This custom conveyor system was retro-fitted to a vibratory feeder bowl to accommodate a part change that required a secondary inspection operation. The system consisted of a pair of Auto-Kinetics belt conveyors with custom tooling to maintain part orientation, and a 3-position shuttle mechanism between the conveyors.
Parts exiting the vibratory bowl fed into the first conveyor. An escapement metered a single part into the shuttle while in the left position, where a camera inspected the part for the proper seating of an internal washer. If the part was bad, the shuttle cycled to the center position and a pneumatic cylinder pushed the part out of the shuttle into a catch bin. If the part was good, the shuttle cycled to the right position, where a second pneumatic cylinder pushed the part onto the second conveyor, which fed into the customer’s automatic assembly operation.
The system included photoelectric sensors to detect full conveyors, a photoelectric sensor to detect a part in place in the shuttle mechanism, proximity sensors to detect the shuttle in each position, and sensors on the escapement to detect its position. All sensor and valve cables were wired into a junction box for the customer to interface with their control system.
Post time: Jun-16-2017