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The Straight and Curved Conveyors can simulate conveyor belts or roller conveyors. Straight and Curved Conveyors function slightly differently than some of the other objects in the FlexSim Library. For example, the process for adding them to a simulation model is slightly different. For more information, see:

• Adding Conveyors to a Simulation Model
• Moving, Resizing, and Reversing Conveyors
• Connecting Conveyors

Another difference is that the majority of the settings for a Straight and Curved Conveyors can only be changed by using the Conveyor System Tool to change the Conveyor's Type settings. For more information, see:

• Introduction to the Conveyor System Tool
• Accessing Type Properties
• Conveyor Type Settings

Lastly, if you double-click on a Straight and Curved Conveyor, you will open its Properties dialog box. There are only two tabs available for conveyors: Triggers and Labels. These tabs have options that function the same way as most other objects in the FlexSim library.

Statistics

Conveyors track the following statistics. These can be viewed by clicking on a conveyor and then going to the Statistics pane in Quick Properties.

• Content The number of items in the conveyor.
• Input The total number of items that have entered the conveyor.
• Output The total number of items that have exited the conveyor.
• Staytime The durations that items are in the conveyor.
• State The conveyor uses the following states:
  • Empty - There are no items on the conveyor
  • Conveying - There is at least one item on the conveyor
  • Stopped - There is at least one item on the conveyor, but the conveyor's speed has is set to zero. The conveyor will go into this state immediately when its speed is set to zero (i.e. at the time it STARTS to decelerate to zero).
  • Blocked - Only used for non-accumulating conveyors. When an item on a non-accumulating conveyor is stopped or blocked, the conveyor will become blocked. Note again that accumulating conveyors do not use this state. If you want to get better blocked state statistics on accumulating conveyors, you should use photo eyes.
• Percent Full The percent that the conveyor is "filled" with items. This uses the following formula: 100 * (TotalStopSpace / ConveyorLength) where TotalStopSpace is the sum of the stop spaces of all the items currently on the conveyor. Note that this percentage may go above 100%, specifically when there are items straddling multiple conveyors.