Method of controlling garment folding machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Garment folding machines in existing technologies face issues with stability and capacity due to expanded volumes of folded garments, leading to potential collapse and limited storage capacity, as they rely on gravity for stacking, resulting in operational inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A method for controlling a garment folding machine that uses a movable stack plate to compress folded garments after stacking, improving stability and increasing storage capacity by preventing overload situations through precise motor current and time monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If folded garments are stacked simply by their weights using gravity, then the stacking process is simple, but the volumes of the folded garments remain expanded and stability becomes low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by moving the stack plate downward before the garment is fully deposited, creating a compressed receiving space in advance. This ensures that when the garment is placed on the stack plate, it is immediately compressed against the movable plate, preventing volume expansion and ensuring stability from the beginning of the stacking process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the garment stack by applying mechanical compression force through the stack plate and movable plate. This transforms the garment from an expanded, unstable state to a compressed, stable state, directly addressing the stability issue while maintaining simple operation through automated plate movement.
2Ease of operation
If folded garments are stacked with expanded volumes, then the stacking process is simple, but the number of garments that can be accommodated in the drawer is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the volume parameter of the garment stack by applying mechanical compression. This reduces the volume of each stacked garment, thereby increasing the quantity of garments that can be accommodated in the drawer while maintaining the simplicity of the stacking process through automated plate movement.
Solution Approach 2:
By moving the stack plate downward in advance to create compressed space, the system maximizes the storage capacity of the drawer. This preliminary compression action ensures that each garment occupies minimal space, allowing more garments to be stacked within the same drawer volume.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a stack plate is used to compress folded garments, then stability and storage capacity are improved, but an overload situation may occur in the stack plate motor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback control by monitoring the operating time of the stack plate motor and comparing it against a predetermined threshold. When the motor operates beyond the safe time limit, the system automatically stops the compression process, preventing overload situations while still achieving the desired stability and storage capacity improvements through controlled compression.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial compression action by limiting the motor operating time to a predetermined safe threshold. This ensures that compression is sufficient to improve stability and storage capacity but does not exceed the motor's safe operating limits, thereby maintaining reliability while achieving the desired performance improvements.
4Productivity
If garments are folded by unskilled persons manually, then labor cost is reduced, but the shapes and sizes of folded garments are not uniform requiring additional labor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical folding process with an automated folding machine that uses controlled mechanical arms and plates. This substitution ensures uniform shapes and sizes of folded garments while maintaining high productivity, as the automated system can fold garments quickly and consistently without the variability inherent in manual folding by unskilled persons.
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 method enhances operational stability and reliability by compressing garments using a movable stack plate, preventing collapse and increasing the number of garments that can be stored, thereby improving overall machine performance.
Implementation Method 1
a garment compressing step of compressing the garment secondarily seated in the secondary garment seating step between the stack plate and a movable plate in the unloading layer
Implementation Method 2
the stack plate is provided to be movable in an upward/downward direction
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling a garment folding machine, which may effectively prevent damage to a drive motor and a loss of power caused by an overload of the drive motor by accurately detecting and determining a situation in which garments are lumped during a process of conveying or folding the garments, may effectively prevent damage to the lumped garments and related components, and may significantly reduce the time for which the operation of the folding machine is stopped by accurately specifying the position at which the garments are lumped and then notifying a user of the position to allow the user to take an immediate action.