Parallel Conveyor Transfer Robots with Shared Buffer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transfer systems for products between parallel transport lines experience unstable operation due to fluctuations in product arrival rates, leading to oscillations and inefficiencies in conveyor speed control, which result in either empty compartments or excess products.
Innovation Solution
A transfer system utilizing a series of robots with a shared buffer above the conveyor, allowing temporary storage of products and coordinated access management to maintain constant product and compartment speed, with a movable buffer to ensure both robots can access storage places efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the conveyor speed is temporarily reduced to prevent empty compartments from exiting, then the compartments are filled more than necessary, but this causes excess products to accumulate and eventually exit and be discarded
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having robots deposit excess products into the buffer before the conveyor speed needs to be adjusted. This allows products to be staged in advance, so when the conveyor slows down to prevent empty compartments, products are already available in the buffer rather than accumulating and being wasted later
Solution Approach 2:
The buffer acts as an intermediary between the product supply and the compartments. It absorbs fluctuations in product flow and conveyor speed, allowing the system to maintain high compliance rates without generating excess product waste by decoupling the direct relationship between conveyor speed adjustments and product availability
2Productivity
If the conveyor speed is increased to prevent excess products from exiting, then products are transferred efficiently, but this causes empty compartments to exit when product arrival rate fluctuates
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer receives products in advance during periods of high product arrival, so when product flow fluctuates and conveyor speed needs to increase to maintain productivity, products are already staged in the buffer ensuring compartments are filled and preventing empty compartments from exiting
Solution Approach 2:
The buffer mediates between variable product arrival rates and constant compartment filling requirements. It allows the conveyor to operate at higher speeds for improved productivity while ensuring product availability through pre-staging, thus maintaining high compliance rates without the trade-off that would otherwise exist
3Reliability
If a dedicated magazine or buffer is associated with each robot, then product fluctuations can be managed, but the system dimensions and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of providing separate buffers for each robot, the invention merges the buffering function into a single shared buffer that serves all robots. This consolidation maintains the ability to manage product fluctuations and ensure compliance while significantly reducing system complexity and space requirements compared to individual buffers for each robot
Solution Approach 2:
The single buffer is designed to be universally accessible by multiple robots, allowing it to serve multiple functions: storing excess products, providing products during high-demand periods, and enabling flexible robot operation. This multi-functional design achieves the same reliability benefits as dedicated buffers while minimizing system complexity
Data Source
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AI summary
A transfer system (1) has two parallel transport lines (6,13) for randomly transporting products (2) and transporting compartments (3) to be filled, respectively; a vision system (5) determines the positions of the incoming products (2), and on the basis of the positions determined by the vision system (5), the transfer of the products (2) into the compartments (3) is carried out by at least two robots (4), which are provided with respective gripping members (15) and define respective working fields (16) which may reach the gripping members (15); the system (1) has, furthermore, a buffer (21), which is arranged in a boundary area between the two working fields (16) above the transport lines (6,13), at a height such as to let products (2) pass below, and has at least one place for a product (2) which can be reached by both robots (4).