10 Questions: Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor Specification
What you need to ask when you consider a mezzanine lift
A few months ago, we posted a Guide to Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors (you might find it useful if you’re looking at any application that moves a load up and down at least one level integrated with a shaft, mezzanine or other area). That guide includes the following questions, should be helpful as you move ahead with your project.
The ten questions: Vertical Conveyors
- What do you need your VRC to do? The most fundamental question. This helps you specify the right technology for your application. Is your VRC lifting pallets? Cars?
- How often will it be used? Because it’s heavy equipment with duty cycles, this is critical. Is the VRC integrated into a conveyor system? Is it lightly used to restock a mezzanine?
- What weights does it need to lift? Vertical conveyor capacity helps you specify the right lift for your load. Consider what you’re lifting today…and what you may in the future.
- How big of a carriage do you need? This goes to the size of your intended load. Be sure your carriage can handle the largest items it will need to for your operation.
- What are the loading methods? Is a forklift loading pallets into it? A pallet jack? A conveyor? Are people hand-stacking it?
- How high do you need to lift? Vertical conveyors can lift anyplace between a few feet to a few stories. This height affects a great deal of the specification process.
- What are your clearances around the VRC? For safety and other reasons, you should know how close the carriage may sit near other areas of your plant.
- Where do you need perimeter safety enclosures? Vertical lift safety is critical, especially the perimeter safety measures that keep people away from potentially hazardous mechanisms.
- What type of gate(s) do you need? Like question #8, this bears on safety. The gate helps you operate your VRC in a safer manner.
- What electrical power do you have available? Since VRCs are electrically powered, you will need to know your parameters.
We’re here to help
Those are some things to get you started, but you’ll eventually need to contact us for detailed application help (don’t worry; that’s what we do!) Cisco-Eagle has over fifty years helping companies with vertical conveyors, lifts, material handling systems and the best ways to integrate all of it to help our customers work better, safer and with lower costs.
For more information, check out the VRC specification guide. There is a brief article, but you can download the more detailed, 26-page PDF file for detailed information.
More on vertical conveyors
- Vertical Pallet Movement Options
- A Jargon-Free Guide to Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor Specification
- Video Library: Lifts and Vertical Conveyors
Tags: Automation, warehousing, Material Handling, vertical lifts, vrc, mezzanine lifts
Scott Stone is Cisco-Eagle's Vice President of Marketing with 35 years of experience in material handling, warehousing and industrial operations. His work is published in multiple industry journals an websites on a variety of warehousing topics. He writes about automation, warehousing, safety, manufacturing and other areas of concern for industrial operations and those who operate them.