Inch and store conveyor

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Rahul R asked Jul 25, '23 Julie Weller commented Jul 28, '23

Inch and store conveyor

Test_Inch_Store_2.fsmI am trying to build a custom accumulating conveyor called inch and store. When the down stream conveyor is blocked, the upstream conveyor will enter into inch and store mode. Instead of running the conveyor and moving the package all the way to the blocked conveyor. It runs only to add one package and then stops for either downstream to be unblocked for the next package to come. IF the next package arrives, the conveyor runs just enough to add that package. This way packages are added one at a time to make best use of the conveyor length. During this time, if downstream conveyor becomes unblocked, the upstream conveyor can exit inch and store mode and run until downstream conveyor again gets blocked.

I tried to build a sample model which works for happy path condition but fails for few corner cases. I am wondering if anyone has an elegant solution.

In the attached model at 420 seconds, you will see there are boxes to be indexed forward, but it does not move forward.

Software Version:

FlexSim 23.1.1

conveyorsystem conveying

test-inch-store-2.fsm (53.0 KiB)

· 1

Julie Weller commented · Jul 28, 2023 at 03:16 PM

Hi @Rahul R, was Jason Lightfoot's answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of their answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always comment back to reopen your question.

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Answer 1 · 2023-07-25T12:26:21Z

Jason Lightfoot answered Jul 25, '23 Jason Lightfoot edited Jul 26, '23

@Rahul R Try the attached model, which has an object process flow allowing you to duplicate the instance/member (conveyor) and the logic will work for the new instance. The photoeye references are stored as label pointers on the conveyor so will be correct for any duplicated instances.

InchStoreConveyor.fsm

It has a simple process flow and uses (Global) lists to record the combination of states:

You could probably do it without the lists to further simplify it.

1690288639371.png (45.3 KiB)

inchstoreconveyor.fsm (62.3 KiB)

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