Verfahren und Apparat für die Puffersteuerung in Fördersystemen.

摘要

A surge control apparatus and method are particularly adapted for the safe handling of highly crushable and/or tearable products, such as paper-based box-type aseptic packages. A flow of products along a conveyor (10) exiting an accumulator (12) is held until previously released products have progressed a predetermined distance down the conveyor (10) towards a subsequent workstation, such as a packer. If a product queue occurs within the accumulator (12), the upstream flow of packages (26) is halted, and the queued products are shifted relatively slightly downstream against a movable locator mechanism (242). The stopping and shifting isolates from production line pressures the packages to be removed from the conveyor. Through such isolation, adjacent package shear points are prevented as a vertically-oriented conveyor mechanism (16) is used for removing and subsequently returning packages to the conveyor. A movable transfer plate (50) beside the conveyor (10) is manipulated to facilitate the removal and return of packages without tearing of package paper coverings. Maintenance of a predetermined downstream product gap facilitates placement of the locator mechanism. After a removal sequence, several non-removed packages are forced upstream into a pre-shifted position for being re-clamped by an outfeed brake (234), so that subsequent downstream shifting steps may take place for proper isolation of further queued-up products before their removal.