[ITA] Nessuno si è occupato di ingegneria open per la creazione di sistemi di smistamento merce (rulliere e switch) a basso costo, in cui il processo di progettazione include come vincolo forte la semplicità costruttiva, di assemblamento e manunzione assieme a una fortissima riduzione di costo.
[EN] Up to now no one made an open engineering project for the development of low cost conveyors and sorter for small packages, with the process including strict rules on the simplicity of the manufacturing, assembly and maintenance of the system along with a -90% cost reduction compared to the actual solution on the commercial markets.
Open Conveyors and sorter should be something that a local company could build based on open project schematics.
I would like to focus on boxes that have a weigth between 100gr up to 5kg and i would like to build a system that could dispatch among 40 different bays the packages, but that have very simple and effective scalability.
The conveyors should have those components:
- A loader tunnel where boxes are put into
- A photo + barcode recognition tunnel that can detect barcode on all exposed faces (4-6 webcam with the right software)
- A unloading tunnel where the boxes goes after has been identified
- A set of unloading tunnels (40 for me, 20 for each side or 40 on one side) where boxes will be routed
- A set of “switches” that route the boxes to those unloading tunnels
It sould just do that, nothing more, nothing less, and it should be *simple* .
The tunnel could be belt conveyors or roller conveyors, i don’t mind, as long as it’s very simple and very cheap to be built, to be assembled (ideally self-assembly IKEA-like instruction) and to be self-maintened (just an instruction manual or videos, no maintenance contracts for assistance and spare parts).
Some interesting links being collected while doing this on-going analysis:
- Here a basic schematics on making a DIY Conveyor Belt
- An curious approach by a commercial manufacturer Design Your Own Conveyor Kit
Below a collection of producer in Italy to which i’m asking for those requirements:
The entire engineering process and specification along with the assembly and maintenance be public knowledge.
The selection of the components to be used shall have at least 4 different providers of the very same kind of components, in order to provide freedom of choice.
That would be an ideal applied industrial research and development project for a university, i should look for the right professor at the right engineering department to have a conversation.
It could also be the right innovation project for a FabLab, triggering the makers creativity!
If you want to engage in such a project, do you think there are the right pointers or persons or projects we could starts from, get in touch with me! 🙂
Eclecticism Now! 