High speed counter
First Claim
1. A system for counting small objects, said system comprising:
- a singulating and counting module structured and operable to singulate a plurality of objects from a large volume of the objects and count the singulated objects, the singulating and counting module comprising;
a bulk object hopper unit;
a singulating vacuum wheel comprising;
a plurality of vacuum ports disposed in a side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, the vacuum ports spaced apart in a circle radially inward from a perimeter of the singulating vacuum wheel and extending interiorly through the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, the vacuum ports structured and operable to singulate objects dispensed from the bulk object hopper unit; and
an object off-load and counting device positioned between the bulk object hopper unit and the singulating vacuum wheel unit, for removing and counting singulated objects from the singulating vacuum wheel, the object off-load and counting device comprising;
a hollow tubular body; and
an object stripping plate comprising a substantially V-shaped leading edge that is chamfered inward toward a center of the tubular body and is disposed in close proximity to the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel such that as the singulating vacuum wheel rotates each singulated object will contact a first side of the substantially V-shaped leading edge and be pushed radially outward to dislodge each object from the respective vacuum port allowing each object to fall into and travel through the tubular body;
a diverter and accumulator module structured and operable to sequentially receive the singulated objects, sequentially separate the received objects into groups of objects such that each group of objects comprises an automatically controlled number of objects and at least one of the groups of objects comprises a different number of objects than at least one other group of objects, and direct each group of singulated objects into a selected one of a plurality of discharge funnels of the diverter and accumulator module; and
an object collection module structured and operable to automatically sequentially position each one of a plurality of object collection receptacles adjacent to the discharge funnels such that each group of objects is deposited into a respective corresponding one of the object collection receptacles.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for counting a plurality of objects and parsing the objects into groups of varying quantities. In various embodiments, the system includes a singulating and counting module operable to singulate and count a plurality of objects from a large volume of the objects. Additionally, the system includes a diverter and accumulator module operable to receive the singulated objects, parse the objects into groups of varying quantities, and direct each group into a selected one of a plurality of discharge funnels. Furthermore, the system includes an object collection module operable to sequentially position each one of a plurality of object collection receptacles adjacent the discharge funnels such that each group of objects is deposited into a respective corresponding one of the object collection receptacles.
14 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A system for counting small objects, said system comprising:
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a singulating and counting module structured and operable to singulate a plurality of objects from a large volume of the objects and count the singulated objects, the singulating and counting module comprising; a bulk object hopper unit; a singulating vacuum wheel comprising; a plurality of vacuum ports disposed in a side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, the vacuum ports spaced apart in a circle radially inward from a perimeter of the singulating vacuum wheel and extending interiorly through the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, the vacuum ports structured and operable to singulate objects dispensed from the bulk object hopper unit; and an object off-load and counting device positioned between the bulk object hopper unit and the singulating vacuum wheel unit, for removing and counting singulated objects from the singulating vacuum wheel, the object off-load and counting device comprising; a hollow tubular body; and an object stripping plate comprising a substantially V-shaped leading edge that is chamfered inward toward a center of the tubular body and is disposed in close proximity to the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel such that as the singulating vacuum wheel rotates each singulated object will contact a first side of the substantially V-shaped leading edge and be pushed radially outward to dislodge each object from the respective vacuum port allowing each object to fall into and travel through the tubular body; a diverter and accumulator module structured and operable to sequentially receive the singulated objects, sequentially separate the received objects into groups of objects such that each group of objects comprises an automatically controlled number of objects and at least one of the groups of objects comprises a different number of objects than at least one other group of objects, and direct each group of singulated objects into a selected one of a plurality of discharge funnels of the diverter and accumulator module; and an object collection module structured and operable to automatically sequentially position each one of a plurality of object collection receptacles adjacent to the discharge funnels such that each group of objects is deposited into a respective corresponding one of the object collection receptacles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for counting small objects, said method comprising:
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rotating a portion of singulating vacuum wheel through a plurality of objects retained in an object singulation chamber of a singulating and counting module, the singulating wheel comprising a plurality of vacuum ports disposed in a side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, the vacuum ports spaced apart in a circle radially inward from a perimeter of the singulating vacuum wheel and extending interiorly through the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, providing a vacuum to each vacuum port; drawing an object to each vacuum port and retaining each drawn object to each vacuum port on the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel as the singulation wheel rotates through the plurality of objects, thereby singulating and extracting the drawn and retained objects from the plurality of the objects in the object singulation chamber; removing the singulated objects from the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel, wherein removing the singulated objects comprises; rotating the side face of the singulating vacuum wheel in close proximity to an object stripping plate of the singulating and counting module, the object stripping plate comprising a substantially V-shaped leading edge that is chamfered inward toward a center of a tubular body of the singulating and counting module, such that as the singulating vacuum wheel rotates each singulated object will contact a first side of the substantially V-shaped leading edge and be pushed radially outward to sequentially dislodge each object from the respective vacuum port allowing each object to fall into and travel through the tubular body; counting the removed singulated objects; sequentially receiving the removed and counted singulated objects, sequentially separating the received objects into groups of objects such that each group of objects comprises an automatically controlled number of objects and at least one of the groups of objects comprises a different number of objects than at least one other group of objects, and directing each group of singulated objects into a selected one of a plurality of discharge funnels of a diverter and accumulator module, the sequentially receiving, separating and directing performed utilizing an automatically controlled diverter head of the diverter and accumulator module; and automatically sequentially positioning each one of a plurality of object collection receptacles adjacent the discharge funnels such that each group of objects is deposited into a respective corresponding one of the object collection receptacles, the automatically sequentially positioning performed utilizing an object collection module. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A system for counting small objects, said system comprising:
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a singulating and counting module structured and operable to singulate a plurality of objects from a large volume of the objects and count the singulated objects; a diverter and accumulator module structured and operable to sequentially receive the singulated objects, sequentially separate the received objects into groups of objects such that each group of objects comprises an automatically controlled number of objects and at least one of the groups of objects comprises a different number of objects than at least one other group of objects and direct each group of singulated objects into a selected one of a plurality of discharge funnels of the diverter and accumulator module; an object collection module structured and operable to automatically sequentially position each of a plurality of object collection receptacles adjacent to the discharge funnels such that each group of objects is deposited into a respective corresponding one of the object collection receptacles, each collection receptacle comprising an information device including information indicative of the number of objects to be included in each group of objects to be deposited into each respective collection receptacle, at least one of the groups of objects having a different number of objects than at least one other group of objects; and a control system operable to read each information device, store the read information in an electronic spreadsheet and control and coordinate the operations of the singulating and counting module, the diverter and accumulator module and the object collection module to deposit each group of objects into the respective corresponding collection receptacle based on the information stored in the electronic spreadsheet.
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Specification