Stack Conveyor for Flat Product Packaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional methods for packaging paper booklets or folded papers in carton boxes are inefficient, as they rely on manual handling and lack a cost-effective, high-speed, and reliable automated solution.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a moving endless stack conveyor, guide rails, feeder conveyors, support members, and a reciprocating push member to automate the stacking and placement of products into boxes, with digital input and optical sensors for precise control and speed regulation, enabling efficient and high-speed packaging of multiple products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual handling is used for packaging paper booklets, then flexibility and simplicity are maintained, but productivity and efficiency are low
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging system is divided into distinct functional modules: a feeder for supplying booklets, a guide for positioning, a stack conveyor for forming stacks, and a box transporter for moving filled boxes. Each module operates independently but coordinates with others, enabling high-speed automated packaging while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The support members on the stack conveyor serve multiple functions: they support individual booklets during transport, align books vertically to form stacks, and facilitate controlled discharge into boxes. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, balancing automation capability with system simplicity
2Productivity
If automated stacking is implemented, then productivity increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure utilizes the weight and geometry of the booklets themselves to achieve automatic alignment and stacking. As booklets are fed through the guide, they self-align vertically under gravity and their own dimensions, eliminating the need for complex active alignment mechanisms while maintaining high stacking speed
Solution Approach 2:
The stack conveyor employs support members that can dynamically adjust their position and orientation during operation. The conveyor system accelerates and decelerates controlled stacks at specific points, and the support members move from a horizontal configuration during feeding to a vertical configuration during stacking, enabling flexible high-speed operation without excessive mechanical complexity
3Productivity
If high-speed packaging is achieved, then productivity improves, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure performs preliminary alignment of booklets before they enter the stacking zone. By pre-positioning booklets in the correct orientation and location during the feeding phase, the system ensures that when stacks are formed at high speed, the books are already properly aligned, maintaining manufacturing precision without sacrificing packaging rate
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates sensors that detect the position and orientation of booklets as they are fed and stacked. This feedback information is used to make real-time adjustments to the feeder and stack conveyor operations, ensuring that even at high speeds, stacks are formed with the required precision and alignment accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
A device for packaging products in a box, includes a frame having a moving conveyor, a guide for supporting the products from an entry end to an exit end of the guide, and a mechanism for holding a box at the exit end of the guide such that the opening of the box extends parallel to the guide at the other side thereof. The conveyor has support members extending perpendicular to the conveyor and towards the guide when they move along the guide. The device further includes a feeder for feeding the products at the entry end of the guide between two support members, wherein the products are stacked in parallel for moving the stack of products at the exit end past the edge of the exit end into-said the box, and a mechanism for transporting the box in a direction parallel to the guide.