Lvlon makes sidewall belt conveyors in Henan, China. The steep incline and vertical conveyor range ships to biomass pellet plants, feed mills, food processing factories and bulk handling operations worldwide. In-house steel fabrication, belt vulcanizing and cleat bonding. Factory-direct pricing. Full OEM on belt width, incline, frame material and configuration.
Sidewalls and Cleats: Why Gravity Loses
A flat belt conveyor slopes up at 18–20 degrees. Push it past 25 degrees and cylindrical pellets, grains or chips start rolling backward faster than the belt carries them forward. The material slides down the slope. The belt keeps moving. Nothing reaches the top.
The sidewall belt adds two features. Corrugated rubber sidewalls-a continuous zigzag strip bonded to each edge of the belt. Transverse cleats-T-shaped or C-shaped rubber bars bonded across the belt surface at regular intervals. The sidewalls form a U-shaped channel. The cleats divide the channel into pockets. Material sits in the pockets. As the belt climbs, the pocket ahead is blocked by the next cleat. The pocket sides are blocked by the sidewalls. The material cannot roll backward. It cannot spill sideways. It rides up.
At 90 degrees-vertical-the material rests entirely on the cleat below it and is contained by the sidewalls on either side. At the top, the belt passes over a discharge pulley. The belt changes direction. The pocket inverts. Gravity and centrifugal force empty the material into the discharge chute. The empty belt returns.
Cleat height and spacing are matched to the material. A cleat height of roughly 1.5–2 times the maximum particle diameter keeps large pieces from spilling over the top of the cleat. Cleat spacing sets the pocket volume-wider spacing carries more material per pocket but fewer pockets per meter of belt. The design balances throughput against material containment. Send us the material type, particle size distribution and bulk density. We select the sidewall height, cleat profile and spacing.
Z-Type and L-Type: Vertical Lift Without Horizontal Real Estate
A standard 18-degree incline conveyor rising five meters needs roughly 12–15 meters of horizontal floor space. In an operating feed mill or pellet plant, that much clear floor simply does not exist-the building is already filled with hammer mills, mixers, pellet presses and storage bins.
A Z-type conveyor has three sections. A short horizontal lower section accepts the material feed. A first bend transitions the belt to vertical. The vertical section climbs the required height. A second bend transitions back to horizontal at the discharge end. The entire machine fits in roughly 2–4 meters of floor length and 2–3 meters of width. It uses the building's vertical height instead of its floor area.
An L-type has only the lower horizontal section and the vertical section-no upper horizontal. Material discharges directly at the top of the vertical rise. L-type is more compact. Z-type provides a horizontal discharge conveyor at height if the receiving equipment inlet is offset from the conveyor's vertical axis.
Both types are custom-engineered per installation. The lower horizontal length, vertical rise and upper horizontal length (for Z-type) are built to the buyer's site dimensions. Standard off-the-shelf conveyors do not exist in this category-every order is a custom design based on the buyer's floor plan.
Pre-Cooling Between the Pellet Press and the Cooler
A pellet press discharges at roughly 70–85°C. The pellets are soft. If they drop directly into a counter-flow cooler, they pile unevenly. The cooling air takes the path of least resistance through the shallow parts of the pile. The deep parts stay hot. The pellets that cool properly are hard. The pellets that do not are soft and crumble during bagging and transport.
A sidewall conveyor placed between the press and the cooler spreads the hot pellets into a thin, even layer. The belt runs at a speed that gives the pellets 30–60 seconds of travel in ambient air. Surface temperature drops by 10–15°C before the pellets reach the cooler. The cooler receives a load that is already partially cooled and consistently distributed. Exit pellet hardness is uniform. Crumbled pellet returns drop.
The conveyor does the double job of elevating and cooling. The sidewalls and cleats that keep the pellets contained during the vertical climb also create the open-top channel that allows ambient air to flow across the pellet surface. The conveyor is not a cooler. It is a pre-cooling stage that makes the downstream cooler work better.
Specifications
| Parameter | Spec |
|---|---|
| Type | Sidewall belt conveyor |
| Frame | SUS304/316L stainless, carbon steel, aluminum |
| Belt | PVC (food grade), PU, rubber, nylon |
| Belt type | Sidewall + transverse cleats (flat/V-guide/cleated) |
| Configuration | Horizontal / Inclined / L-type / Z-type |
| Belt width | 500–1,200 mm (custom) |
| Incline | 0°–90° |
| Speed | 0–1.2 m/s (VFD) |
| Motor | 0.3–15 kW (ABB or equivalent) |
| Belt layers | 3-ply base belt |
| Load capacity | 100 kg base (custom) |
| Certification | CE |
| Warranty | 1 year (13 months from shipment, wear parts excluded) |
| Customization | Full OEM-width, length, incline, frame, belt, cleats |
FAQ
Q: Can the conveyor really run vertical at 90 degrees without material falling out?
Yes. The cleats form pockets that physically support the material against gravity. The sidewalls contain it laterally. The mechanism is mechanical, not friction-dependent. Design condition: cleat height must be roughly 1.5–2× the maximum particle diameter and the belt speed must not exceed the point where centrifugal force at the discharge pulley starts flinging material prematurely. We design both parameters per your material spec.
Q: What is the difference between Z-type and L-type?
Z-type has three sections-lower horizontal feed, vertical rise, upper horizontal discharge. L-type has two-lower horizontal feed and vertical rise with direct discharge at the top. Z-type provides a horizontal discharge conveyor at height if the receiving equipment is offset. L-type is the most compact configuration when discharge happens directly into a bin or hopper at the top.
Q: Can the belt be food grade for direct food contact?
Yes. Food-grade PU and PVC belting meets FDA and EU food contact standards. No phthalates, no heavy metal migration. Suitable for conveying snacks, cereals, nuts, dried fruit and other direct-consumption food products. The stainless steel frame (304 or 316L) completes the hygienic design.
Q: What is the OEM lead time for a custom-designed conveyor?
Standard pre-engineered models ship in 15–25 working days. Full custom designs-where the conveyor is engineered from your floor plan, material spec and throughput requirement-add 15–25 working days to the standard lead time. MOQ is one system.
Contact Lvlon for factory wholesale price, custom conveyor design and container quotation.
