Carpet Rolling Apparatus with Pile Direction Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing carpet and mat rolling apparatuses often result in crooked compact configurations due to mismatched pile direction, leading to edge misalignment, increased handling issues, and susceptibility to damage during storage and unrolling.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus equipped with a sensing unit to detect the pile direction of mats, allowing for adjustment of the mat's position relative to the roller mechanism, ensuring edges are aligned in the same plane during rolling, using a combination of conveyors and roller elements that can adjust speed and orientation based on sensed data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the mat is fed into the roller mechanism using a single inlet conveyor without sensing pile direction, then the apparatus is simple and easy to operate, but the mat forms a crooked compact configuration with misaligned edges
Solution Approach 1:
The sensing unit detects the pile direction of the mat before the mat enters the roller mechanism. Based on this detection, the inlet conveyor adjusts the orientation of the mat in advance, ensuring that the mat is correctly aligned before rolling begins. This preliminary adjustment prevents edge misalignment and crooked configuration during the rolling process.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensing unit continuously monitors the pile direction of the mat and provides feedback to the control unit. The control unit then adjusts the inlet conveyor's operation based on this feedback, creating a closed-loop control system that maintains proper mat alignment throughout the feeding process, thereby achieving consistent edge alignment.
2Reliability
If the mat is rolled without adjusting for pile direction, then the rolling process is fast and continuous, but the edges are susceptible to damage and form bends or folds
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of pile direction and adjusts mat orientation before the mat enters the roller mechanism. This pre-adjustment ensures that the mat is properly aligned with the rolling direction, preventing edge damage, bends, and folds during the high-speed rolling process.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensing unit provides real-time feedback on pile direction, enabling the control unit to make continuous adjustments to the inlet conveyor. This feedback mechanism ensures that even at high rolling speeds, the mat maintains correct alignment, protecting edge integrity without sacrificing productivity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the mat is unrolled and rolled up again to correct misalignment, then edge alignment can be improved, but the handling time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sensing unit detects pile direction and the inlet conveyor adjusts mat orientation in advance, before the mat enters the roller mechanism. This single preliminary adjustment eliminates the need for subsequent unrolling and re-rolling operations, achieving correct edge alignment in one pass and significantly reducing handling time.
Solution Approach 2:
The feedback from the sensing unit enables real-time correction of mat orientation during the feeding process. This prevents misalignment from occurring in the first place, eliminating the need for time-consuming corrective operations such as unrolling and re-rolling, thereby maintaining both precision and efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of rolling a carpet, a rug or a mat (1) into a compact configuration for storage where the mat (1) is positioned on an inlet conveyor (10, 11) in an angled position relative to a roller mechanism (129 so that the piles of the mat (1) is substantially aligned with the rolling direction of the roller mechanism (12). The mat (1) may be placed on two or more inlet conveyors (10) for automatic adjustment of the mat's position based on the pile direction sensed by a sensing unit facing the top surface of the mat (1). The sensing unit may comprise a moveable element contacting the top surface and a sensor for sensing the movement of the element. This allows the mat, carpet or rug (1) to be rolled into a compact configuration where the edges are aligned in the same plane. This reduces the risk of damaging the edges during handling or storage and that the edges form a fold when they are unrolled.