A spiral conveying mesh chain which pertains to the field of conveying equipment includes a conveying mesh chain main body. The edge of the inner side of the conveying mesh chain main body is uniformly provided with passive teeth. The passive teeth are used to engage with driving teeth on the outer periphery of a rotating drum for driving the conveying mesh chain main body to rotate. The contact surface of the passive tooth and the driving tooth is one item selected from a group consisting of an inclined surface, an arc-shaped surface, a V-shaped contact surface, and a T-shaped contact surface, so that the force direction between the passive tooth and the driving tooth is inwardly deviated relative to the rotation direction of the conveying mesh chain.

A conveyor belt (36) is arranged in at least one spiral conveyor unit (32) or (34) is arranged in tiers forming at ascending spiral stack (38) and/or a descending spiral stack (40). A ceiling or top sheet (58) is positioned over the spiral stack. A circulation fan (60, 62) draws spent thermal processing medium laterally from the tiers of the spiral stack, up the exterior of the stack and across the top of the stack above the ceiling or top sheet and through a heat exchanger (64) located above the ceiling. The treated thermal processing medium is then routed across the remainder of the diameter of the spiral stack and then down the side of the spiral stack diametrically opposite to the circulating fan thereby to enter the spiral stack in a lateral direction diametrically toward the circulating fan. At least one opening (70, 100, 200) is formed in the ceiling between the heat exchanger and the diametrically distal end of the spiral stack from the circulating fan thereby to provide an alternative flow path for a portion of the thermal processing medium to enter the spiral stack from above, thereby resulting in more uniform treatment of the work product being carried by the conveyor of the spiral stack.

An accumulating conveyor comprises a conveyor belt successively follows a first helical track from a lower end thereof in upward direction to a location below an upper end thereof, a first bridge to a location at a second helical track below an upper end thereof, the second helical track in downward direction to a lower end thereof, a first set of auxiliary guides to the upper end of the second helical track, the second helical track in downward direction, a second bridge to the first helical track, the first helical track in upward direction to the upper end thereof, and the second set of auxiliary guides to the lower end of the first helical track. The bridges are synchronously movable along the first and second helical tracks for varying the effective lengths of the conveyor belt.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a drive chain system (22, 24) for a spiral conveyor belt (34) includes inner (52) and outer (62) drive chains driving the spiral conveyor belt, the inner and outer drive chains each including a plurality of links (70) defined by a plurality of first (72) and second (74) pitches connected by linking pins (84, 86) extending through holes (80, 82) in the pitches, wherein at least a portion of the linking pins of at least one of the inner and outer drive chains are hardened and/or dissimilar linking pins which are harder on an outer surface than other components in the inner and outer drive chains.

A centrifugal dewatering conveyor system for removing liquid from a conveyed product comprises a modular conveyor belt designed to follow a path that includes both straight portions and helical portions. The modular conveyor belt comprises a plurality of hingedly connected modules having side walls and capable of shifting laterally relative to each other and curling up about the hinge rods to form the helical portions. In the helical portions, a centrifugal force imparted on conveyed product forces water through openings in the conveyor belt.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to systems and methods for emptying and/or cleaning a tray within in an assembly line grow pod. In one embodiment, a sanitizer component for cleaning a tray coupled to a cart in an assembly line grow pod is disclosed. The sanitizer component is coupled to a track such that the cart and the tray are received in the sanitizer component via the track. The sanitizer component comprises a first actuator arm positioned underneath the track and extendable through an opening in the track and an aperture at a bottom end of the cart to contact the tray such that the tray rotates in a first direction. The sanitizer component further includes an actuator motor coupled to the first actuator arm for extending the first actuator arm and a controller. The controller is communicatively connected to the actuator motor in the sanitizer component.

A spiral conveyor includes a mesh chain spirally wound around and rotate synchronously with an outer circumference of each rotary drums. The inner side of each chain link of the mesh chain close to the rotary drum is provided with a drive head extending towards a drum body of the rotary drum. The drive head is provided with a convex-arc edge and includes an arc slot provided on each of two sides or on a single side of the drive head. Driving poles are evenly distributed around the outer circumference of the rotary drum and engage with the drive heads of each layer. When the inner side of the mesh chain adapts to the perimeter of the outer side of the mesh chain, the drive head on the inner side of the mesh chain engages with the driving pole.

The invention relates to a positive drive spiral conveyor which includes, a drive tower rotatable about a vertical axis and a plurality of drive members extending in length from a bottom to a top of the drive tower. The drive members are spaced radially around the drive tower, with each drive member having a projecting driving ridge extending in length along at least a section of each drive member with a projecting shaft positioned on each drive member proximate an end of the driving ridge thereby defining an engagement zone. The projecting shaft defines a guiding surface around the shaft, such that in use a positive drive protrusion of a conveyor belt engages the guiding surface of the projecting shaft and is guided towards a leading side of the driving ridge.

A spiral conveying mesh chain which pertains to the field of conveying equipment includes a conveying mesh chain main body. The edge of the inner side of the conveying mesh chain main body is uniformly provided with passive teeth. The passive teeth are used to engage with driving teeth on the outer periphery of a rotating drum for driving the conveying mesh chain main body to rotate. The contact surface of the passive tooth and the driving tooth is one item selected from a group consisting of an inclined surface, an arc-shaped surface, a V-shaped contact surface, and a T-shaped contact surface, so that the force direction between the passive tooth and the driving tooth is inwardly deviated relative to the rotation direction of the conveying mesh chain.

A conveying system has a lower end of a helical path of a conveying section of a first conveyor located at a lower level than a lower end of a helical path of a conveying section of a second conveyor. An upper end of the helical path of the conveying section of the second conveyor is located at a higher level than an upper end of the helical path of the conveying section of the first conveyor. The upper end of the helical path of the conveying section of the first conveyor is located between the lower end and the upper end of the helical path of the conveying section of the second conveyor. A transfer region is between the helical path lower end of the conveying section of the second conveyor and the helical path upper end of the conveying section of the first conveyor.