The present disclosure relates generally to chain conveyors. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a chain conveyor with a system for dynamic traction control and a kit to retrofit a chain conveyor to provide dynamic traction control.
Chain conveyors have been used in various industries for many years as a way of moving materials, parts, products, pallets or the like through a process such as a manufacturing process. Chain conveyors use an endless chain that runs over sprockets, gears or the like at either end of the conveyor to propel the materials, parts, products, pallets or the like. In this document, we will refer to the item moved as a pallet, but it will be understood that this may apply to materials, parts, products or the like depending on the circumstances. There are various types of chain conveyors, but the focus of this document is on a chain conveyor in which the chain includes bearings mounted on the chain to support the pallet and the pallet is driven by friction between the bearings and the pallet. In some cases, a pallet may be stopped at a location on the chain conveyor by inserting a barrier in front of the pallet. In this case, the chain continues to run under the pallet because the bearings continue to roll beneath the pallet.
When the barrier is removed, the bearings begin to move the pallet forward again due to friction. However, in conventional chain conveyors using friction, the pallet only begins moving slowly because it can take time for friction between the bearings and the pallet to build and bring the pallet up to the speed of travel of the chain. Some attempts have been made to provide for better acceleration of pallets after a stop, however, these attempts have generally been static and need to be designed into a chain conveyor in advance and at specific locations. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved chain conveyor with a system for dynamic traction control and a kit to retrofit a chain conveyor to provide dynamic traction control.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.
According to an aspect herein, there is provided a chain conveyor including: a frame; at least one chain configured to move on the frame, the at least one supporting a plurality of bearings configured to rotate freely relative to the chain; and a dynamic traction control system including: a flexible member provided to the frame adjacent to the plurality of bearings; a control body provided to the flexible member; a pressure device in fluid connection to the control body and configured to expand the flexible member to be in contact with the plurality of bearings to provide dynamic traction control; and a controller in electronic communication with the pressure device to selectively expand/contract the flexible member when dynamic traction control is needed in an area of the chain conveyor covered by the flexible member.
According to another aspect herein, there is provided a method for dynamic tractions control in a chain conveyor, the chain conveyor including a chain provided with a plurality of bearings for carrying pallets, the method including: providing a flexible bladder adjacent to the bearings; selectively expanding the flexible bladder to make contact with the bearings when additional traction/acceleration of the pallets is required. In some cases, the method may also include determining the amount of expansion required based on parameters related to the pallet, chain conveyor, the function of the dynamic control or the like.
According to another aspect herein, there is provided a chain conveyor including: a frame; at least one chain configured to move on the frame, the at least one chain including a plurality of links and at least some of the plurality of links supporting a plurality of bearings that are configured to rotate freely relative to the links; and a dynamic traction control system including: a flexible member provided to the frame adjacent to but not touching a surface of the plurality of bearings; a control body provided to the flexible member; a pressure device in fluid connection with the control body such that the pressure device is configured to selectively expand the flexible member to come in contact with the bearings or contract the flexible member out of contact with the bearings; and a controller in electronic communication with the pressure device to expand the flexible member to provide traction control when needed and contract the flexible member when traction control is not needed.
In some cases, the flexible member may have an elongated shape along the direction of the chain.
In some cases, the control body may be at one end of the flexible member and a stopper body may be provided at another end of the flexible member and the stopper body may be configured to seal the flexible member and hold the flexible member in place on the frame.
In some cases, the flexible member is cylindrical.
In some cases, the flexible member may include an internal inflatable bladder and an external covering for the internal inflatable bladder.
In some cases, the pressure device may include a pneumatic or hydraulic system.
In some cases, the at least one chain may include chain bearings that move on the frame along at least one rail provided to the frame, wherein the rail has a circular profile.
In some cases, the controller is configured to expand or contract the flexible member using a plurality of levels.
According to another aspect herein, there is provided a method for dynamic traction control in a chain conveyor, the chain conveyor including a chain provided with a plurality of bearings for carrying pallets, the method including: providing a flexible bladder adjacent to the bearings; and selectively expanding the flexible bladder to make contact with the bearings when additional traction is required.
In some cases, the method may further include expanding the flexible bladder based on parameters related to the pallet and chain conveyor.
In some cases, the selectively expanding may include selecting a level of expansion.
In some cases, the selectively expanding may include contracting the flexible bladder when additional traction is not required.
According to another aspect herein, there is provided a kit to retrofit a chain conveyor to provide dynamic traction control, the chain conveyor including a frame, at least one chain configured to move on the frame, the at least one chain including a plurality of links and at least some of the plurality of links supporting a plurality of bearings configured to rotate freely relative to the links, the kit including: a flexible member provided to the frame adjacent to but not touching a surface of the plurality of bearings; a control body provided to the flexible member; a pressure device in fluid connection with the control body such that the pressure device is configured to selectively expand the flexible member to come in contact with the bearings or contract the flexible member out of contact with the bearings; and a controller in electronic communication with the pressure device to expand the flexible member to provide traction control when needed and contract the flexible member when traction control is not needed.
In some cases, the flexible member may have an elongated cylindrical shape with a circular cross-section.
In some cases, the flexible member may include an internal inflatable bladder and an external covering for the internal inflatable bladder.
Other aspects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures.
Generally, the present disclosure provides a chain conveyor with a system for dynamic traction control and a kit to retrofit a chain conveyor to provide dynamic traction control. In particular, a chain conveyor is provided with a system for dynamic traction control. The system general includes a bladder placed in proximity to bearings on a chain of the chain conveyor such that the bladder can be enlarged to provide additional friction between the bearings on the chain conveyor and a pallet sitting on the chain conveyor. The bladder may be configured such that the bearing can be placed in various places along the chain conveyor or, some cases, may be provided along the entire conveyor. Embodiments of the chain conveyor herein are intended to enable smoother, faster acceleration of pallets on chain conveyors. This need for acceleration may occur when a pallet first enters the chain conveyor, after a stop along the chain conveyor, or the like.
One of the issues with conventional chain conveyors is that the start up of a stopped pallet can be quite slow and gradual because of the reliance on the buildup of friction between the bearings and the shafts. The present disclosure provides for an improved system and method for providing control of the traction between the bearings and the pallet that is referred to as dynamic traction control.
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It will be understood that the pressure applied to the flexible bladder may be adjusted according to various parameters such as the weight of the pallets being moved, the desired acceleration profile, the desired function of the increased acceleration, the amount of increased acceleration, or the like. The system may be configured such that the flexible bladder may be inflated or deflated in stages/levels or the like. For example, settings including states/levels from 1-5, 1-10 or the like. In some cases, embodiments of the system herein may be used to accelerate a pallet from a stopped position while in other cases, the system may be used to provide a different gap (larger/smaller) between pallets that may already be moving or the like. Since embodiments of the system can be configured to be placed at various points on the chain conveyor or, in some cases, over the entire chain conveyor, the dynamic traction control can be very configurable.
It will be understood that in some cases, the stopper body may also be configured as a control body with a connection to either the same or a different pressure device. The stopper body and control body may also be configured to be at either end of the flexible bladder and may be configured to be interchangeable depending on a setting or the like.
The pressure device may be a pneumatic, hydraulic or other type of device (e.g. pump or the like) to provide pressurized air or fluid into and out of the flexible bladder to cause expansion and contraction of the flexible bladder.
The controller may be a programmable logic controller or the like and may be interfaced with control elements for the chain conveyor or other automation elements so that the dynamic traction control can synchronize with other activities related to the chain conveyor. For example, the dynamic traction control can be coordinated or synchronized with an actuator for a pallet stopper or the like. In this way, pallets can be stopped and then traction control can be used to have the pallets speed up quickly once the pallet stopper is removed. The control and synchronization may be handled by software/computer code stored in a memory that can be executed on a processor either within the controller or external to the controller.
It will be understood that the system for dynamic traction control can be configured to be of various lengths and can be placed at different locations along the chain conveyor. This will allow for configurable sections of the chain conveyor to have dynamic traction control when activated by the controller.
It will be understood that the above method operates from a default state of contracted but one of skill in the art will understand that the method may alternatively operate from a default state of inflated.
In some embodiments, expanding the bladder may include expanding the bladder via a series of stages/levels depending on the amount of traction required or the like. Further, as noted above, the amount of expansion, whether overall or via the stages/steps may be based on various parameters such as the weight of the pallets, speed of the chain, and the like.
In the preceding description, for purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details may not be required. It will also be understood that aspects of each embodiment may be used with other embodiments even if not specifically described therein. Further, some embodiments may include aspects that are not required for their operation but may be preferred in certain applications. In other instances, well-known structures may be shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the understanding. For example, specific details are not provided as to whether the embodiments described herein are implemented as a software routine, hardware circuit, firmware, or a combination thereof.
Embodiments of the disclosure or elements thereof, such as controllers or the like, can be represented as a computer program product stored in a machine-readable medium (also referred to as a memory, a computer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computer usable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein). The machine-readable medium can be any suitable tangible, non-transitory medium, including magnetic, optical, or electrical storage medium including a diskette, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), memory device (volatile or non-volatile), or similar storage mechanism. The machine-readable medium can contain various sets of instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or other data, which, when executed, cause a processor to perform steps in a method according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other instructions and operations necessary to implement the described implementations can also be stored on the machine-readable medium. The instructions stored on the machine-readable medium can be executed by a processor or other suitable processing device, and can interface with other modules and elements, including circuitry or the like, to perform the described tasks.
The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations can be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 63/263,134 entitled CHAIN CONVEYOR WITH DYNAMIC TRACTION CONTROL, filed Oct. 27, 2021, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63263134 | Oct 2021 | US |