An automatic conveyor

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of automatic conveyer belonging to the technical field of conveyer, including rack, the rack one end is rotatably connected conveyer main body by pivot, the conveyer main body includes conveying belt, side plate, driving motor, driving roller and driven roller, the inside end of the rack is installed turnover adjusting mechanism, the turnover adjusting mechanism includes air cylinder, movable connection seat and side plate connecting frame, the deviation correction component is located the end away from pivot below conveying belt, the deviation correction component includes fixed frame, T-shaped guide rail, screw rod, adjusting motor, T-shaped block, self-adapting frame, movable frame, concave roller and pressure sensor, by deviation correction component in "pressure sensor-motor drive-T-shaped block displacement-self-adapting frame linkage-concave roller flexible edge pressing" full closed loop control chain, cooperate with limit block / limit groove double-sided guide, middle support of carrier roller and polyurethane scraper surface cleaning function, realize conveying belt edge dynamic pressure equalization regulation and control and real-time correction of running deviation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of conveyor technology, and specifically relates to an automatic conveyor. Background Technology

[0002] A conveyor is a mechanical device specifically designed for material transport, with roller conveyors being particularly suitable for conveying items with a flat bottom. It mainly consists of core components such as rollers, a frame, supports, and a drive unit. It features high conveying capacity, high operating speed, and smooth, stable operation. Furthermore, it can achieve the co-line, separate transport of multiple types of materials, thus playing an indispensable role in modern logistics systems and manufacturing production lines. Currently, most automated conveyors on the market are equipped with belt alignment devices to ensure the conveyor belt runs along a fixed track and prevent deviation. However, most of these devices are fixed structures, unable to be dynamically adjusted or corrected in real time according to the actual operating conditions of the conveyor belt, resulting in limited alignment effectiveness. Furthermore, most conveyors can only be raised and lowered as a whole via the bottom frame, with a limited height adjustment range, making it difficult to meet the tilt angle adjustment requirements for transporting goods from lower to higher positions. This design makes the equipment insufficiently adaptable when tilting and turning within a certain angle range, thus limiting its application scenarios. To address the above issues, we propose a novel automatic conveyor design. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide an automatic conveyor to solve the existing problems mentioned in the background art.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: an automatic conveyor, comprising a frame, a conveyor body installed inside the frame, a tilting adjustment mechanism for driving the conveyor body to tilt, and a correction assembly installed at the bottom of the conveyor body. The frame has a rectangular frame structure, and one end of it is rotatably connected to the conveyor body via a rotating shaft. The conveyor body includes a conveyor belt, side plates symmetrically arranged on both sides, a drive motor, a drive roller, and a driven roller. The tilting adjustment mechanism is installed at the middle of the inner side of the frame. The tilting adjustment mechanism includes a cylinder, a movable connecting seat, and a side plate connecting frame. The cylinder body is hinged to the bottom surface inside the frame via the movable connecting seat. The movable connecting seat at the end of the piston rod on the cylinder is fixedly connected to the side plate connecting frame. The side plate connecting frame is fixedly connected to the bottom of the side plates on both sides of the conveyor body, for driving the conveyor body to tilt around the rotating shaft within an angle range of °– ° above a horizontal support plate. The correction assembly is located below the conveyor belt away from the rotating shaft. At one end, the correction assembly includes a fixed frame, a T-shaped guide rail, a screw, an adjusting motor, a T-shaped block, an adaptive frame, a movable frame, concave rollers, and a pressure sensor. The fixed frame is fixedly connected to the bottom of both side plates. The T-shaped guide rail is fixedly connected to the inner side of the fixed frame. The T-shaped block is slidably embedded in the T-shaped guide rail. The two ends of the screw are supported by bearings at both ends of the fixed frame, with one end coaxially connected to the output shaft of the adjusting motor. The T-shaped block has a threaded hole in the middle that matches the screw, enabling bidirectional precision displacement. The top of the T-shaped block is fixedly connected to the adaptive frame. The adaptive frame is a U-shaped rigid structure with grooves extending along the conveying direction at the top of its inner walls on both sides. The movable frame is slidably arranged in the grooves. Concave rollers are equidistantly installed on the inner side of the movable frame. The rims of the concave rollers are concave arc-shaped and fit and support the two edges of the lower surface of the conveyor belt. A pressure sensor is integrated into the inner wall of the groove, and the detection end of the pressure sensor is fixedly connected to the movable frame.

[0005] Preferably, the conveyor belt is wound around the outer periphery of the drive roller and the driven roller, and the drive motor drives the drive roller to rotate through the chain and sprocket; the inner surface of the conveyor belt is provided with toothed grooves at equal intervals along the running direction, and the outer periphery of the drive roller and the driven roller are respectively fitted with matching meshing toothed rings to achieve high-precision synchronous transmission, effectively prevent slippage and tooth skipping, and improve the conveying positioning repeatability accuracy to ±0.15 mm.

[0006] Preferably, a horizontal support plate is provided at the top of the end of the frame away from the rotating shaft. The top of the horizontal support plate contacts the bottom of the side plates on both sides of the conveyor body, forming a dynamic support reference surface during the flipping process. It provides continuous and stable bottom limit and reaction force support within the 0°–35° flipping range, avoids elastic deformation of the side plates due to cantilever force, and ensures that the repeatability error of the flipping posture is ≤0.3°.

[0007] Preferably, the inner bottom surface and top wall of the groove are provided with equidistant limiting grooves, and the top and bottom of the movable frame are respectively provided with integrated limiting blocks. The limiting blocks extend into the interior of the limiting groove and slide to connect with its inner wall to form a double-sided guiding constraint, eliminating the pitch and torsional degrees of freedom of the movable frame during the correction process, ensuring that the concave roller always presses the edge of the conveyor belt vertically, and the pressure distribution uniformity reaches more than 92%.

[0008] Preferably, an idler roller is installed at the inner top of the adaptive frame, and the two ends of the idler roller are rotatably connected to the inner walls of the two sides of the adaptive frame. The upper generatrix of the idler roller is in contact with the middle line of the lower surface of the conveyor belt, bearing about 65% of the vertical load of the conveyor belt, reducing the single-point pressure of the concave roller, extending its service life, and synergistically suppressing the deformation of the middle part of the conveyor belt, so that the flatness of the belt surface is controlled within ±0.4 mm.

[0009] Preferably, the leading edge of the adaptive frame extends vertically upward to form a scraper. The top of the scraper maintains a gap of 0.5–2 mm with the upper surface of the conveyor belt. The scraper is made of polyurethane material with a Shore hardness of A85±3, which has high wear resistance and micro-elastic deformation capability. Without damaging the surface of the conveyor belt, it removes dust, debris and trace amounts of adhering materials on the belt surface in real time, ensuring the accuracy of identification and sorting in subsequent processes.

[0010] Preferably, the bottom of the frame is fixedly connected to support legs at equal intervals, and a control panel is fixedly embedded at one end of the frame. The pressure sensor is a miniature piezoresistive sensor and is electrically connected to the control panel. The control panel has a built-in PID closed-loop controller that collects the difference signal between the pressure sensors on the left and right sides in real time. After filtering and compensation, the controller drives the regulating motor to rotate forward and backward. The response time is ≤80 ms, the correction displacement resolution is 0.01 mm, and the conveyor belt deviation is <1.2 mm. The system can automatically return to the correct position when the deviation is <1.2 mm, and the steady-state correction accuracy is ±0.3 mm.

[0011] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: 1. Through the closed-loop control chain of "pressure sensing - motor drive - T-block displacement - adaptive frame linkage - concave roller flexible edge pressing" in the correction component, combined with the double-sided guidance of limit blocks / limit grooves, the support of the idler roller in the middle and the surface cleaning function of polyurethane scraper, dynamic pressure balance control and real-time correction of belt deviation at the edge of the conveyor belt are achieved. The correction response speed is increased to 5.2 times that of the traditional gravity swing arm structure, and the cumulative belt deviation is reduced to 18.7% of the industry average, which significantly improves the stability of continuous operation and product yield.

[0012] 2. Through the three-point constraint system consisting of the tilting adjustment mechanism and the frame / horizontal support plate, combined with the precise calibration of the cylinder stroke and the rigid coupling of the side plate connecting frame, the main body of the conveyor can achieve stable and backlash-free positioning and tilting at any angle within the range of 0°–35°, meeting the needs of multi-station tilt angle adaptation. The tilting repeatability positioning accuracy reaches ±0.2°, which is 3.6 times higher than the traditional hydraulic + mechanical limit method. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the multi-angle structure of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the frame of the present invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the main structure of the conveyor of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the correction component structure of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the adaptive frame structure of the present invention.

[0014] In the diagram: 1. Frame; 11. Rotating shaft; 12. Horizontal support plate; 2. Support leg; 3. Control panel; 4. Conveyor body; 41. Conveyor belt; 411. Toothed groove; 42. Side plate; 43. Drive motor; 44. Drive roller; 45. Driven roller; 46. Toothed ring; 5. Tilting adjustment mechanism; 51. Cylinder; 52. Movable connecting seat; 53. Side plate connecting frame; 6. Correction assembly; 61. Fixed frame; 62. T-shaped guide rail; 63. Screw; 64. Adjusting motor; 65. T-block; 66. Adaptive frame; 661. Scraper; 662. Idler roller; 663. Groove; 664. Limiting groove; 67. Movable frame; 671. Limiting block; 68. Concave roller; 69. Pressure sensor. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0016] Please see Figure 1-6 The present invention provides an automatic conveyor technical solution, including a frame 1, a conveyor body 4 installed inside the frame 1, a flipping adjustment mechanism 5 for driving the conveyor body 4 to flip, and a correction component 6 installed at the bottom of the conveyor body 4.

[0017] Specifically, the frame 1 has a rectangular frame structure, welded from high-strength steel. One end of the frame 1 is rotatably connected to the conveyor body 4 via a rotating shaft 11 to achieve rotational support. A horizontal support plate 12 is provided at the top of the end of the frame 1 away from the rotating shaft 11. Its top surface slides in contact with the bottom of the side plates 42 on both sides of the conveyor body 4, providing stable support and angle limit during the flipping process. Four adjustable support legs 2 are fixedly fixed at equal intervals at the bottom of the frame 1 to ensure the levelness of the whole machine and its adaptability to the ground. A control panel 3 is fixedly embedded at one end of the frame 1, integrating a PLC controller, human-machine interface and communication module, to receive and process various sensor signals and execute motion commands in real time.

[0018] Specifically, the conveyor body 4 includes an annular conveyor belt 41, rigid side plates 42 symmetrically arranged on both sides of the conveyor belt 41, a drive motor 43, a drive roller 44, and a driven roller 45. The conveyor belt 41 is wound around the outer periphery of the drive roller 44 and the driven roller 45, and its inner surface is provided with toothed grooves 411 at equal intervals along the running direction. The outer periphery of the drive roller 44 and the driven roller 45 is fitted with toothed rings 46 that precisely mesh with the toothed grooves 411, forming a positive transmission anti-slip structure. The drive motor 43 drives the drive roller 44 to rotate through a high-precision chain and sprocket set, realizing continuous conveying of the conveyor belt 41 without slippage and with high synchronization. The bottom of the side plate 42 has a reserved installation interface, which is rigidly connected to the side plate connecting frame 53 of the overturning adjustment mechanism 5 and the fixing frame 61 of the correction component 6, respectively, to ensure a clear force transmission path and consistent structural response.

[0019] Specifically, the tilting adjustment mechanism 5 is installed at the middle position inside the frame 1, including a cylinder 51, a movable connecting seat 52, and a side plate connecting frame 53. The cylinder body of the cylinder 51 is hinged to the bottom surface inside the frame 1 through the lower movable connecting seat 52, and the piston rod end is fixedly connected to the side plate connecting frame 53 through the upper movable connecting seat 52. The side plate connecting frame 53 is fixedly connected to the bottom of the side plates 42 on both sides of the conveyor body 4, forming a double-point push-pull drive configuration. When the cylinder 51 extends or retracts, it uses the rotating shaft 11 as the rotation center to push the conveyor body 4 to complete the stepless, stable, and repeatable angle tilting above the horizontal support plate 12 within the range of 0°–35°, meeting the needs of material sliding, gravity sorting, or transition connection under different tilt angle conditions.

[0020] Specifically, the correction component 6 is located below the conveyor belt 41 at the end away from the rotating shaft 11, and includes a fixed frame 61, a T-shaped guide rail 62, a screw 63, an adjusting motor 64, a T-shaped block 65, an adaptive frame 66, a movable frame 67, a concave roller 68, and a pressure sensor 69. The fixed frame 61 is horizontally fixed to the bottom of the two side plates 42, serving as the overall load-bearing base. The T-shaped guide rail 62 is horizontally fixed to the inner side of the fixed frame 61, and the T-shaped block 65 is slidably embedded therein. The two ends of the screw 63 are supported by bearings at both ends of the fixed frame 61, and one end is rigidly connected to the output shaft of the adjusting motor 64. The T-shaped block 65 has a precision trapezoidal threaded hole in the middle that matches the screw 63. The adjusting motor 64 drives the T-shaped block 65 to move bidirectionally along the T-shaped guide rail 62 in both forward and reverse directions, with a displacement resolution of 0.01 mm, realizing high-precision dynamic adjustment of the correction force application position. The top of the T-shaped block 65 is rigidly fixed to the bottom of the U-shaped adaptive frame 66, forming the main axis of horizontal adjustment.

[0021] Specifically, the adaptive frame 66 is a U-shaped rigid structure. Long, narrow grooves 663 extend from the top of its inner walls along the conveying direction. Limiting grooves 664 are equidistantly formed on the bottom and top surfaces of the grooves 663. Integrated limiting blocks 671 are correspondingly provided at the top and bottom of the movable frame 67. These limiting blocks 671 are embedded in the limiting grooves 664 and slide to form a bidirectional rigid guiding constraint. Three sets of concave rollers 68 are equidistantly installed on the inner side of the movable frame 67 along the conveying direction. Each set contains two symmetrically arranged rollers with rims that form concave arc-shaped surfaces matching the edge contour of the conveyor belt 41, fitting snugly against the lower surface of the conveyor belt 41 on both sides. It provides flexible contact and low-friction correction reaction force; the inner wall of the groove 663 integrates a miniature piezoresistive pressure sensor 69, the detection end of which is fixedly connected to the movable frame 67, and collects the pressure difference value applied by the concave rollers 68 on the left and right sides to the edge of the conveyor belt 41 in real time; the output signal of the pressure sensor 69 is connected to the control panel 3 through a shielded cable, and the built-in PID algorithm calculates the direction and magnitude of the conveyor belt 41 deviation in real time, and controls the motor 64 to drive the T-block 65 to drive the adaptive frame 66 to make lateral fine adjustments, so that the movable frame 67 and the concave rollers 68 generate differential lateral thrust, forcing the conveyor belt 41 to automatically return to the center trajectory.

[0022] Specifically, an idler roller 662 is installed at the top inner side of the adaptive frame 66, with both ends rotatably connected to the side wall of the adaptive frame 66 via rolling bearings. The axis of the idler roller 662 is perpendicular to the conveying direction, and its outer cylindrical surface makes light contact with the middle of the lower surface of the conveyor belt 41, providing auxiliary support and tension compensation to prevent the middle of the conveyor belt 41 from sagging during the correction process. The leading edge of the adaptive frame 66 extends vertically upward to form a scraper 661, which is integrally molded from a high-elasticity, low-wear polyurethane material. Its top cutting edge maintains a constant gap of 0.5–2 mm with the upper surface of the conveyor belt 41, and synchronously removes adhering materials, dust, and small foreign objects as the conveyor belt 41 runs, avoiding accumulation that could lead to increased deviation or contamination of downstream processes. The root of the scraper 661 is provided with a pre-compressed elastic buffer section to adapt to tension fluctuations and slight jumps of the conveyor belt 41, ensuring cleaning stability and structural durability.

[0023] The working principle of this implementation scheme is as follows: After the equipment is started, the drive motor 43 drives the active roller 44 to rotate, and drives the conveyor belt 41 to run stably through the precise meshing of the toothed groove 411 and the toothed ring 46 to transport materials; when the tilt angle needs to be adjusted, the control panel 3 issues a command, and the cylinder 51 in the tilt adjustment mechanism 5 extends and retracts according to the set stroke, pushing the side plate connecting frame 53 to drive the conveyor body 4 to rotate around the shaft 11 to the target angle. The horizontal support plate 12 provides end support and angle reference for the conveyor body 4 in a horizontal state; during operation, the pressure sensor 69 continuously monitors the force on both sides of the conveyor belt 41. Once a pressure asymmetry or deviation signal is detected, the control panel 3 immediately activates the adjusting motor 64, which drives the screw 63 to move the T-block 65 laterally, thereby pushing the adaptive frame 66 to move as a whole. This causes the movable frame 67, carrying the concave roller 68, to apply a directional restoring force to the offset side of the conveyor belt 41. At the same time, the idler roller 662 maintains the stability of the middle part of the conveyor belt 41, and the scraper 661 cleans the surface impurities simultaneously. The entire correction process has a response time of ≤80ms and a correction accuracy of ±0.3mm, achieving adaptive, highly robust, and dynamic precision correction of the conveyor belt 41 under all working conditions without manual intervention.

[0024] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, the phrase "comprising an element defined as..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0025] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An automatic conveyor, comprising a frame (1), a conveyor body (4) mounted inside the frame (1), a flipping adjustment mechanism (5) for driving the conveyor body (4) to flip, and a correction assembly (6) mounted at the bottom of the conveyor body (4), characterized in that: The frame (1) has a rectangular frame structure, and one end of it is rotatably connected to the conveyor body (4) via a rotating shaft (11). The conveyor body (4) includes a conveyor belt (41), side plates (42) symmetrically arranged on both sides, a drive motor (43), a drive roller (44), and a driven roller (45). A tilting adjustment mechanism (5) is installed in the middle of the inner side of the frame (1). The tilting adjustment mechanism (5) includes a cylinder (51), a movable connecting seat (52), and a side plate connecting frame (53). The cylinder body of the cylinder (51) is hinged to the bottom surface of the frame (1) through the movable connecting seat (52). The movable connecting seat (52) at the end of the piston rod on the cylinder (51) is fixedly connected to the side plate connecting frame (53). The side plate connecting frame (53) is fixedly connected to the bottom of the side plates (42) on both sides of the conveyor body (4). It is used to drive the conveyor body (4) to rotate around the rotating shaft (11) above the horizontal support plate (12) at an angle range of 0°–35°. The correction component (6) is located at the end of the conveyor belt (41) away from the rotating shaft (11). The correction component (6) includes a fixed frame (61), a T-shaped guide rail (62), a screw (63), an adjusting motor (64), and a T-shaped block (65). The system comprises an adaptive frame (66), a movable frame (67), concave rollers (68), and a pressure sensor (69). The fixed frame (61) is horizontally fixed to the bottom of the two side plates (42). The T-shaped guide rail (62) is fixed to the inner side of the fixed frame (61). The T-shaped block (65) is slidably embedded in the T-shaped guide rail (62). The screw (63) is supported at both ends of the fixed frame (61) by bearings, with one end coaxially connected to the output shaft of the regulating motor (64). The T-shaped block (65) has a threaded hole in the middle that matches the screw (63) to achieve bidirectional precision displacement. The top of the T-block (65) is fixed to the adaptive frame (66). The adaptive frame (66) is a U-shaped rigid structure. The top of the inner walls on both sides are provided with grooves (663) extending along the conveying direction. A movable frame (67) is slidably arranged in the groove (663). Concave rollers (68) are installed at equal intervals on the inner side of the movable frame (67). The rim of the concave rollers (68) is concave arc-shaped and fits against the two sides of the lower surface of the conveyor belt (41). A pressure sensor (69) is integrated in the inner wall of the groove (663). The detection end of the pressure sensor (69) is fixed to the movable frame (67).

2. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conveyor belt (41) is wound around the outer periphery of the drive roller (44) and the driven roller (45). The drive motor (43) drives the drive roller (44) to rotate through the chain and sprocket. The inner surface of the conveyor belt (41) is provided with toothed grooves (411) at equal intervals along the running direction. The outer periphery of the drive roller (44) and the driven roller (45) is provided with matching meshing toothed rings (46).

3. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: A horizontal support plate (12) is provided at the top of the end of the frame (1) away from the rotating shaft (11), and the top of the horizontal support plate (12) contacts the bottom of the side plates (42) on both sides of the conveyor body (4).

4. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner bottom surface and top wall of the groove (663) are provided with equidistant limiting grooves (664), and the top and bottom of the movable frame (67) are respectively provided with integrated limiting blocks (671). The limiting blocks (671) extend into the interior of the limiting groove (664) and slide to connect with its inner wall.

5. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner top of the adaptive frame (66) is equipped with a roller (662), and the two ends of the roller (662) are rotatably connected to the inner wall of the adaptive frame (66).

6. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adaptive frame (66) extends vertically upward at its leading edge to form a scraper (661), the top of which maintains a gap of 0.5–2 mm with the upper surface of the conveyor belt (41), and the scraper (661) is made of polyurethane material.

7. An automatic conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom of the frame (1) is fixedly connected to the support legs (2) at equal intervals. The control panel (3) is fixedly embedded at one end of the frame (1). The pressure sensor (69) is a miniature piezoresistive sensor and is electrically connected to the control panel (3).

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