Trailer and bodywork manufacturer Martrans has developed a moving-floor trailer using a retractable conveyor belt. Fleet sales manager Geoff Howard said using a conveyor belt system, as opposed to a traditional moving floor with slats, is lighter, quicker and easier to keep clean. The Multidrive Horizontal Ejector (MHE) floor is supplied by Multidrive, based in Worcestershire, and is made of silicon rubber with a synthetic fabric layer underneath designed to withstand 200C heat. The floor is reciprocating rather than a continuous conveyor belt, and uses a Bosch Rexroth gearbox to move the floor backwards and forwards. On the Martrans trailer the MHE system weighs up to 925kg. “With a 10.8m-long planksided aluminium body the trailer weighs 7,100kg, which is much lighter than a similar sized trailer with a moving floor. It discharges in one minute on tickover,” Howard said. Stephen Boughton, head of technical and sales at Multidrive, said the company supplies the floor, hydraulics and a cleaning strip that removes any residue before the floor coils up. “We produce two types of floors: a 12mm-thick floor for asphalt and aggregate and a 10mm type for just aggregate. It is versatile and there are fewer moving parts so it requires less maintenance.”
