Noncontact conveyor feeder system
US5070995A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 19, 1990 |
| Grant date | Dec 10, 1991 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 19, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB65G2203/044
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A feeder conveyor system for transferring randomly spaced products received from an input conveyor to precise locations within flites of a wrapper conveyor. A plurality of conveyors, prior to the wrapper conveyor, are independently driven by product positioning drive subsystems. Each product positioning drive subsystem associates products on its respective conveyor with target flites on the wrapper conveyor, and characterizes positional errors of the products on the conveyor relative to their associated target flites as being in one of a plurality of discrete positional error states representing a range of errors. The velocity of the conveyors controlled by the positioning drive subsystem as a function of the positional error state and the fill state of the associated target flite and flite previous to the target flite. A plurality of spacing conveyors are positioned upstream from the positioning conveyors and are independently driven by products spacing drive subsystems. The velocity of the spacing conveyors is controlled by the spacing drive subsystems as a function of state flags to space products at flite lengths with respect to one another. Overall operation of the positioning…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.