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US 8,997,973 B2Granted
Conveyor system, belt, and method for measuring and controlling static electricity
AssigneeLaitram, L.L.C.
InventorJoseph M. DePaso
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Conveying systems and method for detecting the presence of static electric charge on a conveyor. The conveyor system includes a conveyor with an outer conveying surface. Embedded or external static-electricity sensors make measurements of static electricity on the belt's conveying surface. A controller uses the measurements to control the level of electric charges on the belt by transferring charge to or from the belt.
Claims31
A conveyor system comprising:
- a conveyor conveying articles in a conveying direction and having a conveying surface supporting the articles being conveyed in the conveying direction;
- a static-electricity detector mounted in the conveyor and operative to make measurements of the static electricity due to the electric charge of the conveyor;
- a transmitter mounted in the conveyor;
- a receiver external to the conveyor;
- wherein the transmitter transmits the measurements received from the static-electricity detector to the receiver.
2 more elements
A conveyor belt comprising:
- a conveying surface for supporting articles;
- a static-electricity detector operative to make measurements of the static electricity due to electric charges on the conveying surface;
- a transmitter mounted in the conveyor belt to transmit the measurements received from the static-electricity detector.
A conveyor belt comprising:
- a conveying surface for supporting articles;
- a static-electricity detector operative to make measurements of the static electricity due to electric charges on the conveying surface;
- wherein the static-electricity detector includes a probe mounted in the conveyor belt and connected to the static-electricity detector, wherein the probe responds to the static electricity on the conveying surface and sends a response to the static-electricity detector.
A method for controlling the amount of charge on a conveyor, comprising:
- making measurements of the amount of electric charge on a conveyor;
- transmitting the measurements from a transmitter on the conveyor to an external receiver;
- transferring electric charges to or from the conveyor as a function of the measurements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.