Transfer Device with Hinged Cross Conveyor for Grooved Belt Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor systems face issues with products remaining on slide-over devices at the end of production runs, and existing transfer devices are prone to finger damage due to debris and misalignment, leading to product falls and finger breakage.
Innovation Solution
A transfer device with hingedly supported cross conveyor belts and detachable fingers, featuring support surfaces that follow the grooved conveyor belt to maintain flush contact and reduce finger stress, along with rollers to minimize friction and prevent unwanted motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If slide-over plates with fingers are used to transfer products between conveyor belts, then product transfer is enabled, but the fingers are delicate and easily damaged by debris and misalignment causing product falls and finger breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by making the transfer fingers flexible rather than rigid. The fingers are designed to be elastically deformable, allowing them to adapt to misalignment between conveyor belts and resist damage from debris. This flexibility enables the fingers to maintain contact and transfer products reliably without breaking, directly resolving the contradiction between operational capability and durability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the cross conveyor belt is rigidly fixed, then structural stability is maintained, but misalignment with the grooved conveyor belt causes finger uplift and product falls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by making the cross conveyor belt dynamically adjustable rather than rigidly fixed. The cross conveyor belt can move vertically to accommodate misalignment with the grooved conveyor belt, ensuring continuous flush contact at the transfer point. This dynamic adjustment capability resolves the contradiction by maintaining both structural stability and alignment precision.
3Productivity
If the fingers extend deeply into the grooves, then product transfer efficiency is improved, but the fingers are more susceptible to damage from debris and excessive clearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by designing the fingers as flexible elements that can deform elastically when encountering debris or excessive clearance. This flexibility allows the fingers to maintain their deep groove engagement for efficient product transfer while resisting damage from harmful factors like debris and misalignment, thereby resolving the contradiction between productivity and susceptibility to harmful factors.
Data Source
AI summary
A transfer device (19), comprising a carrier (21) including a number of mutually spaced-apart, substantially parallel extending transfer fingers (22) that in use reach into grooves (14) between ribs (13) on a conveying surface of a grooved conveyor belt (2). Back parts (23) of the fingers form a comb shaped part (24) of a substantially planar slide-over surface (25) of the transfer device. The carrier further includes a conveyor guide track (26) that is lowered with respect to the slide over surface and that extends transversely to the fingers, and that in use is provided with a cross conveyor belt (6) movable in a conveying direction transversely to the fingers, so that a conveying surface (9) of the cross conveyor belt forms a conveying part (27) of the slide-over surface that is substantially contiguous to and flush with the comb shaped part (24). At a side opposite to the fingers the carrier further includes a hinge connection (29) extending transversely to the fingers, and being spaced apart from the fingers. Further, the carrier includes support surfaces that in is use are supported on the grooved conveyor belt.