Hammock-Shaped Conveyor Cradles for Bitumen Roll Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bituminous membrane rolls deform into an oval shape during transportation due to incomplete cooling and weight compression on conventional conveyors, leading to instability and misalignment issues during palletization.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor system featuring hammock-shaped transport cradles made of flexible material that cradle and support the rolls, preventing deformation by fitting around their shape without causing compression or flattening, and utilizing a handling assembly to move the rolls between stations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flat and rigid conveyor belt surface is used to transport bituminous membrane rolls, then the rolls are supported and transported, but the rolls deform into an oval shape due to weight compression and incomplete cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor belt surface is transformed from a flat rigid plane to a series of curved hammock-shaped cradles that conform to the cylindrical shape of the rolls. These flexible curved surfaces support the rolls without creating flat contact points that cause deformation, maintaining the rolls' cylindrical geometry throughout transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The rigid conveyor belt is replaced with flexible hammock-shaped cradles made of elastic material. These flexible elements adapt to the roll's cylindrical shape and provide distributed support that prevents compression and flattening, while still offering sufficient structural support for transport.
2Ease of operation
If the rolls are transported on a conventional rigid conveyor, then they can be moved between stations, but they become unstable during palletization due to ovalization
Solution Approach 1:
By maintaining the rolls' cylindrical shape through curved support surfaces, the rolls remain stable when arranged vertically during palletization. The preserved circular cross-section allows proper stacking and positioning without the instability caused by oval deformation.
3Productivity
If the rolls are transported on a flat rigid surface, then they can be conveyed efficiently, but they cause misalignment during application due to deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible hammock-shaped cradles provide consistent cylindrical support that prevents deformation, ensuring the rolls maintain their proper shape for precise alignment during application. This eliminates the misalignment issues caused by ovalization while preserving transport functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A roll transporting conveyor for transporting bituminous membrane rolls along a feeding direction. The roll transporting conveyor comprises: a support frame provided with two beams spaced apart from each other and parallel to said feeding direction; two driving belts arranged at the respective beams; a plurality of crossbars extending in a bridge-like manner between a driving belt and the other at a preset distance along said feeding direction and having the opposite axial ends integral to the driving belts; a plurality of belt-shaped transport portions, each of which extends between two consecutive crossbars and is sized to form a hammock-shaped transport cradle having an approximately semi-cylindrical shape for holding a roll between two consecutive crossbars.