WMH have recently developed a side drive spiral conveyor system for use in a bakery environment.
Working closely with belt manufacturer, Intralox, WMH designers designed a twin spiral unit to give around 300 metres of conveyor length within a small factory footprint. The length of conveyor has many uses including; buffering, as a holding facility to allow product to be rested for proving, or ambient cooling. All whilst maintaining the benefits of an in-line production system.
The Belt
The spiral is fitted with Intralox’s side drive modular plastic belt. This belt offers all the flexibility and hygiene of their other modular belts with the addition of the side drive features. These enable the conveyor belt to be driven from the side rather than the end. This drive arrangement eliminates the need for a long return belt path and spreads tension along the length of the belt. Driving the belt on the outside edge also makes access for cleaning and maintenance simple. It also reduces the moving parts of the machine to a minimum.
Twin Spiral
The first unit built has twin stacks of conveyor providing low level infeed and low-level outfeed for inline product proving, however the design could easily be configured to offer single stack configuration for elevating, de-elevating or reversible for buffing in case of a fault on the line.
As with all WMH conveyors, the spiral conveyor has been designed with hygiene at the core of the machine. Constructed using all stainless-steel with no open crevices that can act as debris and bug traps. The machine has been designed to be used in a wash-down environment and can be treated as other modular plastic conveyors within the factory.
“We are really pleased with the way this new design has gone together. We look forward to being able to offer similar solutions in the future.” Said a spokesman for WMH.
For more information about WMH and their range of bespoke product handling and conveying solutions please visit www.wmh-uk-ltd.com or call 01579 383788.