Conveyor Accumulates Non-Rounds Using Pneumatic Sweeper Arm

The plastic bottles will travel from a customer supplied labeler through over 100 ft of conveyor including elevation changes of up to 21 in. in some areas, side transfers, and pneumatic merges, diverts, clamps and stops handling both empty bottle and full bottle accumulation along the way—ultimately ending at a case packer. 

The distinctive bi-directional accumulation tables include pneumatic stops to form a row of products at the face of the table. A pneumatic "sweep arm" will push a single row at a time onto the table when the system is in "Accumulation Mode."

The bi-di tables are designed to index with every row of product then discharge in the same method, using a "pneumatic puller" to extract each row. The system provides both inline and off-line accumulation on two (2) 200 sq ft accumulation tables.

The challenge was to accumulate quart, gallon, 2.5 gal, and 11 L nearly rectangular bottle designs in one system. Standard bi-di accumulation table conveyors are used almost exclusively for round shaped product - which makes this system completely unique.

To see the machine in action, click here.

NOTE: The conveyor system has the ability to merge accumulated product back into the main line during normal production flow using the Multi-Conveyor engineered and manufactured control system of devices, sensors, HMI screens and UL listed panels.