Machine for spreading out and loading flat clothing articles
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing machines for spreading and loading flat clothing articles face issues such as operator safety risks due to fast-moving clamps, limited productivity, poor quality of deposition with folds and wrinkles, and poor visibility during manual loading.
Innovation Solution
A machine with a frame supporting a conveyor belt and two or three loading stations, featuring movable spreading clamps, a protective cover, and safety screens, which allows for semiautomatic loading of large flat articles and manual loading of small ones, ensuring safe operation, improved productivity, and reduced wrinkles through controlled deposition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the clamps move fast to achieve high productivity, then productivity increases, but operator safety deteriorates due to risk from fast-moving clamps
Solution Approach 1:
The loading station is divided into multiple zones with separate pairs of clamps (loading clamps and spreading clamps) that operate independently. The loading clamps secure the article corners while spreading clamps unfold and position it, allowing sequential operations that maintain safety while achieving high productivity through automated coordinated movement.
Solution Approach 2:
A protective cover is introduced as an intermediary element between the operators and the fast-moving clamps. This cover moves with the clamps during operation, providing a physical barrier that protects operators from harmful factors while allowing the clamps to maintain high-speed operation for productivity.
2Productivity
If the conveyor belt loads articles quickly, then productivity increases, but deposition quality deteriorates due to folds and wrinkles
Solution Approach 1:
The spreading clamps perform preliminary spreading and smoothing actions on the flat clothing article before it reaches the deposition point on the conveyor belt. By unfolding and positioning the article in advance while it's still held by the clamps, the system ensures proper orientation and smoothness are achieved before release, preventing folds and wrinkles even at high loading speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous operation where the conveyor belt continuously loads articles while the spreading clamps continuously spread and position each article in sequence. This continuous coordinated action between loading, spreading, and conveying ensures that no article is delayed or rushed, maintaining deposition quality while achieving high productivity through uninterrupted flow.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the machine size is increased to position movable elements away from operators, then operator safety improves, but device complexity and space requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing machine size to create distance between operators and moving elements, a protective cover is introduced as an intermediary safety element. This cover moves with the clamps and provides close-protection, allowing the machine to maintain a compact size while ensuring operator safety through the protective barrier rather than through spatial separation.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
Machine for spreading out and loading flat clothing articles comprising a conveyor belt (30) and several pairs of clamps (4a,4b) moved along a guide rail (8) between positions adjacent to loading stations (1,2), wherein the pairs of clamps (4a,4b) receive contiguous corners of flat clothing articles (A1,A2) loaded manually by operators, and positions wherein the clamps (4a,4b) spread the flat clothing articles (A1,A2) with respect to a loading end (30a) of the conveyor belt (30). A protective cover (11) frontally covering the loading end (30a) has a pressing edge (12) and is moved between a position allowing the free passage of the flat clothing articles (A1,A2) between the pressing edge (12) and the frame (10) and a position wherein the flat clothing articles (A1,A2) are caught between the pressing edge (12) and the frame (10).