Conveyors move materials or people using belts, chains, or screws powered by electricity, gas, diesel, or water. Variable speed drive motors are useful for manufacturing operations where parts maintain a constant speed or distance. Conveyor speed can also be changed by varying the speed of belt assemblies.
Conveyors are designed to move materials or people from one place to another. They can be constructed from belts, chains or even ladders in the case of escalators. All require a power source, supplied by conveyor drives. Electricity, gas or diesel engines, or water can be used to power these drives, but they all work the same way.
A common conveyor is a continuous flexible belt that passes over a series of rollers and winds onto drive or idler rollers at each end. The drive roller is connected to the motor drive, the idler gear moves with the belt at the opposite end. An idler roller typically has no transport units attached, although very long units may be fed at either end.
Chains can also be used to move parts or machines. Each drive motor contains gear systems and a sprocket or sprocket that engages with the chain. The chain is driven at the speed set by the gears and can move wheeled objects such as cars or carts. Automated car washes and automotive assembly plants are common users of chain conveyor drives.
Heavy materials such as dirt, thick slurries and minerals can be moved with screw conveyors. A metal screw is wound around a central drive shaft and welded to it, where it rotates and can move materials along its length. They are useful for moving materials vertically, especially products that would slide along a belt.
People can be moved on conveyor belts in areas with high foot traffic. Belts set at a walking speed were installed in buildings, airports and outdoors in warmer climates beginning in the 1950s, with simpler designs as early as the 1890s. The moving sidewalk or walkway allowed people to walk and continue walking or standing until the end of the tape. Escalators are also conveyors, with a continuous cycle of steps instead of a belt.
Many industrial conveyor drives are single speed devices, with a fixed speed set by the motor and gears. Improvements in motor design in the late 20th century resulted in variable speed drive motors. These drives have advantages over constant speed devices for manufacturing operations where parts maintain a constant speed or distance.
An example of a variable speed is a bottling machine designed to fill a certain volume of liquid in a given time. If smaller bottles are used, the conveyor must run at a higher speed to deliver the required number of bottles. When larger bottles are used the speed can be reduced to provide the correct fill rate. These changes can be made efficiently with variable speed drive motors.
Designers can also change the speed of moving products by slightly varying the speed of the belt assemblies. For a belt system, shorter lengths can be built in series, with each section having a slightly different speed than the adjacent ones. This method can increase or decrease speeds using low cost single speed conveyor belt drives. Each section has its own drive motor which runs at the required speed for that section.
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