The fabrication of 12VDC independent supply for IC project

Today I have to do some rework for the 12VDC and 5VDC independent power supply for the Inter Conveyor project. For recap, last time when we did the first stage trial run, the 12VDC was obtained from the desktop PC. Since it was inconvenience to do so, then I sketch the design and purchased the components to built one. Later I passed to Mr Khow to assemble it before Chinese New Year break. Before he went for break he did mentioned that his circuit assembly didnt work properly. So after lunch today I went to workshop and check the assembly. Since the wiring erors too much so I just simply cut all the wires and rewiring it again. Once finished, I tested it and it works. Now I hae an independent 12VDC and 5VDC power supply. Probably I need to fine tuning the 12VDC so that it would be more precise rather than 14.5VDC just to mentioned. Perhaps later I would add a 12V regulator 7812 with some capacitors to filter the noise. Next I will add some PCB stands as well as cutting the PCB nicely to fit the Inter Conveyor slider firmly. The rest we'll see later after once this part is completed.

The trial run of the Inter Conveyor Prototype Model

Yesterday we had a trial run of the device at the actual packaging machine in the packaging room. It was successfully executed and everyone was excited with the progress. However as the chief designer, I felt this thing needs a lot more improvement.
First, the power supply should be more independent. Rather than sharing with the PC, a new built 12VDC supply must be installed.
Next, rather than using the bulky limit switch, a more reliable infra red sensor must be installed.
Yet another, the body stand must be locked to the packaging conveyor.
Furthermore, the product supply to the input slider must be monitored so that no accident would occur at the pusher area.
Next, the output slider must be curvy rather than flat slope. Curvy structure would ensure the cake land safely and not topple up in case of being hit by the packaging conveyor pusher.

As for today, we are building the 12VDC power supply to ensure the next trial, the device will be independently powered by its own DC supply.

After a short analysis of the trial, Mr Yu TT request to proceed to the next level where everything will use stainless steel. As such he wanted the welding machine to be available soon so that Mr Eluis can proceed with welding job of copyinng the design from zinc into stainless steel.
Meanwhile, Mr Yu also request to come out with second stage planning of how to use the actual new conveyor to replace the small feeder conveyor. This new feeder conveyor would be the place where the contract workers who are spraying the cake can place the clean cake and feed directly to the feeder conveyor. By doing this we might reduce some manpower and open up some space to work in the packaging room.
As for the time being he wanted some proposal and ideas of how the feeder conveyor would look like and how it would work to suit his plan. Some more he wanted the projected cost to built the project and how the project would be controlled. He is keen that the project later on must be controlled using the 8255 Futurelec hardware through a PC.

The Fabrication of the Inter Conveyor Prototype Model Part 2

By yesterday we managed to test the automatic full operation of the prototype model. We used the small conveyor as feeder coveyor that supply the mooncake to the ICPM. As to power the pneumatic pusher we supplied 12VDC from a PC to a limit switch that would detect the presence of the mooncake infront of the pusher. Once detected the 12VDC will be seriesly supplied to the pneumatic valve that will trigger the pusher. This automatic action will cause the mooncake to slide down to the packaging moving conveyor. It works fine for both small and big mooncake.

Like any test, we found that our prototype also needs some improvement prior to do next test in the packaging room.
1- Stand Lock, to ensure the whole structure wont be moving during operation. This structure must be locked to the packaging moving conveyor. As for the time being we might use a pair of C-clamp temporarily.

2- Adjustable Feeder Slope, for better control of the sliding mooncake from feeder conveyor it is wiser if the feeder slider slope is adjustable. While it will ensure better delivery of the mooncake to the automatic pusher, it also will help the installation as the various packaging machines are infact have different height and width.

3- Mooncake presence detector, due to part availability, now we use the Fuji limit switch. As limit switch only work if there is enough force once contacted, it gurantees unreliability in the long run. Due to this fact, we might go to 2nd option of using infrared sensor for better reliability in future.

4- DC input supply, as for the time beinng we are using the supply from the PC. Perhaps for better control and neatness it is better to have its own supply of the 12VDC. This can be achieved either by using readymade AC2DC converter or use our own DC board.

5- Mooncake slider, now its only straight sliding only. Perhaps it should be something like the auto sachet slider where the surface is a bit curvy to ensure smoother supply to the moving packaging conveyor. This could be achieved by extending the existed conveyor length a bit more accordingly.

The fabrication of the Inter Conveyor Prototype Model Part 1

We did some mechanical job today, after the job had been postphoned for quite a while. Anyway we started the work by making the aluminum stand first. The size is 200mm X 200mm X 300mm. As to connect the aluminum bar, we use rivet to make it nicer with less time required for assembly. Once the stand is completed, we continued with the zinc slider. Our prototype size only took about 660mm X 480mm. So now we still have quite a lot of remaining 8foot zinc. The slider design was drawned onto the zinc first and latter we cut the zinc using metal scisosor. Next we bend the design based on the line we marked on the zinc. It tooks some time to completed it nicely. By end of the day we completed both the stand and the slider. Next what we gonna do is to install the pneumatic pusher and switches to complete the prototype.