Suction Pick-Up Head for Packaging Inflexible Products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contemporary packaging machines face challenges in accurately and efficiently packaging inflexible and semi-flexible products due to robotic grippers dropping products during handling and difficulty in positioning them within containers, especially in corners.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus featuring a system of conveyors and a suction pick-up head that reorients and assembles products into layers before placing them into containers, allowing for gentle handling and precise positioning without lateral movement, thereby enhancing packing density and reducing product deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a robotic gripper is used to pick up and move products, then the packaging process can be automated, but the gripper may drop products during handling especially when products do not retain their shape or when large accelerations are involved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical robotic gripper system with a suction-based picking mechanism. The suction pick-up head uses vacuum pressure to hold products during transport, eliminating the grasping and releasing actions that cause dropping. This substitution of mechanical grasping with pneumatic suction resolves the reliability issue while maintaining automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent positions the suction pick-up head in a substantially vertically moveable manner directly above the collecting conveyor, allowing products to be picked up and lowered vertically into containers without lateral movement. This vertical motion path eliminates accelerations and decelerations in horizontal directions that would cause shapeless products to shift or drop, maintaining reliable handling.
2Reliability
If a robotic gripper surrounds a product for secure holding, then the product can be transported, but the gripper cannot place the product tightly into the corner of a container due to impeding contact with container walls
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of surrounding the product with a gripper from the sides, the suction pick-up head approaches the product from above and applies holding force vertically downward through suction. This inverted approach allows the product to be held securely while enabling lateral placement into container corners, as the holding force comes from above rather than from lateral gripper jaws that would interfere with corner contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the dimension of application for product holding: instead of lateral grasping forces in the horizontal plane, the suction force is applied vertically from above. This dimensional change allows products to be securely held during vertical movement while enabling precise lateral positioning into container corners without interference from gripper components.
3Manufacturing precision
If products are picked up by a gripper to rearrange them according to a packing pattern, then the packing arrangement can be controlled, but the products may be deformed or damaged during grabbing and handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical grasping forces with pneumatic suction forces to hold and transport products. The distributed suction force across the product surface is gentler and more uniform than concentrated gripper forces, eliminating deformation and damage while maintaining precise control over product arrangement and packing patterns.
4Productivity
If a robotic gripper moves products laterally with acceleration and deceleration, then the packaging speed can be increased, but the products experience forces that may cause dropping or deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the suction pick-up head to move vertically in a straight line directly above the collecting conveyor, eliminating lateral acceleration and deceleration cycles. Products are accelerated and decelerated only in the vertical direction under controlled suction, maintaining stability and preventing dropping even at high packaging speeds.
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
The apparatus achieves a 40-50% higher capacity in packaged products per hour compared to traditional machines with robotic grippers, ensuring accurate and damage-free packaging by assembling layers before placement and using a suction pick-up head for gentle handling.
Implementation Method 1
a suction pick up head that is disposed in a substantially vertically moveable manner above the retractable portion of the collecting conveyor, the suction pick up head being configured for engaging a layer of products to be placed into the container
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for packaging products into a container, comprising a first supply conveyor (10); reorientation means (60, 62), associated with said first supply conveyor and configured for selectively changing the orientation of products (74-76, 81) being transported thereon; a second supply conveyor (20), disposed downstream of the first supply conveyor and having a product-carrying surface (21) that is moveable in both a transport direction and a direction substantially perpendicular thereto; a collecting conveyor (30), disposed downstream of the second supply conveyor, whereby a portion of the third product-carrying surface is extendably and retractably arranged; and a suction pick up head (66) that is disposed in a substantially vertically moveable manner above the retractable portion of the collecting conveyor, the suction pick up head being configured for engaging a layer of products to be placed into the container (90).