Multi-stage Collation System for High-speed Signage Compiling
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-speed production systems face challenges in collating and stacking workpieces of varying numbers and sequences, as existing systems cannot reset and actuate in time before the next set of pieces is delivered, leading to potential misregistration and disturbance in the stacking process.
Innovation Solution
A controller-driven system that includes a transport device, compiler, and collating system, where the compiler temporarily holds workpieces during the collating process, allowing for actuation and reset of the collating system before moving the next set, ensuring continuous and dynamic ordering and collation without pausing between jobs, using a multi-stage process with a ramped collator to manage varying stack sizes and sequences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the collating system operates at high speed to maintain productivity, then the throughput is improved, but the collating system cannot reset and actuate in time before the next set of pieces is delivered, causing misregistration and disturbance
Solution Approach 1:
The compiler performs preliminary stacking of workpieces into preliminary stacks before the collating system processes them. This preliminary action allows the collating system to receive pre-organized groups of workpieces, reducing the complexity and time required for each collation cycle while maintaining high throughput and registration accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The collation process is divided into two distinct stages: (1) the compiler stage that creates preliminary stacks, and (2) the collating system stage that assembles final stacks from the preliminary stacks. This segmentation allows each subsystem to optimize for its specific function, enabling high-speed operation without sacrificing precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If the collating system resets and actuates for each set of pieces, then the collation accuracy is improved, but the time required for reset and actuation causes pausing between jobs, reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The compiler operates continuously to create preliminary stacks without pausing between jobs, while the collating system processes these preliminary stacks in parallel. This continuous operation eliminates idle time and maintains productivity while ensuring accurate collation through the two-stage process.
Solution Approach 2:
By pre-stacking workpieces into preliminary stacks before collation, the system prepares materials in advance, allowing the collating system to focus solely on the precise assembly operation without interruption or reset delays between jobs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system accommodates different job-specific numbers and sequences of workpieces, then the adaptability is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The compiler and collating system are designed with dynamic control capabilities that allow them to adapt to different job configurations, stack sizes, and sequences without requiring physical reconfiguration. The system can dynamically adjust parameters based on job-specific requirements while maintaining a consistent hardware architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The two-stage compiling and collating system serves multiple functions: it can handle varying numbers of workpieces per job, different stacking sequences, and multiple job types simultaneously. This universal design allows a single system to accommodate diverse requirements without increasing physical complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
According to exemplary systems and methods, signs are created using a document-processing device. The signs are removed from a processing path of the document-processing device using a transport device to move the signs to a compiler. Ordered stacks of the signs are compiled in the compiler. The signs are temporarily held in the compiler during a first operation of a collating system. Following actuation and reset of the collating system, the signs are moved to the collating system. The collating system includes a ramped collator that moves interim stacks of signs received from the compiler from the ramps of the ramped collator toward a final collated stack according to job-specific instructions.