Welded Construction Conveyor

Pack Air defines our Stainless Steel Welded Construction Conveyor as equipment where the frames and other fabricated components are mainly welded together instead of bolted. Frames and other sub-assemblies are welded joints wherever possible to minimize the number of bolted connections. Any joints that are bolted are done with blind tapped & welded frame standoffs or with minimal contact area between bolted components. Welded joints are typically smooth and continuous TIG welds with no crevices for food applications, but may be MIG welds for larger structural items such as heavy duty support structures. Typical uses of this type of conveyor construction are: direct food contact, dairy, and pharmaceutical which many people will refer to as “Sanitary”.

Sanitary conveyor is generally considered a design and construction that is cleanable and will not harbor bacterial growth in voids, pockets or hollow members. Frames, supports and other features are designed to avoid horizontal surfaces where water or debris can accumulate, and hollow members such as square tubing are avoided in favor of open sided formed channels or solid shapes. While all definitions of Sanitary construction may have some key elements in common, each end user can have very specific design requirements to meet their individual definition of “Sanitary” design.

Welded Construction “Sanitary” conveyor typically utilizes Plastic Modular Belt and Thermoplastic (Blue) Food Grade Belt Conveyor, but similar construction techniques can be applied to other conveyor types as well. All Welded Construction equipment is designed for high pressure wash down, including caustic wash down if needed. Most of the conveyor designs that are considered Sanitary include multiple features for toolless disassembly and ease of cleaning such as: welded standoffs, removable wear strips, cleanout holes, chain lift bars, flip up nose bars and idle ends, removable return rollers & shafts, and quick release belt tensioners. Exactly which features you require will depend on your specific sanitation needs so Pack Air will spend a great deal of time asking questions and listening to you about your specific applications to determine what conveyor construction is right for you.