The Advantages of Power & Free Conveyors

• Conventional conveyors' capabilities are limited compared to power and free conveyors. Hal Bergman/Photodisc/Getty Images

  Power and free conveyor systems integrate multiple tracks side by side. Typically, one track has power while another does not. A drive train propels the powered track to move carriers from one point to another. The unpowered track, or free track, moves freely when propelled by an outside force. Packages or other payloads moving on a powered track will continue to move when transferred to a free track, but will gradually slow and come to rest. Payloads may also be stored on the free track, for fast and easy transfer to the powered track.

Flexibility of Power and Free Conveyors

• A trolley propels the powered conveyor, but disengages and leaves the carrier idle in the free rail beneath the chain. This allows subsequent carriers to disengage from the chain as they contact carriers in front of them. This process continues until all desired carriers gather on the free rail, which can then engage to move the carriers to their next destination.

  This feature allows load staging, in which multiple payloads move and gather in different locations until it is time to move them to their next location, or to a storage area. These loads can accumulate and store on the conveyor line, which saves time normally spent loading and unloading the conveyor. It also allows greater flexibility in the types and sizes of loads, and in their storage options.

Size and Efficiency

• When using power and free conveyors in settings where payloads heat and cool, such as in foundries, it requires smaller spaces to store their loads. Ovens, cooling stations and staging areas may all take less space because multiple loads can gather together with smaller physical footprints. The lack of need to unload and reload parts as they cool reduces the amount of work necessary to convey payloads through the production line.

Automation and Safety

• Power and free conveyors are more conducive to full automation than designs that require more manual input. Companies accomplish automation through the more efficient transfers of product between manufacturing, finishing and shipping areas. Central computer control can determine when or where a carrier should halt, and can keep track of the number of carriers that have reached a stopping point. Once sufficient carriers move to a free conveyor, the computer can engage it and convey the parts to their next destination.