Increasing the accuracy of the process of automated counting of thin long products
Authors: Bespalov A. L. , Svidrak I. G. 
Published: May 2023

Vibrating hopper feeders with an electromagnetic drive for automating the process of counting parts have become widely used. This process is necessary when transferring them to another workshop for the next technological operation. Also, it is necessary to count artificial products on the lot when packing them for packaging. Vibrating feeders are used to feed miniature, small, or medium-sized parts to the counting position of counting or packing machines. In this case, the parts supplied to these positions should be arranged in one layer. In addition, they should have a certain gap between them for reliable operation of the counting device. Basically, counters for such machines are made on the basis of photoelectric or inductive sensors. The disadvantage of inductive sensors is that they can only be used for metal objects. Photoelectric sensors are more versatile, so they have gained the most distribution for counting or filling machines. The principle of operation of the automatic counting position is that when the object to be counted is applied to it, it crosses the working area of the counting position and the sensor sends an impulse to the counting device. When using photoelectric sensors, parts or products cross the beam of the sensor and it supplies a counting pulse to the electronic counter at each crossing of the working beam. Basically, when using vibrating hopper feeders, the counting position is located either directly at the exit part of the transporting tray, or at the exit from it of the transported objects. The speed of transporting parts or products increases when moving up, because the amplitude of the horizontal component of oscillations increases when the diameter of the transporting tray increases. This is because the hopper of the vibratory feeder has a conical shape. This allows the parts to be refined in one layer. In addition, before the counting position, the parts must be separated from each other to create the necessary gap between them. This is necessary for the reliable operation of the photoelectric sensor. This system works reliably when the dimensions of the parts to be counted are larger than the diameter of the working beam of the sensor. But, when automating the counting of thin, long parts or products whose thickness is close to the size of the working beam of the sensor, the latter may cross it several times when passing through the zone of the counting position. This sharply reduces the accuracy of the counting process. This happens because the parts on the conveyor tray move with a small bounce due to the vertical component of the hopper's vibrations. Therefore, it became necessary to develop a new counting position system in order to increase the accuracy of the counting device for counting long thin parts or products (pins for electrical connectors, needles, matches, etc). The work considers a set of elements that affect the productivity and efficiency of counting devices based on vibrating hopper feeders with electromagnetic drives, for counting long thin parts or products of this shape.