Visit
to View our Partner Brands
Engineered Solutions
Elevations & Line Egress Solutions
Space is a premium, but most facilities are limited by the design of their facilities and the machinery in place. With elevation conveyors and line egress solutions from Dorner, space optimization and process simplification are made possible.
Why Systems Need to Be Flexible
Modern manufacturing requires facilities to maximize efficiency and ensure product quality. However, space limitations can impede these goals.
Integrating elevations and line egress solutions from Dorner will grant your facility the flexibility it needs to succeed.
Simplify Processes
With integrated elevations and line egress solutions from Dorner, your facility will be able to benefit from efficient, simplified procedures. At Dorner, we strive to design and develop conveyor solutions that cooperate with and enhance your existing processes, ensuring that you can achieve optimal performance.
Simplifying your manufacturing processes with Dorner elevations and line egress solutions can also increase personnel mobility, improving overall productivity without complicating operations.
Provide More Floor Space
Because space is such a desired and important feature of modern manufacturing facilities, Dorner conveyor solutions strive to free up floor space and allow your operations to proceed unhindered.
Freeing up floor space will give you and your personnel easier access to adjacent work areas, reducing wasted time and encouraging optimal efficiency. With space-saving conveying solutions from Dorner, your facility will be less crowded and more accessible, making your operations safer.
Offer Easier Access to Machinery
Using elevation and line egress systems for your conveying needs provides easier access to other machinery, improving efficiency and ensuring personnel can work more effectively.
Solutions from Dorner can enable improved accommodations for personnel mobility as well as forklift traffic, ensuring that accessibility to machinery and other work areas is guaranteed for optimal performance.
Types of Elevation and Line Egress Systems
Dorner offers a variety of elevation and line egress systems to provide your facility with the conveying solutions it needs to improve production. Before choosing a conveyor model, it is important to understand the types of systems available.
Lift Gates
Lift gates offer easy walk-through access while optimizing part handling capabilities, especially when there is no need for elevation. The use of lift gates limits the need for crossovers or cat walks by allowing the end of the belt to lift up and lock into place, providing easy access beyond the machine.
Lift gates can allow product to accumulate while the belt is locked, but they may also be shut off completely during that time to ensure personnel safety and product quality. By maximizing the usability of a space and allowing personnel to more efficiently navigate the facility, lift gates provide effective conveying solutions that save space and facilitate optimal performance.
Other Elevating Solutions
Line egress and elevation solutions can take on numerous other forms depending on the available space and production needs. Other elevating solutions from Dorner include:
- Z-Frame conveyors
- Belt over belt conveyors
- VBT conveyors
- FlexMove Alpine
- FlexMove Helix
- Vertical belts
- Packaging inclines
- Conveyors with adjustable inclines
- Vertical Transfer Units (Elevators)
Dorner’s Conveyors for Vertical Elevation Applications
Elevation solutions from Dorner are space-saving, efficient, and practical to ensure your production processes can be optimized for your manufacturing projects.
Z-Frame Conveyors
Designed with one or two pivot points, Z-Frame conveyors are among the most well-known elevation solutions for manufacturing facilities. Z-Frame conveyors, also referred to as low profile z-frame (LPZ) conveyors, effectively free up floor space and enable the production process to navigate around obstacles such as other machines.
During inclines or declines, Z-Frame conveyors may use cleated belts or friction insert chains to keep products secure. The potential for steep yet steady designs makes Z-Frame conveyors effective at moving products up and over (or down and over) during inclines or declines respectively.
Belt Over Belt Conveyors
When in need of an elevation or line egress solution, you should consider the products you are manufacturing and moving to ensure product safety and quality. For soft, flexible, or unevenly-shaped products, belt over belt conveyors are often more effective.
Rather than opt for a cleated belt which could result in damaged products, product loss, and extensive clean-up, choosing a belt over belt solution can ensure the products are handled with care.
By design, a belt over belt conveyor features two flexible polyurethane belts, one oriented over the other. When a product moves into position, it is gripped by both belts, creating a pocket to securely move the product. A belt over belt conveyor enables product stability, orientation, and spacing to provide an effective, secure elevation solution.
Flexible Chain Conveyors
Flexible chain conveyors, like the FlexMove Helix and Alpine models, are capable of making tight turns and steep inclines for optimal efficiency and space-saving functionality. Using flexible chain conveyors can limit the number of conveyor belts your facility requires thanks to custom infeed and outfeed lengths.
To maximize floor space and optimize manufacturing processes, integrating flexible chain conveyors can be an effective course of action.
Wedge Conveyors
Similar to the belt over belt conveyor, the wedge conveyor uses cleated chains to grip products on either side to lift or lower them. Wedge elevators can be custom-built to accommodate products of varying shapes and sizes.
Using a wedge elevator comes with numerous advantages, including:
- Saving footprint space
- Accommodating fork-lift traffic
- Allowing foot traffic
- Navigating around machinery
Vertical Belt Technology
When products need to be moved in 90° sanitary applications, vertical belt technology is notably effective. The proprietary staggered sidewall belt provides more pocket capacity, improved product release, and reduced product loss. With an open design, vertical belt solutions are easy to clean, as well.
Vertical belt technology is especially useful for maneuvering bulk products such as:
- Grains
- Produce
- Pet food
- Pharmaceuticals
- Nuts
- Popcorn
Examples of Industries Where Elevation Conveyors May Be Used
Elevation conveyor solutions are effective in a wide range of industries. Dorner products have provided cutting-edge solutions to companies in over 1200 industries around the world. When it comes to elevation conveyors, here are a few applications and industries that benefit from this technology.
Automation
Dorner’s precision move pallet systems provide flexible, versatile, and accurate assembly and industrial solutions. With advanced automation capabilities designed for maximum accuracy in positioning and routing, facilities can benefit from streamlined, optimized processes.
Packaging
For decreased waste and increased flexibility, elevation solutions from Dorner can improve packaging processes for facilities of all sizes. Using Dorner solutions means benefiting from enhanced product-handling capabilities that promote optimal accuracy, efficiency, and delicacy.
Dorner offers a number of conveying solutions that can effectively enhance your packaging processes, including:
- 2200 Series conveyors
- 3200 Series conveyors
- FlexMove conveyors
- AquaGuard conveyors
Manufacturing
Manufacturing facilities of all sizes and specializations can benefit from Dorner elevation conveyor solutions. From material handling to organization and packaging, elevation systems can enhance efficiency, save space, and improve safety.
Food Handling
Designed for fast, effective sanitization, Dorner’s food handling and processing elevation conveyors meet numerous industry standards and regulations while providing your facility with exceptional speed, accuracy, and quality support capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions About Elevation Conveyors
Yes! Dorner offers a variety of sanitary elevation and line egress solutions to ensure optimal safety practices for facilities handling or processing vulnerable products including foods or medicines. Conveyor solutions labeled as sanitary have been designed and manufactured to reduce the possibility of contamination and make the cleaning process easier.
Features of a sanitary elevation solution include:
- Easy access to all conveyor areas
- No harbor points or blind spots
- Rounded cross members
- Removal of plate-on-plate manufacturing
- Welds in place of fasteners
Any effective line egress solution will account for obstacle navigation and traffic accommodation. With Dorner elevation conveyors, your facility can operate consistently and efficiently while allowing personnel and forklifts alike to more easily pass through, around, and between conveyors or other machinery. Similarly, Dorner elevation solutions provide exceptional control and efficiency to facilitate improved processes that take up minimal space and simplify your processes.
For facilities with limited internal space, a need for accuracy, and a desire for improved processes, implementing an elevation and line egress solution can facilitate better manufacturing practices that are more efficient, condensed, and safe.