Automatic drive belt biasing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11072497-B2
Application number	US-202016870236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2020
Priority date	May 10, 2019
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

An automatic belt biasing device is provided for biasing a drive belt into frictional contact with rollers of a conveyor. The belt biasing device maintains a drive belt in contact with rollers of a live roller conveyor to provide drive for the rollers to propel items or packages along the conveyor. A spring attached to a pivot arm or pair of scissoring pivot arms adjusts a biasing force applied by guide wheels of the belt biasing device to the drive belt due to changes in drive belt tension. The belt biasing device may be selectively adjustable based on required roller pitch distances. The belt biasing device is pivotably coupled to the roller conveyor allowing the guide wheels to apply equal pressure to the drive belt while allowing the pivot arms to actuate and increase or decrease the biasing force provided by the belt biasing device.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A transport conveyor comprising:
a conveyor frame;
a motor supported at said conveyor frame;
a plurality of rollers rotatably supported at said conveyor frame;
an endless drive belt driven by said motor and configured to drive said plurality of rollers;
an automatic drive belt biasing device pivotably supported at said conveyor frame, said automatic drive belt biasing device comprising:
a scissor assembly having a pair of pivot arms pivotably coupled to each other in a scissoring manner proximate respective center portions of said pivot arms, said scissor assembly pivotably coupled to said conveyor frame proximate said endless drive belt;
a pair of drive belt guide wheels rotatably coupled to respective ones of said pivot arms, one of said drive belt guide wheels coupled to one of said pivot arms and the other of said drive belt guide wheels coupled to the other of said pivot arms; and
a spring disposed between said pivot arms and configured to apply a biasing force to each of said pivot arms to bias said belt guide wheels toward said drive belt in a manner that automatically adjusts the position of said drive belt relative to said rollers.

2. The transport conveyor of claim 1 , wherein said drive belt comprises one of a type chosen from a v-belt, a poly v-belt, a flat belt, a flanged belt, a round belt, and a double v-belt and wherein each of said guide wheels comprises at least one chosen from a flanged wheel, a flat wheel, and a crowned wheel.

3. The transport conveyor of claim 1 , wherein said spring comprises a tension spring and each of said pivot arms comprises a short leg and a long leg, wherein a proximal end of said short leg and a proximal end of said long leg are fixedly coupled to one another proximate the center portion of said pivot arm, said pivot arm is selectively reconfigurable for at least two different roller pitch distances by switching the location of said guide wheel and said spring on said pivot arm, wherein said pivot arm is in a first configuration when said belt guide wheel is rotatably coupled at a distal end of said long leg and said spring is coupled at a distal end of said short leg and said pivot arm is in a second configuration when said belt guide wheel is rotatably coupled at a distal end of said short leg and said spring is coupled at a distal end of said long leg.

4. The transport conveyor of claim 3 , wherein said short leg and said long leg are fixedly coupled at an obtuse angle relative to each other.

5. The transport conveyor of claim 3 , wherein said short leg comprises a short leg indicator disposed at said short leg and said long leg comprises a long leg indicator disposed at said long leg.

6. The automatic drive belt biasing device of claim 3 , wherein said pitch distance is substantially equal to a distance between a first gap between a pair of adjacent rollers and second gap between another pair of adjacent rollers, such that one of said belt guide wheels is disposed substantially adjacent to said first gap and the other of said belt guide wheels is disposed substantially adjacent to said second gap.

7. The transport conveyor of claim 1 , wherein each of said belt guide wheels is positioned adjacent to a gap between adjacent ones of said rollers.

8. The transport conveyor of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said pivot arms comprises a lateral offset such that said guide belt wheels are positioned in linear alignment relative to one another.

9. An automatic drive belt biasing device for biasing a drive belt into frictional contact with a conveyor roller, said automatic drive belt biasing device comprising:
a spring;
a pair of scissoring pivot arms; and
a pair of drive belt guide wheels;
wherein said scissoring pivot arms are pivotably coupled to each other in a scissoring manner proximate respective center portions of said pivot arms;
wherein one of said pair of belt guide wheels is rotationally disposed at one end of one of said pair of pivot arms and the other of said belt guide wheels is rotationally disposed at one end of the other of said pivot arms;
wherein said spring is disposed between said pivot arms and configured to bias said belt guide wheels toward the drive belt in a manner that automatically adjusts a biasing force of said belt guide wheels on the drive belt.

10. The transport conveyor of claim 9 , wherein each of said belt guide wheels comprises at least one chosen from a flanged wheel, a flat wheel, and a crowned wheel.

11. The transport conveyor of claim 9 , wherein each of said belt guide wheels is positioned adjacent to a gap between adjacent ones of conveyor rollers.

12. The transport conveyor of claim 9 , wherein said spring comprises a tension spring and each of said pivot arms comprises a short leg and a long leg, wherein a proximal end of said short leg and a proximal end of said long leg are fixedly coupled to one another proximate the center portion of said pivot arm, said pivot arm is selectively reconfigurable for at least two different roller pitch distances by changing the location of the guide wheel and the spring on said pivot arm, wherein said pivot arm is in a first configuration when said belt guide wheel is rotatably coupled at a distal end of said long leg and said spring is coupled at a distal end of said short leg and said pivot arm is in a second configuration when said belt guide wheel is rotatably coupled at a distal end of said short leg and said spring is coupled at a distal end of said long leg.

13. The transport conveyor of claim 12 , wherein said short leg comprises a short leg indicator disposed at said short leg and said long leg comprises a long leg indicator disposed at said long leg.

14. An automatic drive belt biasing device for biasing a drive belt into frictional contact with a conveyor roller, said automatic drive belt biasing device comprising:
a pivot arm pivotably supported about a center portion of said pivot arm at a portion of a conveyor frame proximate a drive belt of a conveyor roller;
a drive belt guide wheel rotatably coupled at one end of said pivot arm; and
a spring coupled at an end of said pivot arm opposite of said belt guide wheel, said spring applies a biasing force to said pivot arm to bias said belt guide wheel toward the drive belt in a manner which automatically adjusts the position of the drive belt relative to the conveyer roller.

15. The automatic drive belt biasing device of claim 14 , further comprising another pivot arm pivotably coupled to said pivot arm in a scissoring manner proximate respective center portions of said pivot arm and said another pivot arm to form a scissoring arm assembly and a belt guide wheel rotatably coupled at one end of said another pivot arm, wherein said spring comprises a tension spring that is disposed between said pivot arm and said another pivot arm at respective ends of said pivot arms opposite respective ones of said belt guide wheels, said tension spring configured to bias said belt guide wheels toward the drive belt in a manner which automatically adjusts the biasing force applied to the drive belt by said belt guide wheels.

16. The automatic drive belt biasing device of claim 14 , wherein said pivot arm comprises a short leg and a long leg, wherein a proximal end of said short leg and a proximal end of said long leg are fixedly coupled to one another proximate the center portion of said pivot arm, said pivot arm is selectively configurable for at least two different roller pitch distances by changing the location of said gui

Assignees

• Dematic Corp

Inventors

• Duncan Jeffery D
• Thomas Nicholas M
• Pilarz Nolan R
• Triesenberg Thomas H
• Hebbur Shreedhar M

Classifications

• B65G23/44 Primary

  Belt or chain tensioning arrangements · CPC title

• B65G43/00

  Control devices, e.g. for safety, warning or fault-correcting · CPC title

• B65G23/12

  Arrangements of co-operating drums or rollers to augment tractive effort applied to the belts · CPC title

• B65G13/07

  having endless driving elements · CPC title

• B65G13/071 Primary

  with frictional engagement · CPC title