Pneumatic delivery system with braking
AssigneeQuick Tube Systems, Inc.
InventorRay Epps
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pneumatic transport system is used to transport an object through a conduit extending between a first location to a second location by generating a pressure differential in the conduit. Based on detection of the movement of the object through the conduit, the pressure differential in the conduit is reduced in a controlled manner to slow the movement of the object and safely land it at the second location.
Claims21
A method to transport an object within a conduit extending between a first location and a second location, comprising:
- generating a pneumatic force within the conduit by operating multiple pneumatic force devices at a location proximate the first or second location to move the object from the first location towards the second location;
- detecting movement of the object within the conduit;
- and
- based on the detected movement, controlling the pneumatic force from the same location by reversing the direction of the generated pneumatic force and altering the operation of the pneumatic force devices at the location in time-delayed increments to reduce the reversed pneumatic force over time and control movement of the object to a desired rate prior to arrival at the second location.
A method of moving an object through a conduit extending between a first location and a second location, comprising:
- generating a pneumatic pressure differential across the object within the conduit by operating multiple pneumatic force devices at a location proximate the first or second location to move the object from the first location to the second location;
- and
- while the object is moving within the conduit, controlling the pneumatic pressure differential from the same location by reversing the direction of the generated pneumatic pressure differential and altering the operation of the pneumatic force devices at the location in time-delayed increments to reduce the reversed pressure differential across the object over time based on a weight of the object to stop the movement of the object at the second location.
A pneumatic transport system for transporting an object, comprising:
- a pressure differential system configured to generate a pressure differential across the object within a conduit extending between a first location and a second location with the operation of multiple pneumatic force devices proximate the first or second location;
- sensors to detect movement of an object through the conduit between the first location and the second location;
- and
- a control system in communication with the pressure differential system and the sensors to control the pressure differential within the conduit based on the detected movement of object, wherein the control system is configured to reverse the direction of the generated pressure differential and alter the operation of the multiple pneumatic force devices in time-delayed increments to reduce the reversed pressure differential across the object over time to slow movement of the object to a desired rate prior to arrival at the second location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.