Justifi cation of Studies in Designing Disk Hopper Feeders for Asymmetric Workpieces

The article discusses the main areas of research that need to be performed in the design of traditional and advanced universal mechanical disk hopper feeders in order to ensure their stable functioning and high feed rate when automatically feeding asymmetric workpieces of the shape of solids of revolution. Main aspects to be taken into account in designing are presented, including geometrical parameters and shape of feeded blanks in combination with structural and kinematic parameters of hopper feeding devices and peculiarity of methods of gripping and orientation implemented in them. The effect of parameters of feeded blanks and hopper feeding devices on the process of gripping a single blank from the total mass of blanks filled into the hopper of the device, and reliable functioning of the devices due to rational selection of parameters of gripping and orienting elements based on developed mathematical expressions are described. The main stages of theoretical research and the tasks solved at each stage of researchin the design of high-performance and stably functioning hopper feeders for asymmetric workpieces are shown.