Idler roller conveyor system
OwnerRaymond Edward Poehlein, Daniel Patrick Poehleininventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An idler roller conveyor uses paired rollers set at an acute angle to each other with the rollers being coplanar and skewed toward opposite sides of a perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the conveyor. Roller pairs are preferably mounted in sub-frames that pivot about on an axis transverse to the conveyor's longitudinal axis. This arrangement produces opposing transverse forces that are subtractive to result in negligible resultant transverse forces that are unlikely to make an object veer off course.
Claims13
A conveyor system having a longitudinal axis oriented in an intended direction of travel of a transported object, and idler rollers being mounted to cross the longitudinal axis, the system comprising:
- any number of pairs of idler rollers having axes that are coplanar, non-parallel, acutely angled to each other, and are skewed toward opposite sides of a perpendicular of the longitudinal axis;
- and
- a conveyor whose longitudinal axis needs only to be aligned, with respect to the intended direction of travel, to within +/−½ of the acute angle between the skewed rollers.
A method of reducing resultant transverse forces occurring between idler rollers of a conveyor and an object moving along the conveyor in an intended direction, the method comprising:
- mounting a pair of the rollers to extend across the intended direction so that the rollers are coplanar, non-parallel, and are acutely angled relative to each other;
- and
- disposing axes of the paired rollers on opposite sides of a perpendicular to the intended direction so that the transverse force between the object and one of the paired rollers is directionally opposite to the transverse force between the object and another one of the paired rollers.
In a conveyor having a frame with a longitudinal axis and mounting a plurality of idler rollers, the improvement comprising:
- the rollers being arranged in pairs having axes that are coplanar, non-parallel, and acutely angled from each other;
- the paired roller axes being deployed at skew angles δ on opposite sides of a perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;
- the rollers being arranged in a pivotal sub-frame that extends across the longitudinal axis and allows the roller pair to pivot evenly into engagement with the object;
- the conveyor being subject to resultant transverse forces TF between the paired rollers and an object moving over the paired rollers, resulting in:
- TF
- =
- Fn
-
-
- μ
-
- [
- Cos
-
- (
- Θ
- +
- δ
- )
- -
- Cos
-
- (
- Θ
- -
- δ
- )
- ]
- 2
- wherein
- Fn is the total normal force between the object and the roller pair;
- μ is the coefficient of friction between the surfaces of the rollers and the object;
- Θ is the misalignment angle between the conveyor's longitudinal axis and the intended feed transport direction;
- and
- δ is the skew angle between each roller of the roller pair and a perpendicular to the conveyor longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.