The Two Different Types Of Gravity Conveyor, And How To Choose Between Them

Gravity Conveyor

Gravity conveyors have a justified reputation of being the most economical and cost effective solution for moving items from one place to another. Although they will not always be the best solution to the problem due to other factors, there are a great many cases where they are. They can be set up with greater ease than competing systems, because they need no external power source to be effective, and they will always be the most cost effective system in terms of energy because they simply don’t use any.

There are two fundamentally different ways in which a gravity conveyor can operate. The first and most obvious way is by the use of what its name suggests, gravity. By making one end of the conveyor belt higher than the other, items will naturally slide from the high end to the low end. This can have significant advantages, in that it is a fast way to distribute goods, but there are a couple of problems. It really needs a workshop to be designed specifically with this type of conveyor in mind, and if you don’t have a suitable structure you could be facing an expensive refit.

The other disadvantage is that the steep incline needed to ensure the speedy movement of the goods can compromise the safety of any fragile items which need to be sent. This can be overcome somewhat by having the incline smooth out to a straight board, rather than using a vertical board to stop the item sharply. This will be more effective in stopping heavy items than light ones.

The other way in which gravity conveyors can operate is by manual movement. The conveyor will be set up with little or no incline, and the movement will be facilitated by manual operation of the conveyor. In a way, this defeats the purpose of the automated conveyor, because the whole idea of automation is to take away the need for human intervention so that the worker time can be spent more productively. It does, however, still ensure that the operation remains power free, and for many organizations the saving in electricity will compensate for the need for employees to manually operate the system.

There is no clear definitive answer as to which of the gravity conveyors is better. It is entirely up to you to make your own choice. If you only have a short distance between the two points, and have no further need to move the item beyond that point, then a genuine gravity conveyor may well be your best choice. It will free up the time of your employees to the optimum degree without any requirement for fuel consumption. If you have a need for the item to be moved a longer distance, you will probably be better off with a manual operation than a genuine gravity conveyor.