Feed station for feeding flat items to a processing apparatus

摘要

A feed station has a pre-separation region, a separation region and a transport region in succession along a transport path. A first sensor is at the start of the separation region and a second sensor is at the start of the transport region. A control unit processes signals from the sensors and encoders to determine the position of the flat item, and is connected with a separation motor to drive the separation device, so that a flat item is separated from a stack with a predetermined separation velocity. If unacceptably small gaps exist between the flat items, the separation process is stopped when the leading edge of a subsequent flat item reaches the second sensor and is continued when the preceding separated flat item achieves a predetermined clearance from the leading edge of the aforementioned flat item due to its transport.

主权项

1. A feed station to feed flat items from an entrance of said feed station to an exit of said feed station, said feed station comprising, in succession, a pre-separation region, at said entrance a separation region, and a transport region that collectively form a transport path for said flat items, in a transport direction; to said exit and wherein:
the separation region a segment of the transport path beneath a stack of said flat items and between a first separation roller and a second separation roller driven by a motor of a separation device; a first sensor situated at a start of the separation region that detects said stack of said flat items placed in the pre-separation region, and a second sensor situated at the start of the transport region; said separation device comprising an encoder that emits an encoder signal that measures rotation imparted to said first and second separation rollers by said motor; a control unit comprising a signal processor that receives signals of the sensors and the encoder, and configured to determine a position of each flat item in the separation region from all of said signals; said control unit comprising a motor drive connected outputs thereof with said motor of the separation device; and said signal processor being configured to control the motor of the separation device to cause each flat item to be separated from the stack with a predetermined separation velocity; and to detect a gap in said transport path between a preceding, separated flat item and a subsequent flat item in said transport direction and to maintain a predetermined clearance from a leading edge of said subsequent flat item and a trailing edge of said preceding flat item by digital velocity regulation of said separation velocity, said leading edge and said trailing edge being determined from all of said signals, and to stop said motor of said separation device, and thus stop movement of said subsequent flat item through said separation region, if the gap between said leading edge of said subsequent item and said trailing edge of said preceding flat item is less than said predetermined clearance, and re-start said motor of said separation device when said gap returns to said predetermined clearance.