Overview of Conveyor Objects

Library Objects

Conveyor objects are found in the Conveyors group in the FlexSim Library. The following table will provide a high-level overview of these objects. The categories and objects are presented in the same order as they appear in the Library.

Name and Icon	Description	Appearance
Straight Conveyor	The straight conveyor can simulate conveyor belts or roller conveyors. As its name suggests, this conveyor has a straight shape. See Straight and Curved Conveyors for more information.
Curved Conveyor	The curved conveyor is another object that can simulate conveyor belts or roller conveyors. Unlike the straight conveyor, this conveyor has a curved shape with varying radius settings. See Straight and Curved Conveyors for more information.
Join Conveyors	Join conveyors acts more like a tool than an object. Use it to create a curved conveyor connecting two conveyor sections. See Join Conveyors for more information.
Decision Points	You can use a decision point to build logic into your conveyor system. Decision points can also be linked to a merge controller to notify it when a released slug has cleared designated points in the system. See Decision Point for more information.
Stations	A station is an object you can use to add processing points into the conveyor system. The station works very much like a standard processor object, except that it is placed as a point in the conveyor system, instead of as an object outside of the conveyor system. See Station for more information.
Photo Eye	Photo eyes are similar to decision points in that they act as a sensor on the conveyor. However, whereas a decision point will fire on every passing item, photo eyes function like real-life photo eyes. They will only clear if there is a gap between items on the conveyor. You can also define a block and/or clear time so the respective trigger will only fire if the photo eye is continuously blocked/cleared for a defined duration of time. See Photo Eye for more information.
Motor	Motors can be used to control whether the conveyor systems are on or off at a given time. The motor can also be used to sync dog gaps on a power and free chain loop when simulating a power and free conveyor system. See Motor for more information.
Merge Controller	The merge controller is an object that can control how different conveyor lanes merge together. Use the merge controller to define a lane release strategy for the merge. See Merge Controller for more information.

Additional Conveyor Objects

In addition to these objects which are available in the FlexSim Library, there are three additional conveyor objects you should be aware of: transfers, entry transfers, and exit transfers. These objects are not available in the FlexSim library but are automatically created whenever you connect conveyors to other objects. See Working With Transfer Objects for more information.