Sheet Transport Device Using Protrusion Bodies for Low Stiffness Stacking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing machines struggle to reliably stack and feed sheet products with low stiffness, as they tend to become misaligned, slide, or collapse during the stacking and feeding process.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with a carriage and vertically extended shutter bars, combined with protrusion bodies and drives, ensures accurate stacking and feeding by engaging and supporting sheet products between the protrusion bodies and a feed conveyor, maintaining alignment and preventing collapse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If sheet products with low stiffness are allowed to fall onto the feed conveyor for stacking, then the stacking process is simple, but the sheet products become misaligned, slide, and collapse
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a carriage with protrusion bodies as an intermediary mechanism between the discharge position and the feed conveyor. The protrusion bodies temporarily hold the sheet products during stacking, preventing them from sliding and collapsing on the feed conveyor. This mediator allows low-stiffness sheet products to be stacked reliably without requiring complex active control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusion bodies on the carriage perform preliminary action by engaging and holding the sheet products before they are fully deposited on the feed conveyor. This preliminary support ensures proper alignment and prevents collapse during the critical stacking phase, allowing the simple passive feed conveyor to perform its function reliably.
2Productivity
If the carriage is positioned close to the discharge position for efficient stacking, then the stacking speed increases, but the sheet products cannot be properly supported and aligned
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the carriage in a location that is both close to the discharge position for efficiency and at an appropriate height/distance for proper support. The protrusion bodies extend from the carriage to engage the sheet products at the critical point of stacking, achieving both high productivity and precise alignment by utilizing spatial dimensions effectively.
3Productivity
If multiple sheet products are stacked simultaneously, then the feeding efficiency increases, but the sheet products with low stiffness collapse under their own weight
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage with protrusion bodies serves as a mediator that distributes the weight of multiple stacked sheet products, preventing them from collapsing under their own weight. The protrusion bodies provide temporary support structures that maintain the integrity of the stack during the feeding process, enabling efficient batch stacking of low-stiffness materials.
Data Source
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AI summary
When sheet products 1 are discharged, the sheet products are collided against shutter bars 5 so as to fall and stack on a feed conveyor 4. Then, each of protrusion bodies 7 and 8 are lowered by a first drive 9 so as to nip the sheet products between the protrusion bodies and the feed conveyor. Then, coming products are successively discharged and stacked on the protrusion bodies. And then, a second drive 12 is operated in conjunction with the feed conveyor so as to feed the sheet products nipped between the protrusion bodies and the feed conveyor 4. The shutter bars 5 are elevated and lowered by a third drive for adjusting the height position thereof.