Problem: A medical parts manufacturer needed a parts feeder for the packaging of very small staples. Since this was a medical staple, the feeder system needed to meet cleanroom compliance standards. The part could not be handled during the feeding process and must be able to be easily and thoroughly cleaned. On top of this, the parts were tiny and delicate. They could easily be damaged or misoriented while they were moved. The customer required they be fed at a rate of 60 parts per minute.
Solution: Fortville Feeders specializes in small, lightweight parts. In this case, bulk staples were moved via a vibratory feeder bowl. It was built with a slow-rise ramp that fed the staples to an orienting track. In this instance, the tooling to orient the staples and to recirculate misoriented staples was all built into the same station. This allowed the tooling to be separate from the bowl and fabricated with fine precision. The tooling stood the parts on end and allowed staples with feet up to continue to the inline track. Misoriented parts were dropped off the line to a return pan. Parts were then held in place within the track confinements until they were discharged at the end of the line.
Since the system was cleanroom compliant, it could not contain any pockets where contaminants from the air or incoming parts could gather. All welds had to be polished. The entire system was built with 316 stainless steel, which is highly resistant to corrosion and standard in medical applications.
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