Modular Conveyor Belt Checkerboard Roller Pattern
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional modular conveyor belts with freely rotatable rollers at the top sides between hinge joints create gaps that can trap small articles, such as uncured tires, due to their narrow base, as they lack continuous support across the hinge joints.
Innovation Solution
The conveyor belt design features rollers arranged in a checkerboard pattern with overlapping rows and axles aligned in the direction of belt travel, ensuring continuous support and minimizing gaps at hinge joints, allowing rollers to rotate freely and accommodate articles of varying sizes without getting caught.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional modular conveyor belts use freely rotatable rollers arranged at top sides between hinge joints, then articles can be easily slid onto and off the belt from sides, but small articles with narrow bases can get caught in the roller gap at hinge joints
Solution Approach 1:
The roller arrangement is segmented into multiple rows (first row and second row) with rollers in alternating positions. This segmentation creates overlapping coverage where rollers from different rows interlock to eliminate gaps at hinge joints, while maintaining the modular structure that allows easy loading and unloading of articles
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single row of rollers to a two-dimensional checkerboard pattern with multiple rows. By adding the dimensional aspect of multiple rows with alternating roller positions, the design eliminates the one-dimensional gap problem at hinge joints while preserving the essential function of free roller rotation for easy article handling
2Device complexity
If rollers are arranged in a single row between hinge joints, then the belt structure remains simple, but significant voids are created at hinge joints that can trap articles
Solution Approach 1:
The roller support system is divided into multiple segments (first row and second row of rollers) positioned at different locations. This segmentation allows the system to eliminate voids at hinge joints through overlapping roller coverage while maintaining a relatively simple modular structure that doesn't require complex mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple rows of rollers are merged into a unified checkerboard arrangement where the rollers from different rows work together to eliminate gaps. The overlapping coverage of rollers from the first and second rows creates continuous support at hinge joints, merging the functions of multiple roller rows into a cohesive support system
Data Source
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Figure 6
AI summary
A modular roller-top conveyor belt (10) with a dense array of rollers (38) freely rotatable toward the sides of the belt. The rollers are arranged in offset lines and columns in a checkerboard pattern on top side of the belt. The rollers rotate on axes parallel to the direction of belt travel (16). The rollers extend in the direction of belt travel over the hinge axes formed between adjacent rows (12) of belt modules (14,14').