Hello everyone,
I have a scenario where a machine is building boxes of widgets (we shall say...) and the boxes eject down a conveyor to another machine which places said widgets on a pallet to be shipped. The second machine ALSO tracks how many widgets total are on the skid
Under normal circumstances, each box has the same number of widgets in it, but sometimes less or more widgets end up in a box. I currently pass down the number of widgets in the most recently-ejected box to machine 2. however, I don't have any guarantee that the box will make it to the second machine.
An operator might take a box off the conveyor for inspection, or an operator might throw a box on the conveyor that he packed by hand.
Currently there are photo eyes on the conveyor so I basically know when a box disappears, but I am trying to formulate some sort of handshaking between the two machines to check that when I eject a box from machine 1, I should see a box get placed on the skid shortly thereafter. If the second machine places a box, and I haven't recently ejected one, then it should just have some default quantity in it.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? I was thinking a simple "SYN"/ "ACK" kinda thing where the machine 1 would send down "Hey, I just ejected a box" and when the box gets placed on the pallet machine 2 would say "I just placed a box". However, I dont know if that will end up being enough to deal with the situations I explained above.
Thanks for being patient with me, guys. I feel like I am always the one asking questions and never the one answering them...
I have a scenario where a machine is building boxes of widgets (we shall say...) and the boxes eject down a conveyor to another machine which places said widgets on a pallet to be shipped. The second machine ALSO tracks how many widgets total are on the skid
Under normal circumstances, each box has the same number of widgets in it, but sometimes less or more widgets end up in a box. I currently pass down the number of widgets in the most recently-ejected box to machine 2. however, I don't have any guarantee that the box will make it to the second machine.
An operator might take a box off the conveyor for inspection, or an operator might throw a box on the conveyor that he packed by hand.
Currently there are photo eyes on the conveyor so I basically know when a box disappears, but I am trying to formulate some sort of handshaking between the two machines to check that when I eject a box from machine 1, I should see a box get placed on the skid shortly thereafter. If the second machine places a box, and I haven't recently ejected one, then it should just have some default quantity in it.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? I was thinking a simple "SYN"/ "ACK" kinda thing where the machine 1 would send down "Hey, I just ejected a box" and when the box gets placed on the pallet machine 2 would say "I just placed a box". However, I dont know if that will end up being enough to deal with the situations I explained above.
Thanks for being patient with me, guys. I feel like I am always the one asking questions and never the one answering them...