What Is Zero Pressure Accumulation Conveyor and How Does It Work?
Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyor is a part of the motor-driven roller conveyor world and the most vital type of conveyor. It features a wide variety of functions, making packaging and palletizing as simple as singing the ABCs, and reducing noise associated with packaging.
The Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyor is designed to protect lightweight and fragile items during packaging or moving down the conveyor line. This ensures they remain undamaged and don’t get stuck in the conveyor.
The Zero Pressure Accumulation system can recognize the size and weight of products. This is very important for safety in a factory. It can prevent products such as glass bottles from being broken into pieces and scattering broken glass on employees.
Traditional vs. Zero-Pressure:
Traditional Accumulation or minimum pressure accumulation conveyors would have used a pressure roller with a mechanical link feeding information telling accumulation zones to engage or disengage.
However, very light products wouldn’t depress the rollers causing the packages to break. The conveyor linkages and springs would malfunction or wear out with time. Now we have the technology to correct this using photo eyes and microcontrollers.
The Zero Pressure Accumulation Conveyor uses a photo eye that uses distinct technology to determine the weight of an object, thus creating a buffer in between packages keeping them safer and reducing the risk of a smashed product box. The Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyor also features the following to help aid in the packaging process.
- Slug Mode release: Releasing a small group of accumulated products in a slug to improve throughput.
- Dynamic zoning: Zero pressure is all based on the product’s length; therefore, zone lengths are one of the most important factors to consider when the conveyor is designed. And this is where Dynamic Zoning comes into play. This type of zoning allows more oversized products to occupy two zones that work together. Smaller products only need one individual zone.
- Sleep mode: to turn off the conveyor mechanically when no product is moving. It saves mechanical wear, reduces noise, and saves electrical power.
- Interaction with WCS: Also, specific conveyor zones can interact with the warehouse control system to change modes and report back how full particular conveyor lines are. It can automatically re-assign the workflow to other areas of the system that are not as busy.
The Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyor uses a braking system that allows controlling the speed of the conveyor. This helps slow down heavier objects that might crash into each other, which would risk slowing productivity. In the last five years, this particular type of accumulation conveyor has grown in popularity for several reasons:
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With a belted surface completely under the product, there is less a chance it will get stuck or jam the conveyor.
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Cartons are less likely to rotate on a belted surface. It helps maintain a narrow side leading. Products profile down the conveyor, making fixed bar codes on the carton more readable.
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Accumulation belted zones can accommodate minuscule products (less than 4” by 6”), where roller conveyors cannot.
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Zero Pressure accumulation also does a better job of preventing side-by-side products within an individual accumulation zone. Side-by-side conditions typically result in a no-read situation that requires the cartons diverted to a handling station to correct the issue.
Understanding the Zones and Uses:
Zero Pressure accumulation zones are used on every point on a conveyor system from inclines, declines, and spirals to gain additional accumulation linear footage. The Zero Pressure Accumulation Conveyor is the primary tool to buffer and regulate work imbalances between upstream/downstream operations.
Zero Pressure accumulation conveyor is the most widely used type of conveyor because more fragile items are being processed and shipped daily.
These conveyors are used to hold products when needed, accumulating in zones while products move down the line. They are so filled with benefits and uses that it is shocking to know that not all companies use Zero Pressure accumulation.
Benefits
- Energy efficient
- Cost-effective
- Conveys products with various sizes and weights
- Heavy-duty and pallet models available
- Reduced noise
Uses
- Distribution centers
- Parcel service providers
- Queue products for sorting
How to utilize the Zero- Pressure for maximum efficiency:
The zero-pressure accumulation (ZPA) conveyor in manufacturing or distribution operations assists in transporting and accumulating pallets. They regularly feed into various processes such as sorting, wrapping, palletizing, and strapping. The Zero-Pressure Accumulation Conveyor offers a safer workplace of productivity in a business, reducing the dangers of work-related injuries due to crashed cartons significantly.
- With zero pressure, products rarely touch each other, providing protection that can reduce product damage and provide more precise control.
- Each zone extracts power from a flat drive belt that runs the entire length of the conveyor. A photo-sensing eye is activated when a product stops, sending a signal to the trailing zone.
- When the next load moves into a zone, the drive belt is lowered from the tread rollers, causing the product to stop until the product is released.
- When any product gets removed, all others behind this zone will move forward in the sequence.
In conclusion:
Zero Pressure Accumulation is the safest conveyor product in a factory or palletizing type of business. Zero Pressure Accumulation turns to package into a delicate art, in which speed and direction of the conveyor product flow determine whether or not your products will risk getting damaged or jam themselves into the conveyor line system.
At Russell Conveyor our Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyors feature the MDR (Motor Driven Roller) technology making our Zero Pressure Accumulation conveyors less noisy and more cost-efficient in the long run. Russell Conveyor will not sell you anything you do not need, give you hidden costs, or replace products your operation doesn’t require like most competitors. We want to build a long-lasting relationship with your operation and make your facility run smoothly and more efficiently.
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