Star Wheel Innovation Results in Faster Product Changeover

December 11, 2012

Star wheel upender applications that require changeover often have a fixture that is exchange for each product type. But the example in the video, is a star wheel upender on a sliding carriage that simply slides-over between different product sizes running on the line.

A walk through of the conventional star-wheel changeover includes shutting the conveyor line down, retrieving the fixture, unbolting the current fixture and exchanging it for the next one, bolting and securing the new fixture, a quick test and returning the previous fixture to storage. These events can take a maintenance person 30 minutes to an hour for this process.

In the video, two star-wheel upender devices were designed to slide on a carriage system with a simple pin-in-place lock system. Designed for fast change-over between two product sizes, the star wheels are slid into place within seconds. There is no handling of fixtures and the locking system provides exact alignment.

On a sliding carriage this non-powered star wheel can be moved into place while the line is still running, as long as there is no other equipment causing accessibility or safety concerns.

This a good example of changeover innovation that we are covering on our website. Click belwo for more information.