Jammed Ball Bin-Storage Help!

[Mullen]

Ok, my team had a very similar problem. we couldn't add a motor because we didnt have the space to do so. next best thing? a pneumatic. it didn't take long to put on and it proved very very effective. i threw together a little page real quick so you could see it, if you have any questions about it let me know and i'll fill you in.
how 1504 fixed their problem

[Joe J.]

We had a jamming problem with our hopper but our sides are rip-stop nylon (no solid walls). What we had to do is put in a small frame work under it to help guide the balls. No matter what you do a gravity feed feeder system has the risk of jamming with those evil poof balls. We just had to keep playing with it until we found something that worked.

[Jaine Perotti]

Originally Posted by Mini-Mullet

Ok, my team had a very similar problem. we couldn't add a motor because we didnt have the space to do so. next best thing? a pneumatic. it didn't take long to put on and it proved very very effective. i threw together a little page real quick so you could see it, if you have any questions about it let me know and i'll fill you in.
how 1504 fixed their problem

I agree with mini-mullet in suggesting that you add a pneumatic agitator to your chute. Even though you have already stated that you do not wish to add another actuator to your robot, I think that no matter what, the balls are going to jam, based on their physical properties (see Art's post). I don't think that any of the design sketches you presented will consistently prevent jams (although like others have said, number 2 is the best option).

Take a look at how team 716 decided to deal with this problem this year.

The top picture (a side view) shows our ball agitator before we added a pneumatic cylinder to make it move in and out of the slot in the lexan (so that it would hit the balls inside the chute). For context, the pictures also show a full view of our hopper and where the agitator is located (the pneumatic cylinder is visible in these pictures).

This really wasn't too difficult of a mechanism to add. While we still have jam problems occasionally, it's very rare. The past few times it has happened was because the heat in the pits at Philly was causing the lexan chute to warp inwards and cause the space for the balls to pass to become smaller. Other times it has been because our starting balls were positioned in the chute incorrectly.

First of all, I would like to ask you how many balls are designed to come out of your rollers at once. If it is designed to release two balls at once, and the balls are jamming in a triangular pattern, here is my advice for adding a pneumatic actuator (lets see if I can put my artistic skills to work):


So, to add a verbal explanation to my idea.... you would add an agitator similar to the one found on 716's machine, except positioned differently. You would position it on the underside of your chute (as shown in the side view), centered so that when it was extended, it would knock out the middle ball in the jam triangle (as pictured in the top view).

I don't know if this is compatible with your actual robot, but even if it's not, hopefully it will at least get you thinking . If this doesn't make sense, ask me and I will offer a further explaination. If you need any help, come to 716's pit and we will assist you if you need anything. I'm sure our programmer, Dillon, would be willing to help (that is, if he has a spare minute or two).

Good luck!

-- Jaine

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Derek Bessette

I know you said it is "out of the question". However, my vote would still be with adding an agitator. The programming is only a few lines of code and the wiring is not that big a deal. We were able to implement an agitator at the end of the build season in a matter of a couple hours. It has worked great for us. We initially tried making channels for the balls to flow through, but this just moved the ball jam to a new location. We used a van door motor with a piece of 3/4" square tubing attached to the output shaft. We then covered it with a poof noodle to keep from damaging the balls.

If you are really certain that you cannot go with an agitator then definitely go with option 2. The balls jams will get moved to the inlet of the channel at the top, but if you only keep 1 to 2 balls up there you should be OK.

Good luck!

I would also recommend something like this, it worked effectively for us too, as we similarities our agitator to theirs of the Niagara Trips.

[Dan Petrovic]

It will be awfully hard to keep them from jamming without an agitator of some sort. Maybe if you did somethng like this. Shallow sides.



(crudely done on MS Paint) Both sides should be the same distance from the smaller opening.

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

It will be awfully hard to keep them from jamming without an agitator of some sort. Maybe if you did somethng like this. Shallow sides.

Shallow sides BAD...

Yea we spent a lot of time on this during the season and found that we got the lowest amount of jams with a hopper 3 wide funneling into a single channel. Having one side slightly higher, like no more than 1" helped. But you need the relatively steep slope in there. The steeper the slope the greater gravity is acting on the balls, helping to get rid of jamming. But in any of these systems without an agitator there is the potential for jamming.

[MrForbes]

another idea....a hopper that's only one ball wide, this is the side view. the ramps would keep the balls in line.