Rotary Indexing Table With Selective Carrier Holding at Work Stations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Production facilities with rotary indexing tables face inefficiencies due to the need for separate work stations for each object, even for processes with short times, leading to high investment and maintenance costs, and increased complexity, especially as the number of work stations grows, making them prone to breakdowns.
Innovation Solution
A transport device with a programmable controller allows for flexible movement of object carrier elements along linear or circular paths, where at least one element is displaceable relative to the carrier, using dog and retaining elements actuated by an actuation unit to optimize the movement based on process times, reducing the need for multiple work stations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate work stations are provided for each object to handle different process times, then production flexibility is improved, but device complexity and investment costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The object carrier elements are made dynamically controllable, allowing each element to be independently held or moved along the movement path. This dynamic control enables flexible adaptation to different process times without requiring separate fixed work stations for each object, thereby maintaining production flexibility while reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A single object carrier is designed to perform multiple functions by enabling different object carrier elements to be selectively held or moved. This universal design allows one work station to handle multiple objects with different process times, eliminating the need for multiple dedicated work stations and reducing overall system complexity.
2Productivity
If the number of work stations is increased to handle different process times, then production capacity is improved, but reliability decreases due to more potential failure points
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple work station functions are merged into a single object carrier system. By combining the capabilities of multiple work stations into one integrated system with selectively controllable object carrier elements, the patent maintains high production capacity while reducing the total number of independent components, thereby improving reliability.
3Ease of manufacture
If object carrier elements are fixed at predefined distances, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but production flexibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The object carrier elements transition from fixed predefined positions to dynamically controllable positions along the movement path. Each element can be selectively held or moved, allowing the system to adapt to different process times while maintaining a relatively simple manufacturing design based on the existing object carrier structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A transport device is provided for transporting objects from work station to work station. A production facility for producing products is also described. The transport device has an object carrier on which a plurality of object carrier elements are arranged for placing down objects, and a drive unit for driving the object carrier. The object carrier can be moved in successive cycles such that the object carrier elements can be transported on a movement path from work station to work station. At least one object carrier element on the object carrier is displaceable relative to the object carrier in the movement path. The transport device has a dog element and a retaining element that are assigned to the object carrier element. The carrier element is carried along by the object carrier and moved from work station to work station or the carrier element remains at a work station.