Auto Height Adjustment Conveyor
Automation & Control were appointed by Australia’s largest blood bank to create a solution for a conveyor that have operators of various heights, unloading heavy items, by designing an auto height adjustment conveyor.
Our client, looking to prevent the risk of injury and increase guarding to avoid pinch points, approached Automation & Control to custom design a solution. As there were budget constraints, A&C utilized the existing conveyor and created a pivoting point on one end and then designed and built a custom scissor lift section for the height adjustment creating a more finite control of the conveying system.
Project Requirements
The project presented with many challenges. This included budget constraints, safety aspects of the conveyor with regards to the level of access required for maintenance. This meant a custom design was required to allow access to the guarding by authorised/ qualified personnel only.
Another challenge that the team faced was the range of adjustment being required. Standard lifting systems usually have a range between 200 and 300mm however the requirement our client requested to adhere to the various height range of its operators was from 4 foot 11 inches up to 6 foot 5 inches.
Project Equipment & Labour
- Incremental actuator control system
- 2 x electric actuators
- Custom stainless steel lifting section
- Limit switches – safety system
- Custom guarding
- Pivot section fabrication
- 40 hours of design
- 32 hours of fabrication, manufacturing & build time
- 16 hours of FAT (factory acceptance testing) commissioning
- 32 hours of site installation & commissioning
Project Solution
With attention to detail being imperative, the team at Automation & Control designed from the ground up, keeping budget costs in mind, made modifications to the clients existing conveyor, customising it to the requirements of the new design.
The issue with the range of height adjustment was resolved through the extensive knowledge of our engineers and their design work with the use of custom electric actuators.
This project involved the team providing fabrication, a new control system build, mechanical and electrical design and the installation of the system on-site.
Outcome
With an ease of operation through the efficiency of the auto height adjustment conveyor system has significantly increased the ergonomics of manual lifting and increased productivity by 15%.
