Dock Leveller

Listing ID #3981077

Dock lever in Coimbatore,Tamilnadu, India.

It’s also important to note the importance of the dock leveler in dock safety. Dock levelers provide a bridge to the trailer as well as a ramp to facilitate the transition in height from dock to trailer. Dock levelers are rated by weight capacity and by the service range. The service range also known as the height differential rates the safe range above and below dock level you can use the leveler to transition to the trailer height. Differences in trailer width, height, floor level and the recent popularity of air-ride suspensions are forcing more attention on the functionality of dock levelers and their ability to safely handle the variety of vehicles serviced.

Dock levelers come in mechanical and hydraulic models. The mechanical models require the operator to pull a chain and then walk down on the leveller to engage it, while hydraulic models provide automatic functionality from push buttons usually mounted on the wall next to the dock door. Hydraulic models also offer a smoother transition when entering vehicles with soft suspensions (such as air-ride). Mechanical levelers use a mechanical safety mechanism to prevent the dock from bottoming out if it disengages from the trailer floor, the side-effect of this safety mechanism is that when you enter a trailer with a soft suspension the main portion of the leveler will not always drop with the suspension, leaving only the hinged lip to make up for the height differential. Hydraulic levelers incorporate a hydraulic velocity fuse as a safety mechanism, this still allows for full functionality of the leveler as the trailer height changes.

The advantages in using automatic dock equipment with electronic controls include the ability to incorporate all of the equipment into signaling devices. Signaling devices such as signal lights will let your lift truck operators know that the restraint mechanism and the dock leveler are properly engaged signaling that it is now safe to enter the trailer, while at the same time signaling the truck driver that it is unsafe to pull away from the dock.