Walking Floor Trailers
Walking floor trailers provide a simple means of conveyance for bulk materials in many different kinds of industries, such as recycling, agriculture, forest products, and more. Rather than having to move waste materials manually, a walking floor trailer unloads itself by “walking” the material off the back of the truck.
How Do They Work?
Walking Floor systems contain a number of moving floor slats. These slats are powered by a hydraulic system, which is most often located beneath the moving floor. The most common number of slats for this system is 21, though variations do exist; in all of them, the number is some multiple of three.
When fewer slats are used, they are individually stronger; the opposite is true for configurations with more slats. When the moving floor trailer has fewer slats, it is being used for moving heavier and usually bulkier loads. Trailers with more slats move finer materials.
These systems operate in four steps. In the first three, one set of floor slats moves backward underneath the bulk materials, each at a different time. In the fourth and last, all of the slats move forward in unison, moving the waste a few inches at a time. This process repeats until all of the waste has been conveyed off the back of the truck.
Why Use Walking Floor Trailers?
Walking floor trailers are more agile than other means of waste movement. Large dump trailers may not be able to access the interior of a building and they certainly cannot be used in small tunnels, but a walking floor can. They can even be used beneath power lines and on uneven grounds. These are most useful when waste material is sent directly to a landfill, so the waste can be walked off the back of the truck directly into the landfill instead of having to unload it with a forklift.
Additionally, these horizontal systems are safer than dump trailers. These can “overturn in windy conditions or due to a load shift;” these issues are far less likely with walking floor trailers.
If you think that your business could benefit from the use of one or more walking floor trailers, contact the waste management experts at Clean Management. We look forward to assisting you with any and all of your waste management needs.
