Systems Engineering Applied to the Analysis of Continuous Flow Conveyors

摘要

A closed-loop conveyor system, having a single loading station, a single unloading station, and operating with time-varying input and output flow rates, is analyzed. The balance of flow on the conveyor is represented by a difference equation. Solutions of that difference equation appear naturally in terms of a Fourier series expansion. An important description of the system is its frequency response. Singularities in the frequency response represent cases of incompatibility. It is shown that incompatibility depends on the ratio T/P of conveyor period to work-cycle period, and on the presence of harmonics in input and output flow rates. Solutions for several specific cases are presented graphically. (Author)