Custom Conveyor Solution: Applesauce Pouch Incline Conveyor

 In the food and beverage industry, each customer’s needs are unique and one of a kind or customized machinery solutions are often required. For this project, Bevco was approached by a customer who needed to transport small apple sauce pouches up a steep incline. The apple pouches drop off the end of an existing conveyor onto the infeed of this new conveyor at 9” above the floor level.  The products then move up a steep incline at 37.5 degrees reaching 60” in elevation and then discharge over the conveyor drive end, dropping into a crate.

   This was a refreshing and unique project for Bevco’s design team as the product was quite different from the cans and bottles that we normally transport. Bevco’s mechanical designers came up with a brand new, custom flighted conveyor design to meet the customer’s various requirements.

Customer's Requirements

• Pouches are dropped onto the conveyor at 180 pouches/ minutes via a drop chute from their existing conveyor.
• Locking casters required to move the conveyor around the facility easily
• Infeed elevation: 9” floor to top of chain.
• Outfeed elevation: 60” floor to top of chain.
• 11 ft of total length.
• 4” tall fixed stainless-steel guide rails
• Local Variable Frequency Drive to control the gearmotor & chain speed.

Original Concept vs. Final Design

Design Challenges

• A MatTop chain with pusher tabs was required to carry the products up the incline. A new design for the chain return (underside of conveyor) was required as the chain’s extruding pusher tabs would have interfered with the rollers or serpentine spacers on Bevco’s standard conveyor design.

• The pusher tab of the chain in the chain return area of the conveyor created a pinch and draw hazard. Guarding was required to eliminate this hazard.

• On the infeed end of the conveyor the top of chain elevation required was 9” above the floor. This left very little room to work with to fit the conveyor frame, supports and guarding.

Bevco's Custom Design and Features

• The HP 5936 K chain with pusher tabs was selected for this project with 1” gaps on each side of the chain to allow the chain to be captured by a wearstrip track.

• Stainless Steel tabs and a notched wearstrip track profile were used to support and guide the chain on the return side of the conveyor.

• To eliminate all pinch and draw hazards on the return side of the conveyor, the entire underside of the conveyor was enclosed by a 16ga. stainless-steel cover. This cover needed to be removable for conveyor cleaning and maintenance.

• The conveyor frame was made 4" deep to accommodate the 9" infeed height requirement
• A take-up bearing was implemented to eliminate catenary sag on the idler end of the conveyor

• Swivel-locking casters on offset supports were provided to allow extra vertical adjustability. The casters could be locked or unlocked to keep the conveyor in place or easily move the conveyor in any direction around the production facility.

• Wearstrip tracks were implemented on the incline transition to prevent the chain from lifting off the conveyor frame. These wearstrip tracks were extended back to the idler end so that pouches could not get jammed between the end of the wearstrip track and chain pusher tab after being dropped onto the conveyor. Small details are important!

• The conveyor was built in modular sections, so it could be easily assembled and disassembled or future sections could be added if necessary.