Plate Link Conveyor Systems.

Typical Industries: General, but wherever there is a requirement for heavy loads or very high/low temperatures.
Description:"Tank track" conveyor, with similar qualities to a belt conveyor but far sturdier.

Large platelink conveyor.

Plate link conveyors feature an extremely sturdy "belt" made of overlapping or adjoining "platelets", not disimilar to the caterpillar-tracks of a tank. This provides an extremely strong and rigid carrying surface, suitable for heavy loads. Metal platelets allow the conveyor to operate in extreme environmental conditions (such as very high - or low - temperatures) that might destroy a conventional rubber or fabric belt.

The platelets form a rigid, flat carrying surface, giving the machine many of the characteristics of a standard belt conveyor , but with the advantage of non-slip high-torque chain drive similar to the Chain Drive Belt Conveyor

Whillst plate-link conveyors are often associated with metal platelets, they can also be made of plastic or composite platelets, which are often favoured by the food industry.

Whilst the platelets are strong, this type of conveyor is not really ideal if heavy products are going to be dropped onto it from a height (such as being loaded from a dumper truck or suchlike) as the plates can buckle or bend. On the plus side, they are resistant to cuts and abrasions, and can easily and quickly be replaced.

Small plate link conveyor	Modular Plastic platelink conveyor.

Round the Bend:

A related product is the Slat Conveyor, sometimes reffered to as a "table-top-chain" conveyor. This has the additional advantage of being able to curve into loops, turn corners, or even form spirals, and is very popular in complex continuous-manufacture systems or bottling/canning plants.

A slat conveyor is ultimately not as strong as a platelink conveyor, however. Nor can it generate the same torque (pulling power).