Study and Simulation of an Under-Actuated Smart Surface for Material Flow Handling

Bianchi, Edoardo (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Jorg, Oliver Jonas ; Fantoni, Gualtiero ; Brosed Dueso, Francisco Javier Brosed (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Yagüe-Fabra, José A. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Smart surfaces are becoming more and more popular in the field of intralogistics, as they combine great flexibility with easy reprogrammability. Pursuing this trend, the following article proposes a modular surface to perform handling tasks, such as sorting, stopping, or slowing down material flows. Differently from the current technology, the surface used is under-actuated, thus, it exploits the speed, already possessed by the object, or the gravity to perform, with a simplified hardware, for the aforementioned tasks. In practice, these handling actions are completed using an array of rotors, of which only the direction of the rotation axis is controlled. Moreover, the axis can only assume certain discrete orientations in the plane, further simplifying the design. Thus, what is created is a controllable and under-actuated friction field, which, in contrast with similar existing systems, does not require active driving forces to manipulate the material flow. In the article, the analytic model of the surface is described, and a software simulation environment is introduced to demonstrate its functioning. In addition, examples of sorting, slowing down, and stopping operations and a validation of the simulation itself are presented.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/app13031937

Año: 2023

Publicado en: Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 13, 3 (2023), 1937 [28 pp.]
ISSN: 2076-3417

Factor impacto JCR: 2.5 (2023)

Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 44 / 181 = 0.243 (2023) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: PHYSICS, APPLIED rank: 87 / 179 = 0.486 (2023) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 115 / 231 = 0.498 (2023) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 258 / 439 = 0.588 (2023) - Q3 - T2

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 5.3 - Engineering (all) (Q1) - Computer Science Applications (Q2) - Materials Science (all) (Q2) - Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes (Q2) - Instrumentation (Q2) - Process Chemistry and Technology (Q3)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.508 - Engineering (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes (Q2) - Materials Science (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Instrumentation (Q2) - Process Chemistry and Technology (Q3) - Computer Science Applications (Q3)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/814225/EU/DIGItal MANufacturing Technologies for Zero-defect Industry 4.0 Production/DIGIMAN4.0

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Ing. Procesos Fabricación (Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri.)