Conveyor System Fault Resolution via Automated Drive Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor systems for air freight containers and pallets often experience disruptions due to tilting or sticking of pieces, leading to transport halts and inefficient manual intervention, which is costly and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor system equipped with control electronics and multiple detectors (cameras and light buttons) automatically detects and rectifies faults by controlling drive agents, with an adaptive algorithm learning from manual interventions to improve fault resolution efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual intervention is used to resolve malfunctions, then the operator can directly correct the fault, but human labor costs increase and waiting times occur
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor system automatically detects and resolves its own malfunctions without human intervention. The control system monitors unit loads during transport and autonomously corrects deviations by adjusting drive elements, enabling the system to service itself and eliminate waiting times for fault resolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical intervention with an automated control system that uses sensors to detect malfunctions and electronically controls drive elements to resolve them. This substitution of mechanical human operation with automated sensing and control eliminates human labor costs and response delays.
2Measurement precision
If multiple detector types are used to improve detection accuracy, then fault detection reliability increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines camera-based visual detection with photoelectric sensor detection into a unified control system. The camera captures images of unit loads while photoelectric sensors detect position and orientation, and the control system processes both data streams together to achieve accurate fault detection without requiring separate independent systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system serves multiple functions: it processes data from both camera and photoelectric sensors, determines both position and orientation deviations, and controls drive elements for correction. This multi-functional approach achieves high detection accuracy without proportionally increasing system complexity.
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
The system enables rapid, reliable, and cost-effective automatic correction of faults, minimizing human labor and wait times, ensuring continuous transport operations.
Implementation Method 1
The detectors can comprise two or more detector types. The first detector type provides an image of the conveyor system, preferably by means of a camera, and the second detector type is a photoelectric sensor.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention discloses a conveyor system (2) for unit loads (4), in particular air freight containers and air freight pallets, wherein the unit loads (4) can be transported along a transport path (8) by means of at least one drive means (10), comprising: a) control electronics (14) which controls the at least one drive means (10); b) a logic module (16) associated with the control electronics (14) which is adapted to automatically detect a disturbance (26) of the conveyor system (2); wherein c) the control electronics (14) is adapted to control one or more individual drives of the drive means (10) in response to a detected disturbance (26) of the conveyor position in such a way that the disturbance (26) can be automatically resolved by moving one or more unit loads (4).The present invention discloses a method for remedying a malfunction (26) of a conveyor system (2) for unit loads (4), in particular air freight containers and air freight pallets, by moving one or more unit loads (4) in response to the detection of the malfunction (26), wherein the movement is triggered automatically and/or manually by controlling one or more individual drives of the at least one drive means (10).