A comparison of real and simulated designs for vibratory parts feeding

The design of industrial parts feeders is a long, trial-and-error process that can take months-even for the design of feeders that orient only one type of part. This paper describes the use of dynamic simulation to expedite the design and prototyping of parts feeders. We give probabilistic descriptions of vibratory parts feeding behavior and we present a comparison between simulated design experiments and physical experiments done using a real industrial vibratory bowl feeder. Our findings show strong similarities between the results of the two types of experiments. We believe that dynamic simulation is a promising approach for expediting the parts feeder analysis and design process.