Rotatable Dispenser for Cup Conveyor Filling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cup conveyor systems face issues with material accumulation at the trailing edge of cups leading to unbalanced and potentially overturned cups, reduced filling efficiency, and damage due to overlapping cups, which results in increased wear and maintenance, as well as material spillage and crushing during directional changes.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable dispenser with dosing apertures and chutes that follow the cups, eliminating the need for cup overlap by directly feeding material into each cup via a chute system, ensuring precise dosing and minimizing spillage and wear by avoiding direct contact between cups and reducing material accumulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cups are filled using a continuous material flow through a chute system, then filling speed is improved, but material accumulates at the trailing edge causing cups to become unbalanced and potentially overturn
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous chute system is segmented into multiple dosing apertures distributed around the rotatable dispenser perimeter. Each aperture delivers material to a specific cup position, dividing the continuous flow into discrete, controlled portions that prevent trailing edge accumulation while maintaining filling speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable dispenser positions dosing apertures and chutes in advance to match cup positions before material delivery. The system preliminarily aligns each aperture with its target cup opening, ensuring material is deposited precisely where needed without accumulating at the trailing edge, thus maintaining cup balance.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If cups are arranged with overlapping ends to prevent material spillage, then material containment is improved, but cup wear increases and shifters are required to manage overlap disposition
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable dispenser with its chutes acts as an intermediary that delivers material directly into each cup opening without requiring cups to overlap. The chutes guide material precisely into the cup cavity, eliminating the need for overlapping cup ends as a spillage prevention mechanism, thereby reducing cup wear and eliminating the need for shifters.
3Device complexity
If cup overlap is eliminated to reduce wear and remove shifters, then system complexity and maintenance are reduced, but material spillage between cups may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical cup overlap system is replaced with a rotatable dispenser mechanism that uses dosing apertures and chutes to control material delivery. This substitution eliminates the need for cup overlap and shifter systems while preventing material spillage through precise, aperture-controlled dosing that delivers material directly into each cup without requiring physical cup contact.
4Productivity
If dosing rate is increased to match high conveyor speed, then productivity is improved, but material accumulation and filling precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable dispenser operates with periodic action, rotating to bring each dosing aperture into position above its corresponding cup in sequence. This periodic dosing rhythm matches the conveyor speed while maintaining precision, as each aperture delivers material only when properly positioned, preventing accumulation and ensuring accurate filling even at high speeds.
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 solution achieves precise and gentle material delivery into cups, reducing spillage and wear, eliminating the need for cup overlap, and allowing for increased conveyor efficiency and reliability by ensuring balanced cup filling and reduced maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
The rotatable dispenser (2) includes a rotary drum (21) with at one dosing or more dosing apertures (10) for dosing material into a cup (5)
Implementation Method 2
The dosed material slides down the chute in a continuous flow and down into the cup
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention concerns an apparatus and a method for filling cups in a cup conveyor wherein the cups are interconnected and arranged juxtaposed and thus constitute an endless conveyor belt, wherein a cup at least includes an upwardly facing opening, wherein the apparatus further includes a filling station with an adjustable dosing device from which the material is supplied to the cups via a chute system during their passage of the filling station. The new feature of an apparatus and a method according to the invention is that the filling station of the apparatus includes a rotatable dispenser arranged above the cups, wherein the rotatable dispenser includes at least one dosing aperture for dosing material into a cup, wherein the apparatus further includes drive means and means for controlling and regulating the at least one dosing aperture in the rotatable dispenser in relation to the positions of the openings in adjacent cups at the filling station when the apparatus is in operation.