Equipment: Diverter
  • Display Name: Diverter
  • Type Name: Diverter

Description

A Diverter diverts products from source conveyors to destination conveyors (more generally, some source equipment that can transport products to some other).

Diverter uses Rules to determine when to divert products.

Diverters may be located in-between two conveyors and may rotate in two directions to divert products from two different source conveyors to different destination conveyors.

The diverter can operator in 2 modes:

  • Plough Mode: This is a manual mode where the diverter reacts to manual input from the user and diverts any products located or entering its target area. Rules have no effect in Plough Mode.
  • Push mode: the diverter pushes and retracts for each product matching the divert rule.

Creation

From the Toolbox, simply drag and drop a diverter into the simulation.

Access

From the Project Explorer > Equipments > Diverter.

Or directly in the simulation.

Properties

Name Description
Divert Rule The Rule used to determine whether to divert the incoming product.
Rotation Speed Default = 120 (degrees/sec)
Speed of Diverter rotation (Degrees per second).
Rotation Angle Default = 45 (degrees)
Angle to apply to both the arm and product when the Divert rule is actioned. The angle not be less than zero but can be more than 360 degrees.
It is possible to use a Rotation Angle of 0 degrees. In this case, the arm does not move and the product is not rotated but is diverted.
Transfer Speed Default = 1 (metres/sec)
The transfer speed determines how fast products move while being transferred between conveyors. The value is the speed in the units chosen when the project was created (metres or feet) per second. This value is ignored if Match Source Speed is enabled.
Match Source Speed Default = False. If Match Source Speed is enabled, when transferring the speed of the product will be determined by the speed of the source; if the source slows down and stops mid-transfer, the product will slow-down and stop mid-transfer, and the transfer won’t complete until the source starts moving again. If this is enabled, Transfer Speed is ignored. This cannot be set at runtime.
Enable Accumulation Default = False
If this is true, then products will behave as though on a chute (they’ll stop, rather than overlapping with another product), both on the diverter, and on the source conveyor (that is, overhang will create a blockage on the conveyor if it also has accumulation enabled).

Please note:

  • Plough mode only. Accumulation has no effect in push mode.
  • Removing a product (by selecting it and pressing ‘delete’, using MoveProduct, etc) that is in the middle of being transferred from a source to a destination is not supported. The resulting behavior is undefined.
Target Length Default = 0 (metres)
The target length is measured around the target point and determines when products should successfully transfer. All products within the window determined by ’target length’ around the target point are transferred. Products outside this window are not transferred.
Divert Mode Can be one of two divert modes:
  • Pusher mode: (Default) When in pusher mode, the Diverter rotates at the specified speed by the Rotation Angle and pushes products away from the Diverter. The Diverter then immediately retracts back to the home position.
  • Plough mode: or ‘manual mode’. Diverter only diverts following user input. When Deploy is set to True, the Diverter arm remains extended and any item hitting the surface of the Diverter is transferred in the Rotation Angle. In this mode, divert rules have no effect.
Deploy Left Rotates the Diverter and diverts products to the left conveyor in its path according to its mode. (push or plough)
Deploy Right Rotates the Diverter and diverts products to the right conveyor in its path according to its mode. (push or plough)
Stop When Blocked
  • If false (default), the diverter won’t push if the destination conveyor is not running, and the product will keep traveling.
  • If True: if the destination conveyor isn’t running, the source conveyor will stop if a product that should be pushed blocks the diverter PE. The source conveyor will start again when the destination conveyor starts and the product is pushed at the same time.
Left Source Name of the left source component (‘divert from here’).
Left Source Distance The distance along the left source component where the left target point is.
Right Source Name of the right source component (‘divert from here’).
Right Source Distance The distance along the right source component where the right target point is.
Left Destination Name of the left destination component (‘divert to here’).
Left Destination Distance The distance along the Left Destination component where diverted product will arrive.
Right Destination Name of the right destination component (‘push to here’).
Right Destination Distance The distance along the Right Destination component where diverted product will arrive.
Length The length of the Diverter arm.
Width The width of the Diverter arm.
Height The height of the Diverter arm.
Show Target Area Display the Target area. The value in ‘Kinematics > Target Length’ must be > 0. The target area is displayed as a green rectangle.
Show Path Display the path the diverted product will travel.