Pivotable drive conveyor system
AssigneeIntelligrated Headquarters, LLC
InventorRandolph T. Skanse
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A conveyor bed including a conveyor frame, a first set of rollers, a second set of rollers, and a pivotable frame is provided. The first set of rollers are coupled to the conveyor frame to transport an article from an upstream location to a downstream location. The pivotable frame pivotably coupled to a side of the of the conveyor frame. The second set of rollers mounted to the pivotable frame, positioned below the first set of rollers. A belt wrapped is around the second set of rollers, and selectively engages and disengages the first set of rollers in response to pivoting the pivotable frame based on predefined criteria.
Claims18
A conveyor bed, comprising:
- a conveyor frame;
- a first set of rollers coupled to the conveyor frame to transport an article from an upstream location to a downstream location;
- a pivotable frame pivotably coupled to a downstream end of the of the conveyor frame;
- a second set of rollers mounted to the pivotable frame, positioned below the first set of rollers;
- and
- a belt wrapped around the second set of rollers, wherein a portion of the belt at an upstream end disengages and a portion of the belt at the downstream end remains engaged with at least one roller of the first set of rollers in response to rotating the pivotable frame away from the upstream end and about the downstream end based on predefined criteria.
An accumulation conveyor system comprising:
- a first conveyor bed with a first sensor;
- and
- a second conveyor bed positioned downstream of the first conveyor bed, wherein the second conveyor bed comprises:
- a conveyor frame;
- a second sensor mounted on the conveyor frame;
- a pivotable frame pivotably coupled to a downstream end of the conveyor frame;
- an actuator positioned at an upstream end of the conveyor frame and attached to the upstream end of the pivotable frame;
- a first set of rollers coupled to the conveyor frame to transport an article inducted from the first conveyor bed;
- a second set of rollers mounted to the pivotable frame, positioned below the first set of rollers;
- and
- a belt wrapped around the second set of rollers, wherein a portion of the belt at the upstream end disengages and a portion of the belt at the downstream end remains engaged with at least one roller of the first set of rollers in response to a rotational movement of the pivotable frame away from the upstream end and about the downstream end effected by the actuator in response to input signals from the first sensor and the second sensor.
A method for accumulating articles on a conveyor bed comprises:
- receiving a first input signal from a first sensor mounted on a first conveyor bed;
- receiving a second input signal from a second sensor mounted on a second conveyor bed;
- processing the first input signal and the second input signal to determine a length of the article on the first conveyor bed and a length of an empty space on the second conveyor bed;
- determining whether the length of the article is lesser than or equal to a length of the empty space;
- and
- actuating an actuator to pivot a pivotable frame of the second conveyor bed in order to accumulate the article entering into the second conveyor bed in the empty space when the length of the article is lesser than or equal to the length of the empty space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.