Motors can be used to control whether the conveyor systems are on or off at a given time. The Motor can also be used to sync dog gaps on a power and free chain loop when simulating a power and free conveyor system.
Adding Conveyors to a Motor
When you add conveyors to a Motor, the Motor will stop and restart all connected conveyor lines under certain conditions (such as when it receives a message from another object or when a Decision Point or Photo Eye alerts it to stop/resume). You can add conveyors to a Motor two ways:
The first way is to make an input/output port connection ('A' connect) between the Motor and the conveyors.
The second way is to use the Motor Properties dialog box to add conveyors:
- Double-click the Motor to open its Properties dialog box. In the Motor tab under Conveyors, click the Plus sign
. A pop-up box will appear that will allow you to select a conveyor from a list of conveyors, as shown in the following image:
- Click StraightConveyors and/or CurvedConveyors to expand the list and view the available conveyors. You can click on multiple if needed. Click Select to add the conveyors. The conveyor you selected should now appear in the Conveyors list.
- Click OK to apply the settings and close the Properties dialog box.
A blue line will now go from the Motor to all the conveyors to which it is connected.
Using Decision Points or Photo Eyes to Control a Motor
Follow these steps to use a Decision Point or Photo Eye to stop or restart a Motor:
- Make sure that there is a center port connection (an 'S' connect) from the Decision Point or Photo Eye to the Motor.
- Also make sure that the Motor is connected to all the conveyors it should control. (See the previous section, Adding Conveyors to a Motor.)
- Double-click the Decision Point or Photo Eye to open its Properties dialog box.
- Decide what conditions should cause the Motor to stop and what should cause it to restart (such as when an item when an item arrives at a Decision Point or Photo Eye). Find the appropriate Trigger on the Decision Point or Photo Eye and click the Plus sign to add a new Behavior.
- Select Stop/Resume from the list of available Behaviors, then select either Stop Motor, Stop Motor and Delay, or Resume Motor. (See Stop/Resume for more information about each Behavior and its available settings.)
- Click OK to apply the settings and close the Properties dialog box.
See Stop/Resume for more information about controlling Motors with Decision Point or Photo Eye.
Power and Free Settings
When you double-click a Motor, you will open the Properties dialog box. The Motor tab has two check boxes that affect Power and Free systems. (See Power and Free Systems for information about creating Power and Free simulations.)
If checked, the Sync Power and Free Dog Positions will use the Motor to ensure that the initial dog positions will be aligned on all of the conveyors connected to it. For example, if the Motor's first connected conveyor is 10.2 meters long, and the dog gap is 1.0 meters, then it will set the dog position to start at 0.0 on the first conveyor and at 0.8 on the second connected conveyor (the remaining distance to the next dog after the end of the first conveyor).
The order of connected conveyors is important when using Sync Power and Free Dog Positions. As mentioned in the above example, the first dog position on the second connected conveyor will be set to to 0.8. This is the second conveyor connected to the motor (as listed in the Conveyors Listbox of the Motor properties) and not necessarily the conveyor connected to the end of the first conveyor. Make sure that the conveyors are connected to the motor in the same order that the conveyors in the loop are connected or the dog positioning will be incorrect. You can adjust the order of connected conveyors by using the up and down arrows above the list of connected conveyors.
If Sync Power and Free Dog Positions is unchecked, or if Power and Free conveyors do not have an associated Motor, the dog positions will be defined automatically when the first item enters the conveyor.
The Adjust Dog Gap for Continuous Loop check box is available if Sync Power and Free Dog Positions is checked. When checked, the Motor will assume that the conveyors connected to it represent a looping Power and Free chain. The Motor will calculate the total length of the loop based on the combined lengths of the connected Power and Free conveyors and will adjust the dog gap of each conveyor so that the total length of the loop divides evenly by the dog gap. For example, if the total length of a Motor's conveyors adds up to 100.2 meters, and the dog gap is 1.0 meters, the Motor will adjust the dog gap of each conveyor to be 1.002 meters (100.2 / 100), so that the full loop makes up exactly 100 dogs. The algorithm rounds to the nearest number of dogs.
