Conveying apparatus

Details Conveying apparatus Conveying apparatus

2003-04-29

2004-11-23

Ridley, Richard (Department: 3651)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor section

Live roll

C198S780000, C198S781020, C198S781050

Reexamination Certificate

active

06820736

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus composed of a plurality of rollers, and more particularly relates to a conveying apparatus composed of a plurality of rollers and characterized by a controller that controls the operative performance of said conveying apparatus.
2. Relevant Prior Art
Various types of conveying apparatuses have widely been used in industries wherein each apparatus was composed of a plurality of rollers as illustrated in FIG.
13
. This conveying apparatus
100
comprises a pair of frames
101
disposed in parallel with each other and supporting between them the rollers
102
and
103
. Some of those rollers
102
are free rollers capable of rotating freely relative to their shafts. The other rollers
103
are each a motor-installed roller that has secured therein a motor and a speed reducer, so that this motor actuates each roller
103
to positively rotate about its axis.
Such a conveying apparatus
100
comprises also a plurality of sensors
105
arranged on and along the frame
105
. Each sensor
101
such as a photosensitive sensor will detect every article advancing on and along the conveying apparatus
100
.
The conveying apparatus
100
further comprises a terminal or distal controller
106
for controlling the operation of those motor-installed rollers (hereinafter called “motorized rollers”)
103
. A supervising or central control system such as a programmable controller not shown is connected to the terminal controller
106
. The central control system will judge or determine whether any article is being conveyed on the apparatus
100
, on the basis of data signals from the sensors
105
. If any article is detected in this way, then the motorized rollers
103
will be actuated.
The so-called singulation mode and slug mode are known in the art as the methods of synchronously or simultaneously transporting a plurality of articles.
In the singulation mode, at least one empty or idle zone is interposed moment by moment between the two adjacent zones currently acting to transport the articles. Rollers of one zone will be put into operation, only where any article is detected on this zone, but no article is detected on the downstream zone.
In the slug mode, the formation of every row of the articles being conveyed does remain unchanged, during transportation of them from one zone to the adjacent downstream zone. Whether any article is present or absent on the downstream zone, the rollers of the one zone will be actuated. However, this principle does not apply to the downstream end region of such a transportation line.
Usually and ordinarily, a braking mechanism is installed in at least one of the rollers constituting such an end region. A brake shoe or the like will electrically be actuated to stop the roller's cylindrical body due to friction thereof with said shoe, thereby causing every article to make a pause at such an end region.
The prior art conveying apparatus
100
necessitates the sensors
105
for detection of conveyed articles have to be disposed on the frame
101
, in addition to the free and motorized rollers
102
and
103
in charge of transportation of the articles. In order to convey said articles accurately to their destinations, a lot of sensors
105
need to be attached to the frame
101
. Thus, the conveying apparatus
100
must be constructed using many and various constituent parts such as the free and motorized rollers
102
and
103
, the sensors
105
, the terminal controller
106
and cables for connection thereof to these sensors. Such a considerably large number of constituent parts have rendered complicated the prior art conveying apparatus, consequently and problematically making it intricate and expensive to assemble the apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention made to resolve this problem is therefore to provide such a conveying apparatus that articles being conveyed on and along it can be detected without aid of sensors or any devices relevant thereto.
In order to achieve this object, and viewed from an aspect of the invention, it provides a conveying apparatus comprising a plurality of rollers for conveying an article, a motor for driving at least one of the rollers, and a controller for controlling the action of the motor. The controller comprises a rotation detector for obtaining an actual information with respect to rotating state of any of the rollers. The controller further comprises an article-state detector such that the actual information will be compared with a standard value representing normal rotations of the roller. On the basis of a difference thus found between the actual information and the standard value, current material state of the article being conveyed will be determined.
The term “rotating state” used above does inclusively denotes velocity, direction, acceleration/deceleration, angular distance, duration and the like of rotation of the roller. The other term “material state” does also inclusively denotes presence/absence of the article at any selected position of the apparatus, and weight of the article, as well as normality/abnormality in motion of the article being conveyed, and these definitions apply to the descriptions given hereinafter.
The present apparatus does not need any discrete sensors inherent in the prior art apparatuses, but nevertheless the material state can be detected to conduct adequate transportation of the article.
Due to elimination of the prior art sensors and relevant devices, the number of constituent parts is reduced in this conveying apparatus, rendering it simple in structure, easy to assemble and maintain, and thus inexpensive to manufacture.
Preferably, the rotation detector may be constructed such that the rotating state of the roller is determined based on an information indicating the rotational condition of the motor.
The term “rotational condition” just used above does inclusively denotes velocity, direction, acceleration/deceleration, angular distance, duration and the like of rotation of the motor.
The rotating state of the roller is thus easily obtained by directly obtaining the rotational condition of the motor. In a case wherein a speed reducer intervenes between the motor and roller, the motor will rotate at a higher speed than the roller. Even any slight change in the roller's rotating state can be caught in this case based on such a direct detection of the motor's rotational condition.
Preferably, the controller may determine whether any article is or is not present on the conveying apparatus, by comparing an actual rotating state of the roller with a preset reference value. This actual state is detected by the rotation detector as noted above, and the preset reference corresponds to an empty state of the apparatus not loaded with any article.
The actual rotating state of the roller is thus utilized to know the presence/absence of the article. Therefore, the present apparatus does no longer need any discrete sensors inherent in the prior art apparatuses, but nevertheless the material state can be detected to exactly transport the article to its desired destination.
The reference value to be preset may be obtained by measurement of idle rotations, i.e., rotations when loaded with no article, of the motor.
Also preferably, the controller may decide that the article has collided with any obstacle, when the rotation detector eventually outputs a much smaller number of rotations of the roller than a normal reference value.
Any accidents or events (such as jamming) that the article has collided with any obstacle will thus be detected automatically in this apparatus, thereby alarming an operator and/or turning off the motor so as to avoid energy loss and ensure smooth transportation.
Preferably, the controller may intentionally shift the rotational condition of the motor for the purpose of test, from stationary mode to forward rotary mode, or vice versa, from forward to reversed rotary mode, or vice versa, from a faster to a slower rotary mod

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