Foam Cutout Removal Conveyor with Adjustable Gap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional devices for removing foam cutouts from foam products, such as mattresses, are inefficient as they often push cutouts back into slits during cleaning, requiring manual rework or repeated processing, leading to increased production costs and longer cycle times.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor system with adjustable gap width and rotating rollers that guide the foam product to optimally open slits, combined with a removal tool featuring adjustable discharge elements, ensures complete removal of foam cutouts in a single pass by applying tensile stress and precise engagement with the cutouts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If rotating brooms with many bristles are used to remove foam cutouts, then the cleaning action is intensified, but the cutouts are pushed back into the gap during rotation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a rotating broom that pushes material forward (conventional approach), the invention uses a conveyor system that moves the foam product through a fixed removal tool. The removal tool consists of discrete elements positioned to engage and extract cutouts as the foam passes by, rather than rotating against the foam surface. This inverted approach prevents pushing cutouts back into gaps while maintaining effective removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The removal tool is segmented into multiple discrete removal elements (such as fingers, paddles, or blades) rather than a continuous broom surface. These segmented elements are strategically positioned to engage cutouts individually as they pass through the conveyor, allowing precise extraction without the continuous pushing action of a rotating broom.
2Ease of operation
If the slit opening is insufficient, then the removal tool cannot access cutouts effectively, but increasing the opening may damage the foam product
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor system dynamically adjusts the foam product's position and orientation as it moves through the cleaning station. The foam is conveyed at a controlled speed through a defined path that naturally opens slits to the optimal degree for removal tool engagement, avoiding excessive force that could damage the product while ensuring adequate access to cutouts.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor acts as an intermediary between the foam product and the removal tool. It gently manipulates the foam to open slits to the required degree without direct contact from the removal tool, thereby preventing damage while ensuring adequate access for cutout extraction.
3Reliability
If manual rework or repeated processing is required, then complete cleaning is achieved, but production costs and cycle times increase
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor system performs preliminary actions to optimally position and open slits before the removal tool engages the cutouts. By pre-positioning the foam product and opening slits to the correct degree during conveyance, the system ensures that the removal tool can effectively extract all cutouts in a single pass, eliminating the need for rework or repeated processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor maintains continuous motion through the cleaning station, ensuring that the foam product passes through the removal tool without interruption. This continuous action, combined with the strategically positioned removal elements, ensures complete cutout removal in a single uninterrupted pass, preventing the need for secondary operations.
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 achieves efficient and rapid cleaning of foam products by ensuring all cutouts are removed in a single processing step, reducing cycle times and production costs, and preventing damage to slit edges.
Implementation Method 1
a tensile stress is introduced into the foam body in the conveying direction. This results in a further widening of the slits
Implementation Method 2
The conveyor means have a friction-increasing coating
Data Source
AI summary
The device (1) has a foam product conveyor that is provided with an entry portion and a discharge region. The cut-out foam material from the slot of foam product is removed by a removal tool. The conveyor is provided with two conveying units which are spaced relative to one another in a circular path portion. A gap is formed between the conveying units. The foam product is introduced to the conveying units through gap, following the circular path portion is moved in the conveying direction (A). The conveyor is served as a bending device for the foam product to open the slot.