US3661241A

US3661241A - Apparatus for the simultaneous contactless separation of individual non-magnetic electrically conductive bodies from a continuous flow and orientation thereof

Info

Publication number: US3661241A
Application number: US885537A
Authority: US
Inventors: Benyamin Alexandrovich Ioffe; Vyacheslav Semenovich Dorofeev; Eduard Prokofievich Davydenko
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1968-12-25
Filing date: 1969-12-16
Publication date: 1972-05-09
Anticipated expiration: 1989-05-09
Also published as: DE1960310C3; FR2030103A1; SU471907A2; DE1960310B2; GB1271328A; DE1960310A1

Abstract

An apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies, preferably, non-magnetic ones, in a magnetic field, comprising an electromagnet connected with a source of alternating current, the pole pieces of this electromagnet defining therebetween a zone where the successively fed bodies are oriented, this apparatus providing for contactless separation of the successive ones of these bodies from the continuous stream in which they are fed toward the orientation zone, this apparatus further providing for selectively either grouping these successive bodies into a continuous stream, after they have passed this orientation zone, or spacing them after they have passed that zone; this invention being particularly suitable for the aims of introducing automation into such operations, when diverse objects are to be fed into all kinds of processing equipment.

Description

I United States Patent 3,661,241

Ioffe et al. 1 May 9, 1972 541 APPARATUS FOR THE [56] References Cited SIMULTANEOUS CONTACTLESS UNITED STATES PATENTS SEPARATION OF INDIVIDUAL NON- MAGNETIC ELECTRICALLY 3,353,822 1 H1967 Dangelmaier ..271/18.1

A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 219,237 21910 G ..221 156 ORIENTATION THEREOF many [72] Inventors: Benyamin Alexandrovich loffe, ulitsa Rau- Primary f as, 45/2 vyacheslav Semenovich AtlorneyWaters, RodItI,Schwartz& NIssen Dorofeev, ulitsa Frunzes, ll, kv. 5', Eduard Prokofievich Davydenko, ulitsa Lenina, [57] ABSTRACT of R183 An apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies, [22] Filed: Dec. 16, 1969 preferably, non-magnetic ones, in a magnetic field, comprising an electromagnet connected with a source of alternating cur- PP 885,537 rent, the pole pieces of this electromagnet defining therebetween a zone where the successively fed bodies are oriented, this apparatus providing for contactless separation [30] Foreign Apphcauon Pnomy Dam of the successive Ones of these bodies from the continuous Dec. 25, 1968 U.S.S.R ..l289053 stream in which they are fed toward the orientation zone, this apparatus further providing for selectively either grouping [52] U.S.Cl. ..l98/33 AB, 198/41 these successive bodies into a continuous stream, after they [51] Int. Cl ..B68g 47/24 have passed this orientation zone, or spacing them after they [58] Field of Search ,.198/33, 41; 221/156; 271/18.l; have passed that zone; this invention being particularly suita- 193/43 ble for the aims of introducing automation into such operations, when diverse objects are to be fed into all kinds of processing equipment.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures \s//, 6 l Ill] 3. 2% 2 F 4 so, a '4 I" I 2 5 L WIW" I II 5 I 2 E QQQ PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 SHEET 1 [IF 4 PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 3,661,241

sum u 0F '4 APPARATUS FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS CONTACTLESS SEPARATION OF INDIVIDUAL NON-MAGNETIC ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE BODIES FROM A CONTINUOUS FLOW AND ORIENTATION THEREOF The present invention relates to apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies, preferably, non-magnetic ones, in a magnetic field, and, more particularly, it is intended for use in those fields of production and engineering, where various workpieces are fed for piece-by-piece processing and afterwards are supplied for an assembling operation.

There is a known apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies, where successive bodies are oriented due to an interaction of a magnetic field created by a direct current with alternating currents induced in the bodies being indexed.

However, this known apparatus is uncapable of contactless separation of successive bodies to be oriented from the continuous stream in which they are supplied toward the orientation zone, and, besides, the known apparatus cannot effect orientation of bodies or workpieces having intricate configuration.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate these disadvantages.

The present invention has for its aim the creation of an apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies in a magnetic field, which should be capable of separation ofsingle successive bodies to be oriented from the continuous stream in which they are supplied toward the orientation zone, which should be further capable of selectively spacing and grouping said bodies after their having passed said orientation zone and which should feature an increased concentration of said magnetic field adjacent to the entrance portion of said orientation zone.

In accordance with the present invention, this aim is at tained in an apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies in a magnetic field, comprising an electromagnet hav ing a winding adapted to be supplied with alternating electric current, and at least a pair of pole pieces, said pole pieces defining therebetween an orientation zone flaring in a direction in which said successive bodies are adapted to be supplied, and means for feeding said successive bodies toward said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom.

It is advisable for said pair of pole pieces of said electromagnet to have each a flat surface, the planes of said flat surfaces intersecting along an imaginary line extending vertically on that side of said pole pieces, from which said successive bodies to be oriented are supplied. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention said pole pieces form each an acute angle in the direction of the supply of said bodies with an imaginary line connecting the extreme points of said respective pole pieces on said supply side.

Said means for feeding said successive bodies toward said orientation zone and for delivering said bodies therefrom may be formed either as at least one vibratory trough featuring two different conveying speeds equal to, respectively, V, at the entrance portion of said orientation zone and V, at the exit portion thereof, or, alternatively, said means may comprise two conveyors of which one is adapted to introduce said successive bodies into said orientation zone at a speed equal to V," and the other one is adapted to deliver said bodies from said orientation zone at a speed equal to V where in both cases V, V if said bodies are to be brought together, or grouped after their having been oriented, and, voce versa, V, V if said bodies are to be spaced after having passed said orientation zone.

An apparatus for orientation electrically conductive bodies in a magnetic field, constructed in accordance with the present invention, has been found to attain the abovespecified objects and aims.

The present invention will be better understood from the followin detailed description of embodiments thereof, with due reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I shows schematically the general perspective view of an apparatus, embodying the invention, comprising a trough means supporting bodies to be oriented;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pole pieces of the electromagnet and the trough means of the apparatus shown in FIG. I;

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate how the magnetic flux is distributed at various positions of the pole pieces of the electromagnet;

FIG. 5 shows schematically the general perspective view of an apparatus, embodying the invention, comprising two conveyors, carrying, respectively, the bodies before and after orientation;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows schematically the structure of an apparatus, embodying the invention, plan view,

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7.

Referring now particularly to the appended drawings, shown in FIGS. I and 2 is an apparatus comprising an electromagnet having a magnetic core I and a winding 2 wound thereabout, the winding being connected to a source of alternating current, and a pair of

pole pieces

3 and 4 defining therebetween an orientation zone flaring in the direction of progress of bodies being oriented, the bodies being, for example, in the shape of cylindrical workpieces 5 having radially extending slits cut therein. The direction of the progress of the bodies is indicated in FIGS. I l and 2 by arrow lines. The cylindrical workpieces 5 are supplied toward the orientation zone and delivered therefrom by appropriate conveying means which in the herein disclosed embodiment of the invention is in the form of a vibratory trough 6. The

pole pieces

3 and 4 are provided with respective flat surfaces which are so positioned relative to each other that the imaginary intersection line of their respective planes extends vertically on the side of said pole pieces, from which the bodies 5 are supplied toward the orientation zone. With the

pole pieces

3 and 4 thus positioned, the greater concentration of the magnetic flux formed thereby is between their pointed portions, the non-uniformity of the magnetic flux being such that the inductance decreases from the area between the pointed ends in the direction of the progress of the workpieces 5 (FIG. 2). Owing to this distribution of the magnetic flux, a successive workpiece 5, as it appears at the area of the greatest concentration of the magnetic field, is separated from the continuous stream of workpieces being supplied and thereafter is oriented in the flaring portion of the orientation zone.

The pole pieces 3 and 4 (FIG. 3) of the electromagnet may be disposed at the respective acute angles 01" relative to a line connecting the pointed ends thereof, in the direction of the progress of the bodies. In this case the distribution of the magnetic field along the axis X,X within the area between the pole pieces will be somewhat different, as compared with the arrangement of the pole pieces, shown in FIGS I, 2 and 4.

It becomes apparent from the comparison of FIGS. 3 and 4, that when the flaring angles of the respective orientation zones are equal to each other (B, =3 the positioning of the pole pieces at an acute angle a in relation to the line connecting the pointed ends of the pole pieces, as shown in FIG. 3, gives a concentration of the magnetic field in the area of the point 0, which is somewhat greater than that in the same area of F IG.4.

In the embodiment of the present invention, described hereinabove, cylindrical workpieces 5 are oriented for their respective slits to acquire a desired position, with the dimension of the workpieces in the direction of their progress being the same prior to the orientation operation and after it, whereby a single trough 6 can be used for supplying and delivering the workpieces.

When the dimension of the bodies being oriented in the direction of their progress varies after the orientation operation, it becomes necessary for the apparatus to incorporate either a single trough featuring different advancing speeds at the entrance area of the orientation zone and at the exit thereof, or two separate troughs in the form of conveyors: one for supplying the bodies toward the orientation zone at one speed and the other one for delivering the bodies therefrom at another speed, as is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Let us consider, for example, the operation of orientation a workpiece in the form of an asymmetrical yoke 7 which has its smaller dimension in the direction of its progress prior to the orientation operation, and, as a result of the orientation operation, turns so that its greater dimension extends along the direction of the travel. The conveyor 8 brings in the yokes 7 at a speed V,", whereas the conveyor 9 removes them at a speed V,", where V," V The difference between the V,"and V is selected for the yokes 7 to be, firstly, positionable on the conveyor 9 in their new oriented arrangement as a result of the orientation operation, and, secondly, for the yokes 7 to be uniformly spaced on the conveyor 9, with a desired spacing therebetweenv If the bodies to be oriented have their greater dimension in the direction of their progress at the entrance of the orientation zone, and have a smaller dimension thereof in the direction of their travel, as a result of the orientation operation, the respective speeds of the two conveyors should be either V,' V, or else V, V When V, equals VJ the bodies will be spaced on the delivery conveyor after the orientation operation; whereas. should it be desirable for the bodies to be carried away in a continuous stream, the speed V, should be made correspondingly greater than the speed V Bodies to be oriented can be supplied toward the orientation zone and delivered therefrom at the respective speeds, answering the above conditions, by means of an apparatus, embodying the present invention, of which the exemplary schematic structure is illustrated in FIGS 7 and 8. This apparatus comprises an electromagnet, similar to that shown in FlG.l, and two vibratory troughs l and Il (FIGS. 7 and 8) actuated by electric drive means [2 and 13, respectively, each of said drive means comprising a reciprocable armature I4 and a solenoid connected to an alternating-current power supply. The solenoids 15 are mounted on a base 16, while the arma tures 14 have the two vibratory troughs l0 and II rigidly supported thereby. The troughs are also operatively connected with the base [6 by means of resilient rods 17. The respective electric drive means can be adjusted to control the oscillating frequency of the troughs l0 and ll, whereby the speed at which the bodies 18 are advanced by each one of the troughs can be adjusted independently of each other.

The hereintofore described embodiments of apparatus constructed on the principles ofthe present invention are capable of orientation a wide range of bodies, articles and workpieces, which are fed to the orientation zone in a continuous stream, which makes such apparatus particularly suitable for the aim of introducing automation into diverse operations connected with feeding successive objects to all kinds of processing equipment.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the simultaneous contactless separation of individual non-magnetic electrically conductive bodies from a continuous flow and orientation thereof, comprising an electromagnet supplied with alternating current, pole pieces of said electromagnet defining an orientation zone widening in the direction of movement of the bodies being oriented, and means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom in such a manner that said bodies are grouped or spaced after having passed said orientation zone, whereby separation of said bodies from said flow is achieved as a result interaction of currents induced in two adjacent bodies with an external field and also under the effect of a non-uniform magnetic field having a gradient directed toward said flow of bodies,

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pole pieces of the electromagnet are turned in the direction in which said bodies are fed at an acute angle relative to a line connecting their pointed ends, said electromagnet effecting electrodynamic braking of the flow of bodies being fed through said zone, and separating individual bodies near the pointed ends of saidpole pieces in response to a non-uniform field having an opposite gradient on the side of the flow of bodies and on the side ofthe orientation zone. I g

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the surfaces of said pole pieces ofthe electromagnet are flat, and the line in which their planes intersect extends vertically on the side from which said bodies are supplied.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom comprises at least one vibratory trough, drive means for said trough located on one side ofthe electromagnet, said drive means including a body conveyor having a position and rigidity of suspension for said bodies selected so as to ensure a definite advancing speed V, at the inlet end of said orientation zone and V at the exit end of said orientation zone, said speeds being selected on the condition that V, is greater than V when said bodies are to be grouped after having passed said orientation zone, and V is greater than V, when said bodies are to be spaced.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, comprising the vibratory troughs, one on each side of said electromagnet, drive means for each of said troughs, said troughs being in proximity with each other at the point where the advancing speed of said bodies is to be changed, a smooth transfer of said bodies from one trough to the other being achieved by adapting a projection of one trough to enter a slot of the other trough having a predetermined spacing the size of which is selected to be slightly greater than the horizontal component of the amplitude of trough vibrations.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom comprises two conveyors, one said conveyor advancing said bodies into said orientation zone at a speed V, and the other said conveyor delivering said bodies from said orientation zone at a speed V the conveyor speeds being selected so that V, is greater than V when said bodies are to be grouped after having passed the orientation zone and V is greater than V, when said bodies are to be spaced, said conveyors being proximate at the points where the advancing speed is to be changed, said conveyors being rotatable rolls, one of the rolls of one said conveyor being smaller than the other in the zone where the conveyors are in proximity to each other and being positioned so that the upper surfaces of the conveyors be approximately on the same level, the conveyor components located in the inter-pole space being made of a non-magnetic material.

Claims

1. An apparatus for the simultaneous contactless separation of individual non-magnetic electrically conductive bodies from a continuous flow and orientation thereof, comprising an electromagnet supplied with alternating current, pole pieces of said electromagnet defining an orientation zone widening in the direction of movement of the bodies being oriented, and means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom in such a manner that said bodies are grouped or spaced after having passed said orientation zone, whereby separation of said bodies from said flow is achieved as a result interaction of currents induced in two adjacent bodies with an external field and also under the effect of a non-uniform magnetic field having a gradient directed toward said flow of bodies.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pole pieces of the electromagnet are turned in the direction in which said bodies are fed at an acute angle relative to a line connecting their pointed ends, said electromagnet effecting electrodynamic braking of the flow of bodies being fed through said zone, and separating individual bodies near the pointed ends of said pole pieces in response to a non-uniform field having an opposite gradient on the side of the flow of bodies and on the side of the orientation zone.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the surfaces of said pole pieces of the electromagnet are flat, and the line in which their planes intersect extends vertically on the side from which said bodies are supplied.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom comprises at least one vibratory trough, drive means for said trough located on one side of the electromagnet, said drive means including a body conveyor having a position and rigidity of suspension for said bodies selected so as to ensure a definite advancing speed V1 at the inlet end of said orientation zone and V2 at the exit end of said orientation zone, said speeds being selected on the condition that V1 is greater than V2 when said bodies are to be grouped after having passed said orientation zone, and V2 is greater than V1 when said bodies are to be spaced.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding said bodies into said orientation zone and delivering said bodies therefrom comprises two conveyors, one said conveyor advancing said bodies into said orientation zone at a speed V1 and the other said conveyor delivering said bodies from said orientation zone at a speed V2, the conveyor speeds being selected so that V1 is greater than V2 when said bodies are to be grouped after having passed the orientation zone and V2 is greater than V1 when said bodies are to be spaced, said conveyors being proximate at the points where the advancing speed is to be changed, said conveyors being rotatable rolls, one of the rolls of one said conveyor being smaller than the other in the zone where the conveyors are in proximity to each other and being positioned so that the upper surfaces of the conveyors be approximately on the same level, the conveyor components located in the inter-pole space being made of a non-magnetic material.