Innovative Hybrid Cradle Designs Enhance Conveyor Efficiency and Minimize Maintenance
Some cradle designs aim to combine the benefits of bars and rollers, resulting in a hybrid "combination cradle." These systems use bars along the sides to provide a continuous seal at the belt edges while incorporating rollers under the center of the belt to reduce resistance during belt movement. Since the majority of the weight is supported by the rollers under the belt's center, these conveyor systems can lower their overall power consumption. The flat surface of the bars also limits spillage, which helps reduce the amount of dust and debris exposed to the central rollers, thereby improving their performance and decreasing maintenance costs.
These designs are most commonly used on high-speed conveyors operating above 3.8 meters per second (approximately 750 feet per minute) or in applications with heavy material loads that would create high levels of friction in the conveyor's center.
Another type of hybrid cradle reverses this arrangement, using impact bars beneath the center of the conveyor belt to absorb energy from heavier falling materials, while rollers along the wings reduce overall energy consumption.