Changing Technology

Balanced Power Pulley
Fine Tunes ACM Conveyor Performance

A customer tries the automated checkout line

Grocery chain management hopes to improve front-end productivity and customer service by adding Automatic Checkout Machines (ACMs). Typically, three or more ACMs supplement conventional checkout lanes to give customers complete service options. The system is comprised of multiple self-checkout lanes, one or two payment stations and a support station.

"Scanning barcoded products is the easy part," says Wes Dickover, Director, hardware engineering/manufacturing for Productivity Solutions, Inc. (PSI), Jacksonville, FL. "What's needed in automated self checkout lanes is security -- a system that validates every item's identity and physical characteristics, every time, with accuracy and integrity. In our system, the ACM is fully integrated with the store's point-of-sale system. After the customer scans the price, an intelligent conveyor passes each item forward through security arches. If measured information differs from indexed security reference data, the conveyor reverses direction, sending the item back for re-scan. Accuracy, the heart of the PSI system, is approaching tolerance of 1/100 of a pound. Conveyor performance is crucial to our attainable accuracy level."

Key to the PSI system is a rotationally balanced, internally powered, 4.50-inch diameter POWERROLL motorized pulley supplied by INTERROLL Corporation, Wilmington, NC. The motorized pulley provides vibration-free belt tracking and smooth shock-free reversals on command. Each ACM has two POWERROLL conveyor sections. The first moves products through the security zone, reversing if a discrepancy occurs. The second conveyor section delivers the checked items to the bagging end of the lane.

A 4.50-in. dia. POWERROLL provides from 0.12 hp up to 0.30 hp. The drive's fully-rated horsepower is available at the pulley surface, compared to conventional "multi-component" drive systems that rely on separate motors, worm-gear reducers, chains, sprockets, couplings, etc. Other applications have included powering conveyors in industries such as food processing, packaging, baking, x-ray machines and washdown areas.

--RM

For more information:

Circle 430 - INTERROLL Corp., or connect directly to their website via the
Online Reader Service Program at http://www.1rs.com/009df-430