December 24, 2009

Development of “2 Way Sorting Feeder (Bowl type)”

[New idea for part feeding mechanism will help to enhance customer's production efficiency.]

NTN Corporation (hereafter NTN) has developed a “2 way sorting feeder (bowl type)”. This new product enables various kinds of part feedings by means of integration of basic technology on NTN's conventional “Mono-drive 2 way feeder ^TM*” and a new part feeding mechanism (a 1^st in the parts feeder industry).

Parts feeder is a piece of equipment designed to line up and supply parts by vibrating the equipment (bowl). For part feeding, a wide variety of parts feeders is needed, depending not only on the kind or shape of the subject part but also the layout and speed of the production line at the customer. NTN was successful in providing a new feeding function that was capable of meeting diverse feeding conditions such as feeding direction, supply capacity, etc., as well as enhancing production efficiency and preventing yield ratio (parts jam). The new feeding function was capable of not only lining up and supplying two kinds of parts, but it was also able to feed parts in the other direction. In addition, the feeder was able to offer variable speed feeding with a range of attachments (parts to line up and supply parts) and variable vibration direction of the main body (main feeding direction).

The newly developed feeding mechanism consists of a unit with a pair of leaf springs, and by setting the inclination of those leaf springs to the same direction as that of the bowl feeder's (main body) leaf springs, increasing or decreasing the speed of a part of attachment became possible. Also, by inverting the direction of inclination of the leaf springs for the part feeding mechanism against that of the leaf springs for the bowl feeder, it became possible to feed parts in a different direction than that of the bowl feeder. In addition, by fitting a part feeding mechanism to an inclined chute, vibration was transmitted to the chute and it became possible to eliminate part jamming in the chute. Every function uses vibration generated from one vibration source of the main body of feeder. Accordingly, power consumption is only for one unit without needing additional vibration source for every additional function. This will contribute to energy savings (a 1^st in the industry).

As explained above, the newly developed technologies can satisfy many functions. They enable the customer to enhance their production efficiency as well as increase the number of possible applications for which the bowl feeder may be used.

This new product was exhibited at “Parts Feeder Exhibition 2009 (hosted by Japan Industrial Newspaper Company)” held at the Tokyo Big Sight from November 25 to 28.

* The 3^rd MONOZUKURI part grand prize and mechanical part prize were awarded

[ Features ]

(1)	Increasing speed · Decreasing speed Increasing /decreasing the speed of the part of attachment is made possible by fitting the part feeding mechanism to the attachment.
(2)	Feeding in the opposite direction By setting the leaf spring fitting angle of the part feeding mechanism to the opposite direction than that of the leaf spring angle for the bowl feeder, it becomes possible to feed in the opposite direction, against the feeding direction of the bowl feeder.
(3)	Transfer of vibration to the sloped chute By fitting an inclined chute to the part feeding mechanism, vibration is transmitted to the chute and the elimination of part jamming in the chute becomes possible.

[ Photo ]

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