IEEE Industry Application Society

Annual Meeting
New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5-9, 1997

A NEW METHOD OF HIGH SPEED SORTING USING

RETRACTABLE CONVEYOR SYSTEM

Akram Hossain
Department of Electrical Engineering Technology
Purdue University Calumet
Hammond, IN 46323
ahossain@calumet.purdue.edu

Suzali Mohamed Suyut

Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
smohamed@cord.iupui.edu

Abstract:-- Sorting of packaged products is an essential

process in a packaging cycle. In the meat packaging
industry manual sorting was commonly used because of
high cost of automatic sorting machines. In the era of
computer automation, manual sorting is becoming more
costly and uneconomical compared to having an automatic
machine to perform the same task. We have designed and
developed a new controller for a sorting conveyor system
that works in synchronism with vacuum-seal packaging
machines. The sorting conveyor system can be used for
several different types of products. Currently, the system is
applied for sorting beef jerky, a product that is
comparatively lighter than most other packaged beef
products. The speed of the sorting conveyor system can be
adjusted by the user for synchronized operation with several
different types of packaging machines.

For sorting operations the system is programmed to

handle two indexing lengths, two retractable positions and
one forward advance. Two detection systems are installed in
a strategic location in the system. One to detect empty
packages and the other to detect metal particles in the
packaged product. The detection systems relay pertinent
signal to the controller of the retractable conveyor system and
the controller appropriately responds to perform the sorting
operation.

I. INTRODUCTION
A sorting system is essential for meat and pharmaceutical
packaging systems. No matter whatever amount of statistical
process control (SPC) is applied; a sorting system is always
necessary to insure the quality of packaging. The system that
we designed is called retractable conveyor sorting system.
Figure 1 shown one of the picture of the retractable conveyor
sorting system. The system consists of two sub-systems: the
indexing conveyor and the retractable table. This retractable
conveyor system is designed to perform high speed sorting
operation. In this application the packaged beef jerkies are
sorted into three categories:
1) good packages (acceptable packages)
2) empty packages (with no metallic particles)
3) reject packages (contain metallic particles)

Figure 1: Retractable conveyor system.

The operation of the retractable conveyor system is
synchronized with the packaging machine in order to
optimize its performance. The sorting speed of the conveyor
is equal to the speed of the front-end packaging machine that
is between 10 to 20 cycle per minutes [l]. The retractable
sorting conveyor system consists of a micro-PLC, two digital

0-7803-4067-1/97/$10.00
0 1997 IEEE.
906

controllers coupled with two servomotors, a metal detector

unit, a photo detector unit, two conveyor belts, and a low
friction retractable table. Figure 2 shows the complete setup
(ofthe packaging and sorting system discussed in this paper.
At every indexing cycle of the packaging machine, the
photo and metal detector units identify the batch as one of the
lhree categories mentioned earlier. If they detect the batch as
acceptable one, the conveyor indexes L1 inches and then the
table retracts Si inches swiftly. This causes the product to fall
onto a conveyor that is running transversely below the
retractable table. The transverse conveyor leads the
acceptable packages to a boxing machine. If they detect any
t:mpty packages in a batch, the conveyor indexes L2 inches
and then the table retracts S2 inches swiftly. This retraction
drops the empty packages onto a different conveyor that is
also running transversely below the table. The latter conveyor
leads the products to a station for manual sorting. If any
metal particle is detected in a batch of packaged products, the
conveyor indexes L1 inches and the table advance forward
without retraction. During the next indexing cycle the reject
plackages will fall into a reject bin located at the end of the
retractable conveyor system. The products in the reject-bin
are sorted manually at a later time.

Most of the components interface with the Pacific

Scientific PS752 servocontroller [2]. PS752 is the main
controller of the system. Figure 3 shows the block diagram of
system hardware and their interconnections.

A. Sensors
The project used two types of sensors: I) photo detector
and 2) metal detector. For each machine cycle twenty-four
empty pockets are formed by the forming tool. At the loading
area these pockets are loaded with the product (beef jerky)
either manually or automatically. Occasionally, the loader
misses to load the pocket with the product. A set of 24
photodetectors, mounted on an adjustable platform, is
position at the entrance of the sealing section of the
packaging machine. As the loaded pockets advance to the
sealing section, the photo detectors perform empty-pocket
test. An empty-pocket is detected by checking the presence of
reflected light source from the mirror located beneath each
pockets.

--

.
I

Controller
L

Figure 2: Top view of the complete setup of the packaging

and sorting system.

Figure 3: Block diagram of the retractable conveyor system.

The retractable conveyor system has been field tested for

160 hours before being commissioned for food packaging
industries. The use of retractable conveyor for sorting is a
new concept. Authors of this paper have done this project in
collaboration with AME Engineering. AME Engineering has
done the mechanical design for the retractable conveyor
system.
11. CONTROLLER SYSTEM HARDWARE

There are several major components of the retractable

conveyor system. They are:
a) Sensors
b) Controllers
c) Servomotors
d) Ancillary units

B. Controllers
Three controllers are used for the sorting system: two
servocontrollers, PS753 and PS752, and an Idec micro-PLC.
PS752 is the main controller that interfaces with the
packaging machine, metal detector, micro-PLC, and PS753
controller. The main controller tracks the status (empty or not
empty) of each batch of product from the photo detector unit
to the sorting location, X i or X2. It also tracks the status
from the metal detector unit to the sorting location, XI or X2.
Depending of the status of the batch the controller decide
whether to send a retract or a reject signal to PS753.
The Idec micro-PLC is used to collect the signals from the
twenty-four photodetectors and decides whether the batch
contains any empty pockets. The result is then conveyed to
the main controller.

907

C. Servomotor
TWO servomotors, R43G and R43H are utilized for the
The R43H performs indexing Of the conveyor and
The
R43G perfoms retracting Of the
servomotor for the retractable table has more power handling
capacity than that of the indexing conveyor.

retractable table. For this purpose it required two input

parameters specifying indexing length L1 and L2. The
decision to index at L1 or L2 inches is based on the status of
the packages. If the packages are acceptable or reject, the
indexing conveyor will index a distance of L1. Otherwise,
(empty packages) it indexes L2 inches.

D. Ancillary Units:
Machine

servomotor controller.
There are two receiving conveyors beneath the retractable
table. The first conveyor transfers the acceptable batch of
packaged product to the boxing conveyor. The other one
transfers the empty packages to a temporary storage location
for manual sorting. TABLE I summarized the function of
each component in the retractable conveyor system.

A. PacIJicScientiJic PS752
The main operation of the PS752 controller is to perform
indexing that moves the product to xi or X2 location on the

j,

The PS753 is programmed to perform retract or reject

operation. It is hardwired to received a retract or reject signal
from the PS752 controller. Based on this input signal the
controller will either retract the table or move the table

908

forward. The logical flow chart of the control software

installed on PS753 is shown in Figure 6 .

for typical operations the number of rejects is very small, the

stationary zero position will reduce the travel time of the
table during retraction. A list of user input parameters is
shown in TABLE 111.
Signal

from Indexing
Controler
package shift
registers

h\

/Retract

No

Yes1

Yes

and return to

move table

zero position

Figure 6 : Program flow of PS753 controller

Send reject
signal to
Retract

TABLE I11
User input parameters
Retracting speed (77)
Zero reference from the front end of the table
Retract length 1

retract signal
to Retract

C. Micro PLC

Figure 5: Program flow of PS752 controller

TABLE I1
User input parameters

-Indexing length to position

Indexing length to position 2

Indexing speed (YO)
Indexing acceleration (%)
Number of indexes to position 1 or 2 from photocell
Number of indexes to position 1 or 2 from metal detector
~

~~

Retracting length depends on the location of the product

or1 the table. If the product is at location Xi, it will retract
less distance than if the product is at location X2. The
m,aximum retracting length for the table is 24 inches. The
retracting lengths must be entered by user during
initialization. Two safety devices are installed to detect the
maximum retracting length. The safety devices override user
input values if they are greater than the maximum length.
The original zero-position located five inches beyond the
frame of the conveyor system. During reject operation the
table will move to this zero-position. The relative or
stationary zero-position can be specified anywhere between
the original zero-position and X i location by the user. Since

Micro-PLC is programmed to monitor the output from the

twenty-four photodetector
units.
Physically,
six
photodetectors are connected in parallel to one PLC input
terminal. If any one of the photodetector is activated, the PLC
will send a packet-empty signal to PS752 controller. The
PLC is also programmed to emulate end-of-indexing signal
of the packaging machine for the purpose of configuring the
retractable conveyor system. In this emulated mode the
retractable conveyor can be tested or operated without
running the packaging machine. The program flow of the
PLC is shown in Figure 7.
IV. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

The operation of the retractable conveyor system is

initiated by the packaging machine. Therefore, the maximum
speed of the sorting conveyor is limited to the speed of the
packaging machine. For every machine index there is one
sorting operation performed by the retractable conveyor.
When packaging machine finishes indexing the indexing
conveyor begins its operation and sends an indexing-done
signal to the indexing conveyor controller (PS752). In Figure

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8a shows the time for one machine cycle that is from To to

T5. The packaging machine indexing time is from To to Ti.
The time from T i to T5 is the process time of the packaging
machine where product is being vacuum-seal.

amount of time for retracting and returning to zero position is

from T4 to Ti of the next cycle. During retracting, table
acceleration and speed are critical in order to have clean
drop of the packages on the receiving conveyor.

sensor
ON ?

Send Empty
Package signal
to PS752

Send Full
Package signal
to PS752

Figure 8b: Velocity profile and timing of the indexing

conveyor

Figure 7: Program flow of the micro PLC

Figure 8a: Velocity profile and timing of the packaging

machine.
The first operation of the retractable sorting conveyor is to
move the product to position X i or X2 on the retractable
table. The indexing length of the indexing conveyor is
usually longer than the indexing length of the packaging
machine. This results in longer time usage by the indexing
conveyor as shown (Ti to T2) in Figure 8b. The indexing
conveyor has a maximum of T5 - T i seconds to perform the
indexing. When the packaging machine indexes the indexing
conveyor must remain in idle condition for timing and
synchronization purpose.
Once the packages are placed at location X i or X2, then
the table retracts causing the product to drop onto one of the
receiving conveyor beneath the table. The table is then
returned to its zero position at a constant speed. Timing
diagram of the table retracting and returning to its zero
position is shown in Figure 8c. T2 to T3 is the retracting time
and T3 to T4 is the returning time. The maximum allowable

Figure 8c: Velocity profile and timing of the retractable

table.
The utilization time of the sorting conveyor is define by
the following formula:

For indexing conveyor:

For retractable table:

910

For the sorting conveyor system:

Shrtingtime

0.3665

EndofPackaging Machine
Uxing
Starljng o f Indexing Conveyor

1.2828

End of Indexing Conveyor

Retracting start

1.7228

EndofRetracting
Table start to move back to zem
Position

100
09163 sec

Using the data shown in Figure 9, the utilization of the

indexing conveyor, retractable table and the sorting system is
shown in TABLE IV. These utilization results are based on
the work time of the unit per machine cycle time[3].
TABLE IV

IU&ation
Indexing Conveyor
Retractable Table
Complete System

0.7300sec

- 2.4528

Table reach zem position

- 2.9294

End OfMachine cycle

0A766 sec

71.20

V. RESULTS
Timing analysis and synchronized performance of the
packaging machine and the retractable conveyor system is
shown in Figure 9. The result shown is based on indexing
cclnveyor length of L1 (longer indexing length) and full
retracting length for the table. The packaging machine cycle
tirne is 2.9294 sec that is about 20 machine cycle per minute.
With indexing speed and acceleration at 50% and 60%
respectively, the time utilization of the retractable conveyor
is only 71.2% (2.0863 sec). This can be translated to
retractable conveyor idle time of 28.8% of machine cycle
tirne (0.8483 sec). With this information user can configure
thle retractable conveyor system to index or retract at a slower
rate if necessary. For the product tested in this project (beef
jerky); the speed and rate of acceleration of the indexing
conveyor and retractable table affect the overall performance
of the product transfer scheme.

Figure 9: Timing data from the tested system.

VII. REFERENCES
[11 Hossain h a m , Suyut Suzali, A New High Speed Digital Motor
Controller for Increasing the Packaging Speed of a Tiromat Machine,
IEEE Industry Application Society Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida,
Oct. 1995, Conference Record.
[q Motion Control Product, Pacific Scientific Motor & Control Division
[31 Raj Jain, The art of computers systems performance analysis:
techniques for experimental design, measurement, simulation, and
modeling, John Wiley and Sons, 1991

VI. CONCLUSION
Statistical Process Control (SPC) scheme can be easily
applied to this system. By the application of this scheme rate
of rejection can be reduced to a greater extend. To apply this
sclheme, detection system must be able to pin point the
trouble packaged instead of the trouble batch. In future,
authors and AME Engineering plans to improve the detection
system and apply the SPC scheme to this retractable
conveyor system.

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