Abstract
Part II presents the structural design of a high-capacity adjustable stacker mechanism for thermoforming machines which enables the receival, transport and stacking of cup-like products. It was previously established (please see Part I) that a four-bar linkage mechanism with a one-way clutch is the optimal solution for realizing the intermittent motion of the stacker conveyor. The main objective here is to enable the change of the stacker work parameters, with the goal of changing and adjusting the work stroke of the conveyor. Accordingly, there are two main requirements the solution needs to fulfill. The first is that of the regulation characteristic’s function – the relationship between the change of the work stroke and the change of the regulation parameter, must be linear, and the second is that it allows for regulation within a wide range. Due to this, the adopted solution proposed that two links have variable lengths. The input link should have discreet length values which correspond to different values of the conveyor work stroke, while the output link length should be continuously variable, within a narrow range thus ensuring linear regulation characteristic. Finally, it should be noted that this solution makes the stacker compatible with a wide array of products, which increases the productivity and flexibility, adjusting the stacker to receive a different product can be done quickly and easily and avoiding a halt in the production as it takes less time to adjust the stacker than the thermoforming machine.
Highlights
Contemporary high-capacity thermoforming machines are unable to work efficiently without a stacker to receive and stack the formed products, such as singleuse petroplastic packaging
The main objective of this paper is to provide the adjustment of working parameter of the stacker – the conveyor work stroke, during constant input
It should be noted that this paper is based on Part I, which shows the synthesis and further analysis of simple structure planar mechanisms with continuous rotation of the input link and oscillatory motion of the output link which, along with a one-way clutch, supply the conveyor with intermittent motion
Summary
Contemporary high-capacity thermoforming machines are unable to work efficiently without a stacker to receive and stack the formed products, such as singleuse petroplastic packaging. A solution to this problem could be found in increasing the stacker’s buffer size or its operating speed, which decreases the life expectancy of the stacker’s parts Another important parameter is the stacker’s flexibility – the possibility of using the same stacker for a wide range of different products with minimal adjustments to the working parts of the stacker. Adjusting the stacker should be simple and fast, faster than the time required to change the mould of the thermoforming machine Another point to consider is the fact that customers that already own a thermoforming machine usually choose to buy their stacker from the same manufacturer. If this is not the case, the stacker’s price becomes the deciding factor, regardless of the stacker’s other characteristics, such as the work cycle, buffer size, etc
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