Conveyor system

Abstract: A sprocket arrangement which provides increased contact surface area for driving conveyor belts is disclosed. The sprocket is particularly suitable for abrasive applications and/or use with modular plastic belts. The sprocket is formed by stacking and aligning a multiplicity of thin substantially disk shaped sprocket lamina together and then joining the stacked and aligned lamina by simply bolting or welding. Each of the sprocket lamina includes a central aperture for fitting onto a drive shaft. Teeth or other driving surfaces are also formed around the perimeter of each of the lamina. The lamina may be stacked in contact with each other, or for some applications may use spaces to separate selected ones of the stacked lamina so as to cooperate with the structure of the belt being driven.

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a conveyor system according to the preamble of claim 1. A conveyor system of this kind is disclosed in DE-A-2 045 028. Notably, all lamina of the sprocket wheel of the known system have the same configuration with a relatively complicated structure on their sides for aligning the lamina. The lamina comprising the sprockets of this invention, may be formed of metal plates or sheet material which may be manufactured by laser cutting or stamping. BACKGROUND A typical modular conveyor belt suitable for being driven by a sprocket built according to this invention is disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,870,141 issued to J. M. Lapeyre on March 11, 1975. According to this patent, substantially identical modules formed by injection molding are pivotally connected to one another to form a conveyor belt of a desired length. Each module includes a plurality of elongated elements, and each elongated element has a first pivot end and a second pivot end. The plurality of elongated elements are joined together such that the apertures defined in each of the first and second pluralities of pivot ends lie along a first and second pivot axis respectively which, are parallel one to the other. The link ends of one module are intermeshed and pivotally connected by means of a pivot rod to the link ends of another module until an entire belt having the desired length is formed. Injection molded plastic belts built according to the teachings of this patent have been well received by industry and have many uses. The "All-in-One" (R) conveyor belt manufactured by the KVP Company in Sacramento, California and illustrated in Fig. 4 of U.S. Patent 4,742,907 issued May 10, 1988 to Karl V. Palmaer, is a modular plastic belt driven at a central transverse connecting member which can be brick-layed, and therefore can be provided in different widths. A plastic modular belt sold by the Cambridge Wire Cloth company of Cambridge, Maryland under the name of Cam-Clean (R) and substantially described in U.S. Patent No. 4,557,374 issued on December 10, 1985 to Robert H. Bode is driven in the center area of a module by a sprocket tooth received by a recess in the module defined by a pair of transverse connecting members. Finally, the Rexnord Corp. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has recently introduced a group of plastic conveyor belts designated as the "5900" series which uses individual and separate snap-in plugs to retain "headless" pivot rods in position. US-A-1841925 discloses a chain drive consisting of an endless chain and sprockets, whereby said chain is made up of overlapping rings joined together by transverse pins, and whereby said sprockets have teeth in a plurality of rows and the teeth in one row are located opposite to tooth spaces in an adjacent row. The sprocket itself consists of a stack of lamina joined together where some lamina have teeth and other lamina are intermeshed there between as spacers. Thus, a review of the conveyor belt prior art patents and commercial belts as well as pending applications of the assignee of the present invention reveals that to date there has not been an easy, simple and inexpensive technique for providing a sprocket having a drive surface with increased contact area particularly suitable for high abrasive applications. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a conveyor system having conveyor belt sprockets suitable for use with all types of conveyor belts including modular plastic conveyor belts which have increased drive surface areas and which are easily and inexpensively manufactured. This object is achieved by the characterizing features of claim 1. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Other objects and advantages will in part appear hereinafter and will be accomplished by the present invention which in a conveyor system comprising a modular conveyor belt provides a sprocket of a selected diameter and having at least two circumferential groups of driving surfaces spaced across the width of the sprocket for use with the conveyor belt. The sprocket is fabricated by providing a plurality of sprocket lamina, or layers, having substantially a constant thickness and wherein each lamina has a selected axis of rotation. A drive aperture such as a square shape or a hexagon shape, is formed or cut in each of the lamina so as to be coaxial with the axis of rotation. Also formed or cut on selected ones of the lamina are a multiplicity of driving surfaces, such as sprocket teeth, at selected radial distances from the axis of rotation and spaced at selected angular positions around the axis of rotation. Each such lamina thereby defines a circumferential group of driving surfaces. The multiplicity of lamina are then stacked and aligned such that the drive apertures formed in each lamina are in register with each other. The lamina are further aligned such that the circumferential group of driving surfaces on each of the "selected ones" lamina are in register with each other. The stacked and aligned lamina are then joined together by any suitable means such as bolting or welding to form a rigid structure which has at least two driving surfaces at each of the selected angular positions around the drive axis. In certain embodiments of the invention, each of the lamina or layers has teeth formed thereon such that once the lamina are stacked and aligned a tooth wider than a single lamina is provided. In other embodiments, each of the tooth lamina are separated by some type of spacer means such that a space exists between each of the tooth lamina. In this arrangement, there will be a multiplicity of teeth spaced across the width of the sprocket. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from consideration of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a plastic modular conveyor belt cooperating with four sprockets formed of stacked and aligned lamina incorporating the features of this invention. Figs. 2A & 2B shows an enlarged section of the belt and of the drive sprockets shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a diagramatic sketch showing how a typical belt used with the sprocket of this invention may be brick-layed to form a belt of any selected width. Figs. 4A & 4B are perspective views of a different embodiment of a belt and sprocket respectively incorporating the features of this invention. Fig. 4C is a side view of the belt and sprocket of Figs. 4A and 4B in a drive relationship. Figs. 5A and 5B illustrate still another embodiment of a belt and two types of cooperating sprockets incorporating the features of this invention. Fig. 6 shows still another embodiment of a conveyor belt and a cooperating sprocket incorporating the features of this invention. BEST KNOWN MODE FOR PRACTICING THIS INVENTION Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 there is shown generally at 10 a section of a plastic modular conveyor belt cooperating with four sprockets 12, 14, 16 and 18 which incorporate the features of this invention. As shown in Fig. 1, a conveyor belt is formed of rows 20, 22, 24 and 26 of modules, each row including several full modules and/or full modules and portions of modules. As can better be seen in Figs 2A and 2B, which illustrate an enlarged view of sprocket 12 and a portion of the belt including rows 24 and 26. Each of the rows are pivotally connected or joined by means of pivot rods such as pivot rod 28 which extends through apertures defined in the end of elongated link 30 of row 24 and link 32 of row 26. The rows 24 and 26 as shown in Fig. 2B are illustrated with numerous recesses for receiving sprocket teeth such as recesses 34, 36 and 38 of row 24 and recesses 40, 42 and 44 of row 26. The four sprockets 12, 14, 16 and 18 (shown in Fig. 1) are driven by a drive shaft 46 having a square cross-section, which is received by a square aperture in the sprockets such as aperture 48 shown in Fig. 2A. As shown, each of the sprockets are formed by five spaced and stacked lamina such as stacked lamina 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58, of which laminas 50, 54 and 58 include teeth or driving surfaces. Referring now to Figs. 2A and 2B it can be seen that teeth 60, 62 and 64 of stacked lamina 50, 54 and 58 respectively mesh with recesses 40, 42 and 44 of rows 26 of the belt section as indicated by arrows 59A, 59B and 59C. In a similar manner, teeth 66, 68 and 70 mesh with recesses 34, 36 and 38 respectively of row 24 of the belt section as indicated by arrow 71A, 71B and 71C. Thus by using these thin lamina stacked together, the resultant sprockets provide increased driving surface area over a selected width of the belt. It will of course be appreciated that each sprocket structure could provide a number of tooth lamina different than three, and a larger number or lesser number of sprocket structures than four could be spaced along drive shaft 46 across the width of the belt. The enlarged section of the belt 10 and sprocket 12 of Figs. 2A and 2B better illustrate how a plurality of teeth across the width of the sprocket 12 cooperates with drive surfaces on the conveyor belt. However, it should be appreciated that a belt could be substantially wider and require significantly more than four sprockets and each sprocket could have a significantly larger number of teeth across the full width of the sprocket such as for example on the order of 20 or more teeth. Thus, fabrication of a sprocket by using preformed lamina in this manner is substantially easier than making a sprocket having a similar increased amount of contact or surface area from a single piece of material . It should further be noted that in the embodiment of Figs. 1, 2A and 2B, there is also included toothless lamina or spacers such as the disk shaped spacers 52 and 56 located between the tooth lamina 50, 54 and 58. In this embodiment, it is noted that the thickness of the spacer or toothless lamina is slightly greater than the thickness of the elongated links 30, and 32 such that as aligned teeth are received by the sprocket recesses the elongated links will be located between the tooth sprocket lamina. It will of course be appreciated rather than having toothless lamina or disks used as spacers, any type of means for suitably spacing the lamina may be used. For example, in the embodiment of Figs. 1, 2A and 2B, four bolts 72, 74, 76 and 78 are shown as holding the stacked and aligned lamina together. Therefore, it would be possible to simply use four washers having the proper thickness located on the bolts in between each of the toothed lamina to provide the spacing. It will also be appreciated, of course that the stacked toothed and toothless lamina could be held together by spot welding or other means rather than bolts 72, 74, 76 and 78. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that conveyor belts are often required to be in all sizes of width and length, to accomplish various types of conveying needs. Consequently, it is highly desirable that the belting system be made of modules or units which can be placed together in an end-to-end and side-by-side relationship so as to form a belt of any suitable width or length. Fig. 3 illustrates how belts made of modules of the types discussed above may be made of identical modules having a single width along with a few partial or half modules so as to form a belt three modules wide but which also has substantially the strength of a single module across the belt. The strength of the belt is achieved as a result of the intermeshing and interlocking of the pivot ends. As shown, the full length modules 80, 82, and 84 are simply laid side-by-side across the width of the belt. Each row on both sides of the row comprised of modules 80, 82 and 84 include two full size modules such as modules 86 and 88 and two partial modules such as 90 and 92. When this brick-layed pattern is continued for the length of the belt, the belt has substantially more strength across it width than it would without the brick-laying. However, it should be understood that whether or not the belt is brick-layed, or simply one module wide, (no matter how wide the module) the sprocket of this invention can be used to provide increased contact area of the driving surfaces. Referring now to Figs. 4A, 4B and 4C there is shown another type of belt module and a sprocket for cooperating with such a modular belt which incorporates the features of this invention. As shown in Fig. 4A, every other row, such as rows 94 and 96, of the belt is offset with respect to the previous row, and the belt is driven by sprocket teeth which contact the link ends such as link ends 98 and 100 rather than the center portion of the belt. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4B it is necessary that every other sprocket tooth around the perimeter such as sprocket teeth 102 and 104 also be staggered such that each of the link ends may be in contact and driven by tooth. As can be seen therefore, there are two different types of lamina incorporated with each sprocket of this embodiment. The two types of laminas are substantially the same, except they are rotated with respect to their orientation to the drive or square aperture. Thus, laminas having reference numbers 106, 108 and 110 are of one type and laminas interspersed therebetween having referenced numbers 112, and 114 are of the second type. In a preferred embodiment, again the thickness of the lamina is slightly greater than the same thickness of the elongated members or links of the conveyor belt. On the example shown in Figs. 4A and 4B, it can be seen that teeth 102 and 116 contact and drive link ends 100 and 98 respectively, as is indicated by arrow 118 and 120, and in a similar manner, teeth 104, 122 and 124 drive link ends 126, 128 and 130 as indicated by arrow 132, 134 and 136 respectively. Fig. 4C is a combination cross-sectional view showing the staggered teeth and how the belt is driven at its link ends rather than at the center of the module. Figs. 5A and 5B show still another type of of belt and two types of cooperating sprockets which incorporate the teachings of this invention suitable for driving such a belt. According to Fig. 5A, it will be noted that there are two-toothed laminas 138 and 140, stacked next to each other followed by a toothless lamina or spacer 142, another toothed lamina 144, a spacer 146, another toothed lamina 148, a spacer 150, and then two more toothed lamina 152 and 154. Thus, there is one tooth that is two thicknesses wide and two teeth which are a single thickness wide followed by another tooth that is two thickness. This arrangement provides the maximum amount of driving surface that can be obtained with a belt of this type. Fig. 5B shows an alternate embodiment for driving the belt, but only uses two stacked lamina 138A and 140A followed by five spacers 142A, 144A, 146A, 148A and 150A and then two more stacked tooth lamina 152A and 154A. In this way, only the large driving recesses 156 and 158 will receive a driving tooth, whereas according to the embodiment of Fig. 5A the small recesses 160 and 162 also receive a single thickness driving tooth. Referring now to Fig. 6, there is shown still another type of belt suitable for being driven by a sprocket incorporating the features of this invention. As shown, the belt of this embodiment does not include driving recesses but instead include a single driving rib such as driving ribs 164 and 166 across the width of the belt and/or module. Consequently, to cooperate with the belt the sprocket includes recess driving surfaces such as recesses 168 and 170 which receive the driving cross-member of the belt. Further as shown in this example identical lamina are simply stacked together in as large a number as is desired to achieve the width of the sprocket desired. It should be noted however, that such a sprocket having only the driving recesses would not provide any tracking to the belt. Therefore, there is also provided on selected ones of the lamina, such as lamina 172, additional guide teeth such as guide teeth 174, 176 and 178 which are received by the spaces between the intermeshed link ends such for example space 180 between link ends 182 and 184 of modules 186 and 188. Still another belt (not shown) suitable for being driven by a laminated sprocket of this invention also includes a cross-member (or group of cross-members) for receiving a driving force, but this cross-member is located between the elongated support ribs rather than a single cross-member across the bottom of the belt module. In this type of structure, it is again necessary to provide recesses in the lamina forming the sprocket. Thus, although there has been described to this point particular embodiments of sprockets for use with different types of conveyor belts, each described sprocket incorporating stacked and aligned lamina securely joined together to form a rigid sprocket having at least two teeth of guiding areas across the width of the belt, it is not intended that such specific references be considered as limitations upon the scope of this invention except insofar as is set forth in the following claims.

Claims: Conveyor system comprising a modular conveyor belt (10) fabricated at least in part from a multiplicity of modules (30, 32), each module having a first and second group of link ends wherein the first group of link ends of each module is intermeshed and pivotally connected with said second group of link ends of another module to form said conveyor belt of end to end modules and wherein said similar modules form a plurality of mating driving surfaces (34, 36, 38; 98, 100; 166, 180) disposed across the width of the conveyor belt (10) and periodically along the belt length for mating with driving surfaces on a sprocket; at least one drive sprocket (12, 14, 16, 18) for engaging and driving said modular conveyor belt, formed from a plurality of sprocket lamina (50, 52, 54, 56, 58; 106, 108, ... 114; 138, 140, ... 154; 138A, 140A,... 154A) of a selected diameter having at least two circumferential sets of driving surfaces (60, 62, 64; 102, 104, 116, 122, 124; 168, 170), said lamina each having substantially a constant thickness and a common axis of rotation; a multiplicity of said belt driving surfaces (60, 62, 64; 104, 122, 124; 168, 170) being located circumferentially on selected ones of said lamina (50, 54, 58; 106, 108, 110; 138, 140, 144, 148, 152, 154; 138A, 140A, 152A, 154A) radially spaced from said axis of rotation and distributed at a plurality of selected angular positions around said axis of rotation; said lamina all being stacked and aligned such that said circumferential sets of driving surfaces of said drive lamina are in register; and means for joining said plurality of sprocket lamina to form a rigid structure presenting at least two of said belt driving surfaces at each said selected angular position around said drive axis, characterized by said lamina defining a non-circular drive aperture coaxially about said axis of rotation of a configuration for registering the lamina driving surfaces in radial orientation and rotating the lamina by means of a mating drive shaft extending through the drive aperture; at least one sprocket lamina (52, 56; 112, 114; 142, 146, 150; 142A, 144A, ... 150A; 172) having a different configuration along the circumference of the sprocket; said stacked and aligned lamina being further aligned such that the drive apertures of the lamina are in register for receiving said drive shaft. The conveyor system of claim 1, further characterized by a plurality of said sprockets (12, 14, 16, 18) spaced from each other at selected distances across the width of the conveyor belt (10). Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 or 2, characterized by two sets of circumferentially spaced driving teeth disposed across the width of said sprocket, wherein at least one lamina of different construction (142A, ... 150A) is interspersed between the drive lamina (138A, 140A, 152A, 154A) forming said two sets of driving teeth. Conveyor system as defined in claim 3, further characterized in that said at least one lamina of different configuration comprise a plurality of lamina (142A, ... 150A) devoid of driving teeth interspersed as spacer lamina in said rigid structure with circumferential structure not interfering with said driving surfaces on other said lamina (138A, 140A, 152A, 154A). Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized by a subset of said lamina (144, 148) having driving surfaces located on selected angular positions and registered axially with said at least one lamina (142, 146, 150) of a different configuration interspersed between the lamina in said subset. Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized by: means for presenting the driving surfaces of said lamina in a pattern for engaging the belt driving structure (156, 158, 160, 162) in a driving relationship. Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized in a plurality of sprocket lamina (52, 56; 142, 146, 150) devoid of driving surfaces interspersed as spacer lamina in said stack of lamina between at least some of said selected ones of the lamina (54, 58, 62; 138, 140, 144, 148, 152, 154) having driving surfaces. Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized in that said at least one lamina of different configuration comprises single lamina (142, 146, 150) devoid of driving surfaces positioned between at least two adjacent drive lamina (140, 144, 148, 152) having driving surfaces and said lamina with driving surfaces being assembled with both fewer lamina (144, 148) and a greater number of similar lamina (138, 140, 152, 154) adjacent each other thereby to provide driving means for engaging said belt at both narrower (160, 162) and broader (156, 158) driving surfaces provided in said belt in mating driving relationship. Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized by said at least one lamina of different configuration having two different driving surfaces (102, 116) at different radial positions from said axis. Conveyor system as defined in claim 1 further characterized in that said selected ones of said drive lamina have driving surfaces positioned in sets with at least two drive lamina (138, 140, 152, 154; 138A, 140A, 152A, 154A) next to each other in said rigid structure and said lamina (142, 146, 150; 142A, 150A) devoid of driving surfaces distributed between said sets of at least two lamina disposed next to each other. Conveyor apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said drive lamina with driving surfaces further define a driving surface comprising a notch (170) for engaging a driving member (166) on the belt.

Inventors: GUNDLACH JAMES O, LEDET BRENT A, GUNDLACH, JAMES O., LEDET, BRENT A.
Applicants: LAITRAM CORP, THE LAITRAM CORPORATION
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B65G23
IPC codes: B65G23, B65G17, B23P15