markymark31
Member
Hi guys,
Has anyone done anything like this before ?
I am working on a project where I have to count car tyres that are manually placed on a conveyor belt. The belt starts and stops and can also reverse direction so the count must increase in the forward direction and decrease in the reverse direction !
The programming is fairly straight forward, what we are having more of an issue with is the actual sensors themselves.
The tyres might be spaced, but they could also be placed so that they are touching each other which rules out a standard retroflective sensor looking across the belt.
With the belt starting / stopping / reversing having a sensor looking down to detect the "hole" in the centre of the tyre might be tricky to tell the difference between the centre of the tyre or a gap between the tyres.
We settled upon a distance measuring sensor mounted on one side of the conveyor that measures the distance to the tyre - this distance increases and decreases again as the tyre passes through. We then detect the point when the tyre is closest and that is the point we count.
Our first test was with an ultrasonic sensor but the sample rate was not fast enough as the tyres are moving quickly along the belt at 1m/s. We then tried a laser distance sensor and this performed much better, however we are now getting laser "scatter" when the beam hits parts of the thread. This give us dodgy readings and we are struggling to "filter" these out.
So I am looking for some advice or anyone who has done something like this before ?
This needs to be a relatively low cost solution if possible so that rules out any kind of vision systems etc.
Any help with recommended sensors / solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Mark
Has anyone done anything like this before ?
I am working on a project where I have to count car tyres that are manually placed on a conveyor belt. The belt starts and stops and can also reverse direction so the count must increase in the forward direction and decrease in the reverse direction !
The programming is fairly straight forward, what we are having more of an issue with is the actual sensors themselves.
The tyres might be spaced, but they could also be placed so that they are touching each other which rules out a standard retroflective sensor looking across the belt.
With the belt starting / stopping / reversing having a sensor looking down to detect the "hole" in the centre of the tyre might be tricky to tell the difference between the centre of the tyre or a gap between the tyres.
We settled upon a distance measuring sensor mounted on one side of the conveyor that measures the distance to the tyre - this distance increases and decreases again as the tyre passes through. We then detect the point when the tyre is closest and that is the point we count.
Our first test was with an ultrasonic sensor but the sample rate was not fast enough as the tyres are moving quickly along the belt at 1m/s. We then tried a laser distance sensor and this performed much better, however we are now getting laser "scatter" when the beam hits parts of the thread. This give us dodgy readings and we are struggling to "filter" these out.
So I am looking for some advice or anyone who has done something like this before ?
This needs to be a relatively low cost solution if possible so that rules out any kind of vision systems etc.
Any help with recommended sensors / solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Mark