Container Inverting Screw for Alternating Tapered Container Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for alternating the orientation of tapered objects, such as containers, face challenges with slower cycle times and misfeeds, especially when transitioning between upward and downward orientations, and require continuous inflow to avoid missequencing.
Innovation Solution
A system and method involving a conveying screw, diverting screw, twisting plate, inverting plate, and reverting plate to receive objects in an upward orientation, twist them sideways, invert the first object to downward, and revert the second object to upward, discharging them in an alternating pattern where tapered sides of adjacent containers are parallel, maintaining continuous contact to enhance stability and throughput.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If pick and place mechanisms are used to place tapered objects in alternate inverted pattern, then the objects can be arranged with optimized packing density, but the cycle time increases and containers may be dropped intermittently
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor system maintains continuous motion and continuous container flow throughout the inverting process. Containers are constantly being conveyed, inverted, and discharged without interruption, eliminating the intermittent stopping and starting characteristic of pick and place mechanisms, thereby achieving high productivity while maintaining alternate inverted pattern for optimized packing density
2Shape
If pick and place mechanisms are used to invert containers, then alternate inverted pattern can be achieved, but containers may be dropped intermittently during the process
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous conveyor system maintains constant contact with containers throughout the inverting process, preventing intermittent dropping. The continuous motion and constant support eliminate the reliability issues associated with pick and place mechanisms while achieving the desired alternate inverted orientation pattern
3Shape
If conveyor system is used to infeed containers from first and second conveyors, then containers can be discharged in upward orientation alternated with downward containers, but continuous inflow is required from each conveyor to avoid misfeeds and missequencing
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the container handling into a single conveyor with a conveying screw that processes containers sequentially one at a time. This segmentation allows the system to handle containers individually and alternately invert them, achieving the upward-downward orientation sequence without requiring synchronized continuous inflow from multiple conveyors, thus providing flexibility to handle variations in container supply
Data Source
AI summary
A system for receiving objects to a conveying screw in an infeed sequence in an upward orientation, twisting the objects from the upward orientation to a sideways orientation by progressing the objects between a twisting plate and the conveying screw, conveying the objects in the sideways orientation in sets, each set including a first and second object to a diverting screw, inverting the first object to a downward orientation by diverting the first object between an inverting plate and the conveying screw, reverting the second object to the upward orientation by diverting the second object between a reverting plate and the conveying screw, discharging the objects from the conveying screw in sets in a discharge sequence in which each downward object is alternated with and adjacent an upward object. The object can have a tapered side where in the discharge sequence, tapered sides of adjacent containers are substantially parallel.