Automatic Palletizers

The machine itself might handle more control and work. The range of goods that palletizers could handle expanded and now include things like bottles that would be challenging and expensive to palletize by hand. Automated palletizing systems are widely used in manufacturing and distribution facilities because they can handle heavy loads and repetitive motion much better than manual laborers. They are especially helpful when handling individually-packaged products, which can be physically demanding, awkward, and dangerously heavy when handled by hand.

Materials Used

The pallet is typically rectangular and has a standard size of 40 inches by 48 inches. It may be wood, plastic, metal, or corrugated Kraft board.

Types of Automatic Palletizers

1. Robotic Palletizers: available as automatic or semi-automatic, they generally occupy the space between a pallet dispenser and a belt line carrying incoming goods. The product is lifted by a hydraulic robotic arm and carefully placed onto a pallet. Robotic palletizers can only lift one item at once but can stack items considerably quicker and reduce the risk of workers being hurt or becoming fatigued.

   

2. Conveyorized Palletizers: feature a feed area where the items to be palletized are placed. They move quicker than robotic palletizers as packed units are continually moved and sorted by automated conveyor rollers. Conveyorized palletizers come in two varieties: low-level and high-level.

   

3. Low-Level Palletizers: Products are frequently placed immediately in the packaging area, downstream from the case packing machinery, where low-level machines take the product from the floor level and prepare it for palletizing.

   

4. High-Level Palletizers: These palletizers may accept goods already at ceiling level or raise them to the appropriate height using an incline or spiral conveyor.

   

Construction of Automatic Palletizers

• Hydraulic, pneumatic, or electromechanical machinery may power automatic palletizers.
• Bag, case, drum, and bottle palletizers are a few examples of automated wrapping machinery that can be designed to handle a certain product. They may also be built to handle various items.
• To help manage pallets and loads, automatic-palletizing equipment accessories like pallet dispensers and load transfer stations are also employed.

Working of Automatic Palletizers

• A hydraulic robotic arm stacks units with almost perfect accuracy by lifting cases, bottles, bags, or drums with flat pincer arms or suction cup arms in orderly rows onto a pallet.
• Although they may be slower since they can only place one unit or row at a time, robotic palletizers may be modified to deal with many product units and are good for handling fragile or heavy ones.
• The majority of the mechanical components in conventional versions still come from a computer.
• When the bags come on conveyor belts, they are stacked from the top after the pallets are loaded into the machine from the bottom.
• Items are positioned or rotated by pre-determined arrangements. Then, they are pressed together to form a row.
• With high-level palletizers, a layer of items is formed on a plate, then raised above the pallet before being pulled down, allowing the layer to fall onto the pallet.

Benefits of Automatic Palletizers

1. Superior uptime and high system dependability boost total throughput.
2. Managing heavy lifting and repeated actions enhance ergonomic conditions and lower operational expenses.
3. As a firm grows, seamless integration is adaptable and scalable.
4. Connection points to downstream and upstream machinery are accessible for fully automated operations
5. Using unique pallet-pattern software improves pallet-load density, stability, and accuracy.
6. They provide accurate and secure handling of various products, including buckets, bins, batteries, irregularly-shaped or heavy objects, trays, cases, totes, bags, and tier sheets.

Applications of Automatic Palletizers

• Shipping, packing, distribution, and other materials-handling activities are typical uses for automatic palletizers.
• Automatic palletizers are used in various sectors, including electronics, food processing, agriculture, warehousing, retail, and pharmaceuticals.
• These automatic palletizers are best used in applications where packing and shipping speed is important.
• Recently, robotic palletizing systems for food packaging have been reported.
• Applications for palletizing and depalletizing remain a bright light for the robotics sector.