Wide chain link conveyor structure

Abstract

The invention provided a conveyor belt, which is special in that the belt in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt is made from one single chain link, and that the transport top surface comprises a wide main portion and the top part of the eye projections which are flush with the main portion, such that the belt surface is substantially without apertures and/or openings and further that the hinge-like assembly arrangement is fully accessible only from the underside of the belt. By this inventive chain link is achieved that the narrow gaps between each assembled chain link in the prior art is not present such that from a hygienic point of view it becomes much easier to clean the entire conveyor belt satisfactory in that for each chain link, which usually constitutes 40-60 mm of the total length of the conveyor belt, which altogether, especially for deboning lines, might be 300-400 meter long, no gaps are present. This in turn gives the added security that the multitude of gaps, sometimes more than 30,000 gaps, does not have to be cleaned. This gives rise to a substantial increase in the confidence that a satisfactory cleaning process complying with the high hygienic standards in the meat producing business can be achieved.

1. Conveyor belt especially for use in fresh food production industry, assembled from a number of substantially identical chain links thereby forming an endless conveyor belt, each link having a transport top surface and underside, a front and rear edge each comprising integral eye projections and corresponding recesses, arranged such that a protrusion on the front edge corresponds to a recess on the rear edge, and opposing side edges, such that adjacent links are assembled in a hinge-like manner by inserting a connection pin, which pin may comprise one or more pieces such that the pin is inserted through overlapping apertures formed in overlapping eye parts on adjacent chain links such that said belt will be able to carry items on the top surface in the intented traveling direction and that said top surface will be facing downwards during the return passage, wherein the belt in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt is made from one single chain link, and that the transport top surface comprises a wide main portion and the top part of the eye projections which are flush with the main portion, such that the belt surface is substantially without apertures and/or openings and further that the hinge-like assembly arrangement is fully accessible only from the underside of the belt, wherein the underside of the chain link slopes away from the base of a support ridge  includes a support ridge arranged centrally and extending substantially across the entire width of the chain link, such that  and the links'  link's material thickness is greater in a middle of the link than along  thinnest at the front and rear edges in the recesses. 
     
     
       2. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the distance between the front and rear edges is substantially larger than the projecting eye parts extends  extending in the conveyors traveling direction and that on the underside of each chain link is configured the ridge. 
     
     
       3. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the links have a width of about 800 mm, and wherein between 40 and 60 eye protrusions and an equal number of recesses are provided for the 800 mm wide links. 
     
     
       4. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the eye parts are wider in the conveyor belts transverse direction at the top surface and tapers towards the under surface. 
     
     
       5. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein along the front and rear edges of the eye parts has a width perpendicular to the traveling direction smaller than the adjacent recess, and furthermore that the upper side of the eye parts is flush with the upper side of the chain links main portion. 
     
     
       6. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the height i.e. the distance between the over side of the chain link and the under side of the ridge, respectively the underside of the eye parts is constant. 
     
     
       7. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein each link has a width perpendicular to the traveling direction which is between 400 mm and 800 mm. 
     
     
       8. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the links have a width of about 400 mm, and wherein between 20 and 28 eye protrusions and an equal number of recesses are provided for the 400 mm wide links. 
     
     
       9. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the distance in the traveling direction of the conveyor belt, between the apertures in the eye parts in the front edge and the rear edge is between 20 mm and 200 mm. 
     
     
       10. Chain link for use in a conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the links is manufactured as a single piece in a plastic molding process, preferably injection molding, and further that it has a substantially flush top surface, and that eye parts are arranged along to opposite edges said eye parts top surface being flush with the top surface of the chain link, and that eye parts along one edge are staggered relative to eye parts along the opposite edge, and that the width of recesses formed between adjacent eye parts, at least in the top surfaces plane, substantially corresponds to the width of adjacent eye parts. 
     
     
       11. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the links have a width of about 600 mm, and wherein between 30 and 40 eye protrusions and equal number of recesses are provided for the 600 mm wide links. 
     
     
       12. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein the pin connecting adjacent chain links is longer than the width of the chain links perpendicular to the belts' intended traveling direction, such that an end part of the pin projects beyond the side edge of the chain link. 
     
     
       13. Conveyor belt according to  claim 7 , wherein each link has width perpendicular to the traveling direction between 500 mm and 700 mm. 
     
     
       14. Conveyor belt according to  claim 13 , wherein each link has a width perpendicular to the traveling direction of about 600 mm. 
     
     
       15. Conveyor belt according to  claim 1 , wherein a thickness of each link perpendicular to the surface is between 4 mm and 28 mm. 
     
     
       16. Conveyor belt according to  claim 15 , wherein the thickness of each link is between 7 mm and 20 mm. 
     
     
       17. Conveyor belt according to  claim 16 , wherein the thickness of each link is between 12 mm to 17 mm. 
     
     
       18. Conveyor belt according to  claim 9 , wherein the distance between the apertures in the eye parts in the front edge and the rear edge is between 30 mm and 175 mm. 
     
     
       19. Conveyor belt according to  claim 9 , wherein the distance between the apertures in the eye parts in the front edge and the rear edge is between 40 mm and 125 mm. 
     
     
       20. Conveyor belt according to  claim 9 , wherein the distance between the apertures in the eye parts in the front edge and the rear edge is between 45 mm to 100 mm. 
     
     
       21. Conveyor belt especially for use in fresh food production industry, assembled from a number of substantially identical chain links thereby forming an endless conveyor belt, each link having a transport top surface, and underside, a front and rear edge each comprising integral eye projections and corresponding recesses, arranged such that a protrusion on the front edge corresponds to a recess on the rear edge, and opposing side edges, such that adjacent links are assembled in a hinge-like manner by inserting a connection pin, which pin may comprise one or more pieces such that the pin is inserted through overlapping apertures formed in overlapping eye parts on adjacent chain links such that said belt will be able to carry items on the top surface in the intended traveling direction and that said top surface will be facing downwards during the return passage, wherein the belt in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt is made from one single chain link, and that the transport top surface comprises a wide main portion and the top part of the eye projections which are flush with the main portion, such that the belt surface is substantially without apertures and/or openings and further that the hinge-like assembly arrangement is fully accessible only from the underside of the belt, wherein means are provided whereby the connection pin can be pushed back and/or forth in a direction perpendicular to the intended traveling direction of the conveyor belt. 
     
     
       22. Conveyor belt according to  claim 21 , wherein at least one abutment member is provided along the path the conveyor belt follows on its return passage, such that said at lest one abutment will push the projecting end of the connection pin flush with the side edge of the chain link. 
     
     
       23. Conveyor belt according to  claim 22 , wherein a vibration unit is integral with the abutment member. 
     
     
       24. Conveyor belt according to  claim 21 , wherein for engagement with the connection pin during the return passage of the conveyor belt wheels or rollers pivotable about an axis parallel to the conveyor belt's intended traveling direction are provided such that the wheels or rollers will engage the pin and push it in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor belt's intended traveling direction. 
     
     
       25. Conveyor belt according to  claim 21 , wherein drive wheels are provided which engage the conveyor belt's underside and propels the belt in the traveling direction by engaging the underside of the belt such that in order to push the connection pin in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor belt's intended traveling direction at least one drive wheel is provided with an angled engagement surface or at least some of the teeth of a gear wheel are provided with angled engagement surface relative to the pin. 
     
     
       26. Conveyor belt according to  claim 25 , wherein the drive wheels are gear wheels. 
     
     
       27. Conveyor belt especially for use in fresh food production industry, assembled from a number of substantially identical chain links thereby forming an endless conveyor belt, each link having a transport top surface, and underside, a front and rear edge each comprising integral eye projections and corresponding recesses, arranged such that a protrusion on the front edge corresponds to a recess on the rear edge, and opposing side edges, such that adjacent links are assembled in a hinge-like manner by inserting a connection pin, which pin may comprise one or more pieces such that the pin is inserted through overlapping apertures formed in overlapping eye parts on adjacent chain links such that said belt will be able to carry items on the top surface in the intended traveling direction and that said top surface will be facing downwards during the return passage, wherein the belt in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt is made from one single chain link, and that the transport top surface comprises a wide main portion and the top part of the eye projections which are flush with the main portion, such that the belt surface is substantially without apertures and/or openings and further that the hinge-link assembly arrangement is fully accessible only from the underside of the belt, wherein the pin connecting adjacent chain link is longer that width of the chain links perpendicular to the belts intended traveling direction, such that an end part of the pin projects beyond the side edge of the chain link, wherein the  at least one abutment member is arranged before or in a cleaning station, suitable for cleaning the chain links as they pass the cleaning station on the conveyor belts return passage. 
     
     
       28. Conveyor belt according to  claim 27 , wherein the cleaning the chain links is by water jets or by steam jets. 
     
     
       29. Conveyor belt especially for use in fresh food production industry, assembled from a number of substantially identical chain links thereby forming an endless conveyor belt, each link having a transport top surface, and underside, a front and rear edge each comprising integral eye projections and corresponding recesses, arranged such that a protrusion on the front edge corresponds to a recess on the rear edge, and opposing side edges, such that adjacent links are assembled in a hinge-like manner by inserting a connection pin, which pin may comprise one or more pieces such that the pin is inserted through overlapping apertures formed in overlapping eye parts on adjacent chain links such that said belt will be able to carry items on the top surface in the intended traveling direction and that said top surface will be facing downwards during the return passage, wherein the belt in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt is made from one single chain link, and that the transport top surface comprises a wide main portion and the top part of the eye projections which are flush with the main portions, such that the belt surface is substantially without apertures and/or openings and further that the hinge-like assembly arrangement is fully accessible only form  from the underside of the belt, wherein the pin connecting adjacent chain links is longer than the width of the chain links perpendicular to the belts intended traveling direction, such that an end part of the pin projects beyond the side edge of the chain link, wherein a vibration unit is brought into contact with the connections  pins.