High temperatures put conveyor design to the test

Just about every kind of product you can imagine passes through warehouses and distribution centers. As a recent newsletter from custom conveyor and storage specialist Lauyans & Co. noted, that could be anything from nuclear waste to frozen chicken, to cite two of the products handled by the company's customers. Some of these applications can be so demanding and complex that a standard conveyor won't stand up to the task. A customized solution is required.

As an example, Lauyans cited the case of a custom conveyor it designed to transport axle blanks that had been heated to 2,000 degrees F to robotic machining stations in a manufacturing plant. The heat may be what gets the casual observer's attention, but temperature variations are an important consideration. That's because in operation, the conveying equipment will start off relatively cool, be taken up to the operating temperature, and then be brought down to ambient temperature. In this example, the conveyor had to function reliably over a temperature range of approximately 35 degrees F to 2,000 degrees F.

In this case, the custom conveyor was designed not to deform during cooling or heating, or in production. It also required special fasteners to prevent loosening during heating and cooling, as well as special coatings to protect the conveyor's surfaces from jamming and rusting.