Conveyor Belt Gap Control for Continuous Picker Feeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the food industry, feeding devices used in picker lines experience downtime and inefficiencies due to gaps in product delivery, as new products need to be inserted and sliced before they can be transferred, leading to intermittent operation of pickers and downstream packaging machines, increasing production costs.
Innovation Solution
A feeding device with multiple conveyor belts and a control unit that synchronizes and accelerates the belts to close gaps between product groups, ensuring continuous and equidistant delivery of products, allowing for seamless transfer to downstream devices like packaging machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If products are transferred in groups from slicing device to conveyor belt, then transfer efficiency is improved, but production flow interruptions occur when new caliber must be inserted
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the conveyor system into multiple independent conveyor belts (first conveyor belt for receiving groups, second conveyor belt for continuous discharge). This allows the first belt to handle group transfers while the second belt maintains continuous product flow to the picker, eliminating production downtime during caliber changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit accelerates the first conveyor belt in advance when a new group arrives, proactively closing gaps between product groups before they cause picker downtime. This preliminary acceleration ensures continuous product supply to the picker without interruptions.
2Manufacturing precision
If picker waits for subsequent groups during intervals, then product spacing is maintained, but picker and packaging machine downtime increase
Solution Approach 1:
The second conveyor belt operates continuously to discharge products to the picker without interruption. The control unit independently accelerates the first conveyor belt to maintain proper spacing while ensuring the second belt provides continuous product flow, eliminating picker waiting time while maintaining manufacturing precision.
3Ease of operation
If gap between product groups is large, then picker can operate at intervals, but production cost increases due to downtime
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit dynamically adjusts the speed of the first conveyor belt based on real-time conditions. When a new group arrives, the first belt is accelerated to close gaps and maintain continuous flow. This dynamic speed adjustment reduces production downtime and costs while maintaining picker operation flexibility through the second conveyor belt.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2e
Figure 3
AI summary
The supplying device (1) has two conveyor belts (5,6,7), which are arranged behind one another in a transport direction (8), where a group (13) of products (X) is transferred from the former conveyor belt to the latter conveyor belt. A control unit (14) is functionally connected with the conveyor belts. The former conveyor belt is accelerated by the control unit, when the group of products is transferred to the latter conveyor belt. Another group of products is arrived to the former conveyor belt to reduce a gap between the two groups of products. An independent claim is included for a method for operating a supplying device.