How to Really Design a Packer/Stacker - Vaccon
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www.vaccon.com 508.359.7200 Vaccon Company, Inc. 9 Industrial Park Road Medway, MA 02053 Phone 508.359.7200 E-mail [email protected] Web site www.vaccon.com to flip the jar to be open side up prior to filling. Typical of most blow molding production, containers are placed in a random pattern into a 4' cube corrugated gaylord with a plastic liner. To protect the prod- uct from damage when trucked to the filling loca- tion, the gaylord is not double stacked, leaving a lot of space wasted in the typical 110" (9') high tractor-trailer. The request from the molder was for a machine capable of stacking 288 jars per level with 12 levels for a total stack height of 110" to take advantage of the maximum space inside the trailer. The drive for maximizing stack height resulted in a design chal- lenge to fit the machine within the roof line of the client’s factory which has an overhead height of just 24' between the ceiling joists. How to Really Design a Packer/Stacker The P/S 400 also features the ability to stack to 110" high to maximize trailer space. The Challenge When a blow molding company in Montreal specializing in food contain- ers needed a new packer / stacker for their latest jar han- dling application, they didn’t look any further than their own shop floor. For the past 12 years, their South Coast stacker has been stacking and pallet- izing without mainte- nance or repairs. For their new machine they wanted the same robust design and low maintenance. The solu- tion was the P/S 400 shown here which will stack and palletize 3,456 containers every 20 minutes for a daily output ap- proaching 250,000 containers. South Coast Control Engineering of New Bedford, MA specializes in con- tainer handling, offering a full line of packer / stackers in various sizes along with custom designs. They are one of the few companies designing equip- ment that enables product to move from the blow molder to pallet and pallet to filler directly without requiring intermediate equipment to reorient the bottle or any manual labor to remove them from a gaylord. Most packer / stackers handle jars from the bot- tom, but South Coast chose to design their machine to pick up the open side of the jar to save handling time and reduce the number of operators and equipment downstream by not having Stacking that high with a ceiling of 24' left little room for the lifting mechanisms, platen thickness, over travel, and toler- ance stack up. In addition to the height constraint, the customer requested that South Coast switch from the pneumatic gantry design of their existing South Coast machine to an electro-mechan- ical design for higher speed, smoother operation, and better control for a softer touch. With help from their local drive and control supplier, Action Automation, South Coast designed a double gantry system using open loop drives with rack and pinion construction in the X axis and chain drive in the Z axis. The two Z drives are tied together on the X axis so that they move in unison, which minimizes components resulting in a simpler, more reliable machine. “To lower the drive motor horsepower for each axis and for smaller gear reduc- tions, special attention was paid to the design of each pick up head and the choice of materials to maximize strength and minimize weight,” says Engineering Manager, William Bristol. “In fact, the electrical demands of this entire machine can be met with a standard 20 amp ser- vice typical of a residential wall outlet.” The P/S 400 features a double gantry system with just one drive system. The P/S 400 uses an electro- mechanical design for higher speed, smoother operation, and better control. South Coast Engineering teams up with Vaccon to develop a packer/stacker that packs and stacks almost 3,500 jars every 20 minutes.
Transcript of How to Really Design a Packer/Stacker - Vaccon
www.vaccon.com 508.359.7200
Vaccon Company, Inc.9 Industrial Park RoadMedway, MA 02053
Phone 508.359.7200 E-mail [email protected] site www.vaccon.com
to flip the jar to be open side up prior to filling.
Typical of most blow molding production, containers are placed in a random pattern into a 4' cube corrugated gaylord with a plastic liner. To protect the prod-uct from damage when trucked to the filling loca-tion, the gaylord is not double stacked, leaving
a lot of space wasted in the typical 110" (9') high tractor-trailer. The request from the molder was for a machine capable of stacking 288 jars per level with 12 levels for a total stack height of 110" to take advantage of the maximum space inside the trailer.
The drive for maximizing stack height resulted in a design chal-lenge to fit the machine within the roof line of the client’s factory which has an overhead height of just 24' between the ceiling joists.
How to Really Design a Packer/Stacker
The P/S 400 also features the ability to stack to 110" high to maximize trailer space.
The ChallengeWhen a blow molding company in Montreal specializing in food contain-ers needed a new packer / stacker for their latest jar han-dling application, they didn’t look any further than their own shop floor. For the past 12 years, their South Coast stacker has been stacking and pallet-izing without mainte-nance or repairs. For their new machine they wanted the same robust design and low maintenance. The solu-tion was the P/S 400 shown here which will stack and palletize 3,456 containers every 20 minutes for a daily output ap-proaching 250,000 containers.
South Coast Control Engineering of New Bedford, MA specializes in con-tainer handling, offering a full line of packer / stackers in various sizes along with custom designs. They are one of the few companies designing equip-ment that enables product to move from the blow molder to pallet and pallet to filler directly without requiring intermediate equipment to reorient the bottle or any manual labor to remove them from a gaylord. Most packer / stackers handle jars from the bot-tom, but South Coast chose to design their machine to pick up the open side of the jar to save handling time and reduce the number of operators and equipment downstream by not having
Stacking that high with a ceiling of 24' left little room for the lifting mechanisms, platen thickness, over travel, and toler-ance stack up.
In addition to the height constraint, the customer requested that South Coast switch from the pneumatic gantry design of their existing South Coast machine to an electro-mechan-
ical design for higher speed, smoother operation, and better control for a softer touch. With help from their local drive and control supplier, Action Automation, South Coast designed a double gantry system using open loop drives with rack and pinion construction in the X axis and chain drive in the Z axis. The two Z drives are tied together on the X axis so that they move in unison, which minimizes components resulting in a simpler, more reliable machine.
“To lower the drive motor horsepower for each axis and for smaller gear reduc-tions, special attention was paid to the design of each pick up head and the choice of materials to maximize strength and minimize weight,” says Engineering Manager, William Bristol. “In fact, the electrical demands of this entire machine can be met with a standard 20 amp ser-vice typical of a residential wall outlet.”
The P/S 400 features a double gantry system with just one drive system.
The P/S 400 uses an electro-mechanical design for higher speed, smoother operation, and better control.
South Coast Engineering teams up with Vaccon to develop a packer/stacker that packs and stacks almost 3,500 jars every 20 minutes.
Vaccon Company, Inc.9 Industrial Park RoadMedway, MA 02053
Phone 508.359.7200 E-mail [email protected] site www.vaccon.com
which has its own integral vacuum manifold to make pump-to-cup con-nections fast and maximizes vacuum flow to each cup to handle the porous tear sheets. A vacuum switch on the manifold monitors all of the suction cups and signals that the cups have a firm grip on the tear sheet,” says Chad Biron, Design Engineer. “The choice for the Vaccon pumps was based on their dirt tolerance and the incredible ease of tool design. All of the components fit together in erector-set fashion on a standard 1.5" x 1.5" aluminum profile. We were under the gun to get this machine shipped early, and within 2 days the design was complete and the components were on our dock.”
The ProcessThe process begins with an operator placing a pallet on the pallet conveyor which brings the pallet into position between the two pick and place heads. The left gantry fitted with a multifunction EOAT (end-of-arm-vacuum-tool) extends down to pick up a slip sheet. The Z axis retracts and the X axis moves the slip sheet over the empty pallet. The Z axis extends to place the tear sheet onto the pallet. The Z axis retracts while the jars gather into 16 rows on the collection table in an offset pattern. Once the collection table is full the right gantry lowers to pick up the jars using vacuum. The right gantry then retracts and both gantries move left until the containers are above the pallet. The containers are lowered onto the pallet and released.
While the right gantry is over the pallet, the left gantry is picking up a tear sheet and the process repeats un-til the stack is 12 layers tall with a tear sheet between each layer and a strapping frame on the top.
Product HandlingOnce the product is gathered into its off-set matrix pattern on the collection table, a lightweight aluminum vacuum platen with 1" thick soft closed cell foam makes contact with the top of the jars. The platen is made up of four zones with each zone having its own venturi vacuum pump.
“The venturi pumps we chose are the VDF Series manufactured by Vaccon Company of Medway, MA,” says South Coast owner, Scott Gomes. “They have a unique adjustable design that allowed us to dial in the vacuum level we needed
to pick up the jars and yet not crush them. These vacuum pumps have ex-tremely high vacuum flow and exceeded our expectations by gripping all 288 jars
in just one second, half the time we allowed for. In fact, prior to leveling the platen to the collection table, there was a slight gap on one side between the platen and the jars and the pumps lifted them off the table. These pumps have a unique straight-through design that makes them extremely dirt tolerant so there are no ‘Vacuum Pump Disease’ problems with whatever debris they might ingest getting stuck inside the pump. This kind of robust design matches our design style for long
life with no maintenance.”
Tear Sheet and Frame HandlingPrior to the first level of jars being set in place, a wooden frame and tear sheet are set on the pallet conveyor. This is accomplished using a multifunc-tion end-of-arm tool designed to pick
up a tear sheet and a wooden strapping frame together. For subsequent layers only the tear sheets are picked and placed between each layer of jars.
“Utilizing Vaccon’s line of pre-engineered
end of arm tooling components includ-ing suction cups, spring levelers and venturi vacuum pumps we built the tool with all the supplied parts in about an hour,” says John Hubright, Assembly Supervisor.
“Plumbing was a breeze because the Vaccon pump we chose was the multi-port version (see photo below),
Innovative offset pattern allows for dense packing for maximizing space.
4 Vaccon VDF Venturi Vacuum Pumps lift 288 jars in under 1 second.
The VDF Vacuum Pump features a unique “dirt tolerant” design.
The multi-function EOAT handles both slip sheets and wooden frames separately and combined.
The Vaccon Multi-port Vacuum Manifold distributes vacuum to suction cups and maximizes flow to overcome leakage.
Vaccon Company, Inc.9 Industrial Park RoadMedway, MA 02053
Phone 508.359.7200 E-mail [email protected] site www.vaccon.com
South Coast Control Engineering (SCCE) of New Bedford, MA specializes in automated machine design with special emphasis on container handling. A full service machine supplier providing design, engineering, fabrication, and installation services, SCCE offers a full line of packer / stackers along with custom machinery for any industry.
Vaccon Company Inc. is the leading U.S. manufacturer of air powered venturi vacuum pumps, supplying the manufac-turing, food, and process industries with reliable vacuum products characterized by efficient operation, rugged construc-tion, and low cost.
Vaccon innovations include pump
Also unique to SCCE: The engineers who design and assist with fabrication are also the people that install and teach the customers’ operators. Their intimate knowledge of each system on the machine improves communication and understanding with customers—both on-site during installation and as factory support. South Coast operates out of a
designs that place the vacuum port and exhaust path inline, making a straight-through venturi vacuum pump. These compact pumps are excellent for ex-tremely “dirty” and dusty environments such as food processing, packaging, foundries, and bagging operations, because they do not clog, lose suction, or
South Coast Control Engineering, Inc. 404 Nash Road, Building C, New Bedford, MA 02746
Phone 774.206.5649 E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.scceinc.com
Vaccon Company, Inc.9 Industrial Park Road, Medway, MA 02053
Phone 508.359.7200 E-mail [email protected]
Web site www.vaccon.com
About South Coast Control Engineering
About Vaccon Company, Inc.
new, 20,000 sq. ft. facility which houses CNC machining, welding, fabrication and painting equipment.
Says owner Scott Gomes, “We control the majority of the main processes need-ed to make our equipment to ensure that we meet or exceed our delivery promises and quality.”
require a vacuum filter.Vaccon’s expanded vacuum pump
product line also includes other unique devices such as Material Conveying Vacuum Pumps, Variable Vacuum Pumps, Air Amplifiers and Manifolds.
