Patent ID: 11905123
Assignee: FAMECCANICA.DATA S.P.A.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for varying a pitch between moving articles comprising:
an infeed conveyor configured for feeding a flow of articles along a machine direction spaced apart from each other in said machine direction by a first pitch, and
a phaser conveyor having an infeed section and an outfeed section, wherein the infeed section is configured for receiving said flow of articles from said infeed conveyor that are spaced apart from each other by said first pitch,
wherein said phaser conveyor comprises:
a dosed-loop central belt having a flat support surface configured for receiving thereon articles of said flow of articles, the dosed-loop central belt having a plurality of through holes open on said support surface and a transport branch extending from said infeed section to said outfeed section,
a first motor configured to drive said dosed-loop central belt at a first speed,
a stationary suction box connected to a sub-atmospheric pressure source and having a suction surface facing said transport branch of said dosed-loop central belt so as to retain said articles on said transport branch during movement between the infeed section and the outfeed section,
two dosed-loop side belts, having respective branches extending on opposite sides of said transport branch of said dosed-loop central belt, wherein the dosed-loop side belts comprise respective rows of stop elements, the stop elements of each dosed- loop side belt being spaced apart with respect to each other by a constant distance, and wherein the stop elements of each dosed-loop side belt are aligned to the stop elements of the other dosed-loop side belt in a direction transversal to said machine direction, said stop elements being configured to engage side portions of said articles projecting laterally outside the transport branch of the dosed-loop central belt,
a second motor configured to synchronously drive the closed-loop side belts at a second speed different from the first speed,
wherein, in operation, the phaser conveyor transports articles having a width in a direction transversal to said machine direction greater than a width of the closed-loop central belt, and wherein a speed difference between the closed-loop central belt and the closed-loop side belts causes the articles to come into contact with a pair of transversally aligned stop elements of the closed-loop side belts and sliding of the articles on the closed-loop central belt so that at said outfeed section of the phaser conveyor, the articles are spaced by a second pitch corresponding to said distance between said stop elements, and
wherein said closed-loop side belts have respective branches facing said stationary suction box and comprise respective through holes so as to retain by vacuum suction lateral portions of said articles projecting laterally outside said closed-loop central belt.