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MERGING WITH SERVO SIMPLICITY

The challenge in this application was to merge two unbalanced independent lines together without creating slugs (back-to-back groups of products.) There were several solutions considered for this merge application. A simple solution would have been to use a slug style pneumatic merge, but this would have required additional floor space for metering the products to provide the gaps required for downstream operations. Another consideration was to use activated roller belt technology (ARB.) However the speeds required to provide the gaps needed from the high volume line were not feasible on the Live Roller Merge. And on the ARB system, the merge was possible but the technology also required the belt to run at two times the rate of the fastest lane speed, and this was less than desirable. Further, a servo "smart belt" solution would have required 3 axis per lane, which would have used six servo drives and increased the purchase cost and controls complexity.

Similar to a slug and release concept (where groups of products are released from alternating sides,) the solution chosen used a single mechanical speed shift to gap the products and then employed a servo motor to provide the acceleration and deceleration necessary to quickly alternate between sides.

The combined mechanical and servo merge solution offered less complexity, less maintenance and more energy efficiency than the other considerations. By releasing streams of products from one side at a time, the programming complexity commonly associated with servo "smart belt" merges is reduced. This design also reduced the number of conveyor sections, related servo drives and photo eyes, thereby reducing cost and maintenance. By eliminating the pneumatic devices, common to slug release merge systems, the need for compressed air was eliminated.

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