We Fed It: System Sorts, Orients Plastic Vials
A medical device manufacturer needed to orient and sort empty, 2-milliliter plastic vials, count them, and place them on a tray in rows of 12 by 25 for final packaging in cartons. Read how it was done.
A medical device manufacturer needed to orient and sort empty, 2-milliliter plastic vials, count them, and place them on a tray in rows of 12 by 25 for final packaging in cartons. This task had to be accomplished at a rate of 180 vials per minute.
Orientech Inc., a supplier of parts feeders and automated assembly systems in Lachute, QC, got the job.
Orientech designed a vibratory feeding system, a set of transfer tubes with a dispatching system, and a handling system for the trays.
The operator places empty stainless steel trays in the loading zone. The plastic vials are dumped in bulk in a hopper, which enables the system to operate autonomously for up to three hours. The vials are brought from the hopper by a cleat elevator and distributed by a switch gate to two vibratory feeders. Once oriented, they are sent down to the dispatching system through the transfer tubes.
The vials are set in ranks and released one at a time until they fill an empty tray with 25 rows. (The number of rows is adjustable.) The tray-handling system transfers the full tray to the exit conveyor and replaces it with an empty one. Every time a tray reaches the exit, the operator removes it and transfers the sorted vials into cartons for final packaging. The empty trays are put back in the loading zone.
All the parts in contact with the product are stainless steel. This equipment was supplied with an operator interface and a counter display.
For more information on parts feeders and automated assembly systems, call Orientech at 450-562-0745 or visit www.orientech.com.
Editor’s note: “We Fed It” is a regular series profiling parts feeders for automated assembly. Whether it’s a vibratory bowl, a tray feeder or a flexible robotic system, if you’ve solved a parts-feeding challenge, we’d like to hear about it. Send an e-mail to John Sprovieri, editor of ASSEMBLY, at sprovierij@bnpmedia.com, or call 630-694-4012.
Orientech Inc., a supplier of parts feeders and automated assembly systems in Lachute, QC, got the job.
Orientech designed a vibratory feeding system, a set of transfer tubes with a dispatching system, and a handling system for the trays.
The operator places empty stainless steel trays in the loading zone. The plastic vials are dumped in bulk in a hopper, which enables the system to operate autonomously for up to three hours. The vials are brought from the hopper by a cleat elevator and distributed by a switch gate to two vibratory feeders. Once oriented, they are sent down to the dispatching system through the transfer tubes.
The vials are set in ranks and released one at a time until they fill an empty tray with 25 rows. (The number of rows is adjustable.) The tray-handling system transfers the full tray to the exit conveyor and replaces it with an empty one. Every time a tray reaches the exit, the operator removes it and transfers the sorted vials into cartons for final packaging. The empty trays are put back in the loading zone.
All the parts in contact with the product are stainless steel. This equipment was supplied with an operator interface and a counter display.
For more information on parts feeders and automated assembly systems, call Orientech at 450-562-0745 or visit www.orientech.com.
Editor’s note: “We Fed It” is a regular series profiling parts feeders for automated assembly. Whether it’s a vibratory bowl, a tray feeder or a flexible robotic system, if you’ve solved a parts-feeding challenge, we’d like to hear about it. Send an e-mail to John Sprovieri, editor of ASSEMBLY, at sprovierij@bnpmedia.com, or call 630-694-4012.
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