AU2813601A

AU2813601A - Conveying line accumulator

Info

Publication number: AU2813601A
Application number: AU28136/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Richard Meehan
Original assignee: New Sector Eng
Current assignee: NEW SECTOR ENGINEERING
Priority date: 2000-03-21
Filing date: 2001-03-21
Publication date: 2001-09-27

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Applicant(s): NEW SECTOR ENGINEERING, ACN 007 043 987 Actual Inventor(s): Richard Meehan Address for Service: PATENT ATTORNEY SERVICES 26 Ellingworth Parade Box Hill Victoria 3128 Australia BP Australia Documents received on.

B I 2 1 MAR 2001 l| Batch No: Title: CONVEYING LINE ACCUMULATOR Associated Provisional Applications: PQ6370 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:-

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CONVEYING LINE ACCUMULATOR This invention relates to a conveyor line accumulator. In particular it relates to stopping or slowing a product processing line without stopping the conveyor.

Conveyors can be endless belt conveyors where an endless loop belt having a top loading surface is used to transport goods along the belt. Another form of conveyors are roller conveyors, which include a multiplicity of parallel roller members. Individual roller members may be motor driven or selective roller members are driven while others are free rolling.

*In processing of product, conveyors are often used between and during processing 10 steps so that the product continues along the conveyor to complete the process. However, a particular processing step may require refilling of treating material, adjustment of treating apparatus or other process adjustment. Such adjustment requires the product to not proceed further along the conveyor.

However, if the conveyor was merely stopped, products upstream in earlier process steps will be stopped. This could be during a critical timed process or a critical multi-processing step. The processing interruption will therefore corrupt or damage the product. Also the stopping of the conveyor could cause mechanical failure or damage due to product stopping suddenly in the middle of a mechanical processing step. It is therefore essential to allow a process step to be completed before stopping the product. Further difficulty occurs in that on a conveyor line the end of various process steps may not coincide.

It would therefore be beneficial to accumulate products on a conveyor line at non critical positions and upstream of a required processing equipment adjustment or replenishment position or the like.

Various types of accumulation conveyors are known. In one form there are longitudinal narrow endless belt conveyors spread between longitudinal narrow brake surfaces. The product spans more than a single belt conveyor or brake surface. The brake surfaces can be raised so that the product comes to a halt on the brake surface while the conveyor belts continue. Alternatively, the conveyor belts could be lowered leaving the product on the brake surfaces. In another form a roller accumulation conveyor has a 10 multiplicity of parallel roller elements, with fingers extending between the rollers so as to S• lift the product off the rollers and thereby accumulate the products. However, these forms of accumulation conveyors require intricate combinations of conveyors and brake surfaces *oooo making such apparatus bulky and expensive.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a conveyor line accumulator that is 0* 15 more effective while being able to be added to a previously installed conveyor.

In accordance with the invention there is provided conveyor line accumulator, for a 0 0 stopping the flow of product on a conveyor line, including a conveyor for transporting product along a conveyor line, a lateral guide for defining a side wall portion line, and a lateral expandable means, mounted opposite the lateral guide and able to expand towards the internal guide to adjust the sizing of the spacing therebetween and prevent product progressing further down the conveyor line.

The lateral expandable means can include a bladder and a pneumatic means for selectively expanding the bladder to provide the adjustment of the sizing between the lateral expandable means and the lateral guide. In one form the bladder can be mounted behind a movable lateral plate mounted opposite the lateral guide. In another form, the bladder is associated with a lateral plate having a slit or recess allowing the bladder to expand therethrough. Preferably the slit is elongated with a sizing of about 290 millimetres x 22 millimetres.

The lateral expandable means can be selectively activated by a proximity detector such as a fibre optic sensor. Alternatively it could be activated by control means receiving indication of process steps along the conveyor.

The invention also provides a conveyor line accumulator for use with a conveyor line 0 S 10 and including a movable barrier and a pneumatic means; wherein the movable barrier is 0 mountable next to the conveyor line such that it is able to move between a first position, 0.

allowing ready flow of products or material along the conveyor line, and a second position at 000000 least substantially preventing ready flow of products or material along the conveyor line; and wherein the pneumatic means upon activation is able to move the movable barrier from the o0 0 0 15 first position to the second position.

In one form, the movable barrier includes an expandable bladder. The bladder can be *000o.

6 0 00.: mounted at one side of the conveyor while a fixed barrier is mounted at an opposite side.

In another form, the movable barrier is mounted above the conveyor with the first and second positions being different heights above the conveyor line. The barrier could therefore be an expandable bladder, which projects downwards to limit the spacing between it and the conveyor line. In this way a separate fixed barrier opposite the movable barrier is not required.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided one or more pneumatically operable means mountable adjacent a conveyor line and able to engage product on the conveyor line and prevent flow along the conveyor line while the conveyor line remains operative.

In one form the pneumatically operable means includes a lifting arm located alongside elongated conveyor lines such that operation of the pneumatically operable means activates the lifting arm to lift the product above the adjacent conveyor lines. The pneumatically operable means can include an expandable bladder.

In another form the one or more pneumatically operable means are mounted adjacent S 10 the conveyor line and opposite each other or opposite a fixed lateral barrier such that the S• product proceeding along the conveyor line is caught between the two and prevented from proceeding along the conveyor line. The pneumatically operable means may coact with a o lifting means or be angled so as to lift the products off the conveyor line.

The benefit of the conveyor line accumulator according to the invention is that the 15 pneumatic operation provides ready activation of the conveyor line accumulator. Further, the lateral expandable means provides a ready control of the product flow without requiring intricate means co-acting with the conveyor. The conveyor surface could be constructed to allow ready sliding of product over the conveyor surface so that the product can be accumulated and the conveyor remains operative. In another form, the lateral pneumatic means may also include raising means so that the accumulated product is raised above the conveyor.

It should be noted that pneumatic operation provides immediately control and a wide range of operating times, amount of expansion of the bladder. Further the bladder provides a cushioning effect to oncoming product and a provides sticky tactile surface, which can be used to slow product flow before totally stopping the flow.

In order that the invention can be more readily understood an embodiment thereof will be disclosed which is illustrative only of the invention wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conveyor line accumulator in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one inner side of the conveyor line accumulator of Figure 1 showing the lateral expandable means.

Figure 3 is a side outer view of the conveyor line of the conveyor line accumulator of 10 Figure 1 showing the pneumatic means.

"Referring to the drawings there is shown a conveyor line accumulator 25 comprising a flat bed conveyor 31 having a plurality of plates 32 connected to a central belt 33 to allow rotation of the conveyor in an endless manner. Along one side of the conveyor 31 is 0000 mounted a lateral guide 35 and mounted on the opposite side of the conveyor 31 facing the 15 lateral guide 35 is a lateral expandable means 37.

The lateral guide 35 comprises upper and lower elongated slide bars 51 and 52 with 0 an elongated slide plate 53 therebetween. The slide bars 51 and 52 and the slide plate 53 are combined to form a frame which is connected by a plurality of tubular extension rods 43 extending away from the conveyor 31 and received inside side openings of upright posts 41A, B, C and D. The lateral guide 35 is thereby able to be supported alongside the conveyor 31 and due to the extension rods 43 being able to slide through the side openings in the posts 41A, B, C and D, are able to change the angle from front to back of the lateral guide 35 relative to the conveyor 31. Locking means 49 comprising a knob having a screw thread post extending into a top portion of the post 41A-D engages with the laterally extending extension rod 43 so as to frictionally engage and hold the extension rod 43 within the post 41A-D. In this way the lateral guide 35 is locked into position relative to the conveyor 31. Generally this would allow a wider opening at a front end of the conveyor 31 with its narrow opening at a rear end so that the products are carefully and gently directed along the conveyor 31 downstream.

The lateral expandable means 37 similarly comprises upper and lower slide bars and 56 with an elongated slide plate 58 therebetween. Similarly the slide bars 55 and 56 and slide plate 58 are joined to form a frame which is mounted via outwardly extending 10 extension rods .44 into upwardly mounted posts 42A-D having locking means 50 in order to be able to mount the lateral expandable means 37 alongside the conveyor 31 opposite the lateral guide 35 and with a varying angle, as required, from the front of the conveyor to the rear of the conveyor downstream.

As shown particularly in Figure 2, the slide plate 58 of the lateral expandable means o::O 15 37 includes an elongated slit 61 extending nearly the entire length of the slide plate 58. This slit 61 co-acts with a lateral expandable means 71 comprising a bladder 73, and pneumatic means 76 including the pump 77 and piping 78. The bladder 73 extends the entire length of the slit 61 and by activation of the pump 77, air is pumped through the piping 78 into the bladder 73 to allow it to expand beyond the front surface of the slide plate 58 inwards over the conveyor 31. In this way, although the spacing between the slide plate 58 and the opposing lateral guide 35 remains constant, the space between the bladder 73 and the lateral guide 35 decreases so as to be able to prevent product, which extends substantially across the conveyor 31, from progressing further downstream. The slide plate 58 is formed in two parts, each having the same outside dimensions of length of 400 millimetres and height of millimetres and thickness of 10 millimetres. The front part of the side plate 58 facing the conveyor 31 includes the slit having a length of 290 millimetres and height of 22 millimetres. Sandwiched between the two parts of the side plate 58 is a 3 millimetres rubber diaphragm connected via a bsp inlet port to the pneumatic means. By operation of the pneumatic means and the pump, air is pumped into the rubber diaphragm, which only has a direction of expansion of the bladder 73 through the front slit 61 of the front portion of the slide plate 58.

The bladder 73 is formed of 3 millimetres neurone insertion black rubber. The 10 pneumatic means comprises a SMC pneumatic, mechanic limit switch with a time delay valve, a 140 psi pressure regulator and an incline speed controller.

These components are a practical simple method of activation but not the only option.

99oo99 The unit could be initiated by proximity or fibre optic sensor coupled with programmable logic control and solenoid valve for activation.

99 .9 15 It should be evident from the description hereinabove that the present invention provides an improved conveyor line accumulator, which avoids most if not all of the disadvantages of the prior art. Of course many modifications to the above described embodiments may be readily envisaged by a person skilled in the art and are included within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A conveyor line accumulator, for stopping the flow of product on a conveyor line, including: a conveyor for transporting product along a conveyor line. a lateral guide for defining a side wall portion line, and a lateral expandable means, mounted opposite the lateral guide and able to expand towards the internal guide to adjust the sizing of the spacing therebetween and prevent product progressing further down the conveyor line.

2. A conveyor line accumulator according to claim 1 wherein the lateral expandable 0@ 0• 10 means includes a bladder and a pneumatic means for selectively expanding the bladder to S provide the adjustment of the sizing between the lateral expandable means and the lateral 0* guide. A conveyor line accumulator according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the bladder is 0000 mounted behind a movable lateral plate mounted opposite the lateral guide.

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4. A conveyor line accumulator according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the bladder is associated with a lateral plate having a slit or recess allowing the bladder to expand therethrough.

A conveyor line accumulator according to claim 4 wherein the slit is elongated with a sizing of about 290 millimetres x 22 millimetres.

6. A conveyor line accumulator according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the lateral expandable means is selectively activated by a proximity detector such as a fibre optic sensor.

7. A conveyor line accumulator according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the lateral expandable means is selectively activated by a control means receiving indication of process steps along the conveyor.

8. A conveyor line accumulator for use with a conveyor line and including: a movable barrier and a pneumatic means; wherein the movable barrier is mountable next to the conveyor line such that it is able to move between a first position, allowing ready flow of products or material along the conveyor line, and a second position at least substantially preventing ready flow of products or material along the conveyor line; 0e 10 and wherein the pneumatic means upon activation is able to move the movable barrier from the first position to the second position.

9. A conveyor line accumulator according to claim 8 wherein the movable barrier •oo o S includes an expandable bladder. O A conveyor line accumulator according to any one of claims 8 or 9 wherein the 15 bladder is mounted at one side of the conveyor while a fixed barrier is mounted at an •gag opposite side.

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11. A conveyor line accumulator according to any one of claims 8 or 9 wherein the movable barrier is mounted above the conveyor with the first and second positions being different heights above the conveyor line.

12. A conveyor line accumulator according to any one of claims 8 to 11 wherein the barrier is an expandable bladder, which projects downwards to limit the spacing between it and the conveyor line.

13 A pneumatically operable means mountable adjacent a conveyor line and able to engage product on the conveyor line and prevent flow along the conveyor line while the conveyor line remains operative.

14. A pneumatically operable means according to claim 13 including a lifting arm located alongside elongated conveyor lines such that operation of the pneumatically operable means activates the lifting arm to lift the product above the adjacent conveyor lines.

A pneumatically operable means according to claims 13 or 14 including an expandable bladder.

16. A pneumatically operable means according to any one of claims 13 to 15 wherein one 10 or more pneumatically operable means are mounted adjacent the conveyor line and opposite each other or opposite a fixed lateral barrier such that the product proceeding along the conveyor line is caught between the two and prevented from proceeding along the conveyor oeooo line.

17. A pneumatically operable means according to any one of claims 13 to 16 wherein the *o. 15 pneumatically operable means coacts with a lifting means such as being angled so as to lift the products off the conveyor line. *eeoe Dated this 21st day of March 2001 PATENT ATTORNEY SERVICES Attorneys for NEW SECTOR ENGINEERING