Automatic Pallet Assembly System with Sequential Runner Nailing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automatic pallet assembly machines face issues with positioning accuracy and productivity due to irregularities in pallet surfaces and slight positioning errors, leading to faulty nailing and alignment errors, which result in imperfections in the assembled product.
Innovation Solution
An automatic pallet assembly system that uses a framing device to align runners with the deck, employing a positioning system to move the deck and runners during assembly, and a clamp for ensuring accurate positioning and stability, with a nailing unit that frames and nails one runner at a time to achieve precise alignment and streamlined assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If all runners are held simultaneously by rigid nailing bases, then the machine structure is stable, but positioning accuracy deteriorates due to surface irregularities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the nailing operation into sequential steps, framing and nailing one runner at a time rather than holding all runners simultaneously. This segmentation allows the positioning system to achieve high accuracy for each individual runner while maintaining overall machine stability through the rigid base structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a dynamic positioning system that can move the deck and runners during assembly to achieve precise alignment. The positioning system adjusts the position of components dynamically during the framing and nailing process, rather than relying solely on static positioning of all runners at once.
2Productivity
If robotic arms hold deck and runners with clamps, then assembly speed is acceptable, but alignment precision deteriorates due to positioning tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a preliminary framing action that aligns the runner with the deck before nailing begins. The framing system pre-positions and secures the runner in the correct alignment, ensuring precision is established before the nailing operation commences, thereby maintaining both speed and accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a framing system as an intermediary mechanism between the clamp holding system and the nailing operation. This framing system acts as a mediator that ensures precise alignment and framing of the runner relative to the deck, compensating for any positioning tolerances in the clamp system.
3Extent of automation
If positioning errors occur during robot movement, then assembly automation is achieved, but nailing quality deteriorates due to misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a positioning system with feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor and adjust the position of the deck and runners during assembly. This feedback system compensates for positioning errors that may occur during robotic movement, ensuring that nailing alignment quality is maintained despite automation-related tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a dynamic positioning system that can adjust positions in real-time during the assembly process. The system dynamically compensates for positioning errors that occur during robot movement between pick-up and nailing points, maintaining precise alignment for high-quality nailing throughout the automated assembly process.
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 ensures accurate and versatile assembly of pallets with high productivity, preventing imperfections that could affect adjacent items, and allows for the assembly of pallets with different morphologies and dimensions, ensuring a high-quality end product.
Implementation Method 1
a clamp for securing runners of the pallet, viewed from above, comprising two rigid, elongate elements separated from each other by a distance that is less than the length of the runner, on which a plurality of pairs of gripper fingers are arranged
Data Source
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AI summary
Automatic assembly system for pallets formed of a plurality of runners and a deck, comprising a supply and positioning system; a framing and nailing area; a framing system and a nailer, in which the supply and positioning system supplies and positions the components of the pallet in the framing and nailing area, in which the framing system comprises movable actuation elements which frame the deck and the runners of the pallet using said movable actuation elements, and in which a nailing unit performs the function of nailing the runners to the deck, in which the movable actuation elements are arranged around the framing and nailing area and comprise pressure surfaces to frame the deck and a single runner of the pallet at the same time, without framing the rest of the runners, using said movable actuation elements.