Live Roller Conveyor
Live Roller Conveyors are conveyors in which the rollers are the conveying surface and they are driven by an external force. This external force is typically a belt that is making contact with it’s under side causing the conveyor rollers to rotate and move product on the conveyor. Besides a flat belt, there are many other ways the rollers can be driven. Other examples include using o-rings, which connect rollers to spools that are mounted on a powered line shaft, and chain engaging sprockets, which are located on the rollers. There are also rollers that have their own self contained motors to drive the conveyor. Live roller conveyors are typically used for transportation, accumulation and in some cases, sortation. Loads may easily be diverted, deflected, merged or transferred from a live roller conveyor
These conveyors come in various lengths and widths to accommodate a range of load sizes, but all have one common requirement; that being there must be a minimum 3 rollers under the conveyed product in order for the conveyor to work.
Belt Driven Live Roller Conveyor
The carrying rollers (rollers the box moves on) are driven by a flat belt which runs between the carrying roller and a pressure roller which forces the belt to make contact with the carrying roller.
Accumulating Live Roller Conveyor
Ideal for staging product so that all the boxes can be sent together to an area as a group, or to provide storage between work areas, such as between an order picking area and the shipping area of a distribution center. There are basically two types of Accumulation Conveyor; that being Low Pressure Accumulation and Zero Pressure Accumulation.
One common characteristic of Low Pressure conveyors is when accumulating product the drive to the rollers is reduced, but still present, resulting in product be stored in a solid pack. As a result, there are limits associated with low pressure accumulating conveyor. Examples would be the product must be consistent in width and can not be fragile. The length of a conveyor is also limited due to the line pressure, which increases as more product accumulates and is a function of size, shape and weight of the loads. This conveyor also requires some type of stopping device at the discharge end, which most commonly is a brake belt conveyor.
Zero Pressure Accumulation Conveyor as the name implies has no forward line pressure when the conveyor is in accumulation mode. Conveyors are divided into zones and each zone has a sensor device of some type. The sensor devices are either photo eyes, sensor rollers or proximity switches. When a sensor detects product in a zone, the driving force in the preceding zone is removed, allowing for the next product entering that zone to be accumulated. There are many advantages associated with zero pressure conveyor. Products with different characteristics, such as various sizes, weights, and both fragile and non-fragile can be mixed together. The lengths of these conveyors can be much longer, and instead of a belt conveyor at the discharge end, you can start the accumulation process with a case stop or photo eye.
Motorized Driven Roller Conveyor
Motorized driven roller conveyor uses rollers which have a self-contained 24 Volt DC motor or have a motor connected directly to the roller. The powered roller slave drives adjoining rollers by using polyurethane o-rings similar to that of line shaft conveyors. By adding zone sensors this type of conveyor easily converts to zero-pressure accumulating conveyor.
Lineshaft Driven Live Roller Conveyor
A gear motor drives a line shaft running the length of the conveyor which has spools mounted to it. The rollers are driven by polyurethane o-rings attaching the rollers to the spools. One of the main advantages of line shaft type of conveyor over belt driven conveyor is the ability to drive conveyor systems with curves, spurs and other transfer devices with only one drive.
Chain Driven Live Roller Conveyor
Chain driven live roller conveyors are designed to handle heavy loads such as pallet loads of product. Sprockets are welded to the carrying rollers creating a very positive driving force. Roller-to-Roller chain driven live roller has two sprockets welded to each roller. Chain loops connect pairs of rollers in a staggered pattern.
If you need help specifying the right conveyor for your application call JJ Phelan, TriFactor’s Professional Engineer at 1-800-507-4209 | 
