Flexible Suction Tool for Heterogeneous Material Sorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sorting systems face challenges in efficiently handling heterogeneous materials of varying sizes and natures on conveyor belts, particularly in grabbing and maintaining objects, due to the heterogeneity and the need for frequent maintenance to prevent clogging and ensure proper sorting.
Innovation Solution
A sorting system incorporating a robotized arm with a vacuum apparatus and a suction tool featuring a flexible, tubular structure with alternating rims and waists, capable of adapting to grab large items by static suction and suck up small items, along with a purge system using compressed air to manage vacuum pressure and prevent clogging, allowing for continuous operation without stopping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If small openings are used in the air-sucking system to avoid sucking up objects, then objects are properly handled on the conveyor, but the system cannot grab larger items effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The suction tool employs a flexible bellows structure that dynamically changes its internal volume and shape during operation. When the bellows expands, it creates a larger opening to grab larger items; when contracted, it maintains a smaller effective opening to prevent accidental suction of objects. This dynamic transformation allows the same tool to adapt to different item sizes without sacrificing handling precision or sorting efficiency.
2Productivity
If the handling tool grabs objects on a running conveyor, then sorting productivity increases, but the tool requires frequent maintenance to prevent clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates a purge air system that performs preliminary cleaning action before clogging occurs. Compressed air is injected into the suction tool and tubing to continuously blow out any debris or partial blockages, preventing accumulation that would require maintenance intervention. This preliminary action allows the tool to operate continuously on running conveyors without frequent stoppages for cleaning.
3Productivity
If the vacuum apparatus continuously operates to maintain sorting efficiency, then productivity is maximized, but the decanter requires frequent purging to prevent material accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The purge air system operates continuously or periodically alongside the vacuum apparatus, maintaining a continuous useful action by preventing material accumulation in the decanter. The compressed air flow continuously removes debris from the decanter, allowing the vacuum system to run at full capacity without interruption for purging, thus maximizing continuous sorting operation while eliminating maintenance downtime.
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 effectively handles both large and small items by adjusting vacuum pressure and using a flexible suction tool to lift items above the conveyor, enabling efficient sorting and reducing maintenance downtime by allowing for continuous operation and easy purging of the decanter.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum apparatus creating a depression and having a tubing extending from a source for the depression to the handling tool
Implementation Method 2
the bellow of the tube end are adapted to have the bellow contract sufficiently when the tube end performs the contact with the selected item to lift the selected item of a height at least as high as a height of the selected item for lifting above the conveyor
Implementation Method 3
The purge system comprises an injection point for compressed air in the tubing between the decanter and the source for the depression for temporarily reducing vacuum to stop the materials being sucked up
Data Source
AI summary
A suction tool for a system for sorting materials with a vacuum tube, the suction tool comprising a body of flexible material wall to be installed at a distal end of the vacuum tube and forming a tubular wall. It is shaped with alternating rims and waists, and from a proximal end of the suction tool to a distal end thereof; an average diameter decreasing distally over a length of the body of flexible material. Each rim has said local rim diameter larger the local rim diameter of a next one of the rims; each waist has said local waist diameter larger the local waist diameter of a next one of the waists. The body ends at the distal end with a horn having a flared edge forming a lip to enter in contact with items to be handled by the system for sorting materials.