Bulk Feeder Shutter Separation for Vibration Conveyance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bulk feeders face challenges in preventing components from protruding from the supply region during conveyance and in maintaining vibration-based conveyance efficiency, while also preventing foreign matters from entering the supply region.
Innovation Solution
A bulk feeder configuration that includes a feeder main body, a vibratable track member with a conveyance path and supply region, an excitation device for applying vibration, a shutter to close the supply region opening, and a driving device to open or close the shutter, ensuring it separates from the track member during vibration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a shutter is provided to close the opening of the supply region, then component protrusion is prevented and foreign matter entry is blocked, but vibration characteristics of the track member are affected and conveyance efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter is designed to be dynamically separable from the track member. During vibration-based conveyance, the driving device separates the shutter from the track member to avoid affecting vibration characteristics. During non-conveyance periods, the shutter returns to close the supply region opening, preventing component protrusion and foreign matter entry. This dynamic switching between closed and separated states resolves the contradiction between containment reliability and conveyance efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The shutter operates periodically - closing during conveyance prevention phases and separating during vibration conveyance phases. The driving device controls the shutter to alternate between attached and separated states synchronized with the conveyance cycle, allowing the system to achieve both component containment when needed and uninterrupted vibration conveyance when components are being moved.
2Reliability
If the shutter remains in closed state during conveyance, then component protrusion is prevented, but vibration-based conveyance operation is adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter transitions from a static closed state to a dynamic state where it can be separated from the track member during vibration conveyance. The driving device enables this dynamic behavior, allowing the shutter to maintain component containment during non-conveyance periods while being separated during conveyance to avoid interfering with vibration-based operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The driving device preliminarily separates the shutter from the track member before vibration-based conveyance begins, ensuring that the shutter will not adversely affect the conveyance operation. This preliminary action of separation is taken in advance of the conveyance phase, allowing uninterrupted vibration conveyance while the shutter remains positioned to prevent component protrusion when not in use.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration effectively prevents component protrusion and foreign matter entry into the supply region, while maintaining the vibration-based conveyance efficiency by ensuring the shutter does not interfere with the vibration characteristics of the track member.
Implementation Method 1
an excitation device configured to apply vibration to the track member so that the multiple components are conveyed along the conveyance path
Data Source
AI summary
A bulk feeder includes a feeder main body, a track member provided to be vibratable with respect to the feeder main body and formed with a conveyance path through which multiple components are conveyed and a supply region that communicates with the conveyance path and opens upward to collect the multiple components, an excitation device configured to apply vibration to the track member so that the multiple components are conveyed along the conveyance path, a shutter provided above the track member to close an opening of the supply region, and a driving device configured to open or close the shutter to separate the shutter from the track member when the shutter shifts from a closed state to an open state.