Design support tool for dual axis controlled sorter machines

This thesis was born from a collaboration between the Polytechnic of Turin and SACMI PACKAGING & CHOCOLATE S.P.A. SACMI is an international leader in industrial plant engineering. This company is engaged in the development of machines and complete systems for the ceramics, metals, packaging, food, and beverage industries and to produce plastic containers and advanced materials. At the SACMI group headquarters in Alba are developed and created the technologies for flow-pack and secondary packaging of food products, from bread to croissants, crackers, pastries, wafers and more. The aim of the thesis is creating a support tool to allow the dimensioning of an automatic machine called Sorter. This machine is used in the field of food packaging, specifically in secondary packaging. The Sorter has the task of receiving a continuous flow of products and at the same time leading them to the unloading point, where there is a robot that allows to pick up a limited number of them. The sizing of this machine takes place considering the characteristics of the packaging and the product, considering the number of products per minute arriving from the primary packaging machines and finally considering the technical characteristics of the selected gearmotor and all the various components. The mechanical structure is characterized by two gearmotors that independently drive two identical and parallel systems. Composed of two pulleys and a transmission (chain or belt) that binds them. The transmission is designed to allow the insertion of pockets, which is containers with the function of enclosing the products during handling. Seven months of work led to the creation of the algorithm to be able to give an immediate answer on the feasibility of the project that the customer commissions. The algorithm is interactive, that is, the designer must make choices. Which will lead it either to create the most compact sorting machine possible or to keep it safer at the expense of size. There was an in-depth study of the torque-speed curves of the motors and gearboxes in the company catalog, to understand at what accelerations and at what speeds the two transmissions can be brought. The designer can give more restrictive limits than the theoretical ones, based on the experience obtained from the construction of previous machinery. The validation of the algorithm was done through three different and complementary ways: The first way was the creation of a MATLAB project to visualize a simulation of the kinematics of the machine. The design support tool provides at the output the trajectories that both transmissions, and therefore the two pocket trains, must follow to perform the work cycle. Which repeats as long as the power is on. By connecting the trajectories that make up the cycle with the right synchronism, the simulation is obtained automatically. The second way was to confirm the efficacy of the dynamic study through the CYMEX software. This software, created by the manufacturer of gearmotors Wittenstein, allows to check whether the work cycle is sustainable by the gearmotor system. The torque delivered by the engine during the cycle must be within the limits and the information is provided through the utilization percentage. The third and last way to validate the platform was the development of various tests on a real machine present in the company's workshop. This point was undoubtedly the most critical. But it made it possible to confirm that the response of the platform is always conservative.