Conveyors are actually equipment pieces that allow transporting all sorts of materials from one place to another. The way they are used greatly vary depending on the product type that is to be transported, the actual location and the distance.
There are currently two main types of conveyors available in production: those handling units of material and those handing materials in bulk. The most popular type known to man is the belt conveyor, which is basically an endless belt that is made of various fabrics or a substance covered by fabric. The belt ring moves between the various pulleys having support at several point right along the circumference of the actual belt. When it comes to what belt conveyors can carry, they can carry quite a lot of different materials that are either fine powders or ore sized boulders. The speed at which all this is transported varies greatly based on the processing equipment and the product needs to be carried.
The next type is the chain conveyor which includes 5 main types: the apron conveyor (also called slat conveyor), the sliding chain type, the heavyweight plates, the push bar ones and the twin chain types.
Yet another type is the vibration conveyor which is supported by various hinges and springs that are actually linked using a drive system. You can find some of these that are able to constantly move items without a pause, such as the cleated types that are on an inclined or a horizontal plane.
The conveyor belts are mostly used to join, sort, identify, separate as well as mix various products to be transported to their new locations. When it comes to sorting, it can be done by the product shape, size, weight, static charge and a number of other properties that are relevant to their transportation. Such belts are also used in medical application or in food industry.
