Addis Ababa Science and Technology University

College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering Department

Material Handling Equipment

Chapter 2
Types of Material Handling Equipment
November, 2021
 Lesson Learning Outcome
On completion of this lesson, the students will
be able to:
 Recognize the basic principles of material
handling for a variety of scenarios pertaining
to manufacturing and service industry;
 Apply analytical skill for selecting optimal
material handling systems for a specific
purpose;
 Apply analytical skill to evaluate the
utilization of material handling equipment for
a specific purpose;
2.1. Categories of Material Handling Equipment

 Material handling equipment can be broadly

classified into four categories.

1) Design features

2) Nature and type of work

3) Working area

4) Movement or motion of materials

2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment

1) Design Features:

• According to design, material handling

equipment classified as:

A. Hoisting equipment

B. Conveying equipment

C. Surface and overhead equipment.

2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
2) Nature and Type of Work:
• Equipment used for the movement and storage of
materials at site are classified as:
A. Transport Equipment
• Equipment used to move material from one
location to another (e.g., between workplaces,
between a loading dock and a storage area, etc.).
• The major subcategories of transport equipment
are conveyors, cranes, and industrial trucks.
• Material can also be transported manually using
no equipment.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
2) Nature and Type of Work:
B. Positioning Equipment
• Equipment used to handle material at a single
location (e.g., to feed and/or manipulate materials
so that are in the correct position for subsequent
handling, machining, transport, or storage).
• Unlike transport equipment, positioning
equipment is usually used for handling at a single
workplace.
• Material can also be positioned manually using no
equipment.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
2) Nature and Type of Work:
C. Unit Load Formation Equipment
• Equipment used to restrict materials so that
they maintain their integrity when handled a
single load during transport and for storage.
• If materials are self-restraining (e.g., a single
part or interlocking parts), then they can be
formed into a unit load with no equipment.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
2) Nature and Type of Work…
D. Storage Equipment
• Equipment used for holding or buffering
materials over a period of time.
• Some storage equipment may include the
transport of materials (e.g., the S/R machines of
an AS/RS, or storage carousels).
• If materials are block stacked directly on the
floor, then no storage equipment is required.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
2) Nature and Type of Work…
E. Identification and Control Equipment
• Equipment used to collect and communicate
the information that is used to coordinate the
flow of materials within a facility and between
a facility and its suppliers and customers.
• The identification of materials and associated
control can be performed manually with no
specialized equipment.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
3) Working Area:
In this category, equipment are classified as
A. Unrestricted Area: equipment such as trucks,
tractors, carts etc.., which are restricted to move in
any direction.
B. Restricted Area: Equipment such as gantry cranes,
overhead travelling cranes and stacker cranes,
which are confined to working area.
C. Line Restricted: Equipment such as lifts and
elevators, conveyors, AGVs etc .. Which follows a
continuous specified path for transportation of
materials.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment
3) Working Area:
D. Position Restricted: Equipment such as job
cranes and other industrial robots which are
fixed units and works in specified areas from its
position.
E. Auxiliary Equipment: Equipment used to
improve the effectiveness of handling such as
unit load carriers, dispatch Equipment,
assembling and securing Equipment.
2.1. Types of Material Handling Equipment

4) Movement or Motion of Materials:

According to path of move the equipment are
classified as:
A. Vertical motion (for lifting and lowering)
B. Horizontal motion (for transportation)
C. Combined horizontal and vertical motion
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

1. Conveyors
Conveyors are used:
 When material is to be moved frequently
between specific points.
 To move materials over a fixed path.
 When there is a sufficient flow volume to
justify the fixed conveyor investment.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1. Conveyors….
Conveyors can be classified in different ways:
 Type of product being handled: unit load or
bulk load.
 Location of the conveyor: in-floor, on-floor, or
overhead.
 Whether loads can accumulate on the conveyor
or no accumulation is possible.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.1. Wheel Conveyor
• Uses a series of skatewheels mounted on a shaft
(or axle)
• Spacing of the wheels is dependent on the load
being transported
• Slope for gravity movement depends on load
weight
• More economical than the roller conveyor
• For light-duty applications
• Flexible, expandable mobile versions available
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.1. Wheel Conveyor
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.2. Roller Conveyor
• May be powered (or live) or non-powered (or
gravity).
• Materials must have a rigid riding surface.
• Minimum of three rollers must support smallest
loads at all times.
• Tapered rollers on curves used to maintain load
orientation.
• Parallel roller configuration can be used as a
(roller) pallet conveyor.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.2 (a) Gravity Roller Conveyor
• For heavy-duty applications
• Slope (i.e., decline) for gravity movement
depends on load weight
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.2 (b) Live (powered) Roller Conveyor

• Belt or chain driven.

• Force-sensitive transmission
can be used to disengage
rollers for accumulation.
• For accumulating loads and
merging/sorting operations.
• Provides limited incline
movement capabilities.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

1.3. Chain Conveyor

• Uses one or more endless chains on which
loads are carried directly.
• Parallel chain configuration used as (chain)
pallet conveyor or as a pop-up device for
sortation.
• Vertical chain conveyor used for continuous
high-frequency vertical transfers, where
material on horizontal platforms attached to
chain link.
2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

Chain Conveyor Flat belt conveyor

 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.4. Flat Belt Conveyor
• For transporting light- and medium-weight
loads between operations, departments, levels,
and buildings.
• When an incline or decline is required.
• Provides considerable control over the
orientation and placement of load.
• No smooth accumulation, merging, and sorting
on the belt .
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.4. Flat Belt Conveyor…
• The belt is roller or slider bed supported; the
slider bed is used for small and irregularly
shaped items
• Telescopic boom attachments are available for
trailer loading and unloading, and can include
ventilation to pump conditioned air into the
trailer.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.5. Magnetic Belt Conveyor
• A steel belt and either a
magnetic slider bed or a
magnetic pulley is used.
• To transport ferrous
materials vertically,
upside down, and
around corners.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.6. Troughed Belt Conveyor
• Used to transport bulk materials.
• When loaded, the belt conforms to the shape of
the troughed rollers and idlers.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.7. Bucket Conveyor
• Used to move bulk
materials in a vertical or
inclined path.
• Buckets are attached to a
cable, chain, or belt.
• Buckets are automatically
unloaded at the end of the
conveyor run.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1. 8. Vibrating Conveyor
• Consists of a trough, bed, or tube.
• Vibrates at a relatively high frequency and
small amplitude in order to convey individual
units of products or bulk material.
• Can be used to convey almost all granular, free-
flowing materials.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.9. Screw Conveyor
• Consists of a tube or U-shaped stationary trough
through which a shaft-mounted helix revolves to push
loose material forward in a horizontal or inclined
direction.
• One of the most widely used conveyors in the
processing industry, with many applications in
agricultural and chemical processing.
• Straight-tube screw conveyor sometimes referred to as
an ―auger feed‖
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.10. Vertical Conveyor
• Used for low-frequency intermittent vertical
transfers a load to different floors and/or
mezzanines.
• Differs from a freight elevator in that it is not
designed or certified to carry people.
• Can be manually or automatically loaded
and/or controlled and can interface with
horizontal conveyors.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
1.10. Vertical Conveyor…
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2. Cranes
• General characteristics of cranes:
 Used to move loads over variable (horizontal
and vertical) paths within a restricted area.
 Used when there is insufficient (or
intermittent) flow volume such that the use of a
conveyor cannot be justified.
 Provide more flexibility in movement than
conveyors.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2. Cranes….
 Provide less flexibility in movement than
industrial trucks.
 Loads handled are more varied with respect to
their shape and weight than those handled by a
conveyor.
 Most cranes utilize hoists for vertical
movement, although manipulators can be used
if precise positioning of the load is required.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.1. Jib Crane
• Horizontal boom (jib) supported
from a stationary vertical support.
• Hoist can move along the jib and
can be used for lifting.
• Operates like an arm in a work
area, where it can function as a
manipulator for positioning tasks.
• Jib can also be mounted on the
wall.
• Arm can rotate up to 360°.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.2. Bridge Crane
• Bridge mounted on tracks
that are located on opposite
walls of the facility.
• Enables three-dimensional
handling.
• Top riding or underhung
versions of the crane.
• Underhung crane can
transfer loads and interface
with other MHS.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.3. Gantry Crane
• Single leg, double leg, and mobile types of gantry
cranes.
• Similar to a bridge crane except that it is floor
supported at one or both ends instead of overhead
(wall) supported.
• Used to span a smaller portion of the work area as
compared to a bridge crane.
• The supports can be fixed in position or they can travel
on runways.
• Can be used outdoors when ―floor‖ supported at both
ends.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.3. Gantry Crane…
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.4. Stacker Crane
• Similar to a bridge crane except that, instead of a
hoist, it uses a mast with forks or a platform to
handle unit loads.
• Considered ―fork trucks on a rail‖.
• Used for storing and retrieving unit loads in
storage racks, especially in high-rise applications
in which the racks are more than 50 feet high.
• Can be controlled remotely or by an operator in a
cab on the mast.
• Can be rack supported.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
2.4. Stacker Crane…
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3. Industrial Trucks
• Industrial trucks are trucks that are not licensed
to travel on public roads—―commercial trucks‖
are licensed to travel on public roads.
• Industrial trucks are:
 Used to move materials over variable paths
with no restrictions on the area covered.
 Provide vertical movement if the truck has
lifting capabilities.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3. Industrial Trucks…

 Used when there is insufficient (or intermittent)

flow volume such that the use of a conveyor
cannot be justified.

 Provide more flexibility in movement than

conveyors and cranes.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.1. Hand Truck
• Simplest type of industrial truck
3.1(a). Two-wheeled Hand Truck
• Load tilted during travel.
• Good for moving a load up or
down stairways.
3.1(b). Dolly
• Three or more wheeled hand
truck with a flat platform in
which, since it has no handles,
the load is used for pushing.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.1(c). Floor Hand Truck
• Four or more wheeled hand truck with handles
for pushing or hitches for pulling.
• Sometimes referred to as a ―cart‖ or ―(manual)
platform truck‖

Tilt floor hand truck Order picking cart

 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.2. Pallet Jack
• Front wheels are mounted inside the end of the
forks and extend to the floor as the pallet is
only lifted enough to clear the floor for
subsequent travel.
• Pallet restrictions: reversible pallets cannot be
used, double-faced nonreversible pallets cannot
have deckboards where the front wheels extend
to the floor, and enables only two-way entry
into a four-way notched-stringer pallet because
the forks cannot be inserted into the notches.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

3.2. (a) Manual Pallet Jack

• Manual lifting and/or travel.

3.2.(b) Powered Pallet Jack

• Powered lifting and/or
travel.
• Powered pallet jack is
sometimes referred to as a
―(walkie) pallet truck‖
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.3. Pallet Truck
• Control handle typically tilts to allow operator
to walk during loading/unloading.
• Powered pallet jack is sometimes referred to as
a ―(walkie) pallet truck‖
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.3. Counterbalanced (CB) Lift Truck
• Sometimes referred to as a ―fork truck‖.
• Weight of vehicle behind the front wheels of truck is
counterbalances weight of the load and front wheels
act as fulcrum or pivot point.
• Rated capacity reduced for load centers greater than
24 in. and lift heights greater than 13 ft.
• Workhorses of material handling because of their
flexibility: indoor/outdoor operation over a variety of
different surfaces; variety of load capacities available;
and variety of attachments available—fork
attachments can replace the forks or enhance the
capabilities of the forks
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
Sit-down Counterbalanced Lift Truck
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.4. Tractor-Trailer
• Non-load-carrying tractor used to pull a train of
trailers (i.e., dollies or floor hand trucks).
• Advantage: Enables a single operator to
transport multiple floor hand trucks in a single
move.
• Disadvantage: Requires wide aisles or open
spaces to operate.
• Manual version of a tow AGV.
• Typically used at airports for baggage handling
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.4. Tractor-Trailer…
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.5. Personnel and Burden Carrier
• Non-load-carrying vehicle used to transport
personnel within a facility (e.g., golf cart,
bicycle, etc.)
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

3.6. Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV)

• AGVs do not require an operator.
• Good for high labor cost, hazardous, or
environmentally sensitive conditions (e.g.,
clean-room) .
• AGVs good for low-to-medium volume
medium-to-long distance random material flow
operations (e.g., transport between work cells
in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS)
environment).
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

3.6. Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV)…

• Two means of guidance can be used for AGV
systems:
 Fixed path: Physical guide path (e.g., wire,
tape, paint) on the floor used for guidance.
 Free-ranging: No physical guide path, thus
easier to change vehicle path (in software), but
absolute position estimates are needed to
correct dead-reckoning error.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

3.6.(a) Tow AGV

• Used to pull a train of trailers.
• Automated version of a tractor trailer.
• Trailers usually loaded manually.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment
3.6.(b) Unit load AGV
• Have decks that can be loaded manually or
automatically.
• Deck can include conveyor or lift/lower mechanism for
automatic loading.
• Typically 4 by 4 feet and can carry 1–2,000 lb. loads.
• Typically less than 10 vehicles in AGV system.
 2.2. Major Material Handling Equipment

3.6.(c) Assembly AGV

• Used as assembly platforms (e.g., car chassis,
engines, appliances).
• Typically 50–100 vehicles in AGV system.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems

• Conveyors can be categorized in several

different ways.

• On the basis of their conceptual layout, we use

the following two categories:

a) Open vs. Re-circulating.

b) Uni-directional vs. Bidirectional.

 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
a) Open vs. Re-circulating.
• Open conveyor systems have fixed material
entry and exit points.
• Materials go across the system only once, and
need to be carried back to the entry point and
re-loaded if they need transportation across the
system.
• Re-circulating conveyors form a closed loop,
such that materials once loaded can travel on
them forever.
Fig.2.1: Two basic types of re-circulating (closed loop) conveyors
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Typical applications of re-circulating (closed
loop) conveyors
• These are quite popular in several machining
shops, and sometimes also in assembly shops.
• The nice feature is that jobs that cannot be
directly worked upon can just remain on the
conveyor.
• When the process or/machine becomes free, it
just waits for the job to return and then picks it
up and performs the operations necessary. Thus
the conveyor also acts as a buffer.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Typical applications of re-circulating (closed loop)
conveyors
• Another nice feature is that there is complete
flexibility to place the loading and unloading stations
at any point along such conveyors.
• There may be one or more of loading and unloading
stations, or there may even be a common load/unload
point.
• The shape of closed loop conveyors can be modified to
meet the shape of the room/shop-floor, or to go around
some large machines, etc.
• The most common shapes are rectangular, or semi-
circular ended rectangles.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
b) Uni-directional vs. Bidirectional
• Most conveyors operate uni-directionally, that is, at a
given point on the conveyor, the materials can only
travel in one direction. Some sophisticated conveyors
are bi-directional.
• Bidirectional conveyors are often modular in structure.
Each module forms one segment of the conveyor, and
can be individually switched to go forward or
backward.
• Therefore these systems need some form of automatic
control to managed proper material flow between
stations in a shop.
Fig.2.2: Schematics of typical uni-directional conveyor systems
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Typical Applications of Uni-directional &
Bidirectional Conveyor Systems
Open single lines: assembly lines, chemical plats,
etching operations, for example to make lead-
frames for electronics chips, etc.
• Double-sided open lines (these can fit more
operators per unit length of conveyor):
assembly lines.
• Ushaped open lines: typical for manufacturing
cells. Notice that a cell may have fewer
operators than the number of machines.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Typical applications of Uni-directional &
Bidirectional…
• U-shaped assembly lines (very compact, single
loading and unloading point (often an
advantage for material handling): Assembly
lines.
• Multiple Lines: typically used for a product
with several sub-assembly operations. Each line
performs a single module of the product, and
the main line assembles the final product.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Quantitative Models for Conveyors:
• Once the conveyor type has been determined,
its design requires determination of conveyor
width, speed of operation, power requirements,
length and shape.
• There are some simple methods and guidelines
to determine some of these parameters.
• The first set of guidelines of interest is
attributed to T. T. Kwo.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Quantitative Models for Conveyors:
• Kwo's guidelines for closed-loop, irreversible
conveyors are:
1. Uniformity principle: Materials should be uniformly
distributed over the length of the conveyor.
2. Capacity principle: The carrying capacity of the
conveyor must equal or exceed the system throughput
requirements.
3. Speed principle: the speed of the conveyor must be
within the limits imposed by the capacity of the
load/unload stations as well as the technical
capabilities of the conveyor.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Shape of Conveyor
The shape of the conveyor is often determined by
two factors:
1) Existing machines and their relative positions
(which are typically determined by the
sequence of operations on the parts ;)
2) Existing space and floor-plan of the shop
floor.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Width of Conveyor
• The width of the conveyor is determined by the
size of the part carriers.
• Usually, parts are kept on bins or carriers
which travel above the conveyor.
• These carriers are usually rectangular. Their
size is determined by two factors: the size of
each part, and the number of parts being
carried on each carrier.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Width of Conveyor
• Given the size of the carrier, it is easy to
determine the width of the conveyor.
• Typically, if it is important to retain a fixed
orientation for each carrier, then it must travel
in the direction along its longer side; thus the
width of the conveyor is just greater than the
shorter side of the carrier.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Length of the conveyor
• Single part per carrier case (deterministic).
• Let: Required loading speed = l parts/min
• Conveyor length used by each carrier = d (=
carrier length + allowance)
• Number of unloading stations = Mu
• Average unloading speed = μ parts/min
• Conveyor velocity = v
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Length of the conveyor
• Condition 1. If units arrive at the loading
station faster than they can be loaded, there
will be blocking.
• This condition occurs when: l < v/d
• That is, one would set the conveyor velocity at
a level such that the carrier arrival rate (v/d) is
greater than the part arrival rate, l.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Determination of Length of the conveyor
Condition 2. The unloading stations must be able to
handle the conveyor traffic.
• This means that Mu. μ > l.
• Also note, that if l.d/v = 2/3, then, in the steady state,
every third carrier will be empty.
• Therefore, an unloading station with unload times
between d/v and 1.5d/v will have sufficient capacity.
• However, it will not be ready to unload every second
consecutive part that arrives.
• In the steady state, there will be several filled,
completed jobs always circulating on the conveyor.
 2.3. Designing Conveyor Systems
Ergonomic Consideration
• Ergonomics consideration is taking in account
desirable human values including safety in the design
of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs and
environment for productive, safe, comfortable and
effective human use.
• Ergonomics aims at providing comfort and improved
working conditions so as to channelize the energy,
skills of the workers into constructive productive
work.
• This accounts for increased productivity, safety and
reduces the fatigue. This helps to increase the plant
utilization.
End of Chapter Two