Automated Load Tester

Impetus to Invent

Doing things inline instead of offline is a great way to reduce costs. Every part this customer has required a five-pound load to be applied to ensure they were ready for assembly. The current process ran these offline and was done manually. Invent Automation was asked to build a system that would apply the load as the parts exited the process on a conveyor. The result was the elimination of the manual operation, and every part got a consistent load applied. However, this was not as easy as it looked because the load had to be applied exactly at the same speed as the parts, even though the parts were speeding up and slowing down slightly. No problem! Invent Automation invented a system that would track the precise belt speed and apply the load speed using an advanced linear servo motor that could adapt to belt speed in real-time through an encoder wheel. Problem solved and labor reduced!

Problem Solved

High labor to do 100% testing

Lessons Learned

In such a small space we had to stack two narrow cabinets on top of each other in order to make room for the operator that unloaded the parts next to it.

What Was Unique 

Applying a load on a conveyor belt whose speed was a great way to show off our controls and design skills.

What Was Challenging

Tracing the conveyor belt with an encoder that was tied to a linear servo motor was not the most straightforward thing in the world to do.