Vibratory Bowl Feeders And Step Feeders.

In many factories today, Robots can be seen collaborating with Human workers and may Robots are self -navigating. The term Cobot was coined at northwestern University in America and defines Cobots that collaborate with humans in the workplace.

 

Robot automation is increasing dramatically within manufacturing and vibratory bowl feeders are a traditional way of sorting and handling bulk products. The bowl feeder has not changed dramatically over the years but it still provides a reliable solution.

 

Bowl feeders come in many shapes and sizes and there is great variation in the settings in which they can be used. They are popular in food, automotive, electronics, pharmaceutical and many other industries and their primary aim and goal is to present parts one by one all the way to a processing line or assembly machine.

 

The parts will then be counted into batches  or assembled and packaged and some bowl feeders are capable of processing parts up to 10mtrs per minute. This gives a continuous and accurate supply to the machine or processing line.

 

A bowl feeder would normally be designed to run at the required rate plus 10 per cent and turn off and on automatically by sensors which are integrated into a control box. The parts including their shape, weight and material properties will always be taken into account and the special linings or costings of the bowl feeder surface will be used to help with traction.

 

A typical bowl feeder will be integrated into a complete system which would normally include bulk handling, bulk hopper, a storage device and an outfeed track. An inline track is used after a bowl feeder as a means of accumulation, usually on average this would hold 20 seconds worth of oriented parts and would provide the bowl feeder on demand.