Elscint vibratory counting and dispensing system for ear plugs
Elscint Automation, has manufactured a counting and dispensing system for ear plugs. The requirement was to count and dispense 12 ear plugs at a time (12 times a minute). These 12 ear plugs had to be packed in a single box. Presently this was done manually and resulted in mistakes on the part of the operator whereby either short or extra ear plugs were packed.
To resolve this problem, Elscint offered a vibratory counting and dispensing system. In this equipment a set number of ear plugs are always dispensed on pressing of a foot switch. Additionally, dispensing can also be activated by sensing the hand of the operator as soon as he puts his hand to collect the ear plugs. This ensures the operator gets the required number of ear plugs for packing.
The chances of mistakes by wrong counting of the ear plugs is eliminated as he gets the required number of ear plugs in his hand and further dispensing does not take place unless all these ear plugs are packed. This system is very useful for all such types of packing requirements. The equipment comes along with a stand, dispensing chute with bin, electrical and pneumatic controls.
There is an additional sensor on the dispensing chute which switches off the vibratory feeder when the chute is full. This ensures that in case the operator is not around or the packing line is not working due to some reason, the operator does not have to switch off the entire system. Once he presses the foot pedal / button / places his hand for collection, the cycle commences once again automatically. Poka yoke too is provided to ensure that even in case where there are less or no ear plugs to dispense, the dispensing does not take place even after pressing the foot pedal / button / hand signal. The number of ear plugs which need to be dispensed in one lot can be changed by the operator, in case the requirement changes in the future.