PASCHAL’s own production is concentrated on formwork elements for wall and column formwork. These are produced at the factory in Germany.
When the formwork elements have been used in construction, they are returned as rented equipment to PASCHAL-Denmark, where they must now be cleaned before the next rental.
PASCHAL wanted to automate this cleaning and sorting process,
not only to eliminate the manual handling; but also, to reduce the time that the elements are in the company and not out with the customers. PASCHAL had built a new factory section for this purpose, and we were chosen to design and deliver the conveyor system.
The plant itself consists of a cleaning machine, powered roller conveyors with angle transfers and gravity roller conveyors – and of course with associated electric control in the form of push button panels.
The formwork elements are not particularly heavy, max. 400 kg, but they can be large, from a length of 2.70 m and a width of 2.40 m and below. Therefore, the conveyors are 2.7 m wide.
Broadly speaking, the plant is such that it begins where the returned, dirty formwork elements must begin the cleaning process. Using a vacuum lifter, the operator places the elements, which can be of different sizes, on the conveyor one by one. They run forward and are guided via a chain transfer towards a side guide so that they all lie straight.
They then roll into the cleaning machine and afterwards, now clean, they run forward to a stop at the end of the conveyor. From here, the single element is allocated to one of the four repair stations. After repair, if any, the element is transferred to one of the four double gravity conveyors, so that a stack of elements of the same size can be collected on one or more pallets at the outfeed end.
The formwork elements are with a wooden cover. If the wooden board has been damaged, it is repaired before it is sent further in the system. If one of the large elements needs a repair, it is transported to a transfer cart. This transfer cart can then be driven away from the conveyor line, allowing the operator to walk around the element and repair the damage, then return the element to the line and exit on a gravity conveyor.
The pictures are from the factory test of the system.