Conveyor Module Beta

We've been hard at work on a new conveyor module. At this point it's feature complete for version 1, so we're posting a beta for those of you who are curious.

Conveyor_Beta_0.1.1_x64.zip

Conveyor_Beta_0.1.1_x86.zip

At this point we're focused on fixing bugs, documentation and creating test cases. We hope to make the final release early January at the latest. This is meant to replace the other conveyors in the library, so once released, the older conveyors will be removed from the library on a subsequent FlexSim major release (old models will still work, but the old conveyors won't be visible in the library, and we will encourage users to use this module going forward).

The module is built against FlexSim 7.3.6, so you'll need that version to run it. Feel free to run it through the ringer and help us fix bugs. If you find bugs please post them with the attached model to this thread.

Thanks,
Anthony Johnson

Impressive! Phenomenal! A world of applications in baggage handling systems, food processing, sorting facilities... I look forward to get it in January!

All above link pages can't be displayed in my PC.

What's the matter with it?

Hello Anthony,The link you sent can not be open ,the pages can not be found ,would you please check ?Thanks ,
Julia from CSN China

Hey Everyone,
I've updated the initial post so it now has the installers as attachments.
Thanks,
Anthony Johnson

See attached model for 3 bugs.

Bug 1. An event is not created to transfer to the sink if there is a photoeye placed after the transfer to the sink.

Bug 2. The spurs were created by using Join conveyors, and then the straight portion of the spurs was removed. Then, the further conveyor was moved closer to the source (the 2 spurs switched positions). Boxes end up flying off the end, and many errors are thrown.

Bug 3. This conveyor is unselectable. It was made by choosing Straight Conveyor, and then left clicking once in the model, followed by pressing the esc. key. You need to either delete it from the tree, or delete another conveyor to make it selectable.

Found 2 more possible bugs. See attached model.

1. The photo eye blocked and decision point on arrival are firing even though the items are being transferred to a different conveyor. Whether they fire or not seems to be correlated to the turn animation. The photo eye and decision point fire if the box is still turning at the point in time where it would have hit the photo eye and decision point if it had gone straight. If you move the photo eye and decision point a hair further down the conveyor they will not fire.

2. The decision point rotates the item and is set to fire on the center of the object. There is some weird behavior when the item hits the transfer point. This behavior goes away if you switch the decision point to fire on the leading or trailing edge of the item.

Also, a feature request: can you add a place to resize decision points in the interface? Right now you have to modify nodes in the model tree. It would be nice to be able to more easily resize them to match the size of your conveyors.

Hi Anthony,
The module is looking really good, and will help our clients and us a lot!
I’m sending you a few things I noticed; however I’m not sure if they are bugs or problems because I didn’t use the objects correctly:

1. Enter and exit transfer: both work as a zone with an operator and it is awesome. (model "Transfers")
   I had no problem with the entry transfer. However, with my first try with the exit transfer, I connected the operator to the conveyor instead of the transfer, and my computer crash completely. Other incorrect connections and conveyor creations (particularly with the curved conveyor) also crashed FlexSim (as if it didn’t manage those errors); I’m guessing that it would not happen in the final version.
   Regarding the exit transfer opciones, when I select the “ignore pick if late pickup” if I don’t have a second exit for the conveyor it works fine, but if I add a sink for the items that weren’t pick, the operators just ignore the boxes from the beginning.
   Finally, there is always an “exception caught” notification, but it seems to work ok.
   
2. Slug builder: also awesome and I’m guessing, much more efficient and correct as the custom one we build.
   I’m sending attached a model with slugs, but I’m not able to make it work correctly, I’m not sure where the problem comes from (FlexSim or me )

Finally, is there a plan (short or medium term) to include conveyors with variable width? In order to have for example, a conveyor with a start width of 2m and end width of 1m, that would have the ability to receive from the whole width but release from a center point of the exit side.

Thanks!
Lucie

Hello Anthony,

I build a simple sorting conveyor system with a s-curve section. Then the items are sent to two queues. Sometimes some item's orientations stay as they left the last curved conveyor even if the following section is straight.


This behaviour depends on high model run speed values around 1000. Maximum looks fine and multiplicators at lower speed values are ok, too.

Conveyor Version 1.0.0
Flexsim Version 7.5.0
CPU core i7-3770 3.4GHz
Dell Quadro600

Jörg

Jorg,
Thanks, I've fixed this for the next release. I hope to get a bug fix release out in the next week or so.
Regards,
Anthony Johnson