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De-stacking empty crates

One of our customers was looking for a solution for de-stacking four sizes of empty CBL crates. The existing installation was at the end of its life span and incapable of processing the four sizes fully automatically.
We had to take into account some important aspects: the two pallet sizes (Euro and Chep pallets) on which the crates are delivered, the high capacity and the new installation had to be placed on the same – in m2 limited – footprint as the old one.

The process for which we designed the installation consists of the following elements:

transporting Euro and Chep pallets loaded with empty crates to the depalletising units
separate the pallets and the crates
transport the pallets to the pallet stackers
de-stack the crates and hand them over to the existing system

The solution

We designed an installation for the complete process. Our solution includes four lines with positions where the pallets and crates are separated. Each line can de-stack approximately 55 pallets per hour and is able to process multiple crate sizes. In the beginning, however, it has been decided to assign each line its own size.

After the pallets and the crates are separated, the pallets are conveyed to two pallet stackers. The crate destackers always get a full pallet load for processing. The empty crates are aligned and transferred to the existing system of our customer in piles of approximately 500 mm height. If desired, it is possible to destack the crates at different heights.

There were four weeks between the disassembly of the old installation and the commissioning of the new installation. To bridge these weeks without downtime, we provided a position were crates could be put on a conveyor manually. The Carryline chain conveyors used for this purpose were later converted and re-used in the new installation.