SINGLE DRIVE VIBRATIONAL CONVEYOR WITH VIBRATIONAL MOTION ALTERING PHASE CONTROL AND METHOD OF DETERMINING OPTIMAL CONVEYANCE SPEEDS THEREWITH

摘要

Single drive conveyor apparatus (10) including an elongatedmaterial-conveying conveyor having vibration-generating means (V)connected to one end thereof and vibrating the same substantiallyonly in a direction parallel with the longitudinal centroidalaxis thereof and including two pairs of parallelvibration--generating shafts (21,22 and 28,32), each pair having axialdisplacement relative to the other and each shaft of each paircarrying eccentrically mounted weights (35,37 and 29,33)generating equal forces and rotating in opposite directions, saidpairs of shafts rotating at different speeds and each paircarrying a pair of equal force-generating and eccentric weights(35,37 and 29,33) different from that of the other, a continuousflexible drive element (76) having opposed continuums (77,78)extending around and in driving relation to each of said pairsof shafts (21,22 and 28,32), and controllably shiftablephase--adjustment/motion-altering mechanism (50) engaging each of saidcontinuums and shortening one of said continuums (77,78) whilelengthening the other as said mechanism (50) shifts to therebycontrollably alter the axial displacement existing between theshafts of said two pairs.