Long sorter with many destinations - is there an easier way?

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Craig DIckson asked Apr 25, '22 Craig DIckson commented Apr 26, '22

Long sorter with many destinations - is there an easier way?

Hi- I am modeling a system with 2 sorters that each have 1000 destinations, where each destination is a queue. I'd really like to avoid creating 2000 connections. Is there a way to set the distance a box will travel on a conveyor to its divert? (Sort of the opposite of how you can make a long input transfer and then set the place on it where a box will enter the conveyor.)

Thanks, Craig

Software Version:

FlexSim 22.1.1

conveyor sorter

Answer 1 · 2022-04-26T09:42:04Z

Felix Möhlmann answered Apr 26, '22 Craig DIckson commented Apr 26, '22

If you can quantify how far an item should travel on a conveyor (specific object/section), then you could use a process flow to wait until the item should have travelled that distance based on the conveyor's speed and then move it off of the conveyor.

To account for delays/stops while the item is en route, the current position of the item on the conveyor can be read from the tree. If the specified distance was not yet reached, the token can be delayed further.

In the attached model I use the fact that the conveyors flow along the y-axis to determine the target distance based on the position of the target queue and conveyor start point. The target queue and respective conveyor are determined in the "On Creation" trigger of the source. Getting the correct distance and conveyor in a more complex model will likely require more effort/thought though.

conveyorTravelDist-fm.fsm

conveyortraveldist-fm.fsm (52.9 KiB)

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Craig DIckson commented · Apr 26, 2022 at 03:42 PM

Thank you @Felix Möhlmann . I was starting to think along those lines. Luckily the conveyor is simple, non-accumulating power and free, so the timing is relatively straightforward. It does kind of make the conveyor construct superfluous of course, as now it's only for animation.

Thinking about what you said, what I think I will do is have groups of 20 or so destinations, each with a control point at the start. The process flow will wait for the event of the box arriving at the start point for its destination, and then delay for just the extra time to get to the destination. That way I "only" have to create 100 control points...

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Craig DIckson commented · Apr 26, 2022 at 04:14 PM

@Felix Möhlmann Looking closer at your model, I think you got just what I needed. Also, I like your use of the "await". That is exactly the type of logic that made me want the ability to delay from code from the first day I started using FlexSim, like I could when I first started in simulation using SIMAN. (I guess that means I'm getting old!)

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