Material Handling Equipment - Industrial and Systems Engineering

MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT16. Trolley conveyorUnit + Overhead + No AccumulationUses a series of trolleys supported from or within anoverhead trackTrolleys are equally spaced in a closed loop path and aresuspended from a chainCarriers are used to carry multiple units of productDoes not provide for accumulationCommonly used in processing, assembly, packaging, andstorage operations17. Power-and-free conveyorUnit + Overhead/On-Floor + AccumulateSimilar to trolley conveyor due to use of discretelyspaced carriers transported by an overhead chain;however, power-and-free conveyor uses two tracks:one powered and the other nonpowered (or free)Carriers can be disengaged from the power chain andaccumulated or switched onto spursTermed an Inverted Power-and-Free Conveyor whentracks are located on the floor18. MonorailUnit + Overhead + AccumulateOverhead single track (i.e., mono-rail) or tracknetwork on which one or more carriers rideCarriers: powered (electrically or pneumatically) ornonpoweredCarrier can range from a simple hook to a hoist to anintelligent-vehicle-like deviceSingle-carrier, single-track monorail similar tobridge or gantry craneMulti-carrier, track network monorail similar to botha trolley conveyor, except that the carriers operate32