AUTOMATED APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONSOLIDATING PRODUCTS FOR PACKAGING

• Main Authors: GUNDERSEN, BORGE P, DOLAN, MARY L, LEPPER, JOHN M, RAVN, THOMAS C, ABRAMS, RICHARD W, CHRISTENSEN, SVEND, WANG, DANIEL TSU-FANG, EDWARDS, RUSSELL J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 23.03.2010
• Subjects: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; CONVEYING; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGINGARTICLES OR MATERIALS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; REGULATING; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; STORING; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING; UNPACKING

An automated apparatus for controlling the automatic packaging of contact lenses in a contact lens fabrication facility. A first robotic transfer device is provided for periodically transferring a first predetermined amount of individual packages from the first station to an intermediate consolidation buffer. The packages are deposited on the consolidation buffer. A controller tracks down and identifies each individual contact lens conveyed form an inspection station to the consolidation buffer. The controller includes a memory and a logic for storing the identity of individual packages containing contact lenses, predetermined as out of specification by the inspection station, and generates a signal to cause the first robotic device to discard any individual package identified by the controller as being out of specification. A second robotic assembly periodically transfers a second predetermined amount of individual packages from the consolidation buffer to a second processing station. The controller enables the first robotic device to provide sufficient amount of individual packages to the consolidation buffer to enable the second robotic assembly to continuously transfer the second predetermined amount of packages to the second processing station in every period.