Three mass electromagnetic feeder

Abstract

A vibratory feeder employs a three mass system instead of the conventional two mass system to reduce the amount of power to operate the feeder. A base assembly having an armature formed thereon is positioned adjacent an electromagnet. The electromagnet is mounted to the base assembly by a leaf spring system, and a trough assembly is connected to the base assembly by a plurality of leaf springs. The electromagnet forms one mass of the three mass system; the armature and base assembly form a second mass; and the trough assembly forms a third mass. The phase of vibration of the armature relative to the vibration of the electromagnet can be regulated by adjusting the mass of the trough assembly and/or by adjusting the spring rate of the trough springs. The correct choice of mass and of spring rate causes the armature and the electromagnet to vibrate in phase with each other and reduces the mean length of air gap required between the armature and the electromagnet. Since the power required to drive the feeder is directly proportional to the length of the air gap, the present three mass system can be considerably cheaper to operate than the prior art system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.