Product category:
Cabling, Conduit, Accessories and Signal Conditioning
News Release from: Kabelschlepp Metool | Subject: Cable reels
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 19 October 2004
Cable reels help express parcel handling
Lynx Express, the UK and international express parcel carrier, has chosen cable reels from Kabelschlepp Metool to power an innovative parcel handling project.
Lynx Express, the UK and international express parcel carrier, has chosen cable reels from Kabelschlepp Metool to power an innovative parcel handling project that will enhance efficiency at its hub in Nuneaton Lynx's original Nuneaton hub, now over 20 years old, is still in full-time operation
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 18 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Metool has been involved with the Lynx in-house engineering team in an ongoing refurbishment of the final stage of the handling element of operation, where parcels, coded according to their destination, pass from sorting bays down an outfeed belt onto rollers and into a trailer for onward delivery to the network of branches.
The Metool reels feed a power cable to an automatic roller line, capable of moving backwards and forwards and extending from the end of the outfeed belt inside the full length of the trailer.
The handlers stacking the trailers start the rollers when parcels begin to arrive on the chutes and then, as the trailers begin to fill up, the rollers can be retracted to create more space until the trailer is fully loaded and ready to be driven away.
When the next trailer arrives, the rollers are moved forward into position and the whole process can recommence.
Previous working practice meant that coded parcels were collected from the out-feed belt and placed onto pallet trucks, which were then moved into the waiting trailer or, alternatively, manually handled and stacked, ready for outbound movement.
The new system enables the parcels to be moved from the sorting machine into the trailers much more swiftly, the process requires less energy and improves operator safety.
The Metool reels chosen for this application are SC30/1V/D8 spring-operated cable reels, fitted with eight-core 1.5mm2 cable to reel 13m (with one dead turn), travelling at 30m/min.
The reels conform to BS5424 and additional safety features, such as circuit breakers, have been included in the installation for optimal operator safety.
The equipment is plugged in, not hard-wired, for ease of maintenance.
Metool's reels are being installed at the rate of one or two per month, and the rollers themselves are being refurbished as part of the project.
To date, 22 bays have been fitted with the new automated roller system and a further 18 are scheduled.
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