Bottle-sorting machine - has suction pads to move bottles from input line to 3 output lines using sensor-controlled actuation

摘要

The sorting device for a single delivery line of bottles into three output streams (4,5,6) has an endless belt (9) driven at an angle to the input stream. The belt has suction cups (10) which can attach to a bottle as it passes over guide rollers (22) and thereby move it into the required output stream. The cups are activated by a control valve, regulated by the rotation of a three-lobed cam (16). The cam is controlled by a trip device (3) which registers each bottle in the input stream. After a suction cup has moved a bottle to the correct output stream, a computer-controlled linear actuator (17) opens the valve, thus releasing the vacuum. ADVANTAGE - Extremely rapid activation and deactivation of suction cups to give increased sorting accuracy and rate.