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US 2009/0243194 A1Published application
Sheet feeder
AssigneeRaute Oyj
InventorsPeter William Gibson, Juha Rautiainen, Pertti Auvinen, Mika Hyysti, Jarkko Kaislaoja
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AssigneeRaute Oyj
InventorsPeter William Gibson, Juha Rautiainen, Pertti Auvinen, Mika Hyysti, Jarkko Kaislaoja
Estimating the term…
The invention concerns an apparatus for transferring sheet-like objects from a stack, said apparatus including separate lifting elements gripping by suction to the upper surface of the sheet-like object to be transferred, positioned in a row extending over the stack of the sheet-like objects, and transfer elements for transferring the lifted sheet-like object. The suction effect of the lifting elements is controlled by means of a control device including a light source making a substantially line-shaped illumination pattern. The illumination of the light source is focused at an inclined angle to the surface of the sheet stack, substantially parallel to the lifting element row. A camera means for observing the illumination pattern forwards information about the uniformity of the uppermost layer of the stack.
An apparatus for transferring sheet-like objects from a stack, said apparatus including separate lifting elements gripping by suction to the upper surface of a sheet-like object to be transferred, the lifting elements being positioned in one or several rows extending in one direction over the stack of the sheet-like objects, and transfer elements for transferring the lifted sheet-like objects, wherein the apparatus comprises means to observe the topmost surface of the stack of the sheet-like objects by means of a control device including at least one light source creating a substantially line-shaped illumination pattern, said illumination being focused adjacent and substantially parallel to a lifting element row, at an inclined angle to the plane of the topmost surface of the stack of the sheet-like objects, and a camera means observing the illumination pattern, and means to control the suction effect of the lifting elements in each row adjacent to a illuminated pattern based on the information observed by the camera means for the actual illumination pattern.
An apparatus for forwarding transfer sheet-like objects from a stack, said apparatus including separate lifting elements positioned in a row extending over the stack in transversal direction with respect to a forwarding transfer direction from the stack, said lifting elements being connected to a vacuum means and equipped with an opening/closing/means for each element for releasable gripping by suction to the upper surface of the sheet-like object lying top-most in the stack and to be transferred from the stack, and transfer elements for transferring the lifted sheet-like object from the stack, wherein the apparatus further includes a control device including a light source creating a substantially line-shaped illumination pattern focused substantially parallel to the lifting element row, at an inclined angle to the plane of the top surface of the sheet stack, and a camera means for observing the illumination pattern, the gripping operation of the lifting elements being individually controlled by means of said control device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.