Compact Can Transfer System With Variable Support Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transfer devices with mandrel and transfer wheels have limited compactness due to similar sizes and orthogonal distances, which restricts space efficiency and requires identical numbers of supports and drive speeds, making them less adaptable for varying pitch requirements.
Innovation Solution
The mandrel and transfer wheels are designed to rotate with parallel axes, where the supports at the transfer wheel are pivotable via transfer pivot arms, allowing for tangential compensation movements to approximate pitches, enabling a smaller transfer wheel configuration and reduced space requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the transfer wheel and mandrel wheel are designed with similar sizes and orthogonal distances to facilitate identical drive speeds and pitch compensation, then the transfer function is reliable, but the device occupies more space and lacks compactness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by allowing the transfer wheel and mandrel wheel to have different diameters and configurations. The transfer wheel can be smaller than the mandrel wheel, and their support arrangements differ (transfer supports vs. receiving mandrels). This asymmetric design enables compact space utilization while maintaining pitch compensation through the variable distance mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics through the variable distance between transfer supports and receiving mandrels. The distance can change between minimum and maximum values to compensate for pitch differences. This dynamic adjustment mechanism allows the system to adapt to different pitch requirements without requiring identical wheel sizes, thereby achieving compactness while maintaining transfer reliability.
2Device complexity
If the number of transfer supports and receiving mandrels is made identical to simplify drive speed matching, then the transfer process is simplified, but the device complexity increases due to additional pitch compensation mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The variable distance mechanism between transfer supports and receiving mandrels provides dynamic pitch compensation. This allows the system to handle different pitch ratios between the chain conveyor and mandrel wheel without requiring identical numbers of supports and mandrels, thereby reducing drive system complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of support distance from fixed to variable. By allowing the distance to vary between minimum and maximum values, the system can compensate for pitch differences without needing identical configurations of transfer supports and receiving mandrels, thus simplifying the drive system while preserving adaptability.
3Area of stationary object
If the support distance from rotation axis is fixed at maximum value to ensure adequate pitch, then pitch coverage is sufficient, but the device size and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The variable distance mechanism allows the support distance to be dynamically adjusted between minimum and maximum values. This enables the system to achieve adequate pitch coverage when needed while minimizing device footprint during normal operation, thus resolving the contradiction between space efficiency and pitch accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the distance parameter from fixed to variable, the system can optimize the balance between device size and pitch accuracy. The distance can be set to minimum value for compactness and increased to maximum value when adequate pitch coverage is required, providing flexibility to resolve the contradiction based on operational needs.
Data Source
AI summary
A transfer device comprising a mandrel wheel; and a transfer wheel, respectively driven to rotate about rotation axes that are parallel to one another and which respectively include supports in their peripheries for objects to be imprinted or processed otherwise, wherein a distance of the supports at the mandrel wheel from a rotation axis of the mandrel wheel is variable between a minimum distance and a maximum distance, and the mandrel wheel and the transfer wheel are arranged adjacent to one another so that objects are transferrable from a transport device through the transfer wheel to a respective support at the mandrel wheel or vice versa from the mandrel wheel through the transfer wheel to a transport device, wherein the supports are respectively attached to the transfer wheel through a transfer pivot arm so that they are pivotable about a pivot axis.