Rodless cylinders add push to conveyor systems

Rodless pneumatic cylinders are used whenever a pusher unit is required on conveyor systems designed and built by Stourport company Conveyor Units.

Rodless pneumatic cylinders from Hoerbiger-Origa are specified as standard whenever a pusher unit is required on conveyor systems designed and built by Stourport company Conveyor Units.

The company, based in Stourport, Worcestershire, manufactures a range of standard lineshaft driven roller conveyor modules in its popular Uni-Xu series.

The wide range of units available, from 362 to 1012mm width and with a maximum 3m module length, allows the most complex of systems to be easily designed.

A wide variety of ancillary equipment to suit the conveyors is available, one of these being the popular Pusher Unit - and this is where the Hoerbiger-Origa units play their crucial role.

"We use the Origa rodless cylinders on all our pusher unit applications", explains Conveyor Units' Project and Marketing Manager, Simon Marsh.

"The reason we have them as standard equipment?".

"Simple: they are the most reliable and consistent - UK market leader, of course - and the back-up is tremendous".

The standard Pusher Unit comprises a 32mm bore OSP-P rodless cylinder, which has an arm attached to its carriage.

When the cylinder is energised, the arm traverses across the track width and pushes products onto an adjacent conveyor.

This standard unit enables a maximum cycle time of 25/min for conveyor widths up to 612mm width and 20/min for larger units up to a 1012mm track.

It is suitable for moving a maximum load of 25kg and a load having a maximum length of 700mm.

Recently, Conveyor Units has had a number of orders for extensive conveyor systems at a major national newspaper and these systems have featured specially designed overhead pusher units to cope with higher throughputs, these being bundles of newspapers weighing 18kg, with a specified cycle rate of 45 bundles per minute.

For these units, larger Origa OSP-P 40mm bore, 400/450 stroke rodless cylinders with a Starline recirculating ball-bearing guide for the higher load have been specified.

"We use guides when very fast cycle times are needed, particularly when the load is off-centre", explains Marsh.

The rodless cylinders are positioned above the track on a gantry construction with the pusher paddle below and are capable of much higher throughputs than the standard unit.

The Origa System Plus linear drives system uses a modular concept that offers the choice of pneumatic or electric actuation, with guidance and control modules to suit the customer's exact needs.

"We sell our conveyor systems all over the world, mainly for end of line materials handling", adds Marsh.

"It is important, for this reason, that any products that integrate into our systems offer exceptional reliability and that they are fully supported by global suppliers who can provide advice".

"Hoerbiger-Origa scores highly on both counts".

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