by Vibratory Feeder Bowl System Feeds Parts with Two Orientations
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Automotive bushings (see below) needed to be dropped vertically into an assembly station. We saved our customer the expense and space consumption of a second feed system by designing a single vibratory parts feeder bowl that discharged two lines of parts with one line on top of the other (multiple-line feeders are typically oriented on a horizontal plane). The top line oriented the bushings with the flange up and the bottom line oriented the bushings with the flange down.
This short video shows the bushings as they exit the vibratory feeder bowl and are separated into two lines to correct the orientation. The metered escapement mechanism then discharges the parts one at a time, ready for the next step in the manufacturing process.
The assembly operation required two parts being placed simultaneously with the bushing flanges facing away from each other, as shown here. This would normally require two part feeding systems: One feeding the part with the flange up, and another feeding the part with the flange down.
An auxiliary supply hopper with 1 cu. ft. of bulk parts storage included a bowl level sensor that automatically maintained the proper amount of parts in the vibratory bowl.
This selector separated the parts into two lines. Parts with the flange up went to the inside line, and parts with the flange down went to the outside line.
Once proper orientation was confirmed, the lines were converted to vertical and confined for discharge.
Once proper orientation was confirmed, the lines were converted to vertical and confined for discharge.
The vibratory bowl feeder discharged the parts into a gravity track that rotated the parts to a vertical discharge, where escapement mechanisms metered one part at a time from each line of the gravity track.
System specifications
- Feed rate: 20 parts per minute.
- Vibratory bowl:
- 12″ basic diameter.
- Counterclockwise rotation.
- Bead blasted stainless steel construction.
- Two lines of parts, one line over the other, with parts oriented flange up on the top line and flange down on the bottom line, with a 45° discharge angle.
- Gravity track:
- Stainless steel construction.
- 45° entrance angle, vertical discharge.
- 1.375″ between part flanges at discharge.
- Bulk supply hopper:
- 1 cu. ft. capacity with table mount.
- Painted steel bin and tray.
- Escapement mechanism: (2) pneumatic escapements with custom mounting brackets.
- Controls: Performance Feeders PF-2RH, controlling the bowl and hopper, modified for dual-line track sensor shutoff.
- Mounting surface: 1.25″ thick steel plate.
- Sensors and valves provided:
- (2) Photoelectric sensors on gravity track monitoring part level in track. When 1 line is full, activates air blow-off on the full line, preventing parts from backing up in bowl track. When both lines are full, bowl is turned off.
- Proximity sensor on hopper monitoring parts level in bowl, turning on hopper when parts are needed.
- Solenoid valve package for escapements and bowl track blow-offs.
Downloads
Performance Feeders Tri-Fold Brochure
Vibratory Feeder Bi-Fold Brochure
Vibratory Feeder Rack Card
