what is the difference between an accumulation and a non acc

what is the difference between an accumulation and a non accumulation conveyor?

Solution

Conveyor system moves materials from one place to another safely without aid of human effort or material handling equipment. They are commonly used in bulky materials transportation within a shop-floor. Conveyor systems are designed to move materials from one level to another. This eliminates the need for expensive man-power. They are installed to save space. No size and weight restrictions. It can handle all shapes, from simple to complex. Often conveyor systems are automatic and programmed. Conveying systems can be vertical or horizontal. Accumulating conveying systems: A production line has upstream and downstream production equipment. The conveying system connects both equipment and transports the products from upstream to downstream equipment. Often, the speed of manufacturing of each machine will vary. As speed varies, a buffer zone is needed to accumulate the output of a upstream equipment before they are moved further for downstream process/equipment. Example: high speed tablet/pills manufacturing. Often, the break-down of upstream equipment will not affect the production rate of downstream. Non-Accumulation conveying systems: Here, buffering is not needed. Hence, there is no accumulation of material between upstream and downstream production equipment. The function is simply to move materials from one machine to another. Here, the conveyors are stopped or intermittently operated until either or both equipments operates to obtain a finished product.