US 12,240,704 B2
Modular belt conveyor
Hans-Sebastian Höhler, Hildesheim (DE)
Assigned to Wipotec GmbH, Kaiserslautern (DE)
Appl. No. 17/795,197
Filed by Wipotec GmbH, Kaiserslautern (DE)
PCT Filed Jan. 27, 2021, PCT No. PCT/DE2021/100080
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 15, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/151433, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 5, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102020102019.8 (DE), filed on Jan. 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0174311 A1, Jun. 8, 2023
Int. Cl. B65G 21/06 (2006.01)
CPC B65G 21/06 (2013.01) [B65G 2207/30 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A belt conveyor for transporting products in a conveying direction, the belt conveyor including:
(a) at least two support elements connected together in an assembled state in which the support elements are arranged in series in the conveying direction with each support element being adjacent to at least one other support element in the conveying direction, each support element included in the belt conveyor being separately formed and comprising either a roller holder element or a core element, wherein adjacent support elements in the conveying direction are rigidly connected together by a fastening device so as to form a conveyor plane for supporting a belt for conveying products in the conveying direction;
(b) wherein each support element has a stop surface that, in the assembled state, abuts a stop surface of an adjacent support element in the belt conveyor in the conveying direction; and
(c) wherein each stop surface has a profile that is complementary to the profile of the abutting stop surface, the profiles of abutting stop surfaces cooperating to provide a predefined alignment of adjacent support elements in three mutually orthogonal spatial directions comprising the conveying direction in the conveyor plane, a transverse direction in the conveyor plane extending transversely to the conveying direction, and a vertical direction extending perpendicularly to the conveyor plane,
wherein at least two of the support elements that lie adjacent to each other in the belt conveyor are constructed as bent sheet metal parts forming an inverted U-shape in a plane extending in the transverse direction perpendicular to the conveyor plane.