucks or turret trucks. Modern cranes operate within a set of top and bottom rails, eliminating the need for any flat-floor requirements. Since the crane is stabilized by the rail connections, greater load capacities are available, as well as higher rack heights, when compared to free roaming lift trucks.

ASRS cranes have a high efficiency of cycle time, a calculation of the movement of product within a DC’s storage system. Many manual operations in a warehouse transport product in only one direction, then return with an empty load. Stacker cranes place a load into a rack position, and then retrieve a load from storage on their way back out, optimizing the crane’s movements.

The ASRS stacker crane concept has proven itself to be a viable method to reduce operating and distribution costs in the warehouse. Semi-automated and fully automated cranes reduce the number of people required to operate the warehouse. By incorporating stacker crane systems, a distribution center’s throughput can operate at a more cost-efficient level.

ASRS cranes have advanced to an extremely high level of performance, and continue to improve. The latest generation of cranes incorporates a unique flexibility, allowing single-deep, double-deep, triple-deep and up to 20-deep pallet stacking utilizing telescopic forks and shuttle cars, with the flexibility to handle one load at a time or multiple loads.

Such cranes can exceed 140 feet in height carrying payloads of 11,000 pounds, traveling at vertical speeds of 325 feet-per-minute (FPM) and achieving horizontal travel speeds of 787 FPM.

Most can operate in a wide sphere of temperatures, ranging from minus 38° F to 140° F, equipped with wiring, electrical cables and photo-electronic sensors that are designed to withstand these extreme environments.

High-speed PLCs with integrated controls architecture monitor the movements of the cranes. Receiving directions from the distribution center’s warehouse management system (WMS) and warehouse control system (WCS) via Ethernet, the cranes utilize barcode technology to direct their movement in the high bay and the crane’s movement of pallets.

The most efficient stacker cranes that provide the lowest operating cost per hour are now fully A/C powered. This eliminates the costs associated with DC batteries, charging, and associated maintenance. Such cranes have also eliminated hydraulics, which greatly reduces maintenance costs.

And then there is the power-saving technology designed into some of these cranes – the process of capturing and reusing electricity. As the crane carriage lowers, software allows the power to be captured from the lifting motor, which now becomes the generator. That captured power can be put into a grid inside the distribution center to help power other equipment like conveyor systems or other stacker cranes.

These progressive developmental improvements in stacker crane operation have made them one of the most efficient material handling systems in highly automated warehouses.

Streamlined Aisle-Changing Functionality
Now, aisle-changing functionality has pushed stacker crane operation to an even higher level of efficiency. Although aisle-changing capability in stacker cranes has been around in some form since the early 1990’s, the speed and efficiency with which these new cranes can now execute aisle changes makes them a serious option for use in any DC interested in reducing operational costs while improving throughput.

Most high-rise warehouses use ASRS cranes that are only capable of traveling in a straight line, in one aisle. The limitation of such a dedicated-aisle crane is that one crane is required to service each storage aisle in a warehouse. As cranes are a major part of the cost of high-bay warehouse solutions, by reducing the numbers of cranes significant savings can be realized. The number of stacker cranes can be matched to the warehouse throughput instead of to the number of aisles, therefore reducing the capital investment.

Unlike earlier models of aisle-changing cranes, which had limitations in their aisle-changing flexibility, some of the latest stacker cranes have been designed with efficient aisle-changing capabilities. One such crane is produced by LTW Intralogistics, a manufacturer of stacker cranes for warehousing. When the LTW crane gets to the end of an aisle, it can then travel perpendicular to the aisle and enter another aisle to continue storing and retrieving pallets.

The crane literally smoothly rotates around the end of the aisle on a curved track, without leaving the track. It makes for an easy and fast transition between aisles. LTW has designed and patented a specialized track to facilitate the move, which requires no transfer mechanisms, supervision equipment or costly and time-consuming maintenance, problems that have plagued earlier aisle-changing cranes.

The ability to switch aisles increases redundancy, in the event that a crane would go out of service. Each pallet position then becomes 100 percent accessible. This also allows cranes to be easily moved off line when service is required into an off-line maintenance area.

If an ASRS solution in place in a distribution facility has ten aisles and is employing ten stacker cranes each operating in its respective aisle, if a stacker crane breaks down there is no way to get products out of that aisle. With aisle-changing cranes operating in a situation like this, the DC operator could easily move the disabled crane to the maintenance area and the remaining cranes could complete the tasks required in that aisle. The redundancy system would assure that the pallets are retrieved. This is very important to maintaining a high level of delivery assurance.

These new aisle-changing applications require fewer cranes and less capital investment than solutions using fixed-aisle cranes. It is not uncommon for a distribution center with 24 aisles with 50,000 pallets to have just six state-of-the-art aisle-changing cranes servicing them. As the DC’s volume increases, it can add on more stacker cranes to accommodate the need, making the system quite scalable.

Depending on the throughput flow of a distribution center, the DC may employ a combination of dedicated-aisle cranes for aisles with higher volume throughput requirements, and use aisle-changing cranes for those aisles where the volumes are less.

Keeping Throughput on the Move
The most streamlined warehouses today are highly automated facilities, with maximized high-bay, high-density storage utilizing ASRS. These ASRS, in conjunction with the warehouse management system, maintain precision product identification and rotation, provide rapid throughput with over 99.9 percent accuracy levels, and are considerably more energy efficient than their manually-operated facilities.

To stay competitive, distribution centers need to implement systems that will have the flexibility to adjust very quickly and accurately to market conditions such as increases in SKU range and shortened lead times. Keeping throughput on the move is critical in any distribution center. It is here where the latest technology in ASRS aisle-changing functionality can provide the biggest benefit to a company’s distribution effort.
www.ltwusa.com

Conveyor systems are used in industrial workplaces to move goods from one spot to another. However, when objects are in motion, injuries can happen. According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, while conveyor-related injuries occur less often than other types of injuries, they tend to be more severe.

In Ontario, between 2005 and 2008, two workers died and 48 were seriously injured, according to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) statistics. Ministry inspectors take a “zero tolerance” approach to any contraventions found under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations, and every province has similar legislation in place.

“We want everyone to be aware of the guarding and lockout hazards involving conveyor systems, and need to make sure all measures are in place to prevent injuries,” Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca said last fall as the province geared up for a blitz on conveyor hazards. “At the end of the day, workers should return home safe and sound to their families.”

One guy who knows conveyors is Paul Eckert, president of Eckert Machines, which provides machinery and solutions for a range of food processing applications. He says conveyor manufacturers, such as Dorner, Commercial, Olney, A&K and Vanmark, have all taken great pains to incorporate operator safety into their product designs.

One of the most common hazards, he says, include catch points or pinch points, such as unguarded drives or tensioning systems and open access where pulleys and belts meet, “an easy and seemingly irresistible place for fingers or loose clothing to go,” Eckert says.

One top solution is proper guarding. “Well-designed and constructed guards will be easy to use, and will enable easy and thorough access for sanitation and maintenance,” Eckert says. “And then they will be easy to return to their normal operating position. A well-designed guard, if left off the machine, is totally useless.”

This is critical. In Ontario, during last year’s conveyor inspection blitz, the government said its inspectors would check for pinch points and other hazardous locations lacking guarding devices on conveyors. Guarding is typically required in locations such as power transmission interfaces, nip points, shear points (where a moving conveyor part meets or passes near a stationary point such as a wall) and spill points (where material could spill from a conveyor).

When it is necessary to open or remove guards, workers must follow lockout procedures to prevent injury from the conveyor starting. Lockout procedures typically involve bringing the machine to a complete stop and disconnecting all its power sources. Blocking is an extra step that must be carried out to prevent the conveyor belt from moving under its own power due to tension on the belt.

Additionally, while maintenance or cleaning personnel working on running conveyors is often necessary, “in many cases, proper lockout procedures would greatly improve worker safety,” Eckert says. As well, it can be problematic when guards are removed and not replaced: “The original conveyor may be well-guarded, but if the guards are too cumbersome or difficult to open or remove and replace for cleaning and maintenance access, many operators will simply leave them off.”

Additionally, conveyor adjustments must be able to be made easily. A poorly adjusted conveyor presents risks by misdirecting product or creating conditions that will lure an operator to reach in to fix something: a ripe opportunity for accidents.

Lack of Conveyors
“It is surprising how many times one sees simple conveying functions being handled manually,” Eckert says. “This can result in personal safety risks, and even such longer-term injuries as carpal tunnel or other such muscular/skeletal strains.”

If targeting for inspection, provincial inspectors will check that workers are not exposed on an ongoing basis to things such as repetitive work, forceful exertions such as heavy lifting and carrying, awkward postures and vibrating equipment that can affect the bones, joints, ligaments and other soft tissues.

A solution is to use conveyors wherever possible to handle such repetitive tasks as well as tasks that would put personnel into too-close contact with other moving parts. “This will reduce labour cost, reduce personnel safety risk and often helps to ensure a more reliable and consistent feed or takeaway in the process,” Eckert says.

Designs on Safety
Another issue is poorly designed conveyors, which may be too fast, too slow, too big, too small, built with the wrong materials or have poor transitions for product to enter or leave conveyor. “All of these design issues potentially lead to an operator trying to help by sticking his hand in where he shouldn’t and then … accidents happen, production stops, everyone loses,” Eckert says. Overloaded conveyors can cause problems, too, as systems originally designed for one product or capacity are tasked with larger workloads.

These problems can be solved with an upfront investment in system design. When looking to adopt a new conveying system, Eckert lists several things a plant manager must consider when settling on the right solution:

n Design for the application: Rather than trying to make a one-size-fits-all solution, tailor the conveyor to the application at hand. A conveyor is an integral part of any system. Design based on the product and production’s current needs, with a clear eye on what the future growth might be.

n Leave room to expand: Never design a conveyor to only handle the volume you need now. If the solution is already maxed-out on its load capability, it will soon enough fall behind and potentially become a safety risk. Originally designed for one product or capacity, many conveyors are moved or lines are changed — and products and capacities change without consideration for the inevitable strain on the original conveyor.

n Use the right materials: Steel, aluminum, stainless steel and plastics all have their strengths and limitations. Often, the product or plant environment will dictate to a certain extent which material is most suitable. In a food plant, cleanliness of design and construction are very critical: surfaces must be fully accessible for thorough cleaning and easy maintenance. The same standards apply in pharmaceuticals and many other clean-room environments.

n Create smooth transitions: Ensure the transitions are seamless to and from conveyors to ensure steady product flow and to ensure operators will not have to intervene to keep production going. Let it do the heavy lifting so operators can concentrate on ensuring steady production of quality product.

n Factor maintenance and cleaning into design: Ensure both maintenance and cleaning can be easily done so that the conveyor will perform at its optimum and safest level.
n Guard properly: Use proper guarding on all moving parts and pinch points where applicable.

However, Eckert cautions there is no one set solution for all conveying applications. “Look at the whole picture and be sure to understand and appreciate that the conveyor is a machine and a tool,” he explains. “Design it properly and it will work for you. If you don’t take the time to do it right up front, it will cost much more in the long term.”

The Timken Company announced it has agreed to acquire privately held Drives LLC for US$92 million in cash. Based in Fulton, Ill., Drives is a leading manufacturer of highly engineered drive-chains, roller-chains and conveyor augers for the agricultural and industrial marketplace. The company posted sales of approximately US$100 million in the last 12 months, with 430 employees in North America.

"The Drives business brings significant expertise in precision-engineered chain and related products, especially among global equipment manufacturers in agricultural and food processing," said Christopher Coughlin, president of Timken's Process Industries segment. "Adding Drives will enhance our overall product portfolio for the industrial process and mobile markets and offers plenty of upside as we extend their line in the marketplace using Timken's global infrastructure."

Timken has been steadily expanding its product offering and capabilities to provide value-added solutions for a diverse range of machinery applications.  This purchase — along with Timken's recent acquisitions of Philadelphia Gear and QM Bearings — further increases the breadth of Timken's mechanical power transmission product offering and moves the company well beyond its original focus on bearings.

Coughlin noted that Drives' engineered products are also vital to mobile and industrial machinery in oil and gas; aggregate and mining; primary metals; forest products; and other heavy industries. Also attractive to Timken is the firm's strength in food and beverage and the packaged goods sectors, which require high-end, specialty products such as stainless-steel and corrosion-resistant roller chains. 

"Because this adjacent technology complements our existing portfolio, it should allow us to offer a more complete market solution to deliver greater value to our customers and shareholders," Coughlin said.

Timken expects to complete the transaction within approximately 30 days, pending certain government and regulatory approvals. The acquisition should be accretive to Timken earnings in its first full year.
www.timken.com