Belt conveyors
Flat belts for general transport, and incline or decline belts for elevation changes. Cleated or high-grip belts hold product on steeper slopes.
Conveyors & material handling
Conveyor controls done right. Built to keep product moving.
Controls for conveyors and material handling equipment (MHE): panels, PLC logic, tracking, sortation, and safety, from one US-based team.
Conveyor types
The equipment we control
Each conveyor type moves product differently. The controls are designed around the equipment and the flow.
MDR live roller
Motor-driven roller (MDR), typically 24 VDC, from makers such as Interroll and Itoh Denki. One motorized roller drives each zone through bands linked to its idler rollers, so each zone runs only when needed.
Lineshaft & belt-driven roller
A rotating lineshaft with drive bands, or a belt under the rollers, turns every roller from one motor. Simple and economical for long runs of steady flow.
Accumulation
Zero-pressure accumulation (ZPA) holds product in separate zones so cartons don’t touch. Minimum-pressure accumulation allows light contact, for product that can tolerate it.
Gravity
Roller or skatewheel sections on a slope with no motor. Common for pick lines, staging, and short transfers.
Chain & pallet
Drag chain, chain transfers, and heavy roller for pallets and large loads, often with turntables and transfers for direction changes.
Spirals
Spiral conveyors move product up or down continuously in a small footprint, between floors or mezzanines.
Vertical lifts & VRCs
Vertical lifts and vertical reciprocating conveyors (VRCs) move loads between levels. VRCs carry material only, not riders, and are interlocked with their gates.
Sortation
Pop-up wheel, sliding shoe, cross-belt, and tilt-tray sorters, plus pushers and diverter arms for lower rates. The right type depends on rate, product range, and footprint.
Merges
Powered merges combine several lines into one, releasing product by priority and available gap so the downstream line stays full without collisions.
AMR & AGV handoff
Pick-up and drop-off points where mobile robots meet the conveyor, with handshake signals and interlocks so a transfer starts only when both sides are ready.
Would you like to know more? Choosing a conveyor type
MDR vs lineshaft
MDR zones stop when empty and start on demand, which saves energy and noise and suits accumulation. Lineshaft and belt-driven roller run continuously and suit long, steady transport.
Sorter selection
Pushers and diverters suit lower rates and robust cartons. Sliding shoe sorters handle a wide range of cartons at higher rates. Cross-belt and tilt-tray sorters handle small or mixed items, often for e-commerce and parcels.
How it should work
Zone logic that keeps product flowing
Good conveyor logic moves product without collisions, stops what doesn’t need to run, and always knows where each carton is.
Zones & photo eyes
Accumulation conveyor is split into zones, typically one photo eye per zone. Each zone knows if it’s occupied and if the zone downstream is clear.
Release on clear
A zone releases its product only when the downstream zone is clear. Product moves forward one zone at a time without touching.
Singulation vs slug release
Singulation releases one carton at a time with gaps. Slug, or train, release moves a group of accumulated zones together to raise throughput.
Sleep & idle timers
Zones that stay empty stop after a set time and wake when product arrives. Empty conveyor doesn’t run all day.
Gap control
Gaps between cartons are set for what comes next: a scanner needs a clean read, and a sorter needs room to divert.
Tracking product identity
Once a carton is scanned, its ID follows it zone to zone in first-in, first-out (FIFO) order, so the system knows which carton is where at a divert.
Would you like to know more? How tracking stays accurate
Handoffs
Each zone or section passes the carton’s ID to the next as the carton moves. Photo eyes confirm arrival, so the data and the physical carton stay matched.
Checkpoints
Rescans or presence checks at key points, such as before a sorter, confirm the ID still matches. A mismatch sends the carton to exception handling instead of the wrong lane.
Ways to program it
Central, distributed, or both
We pick the architecture to suit the equipment, the site, and the team that will support it, and write it into a functional design you sign off before build.
Centralized PLC zone logic
The PLC runs the zone logic for every zone, with photo eyes and motor commands wired to I/O or remote I/O. One program shows the whole system.
Distributed MDR controller cards
MDR cards with onboard ZPA logic, such as ConveyLinx (Pulseroller) or Itoh Denki IB-E style cards, run zones locally. The PLC supervises them over EtherNet/IP or another supported network: modes, faults, and release commands.
Reusable zone & section blocks
Each zone and section uses the same reusable block and data structure (AOIs and UDTs in Logix). One tag standard across the whole system, so every zone reads the same way.
State machines
Sections run through defined states, such as stopped, running, accumulating, jammed, and faulted. Behavior is predictable and easier to troubleshoot.
WCS & WMS routing
The carton is scanned, the WCS or WMS returns a destination, and the PLC executes the divert. Routing decisions stay in the business system; motion stays in the PLC.
Diagnostics on the HMI
Zone status, faults, and counts shown on the HMI or SCADA by location, so techs go straight to the problem.
Would you like to know more? Central vs distributed control
Centralized
Everything in one PLC program. Good visibility and one place to change logic, with more I/O wiring back to the panel or remote drops.
Distributed
MDR cards handle zone-level accumulation locally and keep running basic ZPA if supervision is interrupted, depending on how they’re configured. The PLC handles routing, tracking, and system-level logic. Less I/O wiring, but card configuration and firmware need to be documented and backed up too.
Jams & exceptions
Problems handled, not hidden
Jams and bad reads will happen. The system should contain them and tell you where they are.
Jam detection
A photo eye blocked longer than the expected transit time, or a zone that never clears, is flagged as a jam.
Upstream accumulates
When a jam is detected, upstream zones accumulate and hold instead of pushing product into the jam.
Full-line & lane-full eyes
Line-full and lane-full photo eyes stop feeding a lane or line before it backs up into a merge or sorter.
Exception paths
No-reads, no-scans, overweight or out-of-dimension cartons, and cartons with no known destination go to a reject or recirculation lane, not the wrong door.
Divert confirm
A sensor confirms each divert. A missed divert is recorded and the carton is handled as an exception, so counts stay right.
Recovery & alarms
After a jam is cleared, the system resumes without losing tracking. HMI alarms give the location and the cause.
Would you like to know more? Clearing a jam without losing track
Hold, don’t clear
Tracking data for the jammed section is held while the jam is cleared. Cartons that were removed or moved by hand are flagged so they’re rescanned rather than guessed.
Restart
Restart is a deliberate action after the area is clear, and the section ramps back into flow from upstream accumulation.
Safety
Conveyor safety designed in
Safety functions follow the risk assessment and the standards for conveyors and machinery.
E-stops & pull cords
Emergency stop push buttons and pull cords along the conveyor, zoned as the risk assessment defines.
Guarding
Nip and pinch points, drives, and transfer points guarded. Side guards and rails keep product on the conveyor.
Start-up warning
A horn and beacon warn before motion where ASME B20.1 calls for it, such as when the whole conveyor can’t be seen from the start location.
Lockout/tagout
Disconnects and energy-isolation points laid out for lockout/tagout under OSHA 1910.147.
Safety logic
Safety relays or a safety PLC monitor e-stops, pull cords, and gates, and drives use Safe Torque Off (STO) where specified.
Risk assessment
The required Performance Level and Category come from the risk assessment under ISO 13849-1. We design to that result.
Would you like to know more? Standards we design conveyor safety around
ASME B20.1
Safety standard for conveyors and related equipment, including guarding, emergency stops, and start-up warnings.
NFPA 79
Electrical standard for industrial machinery: wiring, control circuits, and stop functions in the panel and on the machine.
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147
Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) during service and maintenance.
ISO 12100
General principles for machine design and risk assessment. In the US, ANSI B11.0 covers the same ground.
ISO 13849-1
Safety-related parts of control systems. The risk assessment sets the required Performance Level for each safety function.
Who builds it
Engineers who know conveyors.
Control Panel Pros is an extension of Electrol Systems, Inc. (Cincinnati), whose engineers design, build, and program the conveyor panels quoted through this site, and we’ve worked hands-on on material handling projects.
- Clean conveyor logic. Organized, readable, and easy to support.
- One tag standard. Every zone and section named the same way.
- Punctual engineers. We show up when we say we will.
Next step
Ready to quote your conveyor project?
Send a layout, a description of the flow, or photos of the existing system. An engineer will reply with questions or a next step.