Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-14
2002-10-22
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
C198S441000, C198S475100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06467606
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to conveyor systems, including conveyor systems that divert items/products from one conveyor to another conveyor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of conveyors is well known in many industries. In manufacturing, conveyors are commonly used, for example, to move partially assembled products or parts between workstations. In product packaging environments, conveyors commonly move finished products and packages through packaging stations.
Whatever the application, it is sometimes necessary to selectively divert items/products from one conveyor to another conveyor. For example, when a downstream packaging station is incapable of handling the volume of products arriving from an upstream conveyor, it may be necessary to employ two or more downstream conveyors and packaging machines to avoid a bottleneck in the process. In such cases, some of the products must be diverted from the upstream conveyor to the additional downstream conveyor(s) in order to apportion product between them. In another example, pre-arranged lightweight products, such as a stack of tissue paper or fabric softener sheets, may become misaligned if they are knocked or subjected to rapid acceleration or deceleration during the packaging process. In these cases, product misalignment may be diminished by reducing the speed at which the product is moved during the packaging process. This may be achieved by diverting some upstream products to one or more downstream conveyors to reduce the load of product that each packaging station must handle.
A problem with known diverters is that they too often knock or subject the diverted products to rapid acceleration or deceleration during the diverting process. This may have a number of undesirable effects. For example, in a manufacturing environment, diversion of sensitive or delicate products by a conventional diverter may dislodge components or otherwise damage the products. In a packaging environment, pre-arranged lightweight products may easily become misaligned during the diverting process by these conventional diverters and thereby compromise the proper operation of packaging machines.
Known diverters utilise apparatus which selectively divert items or products in a generally horizontal plane. Items are taken out of the incoming conveyor stream and moved sideways or at an angle, but in a generally horizontal plane. These types of diverters are not particularly good at providing a low level of acceleration or deceleration during the diversion process.
Accordingly, there is a need for diverters that can diminish the amount of acceleration, deceleration and knocking that products are subjected to during the diverting process.
Another problem with some conveyor systems exists at the end of a conveyor where product has to be transferred from the conveyor into a bucket that will take the product to a further station. If the product is flexible about its transverse axes, then if there is any misalignment or any force applied to the front of the product, such as from movement through air as the product leaves the conveyor for the bucket, then the product can fold about a transverse axis, possibly resulting in mis-feed into the bucket. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a bucket in-feed station that reduces the risk of mis-feeding.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is desirable to provide a conveyor system that has a diverter for selectively diverting products from one conveyor to another conveyor. It is also desirable to provide a conveyor system that can easily transfer flexible products into a bucket. The diverter will be particularly useful in high-speed conveyor systems.
Advantageously, the present invention may diminish product acceleration, deceleration and knocking during the diverting process so as to reduce product misalignment; may reduce the volume of product on the conveyors after selected products are diverted; and may reduce the incidence of product misfeeds.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for transferring a selected product of a plurality of products carried on a first conveyor, from a pickup position on said first conveyor to a delivery position on a second conveyor, said second conveyor being vertically displaced relative to said first conveyor, said apparatus comprising: (a) a member having a transfer effector, said member mounted to a frame for movement to move said transfer effector between said pick-up position and said delivery position; (b) a drive mechanism for moving said member; and (c) a control system operable to control the speed and position of said transfer effector; said transfer effector being adapted for retrieving said selected product at said pick-up position and depositing said selected article at said delivery position, wherein said control system controls the speed and position of said transfer effector from retrieval of said selected product at said pickup position to delivery of said selected product at said delivery position.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for transferring a selected product from a pick-up position on a first conveyor to a delivery position on a vertically displaced second conveyor, comprising: (a) a plurality of rotary members rotatable in a substantially vertical plane of rotation about a sun axis; (b) a plurality of radial arms extending outward from each of said rotary members, said radial arms spaced equally apart along said plane of rotation; (c) a drive mechanism for rotating each of said rotary members about said sun axis; (d) a lifting effector extending from each of said radial arms; and (e) a control system for controlling the speed and position of each said lifting effector by controlling the rotation of said rotary members; wherein said control system controls the rotation of each of said rotary members so that said lifting effector obtains said selected product at said pickup position and delivers said selected product to said delivery position.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for diverting selected product from non-selected product comprising: (a) a first conveyor; (b) a second conveyor vertically displaced from said first conveyor; (c) a rotary diverter for acquiring said selected product from said first conveyor at substantially the same horizontal velocity as said first conveyor, and for delivering said selected product onto said second conveyor at substantially the same horizontal velocity as said second conveyor; and (d) a pair of in-feed conveyor stations, one of said in-feed conveyor stations positioned at the terminal end of said first conveyor for receiving said non-selected product, and the other one of said in-feed conveyor stations positioned at the terminal end of said second conveyor for receiving said selected product.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a conveyor system comprising: (a) a diverter station having a diverter; (b) a first conveyor diverter portion, said first conveyor being configured to deliver items in succession, to and through said diverter station; (c) a second conveyor having a receiving portion vertically displaced in relation to said first conveyor, said second conveyor operable to move selected items transferred from said first conveyor to said receiving portion of said second conveyor by said diverter, away from said diverter station; said diverter, having a pick-up member, said diverter operable to move said pick-up member to pick up selected items positioned at said diverter portion from said first conveyor in succession and move said selected items from said first conveyor to said receiving portion and release said selected items in succession at said receiving portion of said second conveyor; whereby at least some of said items arriving at said diverter station on said first conveyor are diverted by said diverter onto said second conveyor.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provi
Elent Michael
Martin Ronald W
Mighiu Constantin
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Langen Packaging Inc.
Valenza Joseph E.
LandOfFree
Conveyor system with diverter does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Conveyor system with diverter, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Conveyor system with diverter will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2933247