MDR & conveyor controls

24 VDC conveyor controls, engineered zone by zone.

MDR control panels, ZPA logic, conveyor PLC programming, and safety for roller conveyor systems, designed, built, and commissioned by one engineering team.

Quote your MDR project How we build MDR controls
Talk to an engineer about MDR zones, merges, or a conveyor PLC upgrade [email protected]

What we focus on

Motor-driven roller conveyor is simple until it isn’t.

One MDR zone is a roller, a card, and a photo eye. Two hundred zones with merges, a sorter, and a WMS interface is a controls project. We design the panels, power, logic, and safety for that whole system and stay through commissioning.

Zones

Logic that knows every zone

Each zone knows whether it is occupied, whether the next zone is clear, and how long a carton should take to cross it. That is how jams get found in seconds and accumulation never pushes product into a merge.

Power

24 VDC sized for start current

MDR motors draw several times their running current at start. Supplies, branch protection, and conductor sizes are chosen from zone counts, duty, and voltage drop on the actual run lengths, not from a nameplate total.

Startup

Tuned on the conveyor, not in the office

Speeds, acceleration, photo-eye positions, gap targets, and timers get set on the running conveyor with real cartons. The final settings and card configurations go into the closeout backups.

Photo eye with a quick-disconnect cord on a roller conveyor frame

Every zone has one job.

Hold the carton until the zone ahead is clear, then pass it on. The rest is detail, and we get the detail right.

Zoned powered roller conveyor merge in a warehouse aisle

Merges that keep the line full.

Priority, gap, and release timing set so two lanes become one without collisions or starved downstream zones.

Sortation conveyor with divert lanes

Divert the right carton.

Tracking follows each carton from the scanner to the lane, and every divert is confirmed.

Photoelectric sensor on a mounting bracket with its cable secured on a roller conveyor

Field wiring you can trace.

M8 and M12 cordsets labeled by zone, brackets that hold alignment, and cables secured off the rollers.

How we deliver MDR projects

Control panel interior during factory testing with numbered wiring and labeled terminals

FAT checklist · MDR power panel PP-03

  • Each 24 VDC branch loaded and voltage checked
  • E-stop removes MDR motor power on both channels
  • Contactor feedback (EDM) fault tested
  • Network switch and card IPs match the plan

01 · Before it ships

Panels tested on the bench.

Power panels and the main control panel are powered up in the shop. Every 24 VDC branch, safety channel, and network port is checked against the drawings before anything goes to site.

  • Branch protection sized and verified for the zones it feeds
  • Safety circuit tested for single faults, not just a press of the E-stop
  • Signed FAT record shipped with the panel
Operator HMI on a pedestal showing live conveyor status

Active alarms · Pick module A

  1. PMA_L2_Z047_JamZone 47 blocked longer than transit time
  2. PMA_MRG1_LaneFullMerge 1 discharge full · infeed holding
  3. PMA_PP03_CB04_TripPower panel 3, branch 4 tripped · zones 41–48

02 · One naming standard

Alarms that point at a zone.

Tags follow area, line, zone, and device. When a technician sees an alarm on the HMI, it names the zone, the device, and what happened, and the same name is on the label at the conveyor.

  • Zone numbers match the layout drawing and the field labels
  • Card faults, branch trips, and jams reported separately
  • Zone status map on the HMI for fast walk-to-fault
New control panel installed beside racking in an operating facility

Conveyor cutover · example plan

  1. Fri 18:00Last wave clears, conveyor locked out
  2. Sat 07:00Pre-wired panels set, cordsets landed
  3. Sat 16:00Zones addressed, directions verified
  4. Sun 09:00Test cartons through merges and diverts
  5. Mon 05:00First wave · engineer on site

03 · Around your shipping schedule

Cutovers that miss no waves.

Conveyor work in a running DC is planned around wave times and peak season. Panels are pre-wired, cordsets pre-made, and each step has a check and a way back.

  • Existing conveyor photographed and labeled before demolition
  • Sections brought up one at a time where one weekend isn’t enough
  • Engineer on site through the first production shift
Quote your MDR project How we handle conveyor safety

Sound familiar?

The conveyor problems we get called about

Most of these aren’t hardware failures. They come from logic, power, or documentation that was never finished properly.

Cartons touching in a zero-pressure zone
A merge that starves the line downstream
Branch breakers that trip on Monday morning start-up
Zone cards nobody has a configuration backup for
Diverts that miss and nobody knows which carton went where
E-stops that stop the whole building instead of one area

Each of these has a known fix. We start there.

How a conveyor project runs

From layout to first wave, in six steps

Each step ends with something you can review. Most problems get caught on paper or on our bench instead of during your shutdown.

  1. 01

    Layout & zone list

    Typically 1–2 weeks

    We work from the mechanical layout, or walk the existing conveyor, and build a zone list: zone numbers, lengths, photo-eye locations, merges, diverts, and any scanners, scales, or printers on the line.

    You get: zone and I/O list, assumptions, long-lead items flagged.

  2. 02

    Functional design

    Typically 1–2 weeks

    A written sequence for every section: accumulation and release modes, merge priority, divert logic, jam and full-lane handling, the WMS/WCS message set, and the safety functions with their stop zones.

    You get: functional design you mark up and sign off.

  3. 03

    Drawings & panels

    Typically 3–6 weeks

    Schematics, panel layouts, power distribution and voltage-drop calculations, and network/IP plan. Control and power panels are then built to UL 508A and tested in the shop.

    You get: approval drawings, BOM, FAT record.

  4. 04

    Programming & emulation

    In parallel with build

    PLC logic, card configurations, and HMI screens are written against the approved functional design and run against simulated zones before site.

    You get: program for review and a test plan.

  5. 05

    Install & commissioning

    Days to weeks, by size

    Panels set, cordsets landed, cards addressed, and each zone verified for direction, photo eye, and speed. Then cartons run through every merge, divert, and exception path.

    You get: signed SAT, tuned settings recorded.

  6. 06

    Closeout

    Ongoing

    As-built drawings, PLC and HMI backups, MDR card configuration files, and a spares list. Remote support follows your site’s access rules.

    You get: the closeout package listed below.

Durations are typical for a mid-size MDR system. Equipment delivery, approvals, and site access move them either way.

Specifics, not slogans

Typical MDR design values and what you receive

These are common starting points, not guarantees. Your conveyor manufacturer’s data, product mix, and layout set the final values.

Typical design values

What goes on the drawings

Incoming power
480 VAC 3-phase or 208/240 VAC to the power panels, stepped down to 24 VDC close to the zones it feeds.
MDR power
24 VDC supplies sized from zone count and simultaneous start current, with headroom for added zones.
Branch protection
Breakers or electronic circuit protection per group of zones, so one fault drops a few zones instead of a section.
Voltage drop
Calculated on the actual 24 VDC run lengths. Long runs get larger conductors or a power panel closer to the zones.
Field connections
M8 photo eyes at the zone cards, M12 for I/O blocks and drops, pre-made cordsets labeled by zone.
Network
EtherNet/IP or PROFINET to the PLC, managed switches, and an IP plan that includes every zone card.
Safety
Typically designed to SIL 2 / PL d unless your risk assessment sets a different requirement.

Closeout package

What you receive

  • Electrical drawings: schematics, panel layouts, power distribution, native files plus PDF
  • Zone list with zone number, card, port, photo eye, and power branch
  • Functional design updated to match the commissioned system
  • Network drawing & IP plan, including every MDR card
  • PLC, HMI, and MDR card configuration backups, version-labeled
  • Safety function list with test records from FAT and SAT
  • Spares list: rollers, cards, photo eyes, cordsets, supplies

Where to next

Look closer at the work

Powered roller conveyor line with guarding

Time to upgrade

Running conveyor that’s barely keeping up?

Older lineshaft sections, relay logic, and first-generation MDR cards can usually be upgraded in stages without replacing the whole system. Send us what’s running today and we’ll scope it.

  • TodayAfter the upgrade
  • Conveyor running all shift with nothing on itZones that sleep when empty and wake on demand
  • Jams found by walking the lineJam alarms that name the zone
  • One E-stop stops everythingStop zones matched to the risk assessment
  • No backup of card settingsConfigurations saved with the PLC program
Quote my upgrade Conveyor retrofits

Next step

Ready to scope your MDR conveyor project?

Send a layout, a zone count, or photos of the existing conveyor and panels. An engineer reads it and replies, usually within one business day, with questions or a budgetary next step.

[email protected]

Mon–Fri, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM ET · we reply within one business day
Engineering offices in Clearwater, Florida · available for Zoom meetings

Your request goes to an engineer, not a call center. Expect a reply within one business day.