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US 2024/0246775 A1Published application
Multiple mass flow conveyor system
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorDouglas A. IMES
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for controlling a flow of articles includes two or more conveyor sections driven in a feed direction to convey articles. A plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with a conveyor section, count the articles in each lane. An accumulator conveyor is associated with a conveyor section and runs in an opposite direction to permit accumulation.
Claims13
A system for controlling a flow of articles, comprising:
- an infeed conveyor section providing a plurality of articles to the system, the infeed conveyor conveying articles in a feed direction;
- at least one intermediate conveyor section conveying articles in the feed direction;
- an outfeed conveyor section providing the plurality of articles in the feed direction to a downstream operation;
- an accumulator leveler conveyor associated with a last intermediate conveyor prior to the outfeed conveyor section, the accumulator leveler conveyor positioned parallel to the one associated conveyor section and configured to operate in directions both opposite the feed direction, and the same as the feed direction, depending on whether the system is accumulating or deaccumulating;
- a plurality of sensors, each sensor of the plurality associated with one conveyor section, each sensor for counting a segment of the articles in each conveyor section;
- and
- a control system connected with respect to the plurality of sensors and the plurality of conveyor sections, the control system controlling the speed of each conveyor section based on a count of each associated sensor.
4 more elements
A method for controlling a flow of articles, comprising:
- providing a flow of articles to an infeed conveyor section in a feed direction;
- flowing the articles through at least one intermediate conveyor section in the feed direction;
- providing the flow of articles to an outfeed conveyor section in the feed direction and to a downstream operation;
- associating an accumulator conveyor with one conveyor section, the accumulator conveyor positioned parallel to the one associated conveyor section and operating in a direction opposite the feed direction;
- measuring an article count in each conveyor section with a plurality of sensors, each sensor of the plurality associated with one conveyor section;
- and
- adjusting a speed of each adjacent conveyor section based upon an article count within the adjacent conveyor sections with a control system connected with respect to the plurality of sensors and the plurality of conveyor sections.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.