SERVO INDEXING CONVEYOR OVERVIEW

Servo indexing conveyors are great for applications where products need repeatable positioning with high accuracy and high cycle rates.

Indexing conveyors are designed to move products in a series of steps to ensure equipment can carry out its function rather than moving products continuously.

Servo motors are electrical devices that have high efficiency and high precision, making them a great pair for an indexing conveyor.

Servo indexing conveyors are typically fitted with custom fixtures to hold parts or products in place while moving down the line.

SERVO ACTUATOR

At Zeta Group we use Festo servo motors attached to Festo actuators for when we need precise positioning of parts.

Actuators are perfect for applications where a precise range of motion is needed. Moving on an linear XY or vertical Z axis allows for a high-performance and precise single motion.

They are compact and flexible, making installation on our systems a breeze.

Additionally, because we utilize Festo I/O systems (specifically the CPX-AP-I) all of our controls are able to be on the same network, including these servo actuators.

SPECIFIC CASE STUDY

Medusa Automation Series with Servo Indexing Conveyor

We recently designed and assembled an application that involved a servo indexing conveyor with an alignment servo actuator.

These two components of the system were placed after a tube feeder which singulated tubes from bulk feed.

After the tube feeder singulated the product it was placed into a custom fixture on the indexing conveyor via pneumatic escapement at the bottom of an accumulation hopper.

The tube was then indexed down the conveyor where it encountered a servo actuator that repeatedly placed the tubes at the same point on the fixture.

From there, the part was indexed to the end of the conveyor where it was able to move to the next step of the manufacturing process.

Features of this Servo Indexing Conveyor

• Custom fixture specific to product
• Allen Bradley servo drive/motor for conveyor
• Festo Servo actuator
• Festo CPX-AP-I distributed I/O system

Zeta Group Engineering is a robotic integrator and conveyor manufacturer based in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Check out our other blog posts!