Garment folding machine and method of controlling the same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional garment folding machines often cause wrinkles and crumpling due to spatial restrictions, narrow spaces between layers, and speed differences in conveyors, especially when handling long garments like towels or bedclothes, limiting their ability to prevent or remove wrinkles effectively.
Innovation Solution
A garment folding machine with multiple folding layers, each with a conveyor system where the conveyor motors operate at different rotational speeds to manage the garment's movement, ensuring a controlled and synchronized conveying process that minimizes wrinkles and crumpling, and includes sensors to detect garment position and adjust speeds accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple folding layers are vertically disposed in a narrow horizontal area, then space efficiency is improved, but the garment is easily wrinkled during conveying
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the conveying speeds of different folding layers adjustable and variable during operation. The control unit dynamically changes the conveying speeds of first, second, and third folding layers to match the garment's movement, preventing wrinkles while maintaining compact vertical arrangement. This resolves the contradiction by allowing speed adaptation rather than fixed mechanical constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of conveying speed for each folding layer to prevent wrinkles. By adjusting the speed parameters of conveyors on different folding layers, the system accommodates the garment's movement dynamics in the narrow horizontal space, eliminating wrinkles without requiring more horizontal area.
2Manufacturing precision
If the conveying speed of input conveyor is set higher than fitting conveyor, then tensile force is imparted to prevent misalignment, but speed difference causes wrinkles during conveying between layers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making conveying speeds adjustable and synchronized. Instead of fixed speed differences, the control unit dynamically adjusts speeds of different folding layers to maintain both alignment and prevent wrinkles, resolving the contradiction between precision and harm prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses feedback through sensors that detect garment position and conveyance status. The control unit receives feedback information and adjusts conveying speeds in real-time to maintain alignment while preventing wrinkles, solving the contradiction through closed-loop control.
Data Source
AI summary
A garment folding machine includes: a frame unit defining an external framework of the garment folding machine, a loading unit configured to receive a garment, a folding unit configured to convey and fold the received garment, and an unloading unit configured to collect the garment from the folding unit. The folding unit comprises a plurality of folding layers that are spaced apart from each other in a vertical direction, where each of the plurality of folding layers includes a conveyor configured to convey the garment, and a conveyor motor configured to provide driving power to the conveyor. A first conveyor motor is configured to, based on the garment being positioned over two or more adjacent conveyors of the plurality of folding layers, operate at a first rotational speed that is different from a second rotational speed of a second conveyor motor disposed above the first conveyor motor.