Physics Question (from an Imgurian posted by me)

[ZooNamedGames]

An Imgurian asked a physics question and here it is:

"So a product goes into pouches and then rides an inclined conveyor, cycling every 3 seconds. I need a scale that is no wider than an inch and a half into a groove that can register a weight in under 3 seconds. Then something to record the weight and some kind of device to adjust the feed (to the pouches) to the correct weight".

Question from Imgurian Bohab1303. He was curious about something physics and I immediately thought this community might be of some help to him.

[Shpaget]

You think that a games forum is a good place to ask for industrial automation problem that probably asks for a solution that costs thousands of dollars while we have absolutely no idea what he is trying to weigh, dimensions (other than vague "no wider than inch and a half), what the conveyor looks like, does he want to weigh on the conveyor itself or is the product unloaded, why the measurement can't take more than 3 seconds, the accuracy and precision of the measurement, does he need the actual measurement, or would occupancy detection suffice....

Edited February 8, 2017 by Shpaget

[ZooNamedGames]

2 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

You think that a games forum is a good place to ask for industrial automation problem that probably asks for a solution that costs thousands of dollars while we have absolutely no idea what he is trying to weigh, dimensions (other than vague "no wider than inch and a half), what the conveyor looks like, does he want to weigh on the conveyor itself or is the product unloaded, why the measurement can't take more than 3 seconds, the accuracy and precision of the measurement, does he need the actual measurement, or would occupancy detection suffice....

You all are smarter than not asking at all.

[Shpaget]

I don't understand what you.

Are you saying that he should not ask because it's unlikely that he'll get a reply?

No, he should definitely ask, but more important is that he asks the question in a right place and supply proper information. Imgur (and KSP forums) is not the right place, the level of detail he provided is not sufficient. As such he will not get a good answer. 

[Streetwind]

If we can make the assumption that the product being conveyored around is not round (doesn't roll after being dropped) and not elastic (doesn't bounce after being dropped), then finding a scale that can be placed in front of the conveyor should be merely a matter of finding one from a commercial supplier. Three seconds is plenty to weigh something that comes to a rest almost instantly.

If the product cannot come to rest quickly enough to be weighed, then perhaps an impact sensor can be used. If the product is always dropped onto the sensor from the same height and position (as it exits the conveyor), then you can calculate the mass of the product from the impact force the sensor reports. This assumes the product is not ultra-fragile (can survive being dropped from a few centimeters without any deformation or other damage).

Does that help? The question unfortunately doesn't describe what's going on with sufficient precision and detail to give more of an answer than that.

[Green Baron]

Why not contact a manufacturer of industrial transport things or weighing equipment (scales they are called) ? I could imagine that there are enough solutions to choose from ... my uncle had factory for transport equipment ...

[p1t1o]

13 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

An Imgurian asked a physics question and here it is:

"So a product goes into pouches and then rides an inclined conveyor, cycling every 3 seconds. I need a scale that is no wider than an inch and a half into a groove that can register a weight in under 3 seconds. Then something to record the weight and some kind of device to adjust the feed (to the pouches) to the correct weight".

Question from Imgurian Bohab1303. He was curious about something physics and I immediately thought this community might be of some help to him.

This is more a question on manufacturing best practice than physics. In fact it sounds like a very common manufacturing situation. From seeing the manufacturing facilities, and knowing how various products were manufactured at several places I have worked, this is definitely possible. 

I imagine that the scenario would actually be - conveyor moves pouch under feed mechanism which is directly over scale, feed mechanism adds product until weight is reached, rather than a fill-weigh-adjust scenario.