Patent ID: 8439182

Claim:
A system for a mailpiece insertion module, comprising: a plurality of laterally-spaced friction drive belts adapted to define a substantially planar friction drive surface for conveying the mailpiece along a feed path; a support plate slideably supporting an underside surface of the friction drive belts, the support plate including a plurality of backstop and vacuum apertures disposed between adjacent drive belts, the vacuum apertures including a plurality of vacuum apertures disposed adjacent the friction drive belts; a backstop assembly including a plurality of fingers projecting radially from a rotatable shaft, the backstop assembly mounted beneath the support plate and rotatable from a first position to a second position, in the first position, the fingers projecting upwardly through the elongate slots of the support plate to arrest the motion of the mailpiece, and in the second position, the fingers are substantially parallel to the planar drive surface of the friction drive belts to enable passage of the mailpiece across the backstop assembly; a backstop actuator operative to position the backstop assembly into the first and second positions and consuming energy to maintain the backstop assembly in the first position; a sensor for acquiring data indicative of the magnitude of energy consumed by the actuator and providing a data signal indicative of the energy consumption data; a means for developing a pressure differential across the envelope to urge the envelope into frictional engagement with the drive belts and for developing friction forces along a mating interface between the envelope and the friction drive belts, and a system controller, responsive to the data signal, for varying the magnitude of the pressure differential and the friction forces developed along the mating interface of the envelope.