Weighing system using a conveyor belt with load cells
AssigneeLaitram, L.L.C.
InventorMatthew L. Fourney
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A conveyor belt module, a conveyor belt, a weighing system, and a method for weighing articles conveyed on a conveyor belt. A conveyor belt includes an array of load cells embedded in belt modules to measure forces normal to the belt's conveying surface. The measurements are transmitted from the belt to a remote controller as part of a vision system that identifies individual articles conveyed on the belt and pressing down on underlying load cells. The vision system determines which load cells underlie the individual articles and combines their measurements to compute the weights of the articles on the fly.
Claims19
A conveyor belt comprising:
- a belt body having a conveying surface;
- a plurality of load cells disposed at individual positions in the belt body to form a two-dimensional array of load cells, each load cell making a measurement of the force normal to the conveying surface caused by an article conveyed on the conveying surface at the load cell's individual position and producing a load-cell signal representing the force;
- a plurality of transmitters in the belt body, each transmitter associated with one or more of the load cells to transmit the load-cell signal of each of the associated load cells.
A conveyor system comprising:
- a conveyor belt having:
- a conveying surface;
- a two-dimensional array of load cells disposed at individual positions to form a two-dimensional array of load cells, each load cell measuring a force normal to the conveying surface at the load cell's individual position and producing a load-cell signal including measurements of the force normal to the conveying surface at the load cell's individual position;
- and
- a plurality of transmitters, each transmitter associated with one or more of the load cells to transmit the associated load-cell measurements from the conveyor belt;
- a vision system identifying each individual article conveyed on the conveying surface and determining the individual load cells underlying the article.
A method for weighing articles being conveyed by a conveyor belt embedded with an array of load cells, the method comprising:
- conveying articles on the conveying surface of a conveyor belt having a two-dimensional array of load cells making measurements of forces applied normal to the conveying surface;
- identifying individual articles to determine which load cells underlie the individual articles;
- combining the measurements provided by the load cells underlying each individual article to determine the weight of each individual article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.