Provided is a conveyor belt link, of the type used in endless conveyor belts assembled from a plurality of such modular conveyor belt links, where the modular conveyor belt link has a main body extending in the modular belt link's width direction, and where a plurality of eye parts extend forwards and rearwards from the main body, the eye parts being spaced in the width direction of the modular belt link, where forwards extending eye parts are offset relative to rearwards extending eye parts, such that when two modular conveyor belt links are pushed together the eye parts on one link will inter-fit between eye parts on the other modular belt link, wherein the modular belt link laterally is limited by two sides, and that the outermost eye parts on either side are provided with a cutout, such that the width of the modular conveyor belt link is smaller in the cutout than outside the cutout.

A packaging dispenser, for dispensing stacks of nested trays to a packing device, has a frame, a first conveyor for conveying and supporting a first plurality of stacks of nested trays in a first level, and a second conveyor downstream of the first conveyor for receiving stacks of nested trays from the first conveyor. The packaging dispenser also includes a vertical chute underneath the second conveyor for dispensing stacks of nested trays to a packing device. The second conveyor has a pair of laterally spaced conveyor elements for supporting only lateral edge regions of a stack of nested trays. The laterally spaced conveyor elements are retractable to allow a stack of nested trays, supported thereon, to be released into the chute. The packaging dispenser can further be provided with a tray separator upstream of the chute for loosening individual trays of a stack, while keeping the trays in a stacked and nested arrangement.

Methods and systems for transitioning packages objects, such as eggs, from a packer into an infeed system providing a buffer such that the packer may operate independently of the subsequent system, such as an egg marking system. Systems and methods of stabilizing packed objects, such as eggs, as they move from the packer to a marking system includes logic to suspend operation of the delivery conveyor or system.

A packaging dispenser, for dispensing stacks of nested trays to a packing device, has a frame, a first conveyor for conveying and supporting a first plurality of stacks of nested trays in a first level, and a second conveyor downstream of the first conveyor for receiving stacks of nested trays from the first conveyor. The packaging dispenser also includes a vertical chute underneath the second conveyor for dispensing stacks of nested trays to a packing device. The second conveyor has a pair of laterally spaced conveyor elements for supporting only lateral edge regions of a stack of nested trays. The laterally spaced conveyor elements are retractable to allow a stack of nested trays, supported thereon, to be released into the chute. The packaging dispenser can further be provided with a tray separator upstream of the chute for loosening individual trays of a stack, while keeping the trays in a stacked and nested arrangement.

A method and device for feeding at least one receiving surface between two consecutive stations in a production line for handling products on an assembly line, the device having a pick-up zone from where the products are transferred to the surface, and including an input conveyor to receive and maintain a compact flow of products received from an upstream station, a receiving conveyor, extending along a conveying direction in the pick-up zone to receive and then stop the flow of products there delivered by the input conveyor, an a transfer unit, to move, transversely to the conveying direction, toward the receiving surface, the products stopped in the pick-up zone. The device further includes at least one buffer conveying element, able to receive the compact flow of products from the input conveyor when the products are stopped on the receiving conveyor for their transfer, and maintain the compactness of the flow.

A commercial-scale sous-vide system (10) includes a conveyor (20) for carrying food products (PP) vacuum sealed in plastic food-grade pouch or container (222) through a chamber (40) heated with saturated steam. The conveyor is in the form of first and second spiral stacks (26) and (28). A control system controls the steam supply and the movement of the conveyor.

The invention relates to a buffer device comprising a container feed device, a buffer which is arranged downstream of the container feed device, and a container discharge device which is arranged downstream of the buffer. In order to feed containers to the buffer, the container feed device is designed to transport containers in a first direction by means of first conveyor belts. The buffer comprises a drivable buffer belt or multiple drivable buffer belts which are parallel to one another and each of which is designed to transport containers in a second direction, said second direction running transversely to the first direction. The container discharge device is designed to discharge and separate containers from the buffer in the first direction or in a third direction which is opposite the first direction.

The product flow regulator is used for decoupling an incoming flow of piece-goods from a downstream device for further processing. It comprises a stationary intermediate storage with a plurality of store levels, an infeed-side elevator with one or more transport levels for taking products arriving on conveyors to intermediate storage and a discharge-side elevator for removing the temporarily stored products and delivering them to forwarding conveyors. A buffer device is arranged upstream from these elevators on the infeed side and downstream from these elevators on the discharge side.

A sorting device for sorting piece goods in end locations includes a plurality of horizontal conveyors, which are arranged one above another and are configured as conveyor belts, for conveying the piece goods in a circuit, wherein the conveyors are configured to move the piece goods perpendicularly to the conveying direction of the circuit. The sorting device also includes a plurality of end locations, wherein the end locations are arranged along the conveyors in such a manner that the piece goods can be transported into the end locations by the movement perpendicularly to the conveying direction. The piece goods are transported from the conveyor into the end location only by the conveyor.

A conveyor for buffering products includes a first helical conveyor having a first conveyor input and a first conveyor output and a second helical conveyor having a second conveyor input and a second conveyor output. The first conveyor output is coupled to the second conveyor input and the second conveyor output is coupled to the first conveyor input. A loading station and a discharging station are configured to load and discharge products to and from the conveyor. A single conveyor belt follows the helical tracks of the first and second helical conveyors.