Low Level Palletizers
Common materials or objects that
low level palletizers are used to feed include fertilizer,
petrochemical resin, sugar, salt, pet food, bulk and powder products,
cases, cartons and bags. These products may be received in flowing or
rolling fashion and then continuously transferred to pallets. However,
low level palletizers may not be ideal for the palletizing of fragile
products. High level palletizers work in similar applications, except
that they are loaded from on top of the conveyor or from the story
above. Low level palletizers eliminate the need for catwalks or
elevators and require less floor space than many other palletizing
options. Industries that utilize low level palletizers include food
processing, agricultural, warehouse, commercial, material handling,
petrochemical, food and beverage, electronics and packaging.
The low
level palletizer design ensures that products may enter the machine at
any elevation, including the floor level, that is suitable for their
application. Low level palletizers can contain a stripper plate, which
is metal plate that can support a product load as well as move
horizontally to deposit the load on the surface beneath the plate, which
is typically a roller conveyor. To begin palletizing the products must
first enter the low level
palletizer system;
during this time the layer pattern is formed and moved to the stripper
plate, also known as an elevator plate or slide plate. The low level
palletizer then raises or lowers each layer of the pallet load as it is
fed to the pallet since pallet loads are typically built one layer at a
time. The layers are fed to the pallets by a roller conveyor that
continuously transfers and sorts the pallets by means of automated
conveyor rollers, which allow for greater packaging speed than robotic
palletizers. Low level palletizers may be fully
automatic,
requiring no manual involvement, or they may be semi automatic,
requiring loads to be manually connected and disconnected from the
palletizer lifting arm. Low level palletizers can be powered by
hydraulic, pneumatic or electro-mechanical means. In certain
applications, usually involving high speeds, a layer-forming table can
be incorporated, which allows layers to be formed at the same time that
the low level palletizer is feeding pre-formed layers to a pallet.
