New machine for unloading vertical buffer systems

QIMAROX HAS introduced a new machine for emptying vertical buffers. The Qimarox PR15 consists of a vertically mobile conveyor, mounted on the product lift PRmk1, combined with the vertical conveyor PRmk5. This combination makes it possible to process as many as 1,500 products per hour. The sophisticated design from Qimarox, a global leader in components for material handling systems, keeps both investment and operational costs to a minimum. This will make vertical buffers even more attractive for applications in manufacturing and logistics.

A vertical buffer consists of multiple, buffer lanes in vertical layers on which products are temporarily ‘parked’. A common application is where several production lines use the same palletiser (multiline palletising system). On each buffer lane, products from one production line are collected until the pallet load is complete. The buffer conveyor is then emptied in one go and transported to the palletiser, which stacks the products on a pallet.

Quick and efficient emptying of buffers

The Qimarox PR15 is specially designed to empty these vertical buffers quickly and efficiently. The design is built from two existing Qimarox machines. The first is the standard product lift PRmk1, where a conveyor serves as a product carrier. The second machine is the vertical conveyor PRmk5, which achieves high capacity through the use of multiple product carriers. The controller lets these two machines work together as a perfect twosome.

The PR15 comes into action when a buffer lane needs to be emptied. In that case, the conveyor of the PRmk1 automatically selects position for the correct buffer track. The products are then placed one by one via the conveyor on the next carrier of the PRmk5 vertical conveyor and deposited on the outfeed conveyor to the next destination – for example, a palletising system. Once the buffer lane is empty, the conveyor adopts the position for the next buffer lane to be emptied.

Low cost, high availability

The Qimarox PR15 can process as many as 1,500 products per hour. As the machine is built from standard components, investment costs are kept to a minimum. As the number of moving parts is limited, maintenance and operating costs are lower than other solutions for emptying buffers. The high availability is evidenced by endurance testing at the Qimarox test centre.

Extremely compact and short payback period

The high capacity combined with low running costs makes the deployment of vertical buffers more attractive for business. Not only because they take up less space than horizontal buffer systems where the buffer lanes are side by side, but also because the investment has a faster payback. This means vertical buffers can be a real boon in final packaging lines, but also in warehouses and distribution centres. for example systems for automatically collecting packages or temporarily storing shipments until the truck arrives.

Key benefits:

• Minimal footprint through clever design
• Low investment costs due to standard components
• Low maintenance through reduction of moving parts
• Proven concept