Vertically Stacked Conveyor Diversion for Pharmacy Vial Sorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
In pharmacy production facilities, vials assigned to a specific order often get distributed to incorrect outbound conveyor lanes, leading to delayed order processing and reduced productivity due to uneven vial distribution and changing demand for different drugs, necessitating frequent load balancing across inbound conveyor lanes.
Innovation Solution
A control system and conveyor arrangement where inbound conveyor lanes are vertically stacked, with diversion conveyors connecting all lanes, allowing vials to be diverted directly to dedicated outbound lanes based on order volume, reducing the need for load balancing and ensuring vials reach the correct sorter location with minimal mechanical diversion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple outbound conveyor lanes are used to handle high vial production volumes, then productivity increases, but vials assigned to one order may be distributed to different outbound conveyors causing order processing delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a horizontal conveyor arrangement to a vertical stacking configuration, utilizing the vertical dimension to organize inbound conveyor lanes. This dimensional change allows all inbound lanes to feed into a single outbound conveyor through vertical stacking, ensuring that vials from the same order remain together while still accommodating high production volumes through multiple lanes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the conveyor system into distinct inbound lanes that are vertically stacked, with each lane handling specific vial streams. By segmenting the inbound flow while consolidating to a single outbound lane, the system maintains order integrity (all vials from one order go to the same sorter) while preserving high throughput capacity through parallel inbound lanes.
2Reliability
If the control system transfers vials across conveyor lanes multiple times to balance load and route to correct sorter location, then order accuracy improves, but system complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary routing decisions at the inbound lane entry point, where vials are assigned to specific vertically stacked inbound lanes based on their destination sorter. This preliminary action ensures that vials are correctly routed from the beginning of their journey, eliminating the need for multiple intermediate transfers and reducing system complexity while maintaining high routing accuracy.
3Device complexity
If horizontal conveyor arrangement is used, then system simplicity is maintained, but load balancing across inbound lanes becomes necessary reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
By stacking inbound conveyor lanes vertically rather than arranging them horizontally, the system eliminates the need for complex load balancing mechanisms. The vertical configuration naturally allows independent control of each lane while feeding into a common outbound point, simplifying the overall system architecture while enabling higher throughput through parallel lane operation without requiring active load balancing.
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor process and system for sorting objects having a plurality of inbound conveyors in a vertically stacked configuration and a plurality of diversion conveyors connected to the inbound conveyors for diverting objects transported on the inbound conveyors to a particular outbound conveyor.