Study on improvement of transfer technology for the flexible band
In the current transfer machine for the flexible band, the equipment sometimes stops due to fluctuations in the tension of the flexible band, the readjustment is required at this time and the productivity is reduced. Therefore, in this study, we clarified factors influencing the positioning accuracy of the flexible band, proposed a monitoring method of operating condition, and aimed at the improvement of productivity. In this study, it is estimated that the cause of the failure is the torque fluctuation of the transfer machine and the displacement of the part during machining the flexible band. In order to detect the tension anomaly of the flexible band, methods using a clamp type ammeter, a rotary encoder, a strain gauge were proposed. In order to detect the tension anomaly of the flexible band, a method using a clamp type ammeter was proposed. Displacement was confirmed using a laser displacement sensor in order to detect the displacement of the processed part. As correlation was found between tension and current, tension and torque, it is considered that abnormality detection by current and torque is possible. In addition, since the machined part apparently undergoes elastic deformation, it was found that it was necessary to confirm the influence on the machining accuracy.
Analysis of Flexible Media Transport Characteristics of Crown Roller and Its Application to Design
Analysis of Flexible Media Transport Characteristics of Crown Roller and Its Application to Design Iizuka Yoichiro1, Hiroshi Yamaura Summary Crown rollers are often used in the flexible media transport mechanism consists of a rubber layered roller and a steel roller. In this paper, the flexible media transport characteristics of crown roller is investigated theoretically. The purpose of this study is to analyze the flexible media transport characteristics such as longitudinal distributionof nip pressure, traction and transport velocity and so on, and to develop the design method of crown roller that has desired characteristics. In the first step of this study, a numerical analysis method of the slip and traction characteristics between a rubber-layered roller and a mated steel roller based on the Boundary-Element Method was established. Under the assumption of a plane-strain, Green’s functions of a rubber roller with a rigid core based on polar coordinates were analytically derived in our method. A contact problem of two rollers under normal and tangential loading forces was numerically analyzed using derived Green’s function. Coulomb’s friction law, with a constant coefficient of friction, and no difference between the adhesion and the sliding coefficient of friction, was considered in the contact problem. The normal and tangential contact pressures, strain of rubber surface, nip width and indentation depth were iteratively calculated so as to satisfy the given normal and tangential loading forces. The tangential velocity ratio between the two rollers was also calculated for various parameter values. It was confirmed that the numerical results agree well with the experimental ones. In the second step of this study, an analytical approach that can estimate flexible media transfer characteristics of crown rollers was developed. In the analysis, two types of crown rollers, i.e. a rubber roller with crown shape in its internal diameter and a steel roller with crown shape in its diameter, were examined. And based on analysis results, a design approach of crown shape which can realize uniform longitudinal distribution of nip pressure was proposed. Designed crown rollers were fabricated and the performances of them were confirmed with experiment.
Remotely-Piloted Helicopter Citrus Yield Map Estimation
A remotely-piloted Gas Xcell mini-helicopter with GPS, wireless Ethernet, and a machinevision system was flown over orange trees to take overhead images. The individual tree images were processed to estimate the number of orange pixels in the images. The fruit yield of individualtrees at harvest a month later had an r-squared value of 0.373 with the number of orange pixels onthe irrigated tree images. While it was demonstrated that a remotely-piloted mini-helicopter could beused to acquire useful overhead images of citrus trees, substantial further research is needed toimprove the accuracy of estimates of individual tree yields or health.