FlexSim's conveyor objects can simulate a wide range of conveyor technologies that can manage the flow of products or materials throughout a conveyor system. This chapter will introduce different methods for simulating common conveyor tasks such as merging, sorting, gapping, and Power and Free conveyor technologies.
FlexSim simulates these kinds of complex systems using built-in Behaviors (also known as Pick Lists) on Decision Points or Photo Eyes. Some of the Decision Point or Photo Eye Behaviors are:
- Send Item - Can send items to different destinations (such as different conveyor lines) based on criteria you specify
- Stop/Resume - Can stop an item, delay an item, and can set conditions that can make a conveyor motor stop or restart
- Area Restriction - Can create an area that only allows a fixed number of items to flow through a restricted area on the conveyor at a time
- Movement - Can rotate, tilt, or move items at a particular point on a conveyor
- Set Conveyor Speed - Can change the speed of the conveyor based on certain conditions
See the chapter on Decision Point and Photo Eye Pick List Behaviors for a more in-depth discussion of each Behavior and its available settings. The other sections in this chapter will discuss how you can use some of these Behaviors in combination with other conveyor objects to simulate common conveyor functions.
