Electromagnetically actuated sorter

摘要

A sorting conveyor having electromagnetically actuated rollers for sorting articles off one or both sides of the conveyor. A linear stator creates a magnetic flux wave that rotates rotors in the article-supporting rollers and selects their direction of rotation. In one version the magnetic flux wave swivels the rollers to change the sorting direction. In another version the magnetic flux wave causes one set of rollers or another set of orthogonally disposed rollers to contact conveyed articles.

主权项

1. A sorter comprising:
a platform; a plurality of rollers supported by the platform, at least some of the rollers having rotors rotated about axes of rotation by interaction of the rotors with a magnetic flux wave; a plurality of armature elements supported by the platform and movable with the plurality of rollers, wherein the armature elements are moved by interaction with a magnetic flux wave; a linear stator propagating a magnetic flux wave across the platform, the magnetic flux wave interacting with the rotors and the armature elements; a controller controlling the amplitude and propagation direction of the magnetic flux wave to selectively rotate the rollers having rotors and to selectively move the armature elements so that articles conveyed atop the rollers are pushed by the rollers in selected sorting directions.