Rockwell Automation Arena Packaging Users Guide - Manual (Page 28)

A RENA P ACKAGING T EMPLATE U SER ’ S G UIDE
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Conveyor module
D ESCRIPTION
This module defines the accumulating conveyor elements that move product through the
system. Accumulating conveyors allow products to move on the conveyor even if products
at the end of the conveyor are stopped. They are typically used as buffers to level out line
fluctuations caused by machine stoppages, failures, differences in run speeds, etc. The
following figure shows some basic terminology and attributes for accumulating conveyors.
Products enter the conveyor from the upstream module and travel along the conveyor’s
length. If the Output Rate off of the conveyor is less than the Input Rate onto the
conveyor, then products accumulate in front of the downstream module.
You can also specify optional characteristics for conveyors such as sensors, controls, loss,
reliability, and scheduled stops.
R EMARKS
Refer to the Sensors, Controls, Loss, Reliability, Scheduled Stops, Costs, and Animation
dialog boxes for more information on these options.
Accumulating conveyors are always initially active with a speed factor of 1 at the begin-
ning of a simulation run.
A conveyor’s run parameters may be specified in either metric or English units of
measure, depending on what is selected for Units of Measure in the Simulate module. See
the “Simulate module” on page 36 for further information.
Conveyor modules may not be linked directly to other Conveyor modules. The Conveyor
Link module must be used to model adjoining conveyors.
Accumulating Conveyor
Velocity (Feet or Meters/Min
Width (Feet or Meters)
Output Rate
(Units/Min)
Input Rate
(Units/Min)
Length (Feet or Meters)
Accumulated Units
of Specified Density
Traveling Units
Downstream
Module
Upstream
Module
Capacity (Units) = (Length) * (Width) * (Unit Density)
Nominal Run Speed (Units/Min) = (Velocity) * (Width) * (Unit Density)