Applications

The following projects showcase some of our unique abilities and depth of industry knowledge

Conveyors for Mushroom Trays

Highline Mushrooms is a longstanding customer to CONOVEY and they recently engaged us to build a system to transport trays of mushrooms.

This project showcases some of the unique benefits when you combine the Span Tech brand of conveyors with CONOVEY ingenuity.  We were tasked to transport trays of mushrooms in a tight space and also maintain employee access through the system.

To deal with the tight space constraints, we utilized our MicroSpan powered transfers to perform flawless right angle turns and also developed a nice swing gate system that would permit employee access through the system.  SEW EuroDrive gear motors and remote mount SEW LTE VFD's are also showcased with this application

E STOPS FOR SAFETY

RIGHT ANGLE TRANSFER

INLINE MICROSPAN TRANSFER

CONVEYOR SWING GATE

Process Lines for Cleaning Pods

CONOVEY has worked with this client for over a decade supplying conveyors and installing process lines for the production of laundry and dishwasher pods.

Many of the products that CONOVEY manufacture are integrated into these pod processing lines.  CONOVEY has installed a number of these lines over the years and they usually include the supply of our process conveyors, incline conveyors, platforms, diverting chutes, packaging conveyors, controls and installation.

A typical line installation takes anywhere from 6 to 8 months to complete from onset of design to final commissioning.  CONOVEY fully models up the entire system in SolidWorks 3D and conducts an exhaustive iterative process with our customer to ensure all process requirements are met well in advance of any steel being cut.

PROCESS TANK PLATFORM

PREPARING WEIGH PLATFORM

MIKEY GOING THE EXTRA MILE

DOUBLE INCLINE FEED TO WEIGHER

SANITARY ARB SYSTEM

Sugar Creek contacted us with a very difficult problem to solve. They required special sanitary conveyors that would perform opposing turns

Tyson Foods has invested substantial capital in automating its facilities throughout North America with a large emphasis on automating case handling.  JMP solutions was the vendor of choice for turn-key robotic case palletizing for some of Tyson's key processing facilities.  JMP went to CONOVEY, a longstanding partner, to provide the conveyance solutions for integration into these palletizing cells.

CONOVEY is showcasing its sanitary Activated Roller Belt technology as part of this larger initiative.  The CONOVEY ARB conveyors provided initial case orientation and collating prior to robot pick.  Some of CONOVEY's ARB features include:  sanitary pop-out return rollers, open channel legs, sanitary bearings with welded bungs and pop-out transfer rollers.

SANITARY RETURN ROLLERS

POP-OUT GRAVITY ROLLERS

POP-OUT RETURN ROLLERS

ROLLER RAIL FOR TRANSFER

UVC Tray Sterilizer

CONOVEY partnered with Prescientx to develop a UVC Sterilizing System for trays and other products.

UVC sterilization, is a method of using ultraviolet-C (UVC) light to disinfect and sterilize surfaces, objects, and air and is capable of destroying or inactivating various microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, and molds.

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Under Prescientx expert guidance in the field of UVC sterilization, CONOVEY designed and fully manufactured The Terminator CoV 700 portable sterilizing system.  The system performed flawlessly under rigorous testing and can be used in many applications including cleaning those dirty airport trays.

THE TERMINATOR

FRONT CLOSE UP

REAR CLOSE UP

AUTO UV HEIGHT ADJUST

New Bakery Plant Conveyance

A well-known bakery contacted CONOVEY

This family run bakery had decided to expand with a new facility on the US East Coast.  The new facility was constructed with cleanliness and efficiency being the top priorities, making CONOVEY the obvious choice for all of their conveyor requirements.  The challenge with this project was designing an ultra-flexible system that would be capable of running their large variety of baked products.

 

CONOVEY designed a system that would automatically adjust conveyor positions via HMI recipe systems to run products from hot dog buns to bread and cake loaves.  A combination of Span Tech and custom mesh conveyors provided the backbone of conveyance.

E STOPS FOR SAFETY

RIGHT ANGLE TRANSFER

INLINE MICROSPAN TRANSFER

CONVEYOR SWING GATE

Robotic Case Palletizing for Pizza

Dr Oetker worked us our team to design a small footprint palletizer that would replace manual end of line back breaking labour.

CONOVEY developed this small footprint case palletizer for existing end of line applications where space is a premium.  An industrial grade 6-axes X 13 kg payload Mitsubishi 1X RV13FRLD Robot is used to ensure long life with high reliability and robustness.  Allen Bradley PLC and HMI with ethernet functionality round out the major control hardware of the system.

The system is designed to palletize up to 50 cases per minute in any recipe programmed configuration.  Safety door locks and custom designed safety enclosure provide a safe and aesthetically pleasing operating envelope.  Included with the system is a Gurki-Pack auto case sealer and in-feed conveyor with reject for un-sealed cases.

PALLETIZER FRONT SIDE

AUTO CASE SEALER

AB TOUCH SCREEN HMI

INLET WITH DIVERT AND SEALER

Artillery Shell Conveyors

Upon being tasked to reduce manual handling of artillery shells, we successfully developed these specialized conveyors to be placed between work cells.

These conveyors were specially designed to convey artillery shells during various phases of the assembly process.  Due to the significant weight involved, we selected heavy duty 3 LRWAF 901 - 3 plies polyester, rigid, antistatic belts and large diameter drive/idle pulleys to ensure drive without slippage.  

Replaceable UHMW guides were installed in the sidewalls to prevent any incidental marring or scratching of the shells and a hidden lace was employed in the belt for same reason.  Q45BB6 Series Sensors, with reflectors, were used to automatically start/stop conveyors based on shell detection. 

HEAVY DUTY TAKE UP

BELT RETURN PATH

OVERSIZED PULLEYS

DRIVE END WITH VFD

Donut Hole Automation

Katz Gluten Free always chooses CONOVEY when its time for their next big project.

Katz Gluten Free has always been a leader in innovative Gluten Free baked goods.  They offer a variety of products that cater to individuals with gluten sensitivities or those following a gluten-free diet due to medical conditions like celiac disease. Some of their products include cookies, cakes, bread, muffins, and other baked treats that are formulated without traditional wheat-based flour.

CONOVEY worked with the fantastic team at Katz to design and build a new line that produces gluten-free sweet products including donut holes, traditional donuts and mini-muffins.  CONOVEY supplied the platforms with wash bucket walls, twin weighers, twin baggers, all conveyance including vibratory fastbacks, automation controls and full installation with commissioning.

BACKSIDE OF BAGGERS

BAGER EXIT CONVEYORS

TWIN 14-HEAD WEIGHERS

RE-FEED INCLINE CONVEYOR

Egg Roll Spiral

Nem Foods choose CONOVEY to replace their aging conventional spiral with the new Positive Drive technology from CONOVEY

Nem Foods approached CONOVEY last year about issues that they were having with their old conventional spiral freezer conveyor.  It had become un-reliable and was becoming too small for their increased production demands.  CONOVEY recommended replacing the spiral with their new Positive Drive System Spiral technology.

Positive Drive technology is far superior to conventional slip drum spiral operation.  Extended tabs on the inside edge of the spiral chain engage with mating pusher bars located on the outer edge of the spiral cage.  This provides a positive chain drive rather than relying on friction to drive the belt, resulting in much lower overall system tension and eliminating costly belt flips.  

STRONG, CLEAN CAGE DESIGN

OVERALL SPIRAL VIEW

STANDARD BELT WASHER

CHAIN COUPLING DRIVE

Book Return Spiral

Lynsgoe Systems hired CONOVEY to build conveyance for their automated book return system for iconic Calgary Library.

Lynsgoe Systems is a world leader in Library Book Sorting with Automated Material Handling systems and they were selected to integrate their system into the Calgary Library, arguably the worlds most beautiful library. 

Conveyance is a key aspect of the automated book system technology and Lynsgoe chose CONOVEY and it's Span Tech brand of conveyors to fulfil a critical part of the book conveying process. 

Our conveyors not only serve a functional purpose but are also beautifully integrated into the overall aesthetics of this incredible structure.  Visitors get to glimpse the actual mechanics of the system in action (under protection of clear lexan covers) as it transports books between levels using our amazing Topper Lift technology.  If you are ever in Calgary, take some time out to visit this amazing space and see our system in action.

 

BOOK RETURN AREA

CONVEYOR INSTALLATION

FINISHED INSTALLATION

TOPPER BEING INSTALLED

Low Shear Paddle Mixer

Nature Touch Foods is the leading producing of frozen RTE fruits in the North American market. When they need new equipment for their rapidly expanding business requirements, they always reach out to CONOVEY.

Nature's Touch goal is to make eating real food as simple as can be. Their mission is to provide fruits as nature intended. Since day one, they have devoted their energies to bringing tasty, sun-kissed frozen fruits and vegetables, with no additives or preservatives to the consumer market.    One of their products requires the addition of a Matcha tea mix.  CONOVEY designed and built low shear paddle mixers for this blending application.  The mixers are manufactured from 304L stainless steel, fully welded and polished with a glass bead finish applied to the exterior. 

 The mixer blades, shaft and motor are also made from stainless steel.  The mixer head can be easily adjusted up/down and the pivot angle changed.  A removeable fixed blade inside the tank disrupts the laminar flow to create a better mixing action.  A wash down VFD controls mixing speed and the unit was supplied on swivel locking casters for portability.  A butterfly valve at bottom of tank allows quick emptying.  A convenient pin and chain system is located on the frame to hold the lid during tank cleaning.

OPTIONAL ACCESS DOOR

ADJUSTABLE PADDLE POSITION

HOMOGENEOUS MIXING

VARIABLE SPEED DRIVE

Spiral Gravity Chute

SANITARY GRAVITY DOWN CHUTE WITH FLEX FINGERS

As an integral part of our NEM Foods project, our customer required a simple solution to lower frozen egg rolls to floor level for packing. A gravity spiral chute by CONOVEY was the answer.

Spiral chutes are often overlooked as a solution to bring products from higher to lower elevations.  This has been partly due to the fact that spiral chutes historically have been difficult to properly manufacture leading to apparent prohibitive prices.

With advances in 3D solid modelling techniques, however, we are now able to economically and easily fabricate sanitary gravity down spiral chutes to nearly any configuration necessary to fit the site process conditions.  If you have a challenging requirement to lower sensitive, easily broken products, a gravity down spiral by CONOVEY just might be your answer.

DESIGNED FOR EASY CLEANING

REDUCED PRODUCT BREAKAGE

EFFICIENT SPACE UTILIZATION

ZERO MAINTENANCE