Automation on Job Sorting Machine

Introduction: In production industries like automobile, pharmaceutical, chemical, food and drugss, material handling and transportation is important. Conveyor belt systems are used in order to transport the material from one department to another in the industry. Also all jobs passing over a conveyor belt should have good quality. That means it should be capable to fulfil the required quality norms. The example of a bearing with holes is one of the best examples to understand the concept. But sometimes the required holes may more or less. This should be identified or if the required process in the particular station is not completed properly, then it should not pass to the next station. This can be achieved with vision tech systems by using cameras. But implementation of such systems may be time taking & more expensive. Hence to demonstrate the concept we acn use the cheaper and readily available sensors like proximity sensor. With the help of this sensor we can detect the dimensions of the job passing over conveyor belt. Proximity sensors detect the objects from a specific distance. So the sensor is fixed in such a way that if height of the job is not within the specified limit, the sensor sents a logic signal at its output. The conveyor belts are driven with dc geared motors having sufficient torque & appropriate speed. At the end of the belt, one rotary motor is provided which is having 2 different bins 1800 apart from each other. The control system controls this motor so that the accepted & rejected jobs are dropped in the respective bins. The no. of jobs accepted is counted and shown on digital display. We can also control the production with the help of this automation system. The implementation block diagram is as below.

BLOCK DIAGRAM: Display Digital Counter

Job Status Setting

Shaft with pedestal bearing

Proximity Sensor

Relay Control & Timer

Hollow Shaft

Conveyor Belt Jobs are passing

Hollow Shaft with bearing assembly Hollow Shaft with bearing assembly

Accepted

Rejected

DC Power Supply

DC Geared Motor

DC Geared Motor

Working Principle: As shown in block diagram the functional description of automation in job sorting can be given as below. At power ON, the DC motor is started & the shaft starts rotating. The conveyor belt travels over the shaft. The speed depends on DC motor. At one side, driver shaft is there & another side driven shaft is there. The jobs are loaded at one end & unloaded at the other. The sensor is located in such a way that the jobs passing over are sensed by these sensors. If it is out of specs, the relay1 is ON, motor for bins rotates in clockwise direction and the bin for rejected job comes below the dropping end of the conveyor belt. If the job is accepted, motor rotates in anticlockwise direction & the bin for accepted jobs comes below the dropping end. The accepted job pulses are sent to the input of digital counter. This counter is provided with thumbwheel switch with which we can set the required no. of jobs. If the set quantity is accepted, the relay activation in the counter takes place & it stops the entire system. Technical Specifications: 1. Supply - 230V AC, 12V DC 2. Length of conveyor belt - 01 meter. 3. Relay - 12V DC 4. Pedestal Bearing - PC 201 5. Shaft Dia. - 20 mm 6. Shaft material - MS. 7. DC Motor - 12V with gear. 8. Sensor - Inductive Type Proximity. 9. Counter - Digital with thumbwheel setting