Sheet Conveying Arrangement With Lifting Means
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet conveying systems, such as those described in European patent application EP-0192211-A2 and British patent specification GB-985227, are unable to handle thin sheets effectively, leading to jamming and damage due to insufficient stiffness, and the movable downpresser in GB-985227 risks disintegration and impression on sheets.
Innovation Solution
The system employs a lifting means with grooves that stiffen the sheets by forming a wavy shape with ridges and valleys parallel to the movement direction, preventing deflection and ensuring proper overlap and stacking, while an adjustable roll and belt elements ensure smooth conveyance and reduce friction, allowing for high-speed handling of thin sheets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sheets are placed on a conveyor belt with rear edge overlap, then stacking is enabled without jamming, but thin sheets deflect downwards and become damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The lifting means acts on the front edge of the sheet in advance, before the sheet reaches the transition zone, to stiffen it and prevent downstream deflection. This preliminary stiffening action ensures the sheet maintains its shape throughout the stacking process.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of stiffening the entire sheet, the lifting means applies localized support only to the front edge region. This creates a stiffened zone exactly where needed (at the transition point) while leaving the rest of the sheet flexible for normal handling.
2Shape
If a movable downpresser is used to press down the rear edge, then sheet overlap is achieved, but the downpresser risks disintegration and leaves impressions on sheets
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of pressing down the rear edge of the sheet (conventional approach), the invention lifts the front edge upward. This inverted approach achieves the same positional control function while eliminating the problems of movable pressers - no disintegration risk and no impression marks on the sheet surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The lifting means acts as an intermediary mechanism between the sheet and the conveyor system. Rather than directly pressing the sheet with a movable downpresser, the lifting means provides indirect support through the belt structure, distributing forces evenly and avoiding localized pressure marks.
3Productivity
If thin sheets are conveyed at high speed, then productivity increases, but sheet stiffness becomes insufficient leading to jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The lifting means stiffens the front edge of thin sheets in advance, before they encounter the transition zone at high speed. This preliminary reinforcement allows thin sheets to be conveyed at high velocities without jamming, as the stiffened edge maintains proper shape throughout the rapid transit.
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
This solution enables reliable, cost-effective, and efficient high-speed conveyance and stacking of thin sheets, preventing jamming and damage, and reduces wear on belt elements by minimizing friction, thus optimizing both cost and time in the sheet handling process.
Implementation Method 1
the sheet being conveyed over the lifting means, whereby the front edge and the sheet assume a wavy shape comprising a number of ridges and valleys which are parallel with the direction of movement, thereby stiffening the sheet in said direction of movement
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an arrangement (1) for conveying of sheets (2a, b), comprising upper and lower receiving rolls (3, 4), an upper belt element (5) and a receiving surface (6). The belt element (5) extends in a region above the receiving surface (6). The sheets (2a, b) are conveyed in a substantially horizontal direction of movement (7) towards the receiving rolls (3, 4), which receiving rolls (3, 4) during rotation move the sheets (2a, b) one after another between and past the receiving rolls (3, 4), during which the respective sheet(2a, b),after passing between and past the receiving rolls (3, 4), are situated between said receiving surface (6) and upper belt element (5). The sheets (2a, b) between the upper belt element (5) and the receiving surface (6) are placed on one another such that a rear edge (8) of a sheet (2a) passing through and between the receiving rolls (3, 4) is overlapped by a front edge (9) of a following sheet (2b). A lifting means (10) situated in the sheet movement direction (7) after the receiving rolls (3, 4) is adapted to acting upon sheets (2a, b) passing through the receiving rolls (3, 4) and over the lifting means such that the front edge (9) of a sheet (2b) which has passed over and past the lifting means (10) assumes a shape which strengthens the sheet (2a, b) in the sheet movement direction (7).