Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed... – By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-14
2001-10-23
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed...
By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...
C198S768000, C198S771000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305524
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to improvements in the apparatus for feeding assembly components from a bulk supply zone into a pick-up zone in which component can be picked up for transfer to another machine, such as a robotic assembly machine. The feeder of the present invention is useful for many varieties of machines. Conventional feeders usually are a part of the assembly machine for which they are designed, and cannot ordinarily be used in another environment. Conventional feeders usually have been activated by some operation of the robotic assembly machine. Convention feeders have generally advanced a component from the bulk to the pick-up position by gravity or gravity assisted by a belt, or vibration or a compressed gas.
In convention feeders, the component at the pick-up position has oftentimes been subjected to the pressure of a gravitationally flowing stream of components, thus making it more difficult for the robotic assembly machine to pick up the component by vacuum. Hence some feeder have included additional mechanisms for adequately individualizing a component for transfer to a pickup zone, thereby increasing the propensities for jamming and other malfunctions. Most feeders have been purely mechanical feeders lacking adequate communication systems for alerting the operator and/or the robotic assembly machine concerning the status of the feeding mechanism. Heretofore the stream of flowing components from the bottom of a hopper has been unsatisfactorily slow, thus limiting the practical speed at which the robotic assembly machine could function.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention features a horizontal buffer zone so that a plurality of components are normally maintained in a tubular buffer zone and disentangled from the pressure of the flow of the stream of components to such horizontal buffer zone. Compressed gas is employed in advancing a stream of components toward the buffer zone, but gas dissipation means are provided at and/or near the end of the buffer zone so that a leading component is merely nudged into the pickup station. In order to slow down the speed of a component while flowing through the buffer zone, appropriate venting means, such as a plurality of holes, permits more and more dissipation of some of the compressed gas as the component advances through the buffer zone toward such pickup station. The open-topped pick up station at the exit of the buffer zone receives a component which has been merely nudged out of the buffer zone. A hard stop prevents a component from being nudged beyond such hard stop. At least one, and usually a plurality of detection means, such as an optical switch, identify the moments when components are absent from various portions of the buffer zone. Signals from such detection means influence an electronic control means so that a pulse of compressed gas is released for advancing at least one component toward said buffer zone. Thus, the feeder consistently provides a component at the pickup station, ready for transfer to another machine such as a robotic assembly machine. The components flow from a bulk supply in a hopper to the buffer zone at a speed which is faster than for convention feeders.
Certain preferred embodiments of the invention include supplemental improvements. The components flow gravitationally from the bulk supply in a hopper through a gathering zone toward a curved portion of a grooved chute. Said gathering zone features a downsloping portion of said grooved chute. Particular attention is directed to an upsloping lift portion of such grooved chute and to the use of compressed gas for lifting one or more components for flow through an upper curved portion of such grooved chute into the horizontal buffer zone.
Thus the shape of the groove desirably has some resemblance to the symbol for a square root in which the angles are replaced by appropriate curves. Certain embodiments schedule components to fall into such groove at a plurality of zones, thereby permitting a flowing stream of components which is significantly faster than would be attainable if there were only a single zone in which, following the laws of probability, a component might fall gravitationally into such groove.
In some embodiments of the invention in which a groove has a shape resembling a curved square root symbol, and in which the downsloping portion of the path of the groove is at the downwardly sloping bottom of hopper, a flexible deflector is positioned near about half way down the sloping bottom of the hopper. Such flexible deflector can be yieldingly deflected to permit components to flow gravitationally into a zone underneath such deflector. Some of the components under such deflector can fall into the groove at one or more of the supplemental zones. Some embodiments of the invention include a jet permitting the deflector to be vibrated by a pulse of compressed gas when the control means stimulates and intermittent pulse of compressed gas. The vibration of the deflector also tumbles the bulk components in that portion of the hopper adjacent to such deflector. Some embodiments of the invention provide for a transition zone in which the walls direct partially aligned components to fall gravitationally into the groove, there being a passageway between the zone under the deflector and the transition zone for such partial alignment of components. Some embodiments of the invention include one of more dislodging jets positioned to direct the intermittent pulses of compressed gas to zones in which components might bridge in such a manner as to delay the flow of components toward the buffer zone. Some embodiments of the invention provide visual or other communication to another device and/or the operator.
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patent: 5826698 (1998-10-01), Sawada
Bower Kenneth W.
Ellis Christopher P.
Ewbank John R.
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