A new modular feeding system and its economic scope of application

摘要

Since flexible production systems usually require special technologies and additional components, high costs are the main limitation factor for their flexibility. Therefore, the most economic components have to be chosen for each flexible production system. This paper focuses on automatic feeding systems and starts with a comparison of the flexibility and the feeding rates of the most important flexible feeders available today. To cope with the deficits of flexible feeders with mechanical orientation, a new modular system is presented. In addition, a design method for the different modules of the new feeder is introduced. Finally, a detailed cost analysis determines the economic application of the modular feeder within the presented systems in dependency of the given flexible feeding task.