Conveyor Lock Light Barriers for Safe Workpiece Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
In manufacturing plants, driverless transport vehicles pose safety risks during the automated delivery and transport of workpieces, as operators can be injured by the vehicles or equipment, and existing safety measures are not sufficient to prevent accidents and ensure orderly operations.
Innovation Solution
A manufacturing device with a laterally circumferential safety partition and a lock system using light barrier arrangements to secure the loading operation, where the conveying means and lock communicate directly to ensure safe passage and prevent collisions, with controllers managing the activation and deactivation of light barriers to maintain a continuous safety zone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If driverless transport vehicles are used for automated material transport, then productivity and automation level are improved, but safety risks increase due to potential collisions with operators and equipment
Solution Approach 1:
Light barrier arrangements serve as intermediary safety devices between the driverless transport vehicles and operators/equipment. These light barriers detect the presence of operators or objects in the vehicle's path and trigger safety responses, preventing direct harmful interactions while maintaining automated operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Light barriers are positioned to detect operators or objects before the driverless transport vehicle reaches them. This preliminary detection allows the system to activate safety measures (such as stopping the vehicle) before a collision can occur, preventing harm in advance.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If safety partitions with locks are used to protect operators, then personal safety is improved, but operational efficiency decreases due to manual intervention requirements for workpiece transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The lock system is designed to automatically detect when a driverless transport vehicle arrives and autonomously unlock to allow workpiece transfer, then automatically relock after the vehicle departs. This eliminates the need for manual intervention while maintaining safety, allowing the system to serve itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical locking system is replaced with an automated control system that uses light barriers and sensors to detect vehicle presence and automatically control the lock mechanism. This substitution eliminates manual operations while maintaining security.
3Reliability
If light barriers are installed at lock openings to detect vehicle passage, then safety monitoring is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional sensors and control systems
Solution Approach 1:
The light barrier arrangements serve multiple functions: they detect vehicle passage, trigger lock/unlock operations, activate safety zones, and provide operational status information. By making these components multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate dedicated devices for each function, thereby limiting the increase in overall system complexity.
4Productivity
If automated lock control is implemented for driverless vehicle access, then operational efficiency is improved, but safety risks increase due to potential unauthorized or accidental access
Solution Approach 1:
The lock control system continuously receives feedback from light barriers that detect whether a driverless transport vehicle is present and whether the safety zone is clear. Based on this feedback, the controller automatically decides when to unlock and when to remain locked, ensuring that access is granted only under safe and authorized conditions.
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
Enhances personal safety by preventing collisions and injuries during the loading and unloading of workpieces, ensuring the safety zone is maintained continuously, and allows for automated operation independent of the manufacturing cell's central controller, thereby reducing the risk of accidents and maintaining process integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a first light barrier arrangement with a first transmitter and with a first receiver assigned to the first transmitter is formed at an opening of the lock, and a driverless conveying means with a load receiving means for conveying the workpieces is provided
Data Source
AI summary
A manufacturing device has a manufacturing cell for processing workpieces, with a laterally circumferential safety partition, in which a lock is formed for performing a loading operation of the workpieces, wherein a first light barrier arrangement is formed at the lock, and with a driverless conveyor with a load receiver for conveying the workpieces. For performing the loading operation, a second light barrier arrangement and a third light barrier arrangement are formed between the conveyor and the lock, so that the load receiver and the workpieces are laterally bounded on opposite sides by the second light barrier arrangement and by the third light barrier arrangement.