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Material Handeling Equipments
Material handling machinery ( MHE) is mechanical equipment that is used to move, store, control and protect materials, goods, and products during the manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal process. There are four main categories of equipment: transport equipment; positioning equipment; unit load formation equipment; and storage equipment.
Conveyors
Conveyors can be used to move material frequently over a fixed path. They can also be classified by the product being transported: bulk or unit load, the location of the conveyor (in-floor, overhead or on-floor), and whether loads can accumulate on the conveyor. While conveyors can move multiple units simultaneously, accumulation allows for intermittent movement of each unit. The flat belt and the roller are both unit-load on floor conveyors. However, the roller has accumulation capability. In the same way, the power-and-free and trolley overhead conveyors are unit-load overhead conveyors. The power-and free is designed to add an additional track to give the trolley the accumulation ability.
Cranes
The crane is used to transport loads in a narrow area over variable paths (horizontal or vertical), and when flow volume is limited a conveyor can not be justified. Because the loads being handled can be more diverse in terms of their shape and weight, cranes offer more flexibility than conveyors. Although cranes can only operate in a limited area, some cranes can be moved on a mobile base. For horizontal movement cranes use trolley-and-tracks, while hoists are used for vertical movement. However, manipulators can also be used to precisely position the load. The most popular cranes are the jib and bridge, gantry, stacker, and gantry.
Pallet Jack
A manual pallet jack is a hand-powered lifting device that’s most often used in retail and personal warehouse operations. These jacks are used primarily to lift, lower and steer pallets from one location to the next.
The jack is steered by a ’tiller’ like lever that also acts as the pump handle for raising the jack. A small handle on the tiller releases the hydraulic fluid, causing the forks to lower. The front wheels inside the end of the forks are mounted on levers attached to linkages that go to levers attached to the jack cylinder. As the hydraulic jack at the ’tiller’ end is raised, the links force the wheels down, raising the forks vertically above the front wheels, raising the load upward until it clears the floor. The pallet is only lifted enough to clear the floor for subsequent travel. Oftentimes, pallet jacks are used to move and organize pallets inside a trailer, especially when there is no forklift truck access or availability.