I am modeling a high speed conveyor system, with wide conveyors that will have multiple packages traveling together across the width. (In the example it is just two rows of packages)
There is a side transfer where packages are deposited onto an "Intralox" conveyor, where small wheels embedded in the conveyor bed translate packages to where they need to go for sorting. I plan to use a trigger to create translation in the model, but first I need to solve this problem:
The packages start to transfer smoothly until they get almost to the midpoint of the downstream conveyor, but then they jump back to the end of the upstream conveyor, continue forward for a moment, and then jump back to the midpoint of the downstream conveyor.
(The overlapping of packages is caused by my attempts to stop the blockage of the upstream conveyor by reducing the "Entry Space", and is not a concern right now.)
What is causing this strange behavior? Also, how can I have the packages transfer into a position which is not the center line of the downstream conveyor? Would an Inline Transfer with max angle of 90 do that for me?
Here's the model. You can see the behavior start at time 2.1, which is set up as a Stop Time.
Thanks!