Adjustable Placement Device Guide Width Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing placement devices with adjustable guides require independent adjustments at multiple locations, making it cumbersome to handle variations in product width, such as flower pots, and necessitate frequent changes in gutter width.
Innovation Solution
The placement device features a flanged guide with an adjustable transmission mechanism using a projection and groove system that allows for simultaneous adjustment of guide width, enabling movement perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and incorporates a driving mechanism for synchronized operation of multiple devices, allowing for adjustable spacing and conveying speed control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable lateral guides are used to handle variations in product width, then the placement device can accommodate different product widths, but the device complexity increases due to multiple independent adjustment locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple independent guide adjustments into a single integrated adjustable guide assembly. The connecting part with projection and groove mechanism links the guides together, allowing simultaneous adjustment of both guides through one operation rather than requiring independent adjustment at multiple locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable guide assembly serves multiple functions: it accommodates various product widths, provides synchronized adjustment of multiple guides, and maintains proper guide alignment. The projection-groove mechanism universally applies to connect and coordinate the movement of both guides throughout the adjustment range.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent adjustable guides are used in multiple placement devices on a cart, then each device can be adjusted for different product widths, but the time required for adjustment increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the adjustment operations of multiple guides into a single coordinated action. When one guide is adjusted via the connecting part mechanism, the other guide automatically adjusts simultaneously through the projection-groove linkage, reducing adjustment time from multiple separate operations to one unified operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The guides are pre-configured with the projection and groove features that enable automatic coordinated movement. This preliminary design ensures that when adjustment is needed, both guides are ready to move synchronously without requiring separate adjustment steps, thereby reducing the time loss associated with manual re-adjustment.
3Device complexity
If fixed width guides are used, then the device construction is simple, but the device cannot handle variations in product width
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from fixed guides to dynamically adjustable guides. The connecting part with projection and groove mechanism allows the guides to change their relative position dynamically, enabling the same simple construction to adapt to different product widths without requiring complex multiple-component systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
Placement device for picking up and putting out products, comprising a gutter formed by a pair of opposite guides (14). The gutter is provided with conveying means (41) for conveying the products along the gutter, wherein each one of said pair of guides has a first end (13) adapted for picking up products. The pair of guides is provided with a driving mechanism for driving the conveying means in two directions, wherein a connecting part (25) extends in a longitudinal direction relative to the guides between the guides, which connecting part is movable in the longitudinal direction of the guides, and wherein at least one adjustable transmission (31, 216) is provided between at least one of the guides and the connecting part, which transmission is adapted to convert a movement in the longitudinal direction of the connecting part into a movement of the guides in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the guides, such that the spacing between the guides will change as a result of the movement of the connecting part.