FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of machine automation. The present invention particularly relates to automated wrapping machine. Further the present invention relates to a method of working of the automated wrapping machine. Advantageously, the present invention can be utilized to wrap a fabric around the belt with automated overlap control.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Textile fabrics are widely employed as reinforcement in various industrial products, such as hoses, conveyor belts, tires, power transmission belts and the like. In the production of such products, it is a practice to combine the reinforcement fabric with the uncured rubber carcass, substrate, or core of the final product during a vulcanizing operation such that heat curing bonds adhesively secures the reinforcement fabric in intimate association with the rubber base of the product. The process of belt building essentially consists of cutting, laying and folding the frictioned and coated fabric to the desired number of piles.

Overlap joint is very critical parameter in belt as it may lead to premature failure of the belt in service. The uncured belt length will vary from belt to belt. Various types of belts have been made and used for a considerable period of time. It has also been known that it substantially improves the life of these belts if a belt body or core is made, covered with a rubberized fabric and then vulcanized to insure a unitary structure of the belt core and the fabric covering. It has been a tedious manual job to wrap the rubberized fabric around the belt core prior to vulcanization process. Conventional wrapping machines have required that considerable manual effort or control be utilized in the fabric wrapping action, which decreases the speed of operation, and raises the cost per unit.

There are semi-automatic wrapping machines, the present invention aim to improvise the existing semi-automatic wrapping machines and creating the machines more efficient for operation. The present invention utilizes the existing elements in semi-automatic machines like Trap assembly, drive pulley and driven pulley. The driven pulley stretching mechanism was pneumatic type in semi automatic machine. In this invention, it was servo motor controlled to measure the length. CN105904751B relates to a cloth traction mechanism of V belt cloth wrapping machine. The invention discloses a cloth pulling structure of a V-belt cloth wrapping machine, which aims to provide a cloth pulling structure that is convenient to operate, high in work efficiency, and can effectively avoid the problem of the deviation of the cloth strips in the cloth wrapping operation. It includes a frame, a cloth strip anti-deviation device, a horizontal traction rail set on the frame, a traction platform slidably set on the horizontal traction rail, a first longitudinal traction rail and a first longitudinal traction rail set on the traction platform. Two longitudinal traction rails, a first traction chute moving plate slidably arranged on the first longitudinal traction guide, a number of lining traction grooves arranged side by side on the upper surface of the traction chute moving plate, slidably arranged on the first The second pulling chute moving plate on the two longitudinal pulling guide rails and a plurality of outer cloth pulling grooves arranged side by side on the upper surface of the pulling chute moving plate. The cloth strip anti-deflection device includes a cloth support rod arranged on the frame, an inner cloth anti -deflection mechanism and an outer cloth anti-deflection mechanism arranged on the traction platform. However the belt after loading will be stretched with the help of pneumatic cylinder. The length will be predefined one and will not calculate for each belt. The overlap joint length will be controlled manually.

CN103963327B relates to a digital full-automatic V-belt wrapping machine. The invention discloses a digital full-automatic V-belt wrapping machine which comprises a case; a feeding box is connected with the left side of the case; two cloth distribution scrolls, two guiding-open devices and two cloth guiding grooves are sequentially connected onto the feeding box from left to right; an automatic cut-off assembly and machine heads are sequentially connected onto the case from left to right; a tensioning assembly is connected with the right side of the case; the two cloth distribution scrolls, the two guiding-open devices and the two cloth guiding grooves are respectively arranged in parallel; the automatic cut-off assembly comprises a blade fixing seat, a long blade, a cut-off air cylinder and a disk blade; the long blade is fixedly connected onto the blade fixing seat; the disk blade is connected onto the cut-off air cylinder; the cut-off air cylinder is horizontally arranged; the limiting position of the disk blade in moving right is above the long blade. The digital full-automatic V-belt wrapping machine has the advantages that manual labor is reduced, the production efficiency is improved, the new worker training is eliminated, the proficiency and the working efficiency of new workers and veteran workers make no difference at all, and one worker can operate two machines when a long belt is processed. However, the fabric feeder unit is horizontally oriented and will have two feeder units. This invention requires skilled operator. CN 105775194A relates to a fully-automatic V-belt canvas wrapping machine and working principle thereof. The invention relates to a fully-automatic V-belt canvas wrapping machine and a working principle thereof. The fully-automatic V-belt canvas wrapping machine comprises a canvas supply mechanism, a canvas feeding mechanism, a canvas shearing mechanism and a canvas wrapping mechanism, wherein the canvas supply mechanism is installed at the leftmost side of a rack; the canvas feeding mechanism is installed at the right side of the canvas supply mechanism; the canvas shearing mechanism is installed at the right side of the canvas feeding mechanism; and the canvas wrapping mechanism is installed at the right side of the canvas shearing mechanism. The working principle is that a wrapping canvas is fed out from the canvas supply mechanism, and arrives at the canvas wrapping mechanism through the canvas feeding mechanism to complete canvas wrapping, and the wrapping canvas is subjected to rolling shearing by the canvas shearing mechanism. The fully-automatic V-belt canvas wrapping machine disclosed by the invention has the following advantages: 1. process requirements are ensured, and automatic operation is realized; 2. the uniformity and quality of products are ensured; 3. the length of the wrapping canvas is effectively ensured; and 4. the automation of the whole canvas wrapping process is fully intelligently realized. However the belt will be loaded to the machine manually.

CN105881945B relates to a cloth feeding device of V-belt cloth wrapping machine. The invention discloses a cloth feeding device of a V-belt cloth wrapping machine and aims at providing a cloth feeding device which is convenient and fast to operate and capable of effectively improving the work efficiency. The cloth feeding device comprises a rack, a cloth traction device and a cloth hanging device. The cloth traction device comprises a transverse traction guide rail arranged on the rack, a cloth traction platform arranged on the transverse cloth traction guide rail in a sliding manner, a first longitudinal traction guide rail, a second longitudinal traction guide rail, a first cloth traction sliding groove movable plate arranged on the first longitudinal cloth traction guide rail in a sliding manner, a plurality of inner cloth traction grooves formed in the upper surface of the first cloth traction sliding groove movable plate side by side, a second cloth traction sliding groove movable plate arranged on the second longitudinal cloth traction guide rail in a sliding manner, and a plurality of outer cloth traction grooves formed in the upper surface of the second cloth traction sliding groove movable plate side by side, wherein the first longitudinal traction guide rail and the second longitudinal traction guide rail are arranged on the cloth traction platform. The cloth hanging device comprises a cloth hanging traction guide rail arranged on the rack, a cloth hanging frame arranged on the cloth hanging traction guide rail in a sliding manner, an inner cloth hanging shaft and an outer cloth hanging shaft, wherein the inner cloth hanging shaft and the outer cloth hanging shaft are arranged on the cloth hanging frame.

US3291674A relates to a V-belt fabric wrapping machine. It is a semi automatic fabric wrapping machine. Only Wrapping process is automated. Loading and unloading is manual. Have two cloth feeding unit. Only Wrapping process is automated. Loading and unloading is manual. The belt after loading will be stretched with the help of pneumatic cylinder. The length will be entered by the operator and will not calculate for each belt. The length of the wrapping is controlled by a measuring device - encoder, in drive pulley. The overlap joint length will be controlled manually. Belt will be loaded to the machine manually. The fabric feeder unit is horizontally oriented and will have two feeder units. This invention requires skilled operator. Machine operation Sequel- Operator will set the driven pulley as per the belt length and will enter the belt length to the machine. Operator will load the belt to the machine and will press the start button. The machine will start wrapping the belt. Once the belt is wrapped, operator will unload the belt from the machine.

There exists a need for a fully automated belt wrapping machine. Further there exists a need for a method of working of the fullly automated belt wrapping machine.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an automated wrapping machine which can advantageously control the fabric overlap in belt wrapping process.

It is another object of the present invention to facilitate the belt wrapping process entirely automated.

It is another object of the present invention to facilitate the start to end process in wrapping, eliminating man intervention by controlling the machine by logical programs.

It is another object of the present invention to control the overlap joint variations automatically and to minimize the error for the production of quality product.

It is another object of the present invention to deskill the operator and increase the Machine OEE. It is another object of the present invention to reduce the material wastage during wrapping process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One or more of the problems of the conventional prior art may be overcome by various embodiments of the present invention.

It is the primary aspect of the present invention to provide an automated belt wrapping machine, comprising of components: a vertical loader unit comprises of: a belt carrier assembly, a belt loader assembly, a vertical post, and a big pneumatic cylinder; a wrapping unit comprises of: a belt drive unit comprising of a drive pulley and a driven pulley, a trap unit; a stitch pulley; and one or more supporting rollers; a jacket feeder unit comprises of: a jacket roll hanger, a jacket pulling roller set, an overflow sensor assembly, a horizontal feeder, and a vertical feeder guide; a belt unloading unit comprises of: a belt ejector, a belt lifting finger and a belt unloading arm; two or more servomotors comprises of: a positional feedback sensor, a feedback element, a programmable logic controller, and an amplifier; one or more sensors; one or more actuators; operator / user interface; and one or more pneumatic cylinders, wherein the belt loader assembly comprises of a set of two movable arms with a loading finger attached to a block with gear mechanism, and the loader assembly fixed in a rack and pinion mechanism, wherein the belt drive unit with the driven pulley comprising an automated length measurement and overlap control system mounted in a bracket in a screw rod guided by one or more linear motion guides, and two or more servomotors enable actuation signal to the drive pulley and the wrapping unit, wherein the vertical feeder guide is movably fixed vertical comprising of a set of adjustable feeder guides, an movable knife assembly/cutting knife, and a movable roller/supporting roller fixed proximately to the vertical feeder guides, and the fabric feeder horizontal orientation with supporting rollers fixed vertically and provided with an additional roller near the feeder guide to facilitate free flow of the fabric to the wrapping unit, and based on the length of the uncured belt, the fabric or any textile material length is decided by the machine and performs wrapping operation, and wherein pneumatic cylinders allows the loading finger to move in a circular path, and the loader assembly is designed to make the belt to not touch each other with one or more belt separators.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the belt carrier assembly comprises of a chain drive system with belt separators, rotatably coupled to support frame / side plates driven by servo motors, comprising a sensor at one end of the frame that detect the unloading of the belt.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the reciprocatively movable belt loader assembly comprises two arms rotating and oscillating along the block gear by the pneumatic cylinder.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the drive pulley is a v-groove pulley fixed in a machine shaft mounted with a servomotor for belt rotation.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the reciprocatively movable stitch pulley fixed with the pneumatic cylinder, is located at one side / proximate to the drive pulley.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the trap unit comprises assembly of three set of two rollers mounted in a threaded shaft, cushioned by a spring fixed in a base plate attached to the machine frame.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the supporting rollers are fixed near one side to the trap unit. It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the jacket feeder unit comprises of an assembly of jacket roller hanger fixed to the machine frame, the jacket pulling roller set comprising of four rollers interconnected by the belt driven by an electric motor, the overflow sensor assembly comprising of a liner guide with a roller mounted in a vertical rod with top and bottom sensor that detects the wrap material supply / flow.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the sensors comprises one or more of fault alarm sensors, safety sensors, fabric or textile refill alarm sensors, and the like.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the auto stretch mechanism by the servo motor measures the length of the uncured belt automatically based on the position of the drive and driven pulley and the wrapping length is calculated by the machine using formula and logical programs, and the positioning of the driven pulley is automatic based on the belt length.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein for vertical loading of belt of the uncured belt by gravitational force - designed a vertical loader with the separator and the belt is hanged at one end and separated by the belt separator.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the horizontal feeder is positioned or oriented vertically to facilitate the easy feeding of fabric for wrapping process and for vertical orientation additional rollers are arranged in a sliding unit so that the fabric does not stick to the sliding unit during up and down movement.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the automated belt wrapping machine is a v belt cloth wrapping machine and the like.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the jacket feeder unit comprises of a single cloth feeding unit and the like.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the wrapping length is controlled by having a measuring device in the driven pulley and the overlap joint is controlled. It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a method of automated belt wrapping machine, comprising of steps: loading of belt in the belt carrier assembly by an automated loader; entering the belt reference size in the user interface; wherein the operator loads 60 belts to the machine and enters the belt reference size, advancing the belt by the carrier assembly and loading the belt in the loader assembly and detection of unloading belt from the carrier by the sensor to control the actuation of belt carrier assembly; positioning of the driven pulley between the drive pulleys and the driven pulley; stretching of the belt by the driven pulley up to the set torque value by means of the servo motor mounted on the bracket with the screw rod guided by the linear motion guides; on achieving the set torque, the driven pulley stop stretch and the machine calculate the belt length based on the sensor feedback of the stretch motor of the driven pulley; movement of the feeder guide unit in the feeder unit towards the stitch pulley in the wrapping unit; movement of stitch pulley in the wrapping unit towards the drive pulley and sticking of the fabric in the belt; simultaneously moving the supporting rollers of the trap unit towards the trap to hold the belt in place; the drive pulley starts to rotate the belt in the belt drive unit; wrapping of the belt along its length by the trap unit; monitoring of the belt length by the length measuring system in the driven unit; the drive pulley stops to rotate after wrapping the belt, the feeder guide moves upward by the pneumatic cylinder, forward movement of the knife assembly by the pneumatic cylinder to cut the wrapper; after cutting the wrapper, the drive pulley is actuated to rotate to 60% of the belt length; the movement of the driven pulley upwards by servomotor control and the stitch pulley and the supporting roller moves backwards by the pneumatic cylinders; and removing the belt from the wrapping unit by the belt unloading unit on releasing tension in the belt.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein once the belt is loaded in the drive pulley, the driven pulley stretches the belt to a certain tension, the tension and the stretch are controlled by two or more servo motors and once the set tension is crossed, the machine calculates the belt length by predefined formula which was feed to the machine.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein loading of the belt in the loader assembly comprises of steps: loading of the belt in the fingers of the loader arm; movement of the belt loader assembly by the pneumatic cylinder towards the drive pulley; on completion of one stroke, the pneumatic cylinder in the loader assembly moves up; oscillation of the loader arm downward by the pneumatic cylinder attached to the block; and loading of the belt in the grooves of drive pulley, wherein the cylinder stroke of the loader assembly is programmed to end at the centre of the drive pulley grooves, on loading of the belt in the drive pulley the pneumatic cylinder moves back to its home position.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the driven pulley is positioned 150 mm less than the belt size reference between the drive pulley and the driven pulley.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the method for feeding wrapper to the feeder guide unit comprises of steps: pulling of the wrapper by the wrapping unit; the roller mounted in the linear guide moves upward and hits the top sensor; the jacket pulling roller unit unwinds the jacket driven by the electric motor; the wrapper then passes through the overflow sensor assembly; and on unwinding the jacket the roller linear guides hits the bottom sensor, enabling to stop the unwinding of the jacket.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the automated length measurement and overlap control system actuates the servo motor of the drive pulley if the feedback value of the stretch motor matches the set reference value in the controller.

It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein the trap unit comprises of the three set of two rollers in which the first two rollers act as a guide roller for the belt, the second two rollers folds the fabric in the belt right side, and the third set of two rollers folds the fabric in the belt left side. It is another aspect of the present invention, wherein removing the belt from the wrapping unit by the belt unloading unit on releasing tension in the belt, comprising of steps: upward movement of the belt lifting cylinder fixed behind the drive pulley; grasping of the belt by the fingers of the lifting cylinder; forward movement of the belt unloader, wherein the arc round pipe of the unloader places itself in front of the drive pulley; belt ejector fixed behind the drive pulley comprising fingers ejects the belt from the belt lifting cylinder after the unloader is placed in front of the drive pulley; and the belt unloader unit moves back to its home position on unloading of the belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

So that the manner in which the features, advantages and objects of the invention, as well as others which will become apparent, may be understood in more detail, more particular description of the invention briefly summari ed above may be had by reference to the embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the appended drawing, which form a part of this specification. It is to be noted, however, that the drawing illustrates only a preferred embodiment of the invention and is therefore not to be considered limiting of the invention's scope as it may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

Figure 1: illustrates schematic view of the automated overlap control belt wrapping machine according to the present invention.

Figure 2: illustrates automatic overlap control unit according to the present invention.

Figure 3: illustrates the belt loader unit according to the present invention.

Figure 4: illustrates the vertical feeder unit with vertical feeder guide according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION FOR DRAWINGS WITH REFERENCE NUMERALS:

[1.1] Belt carrier assembly [ 1.2] Belt loader assembly [1.3] Vertical belt

[ 1.4] Big pneumatic cylinder

[2.1] Drive pulley

[2.2] Stitch unit

[2.3] Trap unit [2.4] Supporting rollers

[2.5] Driven pulley

[3.1] Jacket roll hanger

[3.2] Jacket pulling roller set

[3.3] Overflow sensor assembly

[3.4] Vertical feeder guide

[4.1] Belt ejector

[4.2] Belt lifting finger

[4.3] Belt unloading arm

[2.5] Driven pulley [2.7] Screw rod

[2.6] Servo motor

[ 1.7] Block with gear mechanism [11] Pneumatic cylinder

[1.5] Loading finger

[1.6] Belt separator [3.5] Supporting roller [3.9] Adjusting roller/knob

[3.7] Adjustable feeder guides

[3.8] Cutting knife

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The present invention generally relates to the field of machine automation. The present invention particularly relates to automated wrapping machine. Further the present invention relates to a method of working of the automated wrapping machine. Advantageously, the present invention can be utilized to wrap a fabric around the belt with automated overlap control. The field of the invention involves particularly:

• Online length measurement and overlap control [ref 2.5];

• Vertical loading of the uncured belt by gravitational force;

• Vertical feeder - fabric or any textile material [ref 3.4];

Combination of all the above inventions and make the entire process automated without man intervention.

For Online measurement and Overlap control - positioning of the 2.5 driven pulley is by servo motor [2.6] and length of the belt will be automatically calculated by using formula and logical programs.

For Vertical Loading of belt of the uncured belt by gravitational force - designed a vertical loader with separator. The belt will be hanged at one end and separated by separator [1.6]. The belt will hang in the loader and will not stick to each other. The loader will have special fingers operated by pneumatic cylinder [11]. The finger [2E] will gently carry the belt and load it in the [2.1] drive pulley. The uncured belt will not stick to the finger since it was hanging in its self-load by gravity.

For Vertical Feeder - In order to reduce the floor space, the horizontal orientation of the feeder is fixed vertically. Provided an additional roller near the feeder guide to facilitate the free flow of fabric. The roller is a gravity roller and will rotate freely. The material of the roller is Aluminum. The feeder will have two guides operated by screw mechanism. This will be used to guide the fabric or any textile material during wrapping.

For Combination of all the above points and make the entire process automated without man intervention: From starting to end process in wrapping, to eliminate man intervention, the machine is controlled by logical programs. The operator only needs to load 60 belts to the machine and to enter the belt reference size. The entire process is controlled by machine. The machine has fault alarm, safety sensors, fabric or any textile material refilling alarm etc.

Online length measurement and overlap length control is performed by preloaded logical program and mathematical formula. The machine automatically measures the length of the uncured belt based on the position of the drive and driven pulley [2.5]. Based on the length, the fabric or any textile material length is decided by the machine and performs wrapping operation.

Vertical Loading of the uncured belt by gravitational force allows the belt to freely fall on the drive pulley [2.1]. This gravitational loading is designed to avoid deformation of the belt while loading in the drive pulley [2.1]. The Sequence of loading the belt is, belt is loaded in a Belt carrier [1.1] by operator. The Belt carrier [1.1] is a chain like element which has nylon fingers which acts as separator for belts to avoid sticking. The Belt carrier [1.1] is operated by a servo motor. The Belt carrier [1.1] has a sensor at one end of its frame to ensure only one belt is loaded at time to the loading finger. The Belt carrier [1.1] loads the belt in the loading arm. The loading arm is chrome plated steel finger like element which is operated by pneumatic cylinder. The arm moves up and down to load the belt. Once the belt is loaded to the loading arm, the sensor stops the Belt carrier [1.1]. Loading cylinder moves the loading arm towards the drive pulley [2.1]. The loading arm moves down, and the belt is loaded in the drive pulley [2.1] by gravity.

The vertical feeder is a guide system which has a set of guide plates. While adjusting a knurled knob [3.9] in clockwise direction in the guide, the guide plates move towards each other. This guides the fabric or any textile like material. The guide has free rollers at one end. This roller allows the fabric to flow freely. The guide moves up and down by pneumatic cylinders and guides the fabric during wrapping.

From starting to end process in wrapping, to eliminate man intervention, the machine is controlled by logical programs. The operator only needs to load 60 belts to the machine and to enter the belt reference size. The entire process is controlled by machine. The machine has fault alarm, safety sensors, fabric or any textile material refilling alarm etc.

The vertical loading by gravitational force accesses for easy automation and saves floor space. This also ensures the correct and automatic loading of belt between the drive and driven pulley [2.5]. The rack and pinion in the loading arm unit ensures the smooth loading of belt in the drive pulley [2.1].

The vertical feeder is to save the floor space of the machine. This also ensures the proper flow of jacket or any textile material to the raw belt while wrapping. The jacket is properly attached to the uncured belt during initial stage of wrapping because of this vertical guide. If the guide is designed in any other orientation, chance of wrapping defects like jacket folding is more.

Referring to figure 1, figure 2, figure 3 and figure 4, an automated belt wrapping machine is provided. The automated belt wrapping machine comprises of vertical loader unit, a wrapping unit, a jacket feeder unit, a belt unloading unit, two or more servomotors [2.6], one or more sensors, one or more actuators, operator / user interface and one or more pneumatic cylinders [11]. A vertical loader unit comprises of a belt carrier assembly [1.1], a belt loader assembly [1.2], a vertical post [1.3], and a big pneumatic cylinder [1.4]. A wrapping unit comprises of a belt drive unit comprising of a drive pulley [2.1] and a driven pulley [2.5], a trap unit [2.3]; a stitch pulley [2.2]; and one or more supporting rollers [2.4]. The jacket feeder unit comprises of a jacket roll hanger [3.1], a jacket pulling roller set [3.2], an overflow sensor assembly [3.3], a horizontal feeder, and a vertical feeder guide [3.4]. A belt unloading unit comprises of a belt ejector [4.1], a belt lifting finger [4.2] and a belt unloading arm [4.3]. Two or more servomotors [2.6] comprises of a positional feedback sensor, a feedback element, a programmable logic controller, and an amplifier.

The belt loader assembly [1.2] comprises of a set of two movable arms with a loading finger [1.5] attached to a block with gear mechanism [1.7], and the loader assembly [1.2] fixed in a rack and pinion mechanism, The belt drive unit with the driven pulley [2.5] comprising an automated length measurement and overlap control system mounted in a bracket in a screw rod [2.7] guided by one or more linear motion guides, and two or more servomotors [2.6] enable actuation signal to the drive pulley [2.1] and the wrapping unit. The vertical feeder guide [3.4] is movably fixed vertical comprising of a set of adjustable feeder guides [3.7], an movable knife assembly/cutting knife [3.8], and a movable roller/supporting roller [3.5] fixed proximately to the vertical feeder guides [3.4], and the fabric feeder horizontal orientation with supporting rollers [3.5] fixed vertically and provided with an additional roller near the feeder guide to facilitate free flow of the fabric to the wrapping unit, and based on the length of the uncured belt, the fabric or any textile material length is decided by the machine and performs wrapping operation pneumatic cylinders [11] allows the loading finger [1.5] to move in a circular path, and the loader assembly [1.2] is designed to make the belt to not touch each other with one or more belt separators [1.6].

Entire process of cloth wrapping is automated. This invention has only single cloth feeding unit. The belt will be loaded in the drive pulley by the automatic loader. Once the belt is loaded in the drive pulley, the driven pulley will stretch the belt to a certain tension. The tension and the stretch are controlled by a servo motor. Once the set tension is achieved, the machine will calculate the belt length by predefined formula which was feed to the machine. The fabric feeder will downwards towards the drive pulley and will keep the edge of the cloth near to the belt to be wrapped. The stitching pulley in the wrapping unit will press the cloth with the belt. After this the drive pulley will rotate belt until the entire belt is wrapped. The overlap joint length of the wrapping is controlled by the drive pulley servo motor. The belt wrapping unit will have two servo motor. A batch of 60 belts will be loaded to the machine in a loader where the belt will not touch each other. The loader is designed in such a way with separator so that the belt will not touch each other. The belt loader will have chain and separators. The chain will be driven by the servo motor. The in the separator will be moved to the home position and will be loaded to the loading fingers. The loader unit servo motor will stop driving the chain once the sensor in the loader unit is sensed. The loading finger will load the belt in the wrapping unit’s drive pulley. The loading finger will move forward with the help of pneumatic cylinder and will load the belt with the help of rotary pneumatic cylinder. The rotary cylinder will allow the loading finger to move in a circular path. The entire pneumatic cylinder in the loader unit is controlled by PLC with the help of sensors. The fabric feeder orientation is vertical and has supporting rollers with guides to facilitate free flow of fabric to the wrapping unit.

Machine operation Steps:

• Feed the belt in the loader unit

• Set the belt size in the HMI and push start button

• The loader unit will load the belt to the wrapping units, and the loading arm will go back to its home position for loading next belt.

• The driven pulley in the wrapping unit will stretch the belt by servo motor. Once the tension is achieved, the stretch pulley will stop stretching. The length of the belt is measured by predefined formulas.

• The fabric feeder will move downwards and place the edge of the fabric near to the belt. The stitching pulley will move and press the fabric with the belt.

• The drive pulley will start rotating the belt and the fabric feeder will allow the fabric for wrapping. The belt and the fabric will pass through the trap unit and will get wrapped. Once the wrapping is completed, the drive pulleys will stops rotating. The overlap length and the wrapping length are controlled by drive pulley servo motor. • In the mean time the unloader arm will come in front of the drive pulley and will wait for the wrapping to be completed.

• Once the wrapping is done the fabric feeder will goes up and the cutter will gets turned ON. The cutter will move forward and cut the fabric and goes back to its home position

• The drive pulley will rotate to 60% of the belt length to ensure proper wrapping.

• Once the wrapping is completed, the driven pulley will release the belt. The unloading needle attached with stepper motor in the driven and driven pulley will take the belt out of the pulley grooves. The ejector cylinder will push the belt to the unloading arm. The unloading arm will take the belt and place it in a collection bin.

• This process repeats.

Automated Overlap Controlled Belt Wrapping Machine comprises of the below components

1. Vertical Loading of the uncured belt by gravitational force.

2. Automatic Wrapping Unit

3. Automatic Jacket Feeder Unit

4. Automatic Belt Unloader unit

Vertical Loader unit has the below components.

1. Belt carrier Assembly [1.1]

2. belt loader assembly [ 1.2]

3. vertical post [1.3]

4. Big pneumatic cylinder [ 1.4]

Belt carrier assembly [1.1] consists of two side plates, chain like element with separator mounted in a chain sprocket and servo motor for driving the Belt carrier [1.1]. The belt is loaded in the Belt carrier [1.1] by the operator. After loading the belt, the operator feeds the size reference data to the machine. The Belt carrier [1.1] starts rotating by the servo motor. Once the belt moves to the end of the side plates, the belt falls down freely on the belt loader assembly [1.2]. While falling freely, the belt hits the sensor arm at the end of the plate. Now the Belt carrier [1.1] stops once it gets the signal from the sensor.

The belt loader assembly [1.2] consists of two chrome plated fingers mounted on the two arms which have gear [1.7] teeth at its end. The plate has a curve profile at one end and it has teeth on the curve profile. The two arms with teeth are in contact with a small square block which has teeth at two sides. This square block moves up and down with the help of pneumatic cylinder (50mm stroke length) mounted at one end of the square block. When the square block moves up the two arms attached to the square block will move down. When the block moves down, the arm plate moves up. This movement of the arm is in a semi-circle form.

The belt loader assembly [1.2] is fixed to a Big pneumatic cylinder [1.4] (400mm stroke length). The pneumatic cylinder is fixed in a bracket that was mounted below the chain carrier. Once the belt falls on the chrome plated finger, the Big pneumatic cylinder [ 1.4] (400mm stroke length) moves the belt loader assembly [1.2] forward towards the drive pulley [2.1]. Once the pneumatic cylinder completes its stroke, the pneumatic cylinder in the loader assembly (50mm stroke length) moves up. Now the arm moves down. Hence the chrome platted finger is attached to the arm and also comes down without hitting the drive pulley [2.1]. When the chrome plated finger comes down, the uncured belt automatically loaded in the grooves of the drive pulley [2.1]. The Big pneumatic cylinder [ 1.4] stroke length is designed in such a way to match the cylinder stroke ends at the center of the drive pulley groves [2.1]. Once the belt loaded in the drive pulley [2.1], the Big pneumatic cylinder [1.4] moves back to its original position. In the meantime, the chrome plated finger moves up and ready for the next belt to be loaded.

The entire setup, belt carrier assembly [1.1], belt loader assembly [1.2] and the Big pneumatic cylinder [1.4] is mounted in a vertical post [1.3]. The vertical post [3.1] is a round pipe designed to withstand the load of the Belt carrier [1.1] and belt loader assembly [1.2] and to withstand the impact load acting on it during the movement of the belt loader [1.2].

The Wrapping unit has major components like

1. Drive pulley [2.1] - Operated by servo motor.

2. Stitch pulley [2.2] - Operated by pneumatic cylinder

3. Trap unit [2.3]

4. Supporting rollers [2.4] - Operated by pneumatic cylinder

5. Driven pulley [2.5] with online length measurement and overlap control

The drive pulley [2.1] is a V groove pulley. The drive pulley [2.1] is fixed in a shaft. The other end of the shaft is mounted with servo motor. The drive pulley [2.1 ] is made of mild steel. The stitch pulley [2.2] is made up of mild steel. The stitch pulley [2.2] is fixed to a pneumatic cylinder. This stitch pulley [2.2] moves up and down by the pneumatic cylinder. This assembly is fixed on the right side of the drive pulley [2.1].

The trap unit [2.3] is the core element of this machine. The trap unit [2.3] has three set of rollers mounted in a threaded shaft, cushioned by spring. The rollers and the shaft are an assembly. The three set of rollers is mounted in a plate. The plate is fixed with the machine frame.

The first two rollers act as guide rollers for the belt. The second two rollers fold the fabric in the belt right side. The last two rollers fold the fabric left side. The height of the rollers is adjusted by adjusting the threaded shaft. The supporting rollers [2.4] are fixed right side to the trap unit [2.3]. The supporting roller supports the belt between the trap to perform the wrapping operation.

The driven pulley [2.5] is a v- groove pulley like drive pulley [2.1]. The drive and driven pulley

[2.5] are same in dimension. The driven pulley [2.5] is mounted with the Online Length measurement and overlap control system.

Online length measurement and overlap control system:

Once the belt is loaded in the drive pulley [2.1], the driven pulley [2.5] stretches the belt up to the set torque is achieved. Automatic length measurement and overlap control is through driven pulley

[2.5] stretch motor. The stretch motor is a servo-based motor. The driven pulley [2.5] is mounted in a bracket. The bracket is mounted in screw rod guided by Linear motion guides.

The servo motor [2.6] is fixed to the screw rod [2.7]. When the motor shaft rotates, the screw rod rotates. By this the bracket mounted in the screw rod move up and down guided by the Linear motion guides. In automatic length measurement and control, operator enters the belt reference size to the machine. Length measurement is based on the Logical programs and calculations. The formula used for length measurement is Belt length = ((DL + DS) * p / 2) + (2 * L) + (DL - DS)2 / (4 * L). Where DL is the diameter of the drive pulley [2.1], DS is the diameter of the driven pulley

[2.5], L is the distance between two pulley axes. Based on the size reference entered, the machine positions the driven pulley [2.5] 150mm less than the size reference. This 150mm enables free loading of the belt between the drive and driven pulley [2.5]. Once the belt is loaded between the drive and driven pulley [2.5]. The machine further moves the driven pulley [2.5] and stretches the belt. The driven pulley [2.5] stops once the designed torque of the motor is achieved. If the motor torque exceeds the set limit, the belt is over tensioned and chances of belt elongation or cut happen. To avoid this stretch motor stops once the torque is achieved. After driven pulley [2.5] stops its linear movement, the machine calculates the length based on the above said formula. The value L is taken from the stretch motor and DL and DS are predefined values. Once the belt length is measured by the machine, if the belt length is within the size reference, the machine starts wrapping and stops the machine as per the overlap tolerance provided by the operator. If the belt size is more/less than the belt size reference entered, the machine shows alarm and machine stops.

After the belt is stretched, the fabric guide assembly in the fabric feed unit moves downwards and allows the fabric near the belt. The stitch roller in the Wrapping unit moves towards the drive roller and stick the fabric to the belt. In the meantime, the supporting rollers [2.4] of the trap move towards the trap and hold the belt in place.

Once the stretching is completed, the machine calculates the length of the belt based on the movement of the driven pulley [2.5] by the servo motor. The length measurement is preprogrammed and made by calculations.

The drive pulley [2.1 ] starts to rotate the belt between the drive and driven. The fabric is wrapped in the belt along its length by the trap unit [2.3]. The length of the belt is monitored by the length measuring device placed in the driven unit. The drive motor stops once the belt wrapping is completed.

The vertical feeder unit now moves upwards by pneumatic cylinder. The cutting knife [3.8] move forwards and cut the fabric in 45 deg angle along the length. After the fabric is cut, the drive pulley [2.1] rotates again to the 60% of the belt length to ensure proper wrapping of the belt.

Once the wrapping is completed, the driven pulley [2.5] moves upwards by the servo motor. The stitch roller and the supporting move backwards by the pneumatic cylinders. The tension in the belt is now released and ready for removal from the wrapping unit. The ejector in the unloading unit unloads the belt and the Wrapping unit is ready for the next belt to wrap. The Jacket feeder unit feeds the rubberized fabric to the Wrapping unit. The jacket feeder unit have the below components.

1. The j acket roll hanger [3.1]

2. Jacket pulling roller set [3.2]

3. Overflow sensor assembly [3.3]

4. Vertical Feeder Guide [3.4]- Fabric or any textile material

The jacket roll hanger [3.1] is a roller attached to the machine frame. It is a free roller and the rubberized fabric is loaded in that. Fabric pulling roller set [3.2] has four rollers. The four rollers are driven by one electrical motor. The four rollers are interconnected with the help of belt. The rubberized fabric flows through all the four rollers. The rollers rotate in same speed to avoid elongation of the rubberized fabric.

The rubberized fabric then passes through the overflow sensor assembly [3.3]. The overflow sensor assembly [3.3] is fixed below the jacket pulling rollers. This assembly has a rectangular frame with round rod at the center. A linear guide with roller is mounted in the round rod. This set up is fixed in a vertically facing ground. This has one sensor at the top of the assembly and another sensor at the bottom. The linear guide moves freely in the round rod. The rubberized fabric passes through the roller mounted in the linear guide. Once the fabric is pulled by the Wrapping unit, the roller moves up and hits the sensor in the top. This indicated that the jacket is needed by wrapping unit for wrapping. Now after getting this signal from the top sensor, the fabric pulling unit unwinds the jacket by pulling it. Once the jacket unwinds, the roller in the linear guide goes down due to gravity. Once the roller hits the bottom sensor, the pulling roller stops unwinding the fabric. This roller acts a dancing roller and moves in-between the top and bottom sensor ensuring proper flow of fabric to the Wrapping unit.

The fabric then passes through the Vertical Feeder [3.4]. This Vertical feeder unit [3.4] has two adjustable guides. These guides are adjusted equally by a knob [3.9] and helical screw rods. This setup is mounted in a pneumatic cylinder. This cylinder moves the fabric guide towards the wrapping unit and took it back to its original position. This vertical feeder setup also had a small pneumatic cylinder. This small pneumatic cylinder holds the fabric during cutting. This ensures the proper cutting of the fabric after wrapping is completed. Since the feeder is mounted vertically, the fabric flows in gravity and allows the fabric to stick to the belt without folding in the end. The vertical feeder unit also has a knife [3.8] setup. This knife [3.8] is operated by pneumatic cylinders. This knife [3.8] setup moves forward and cuts the fabric and goes back to its original position. The fabric is cut by scissoring action of the knife [3.8].

Once the belt gets stretched in the wrapping unit, the fabric guide takes the fabric and position in between the drive pulley [2.1] and the stitching roller. The stitching roller will move towards the drive pulley [2.1] and attaches the fabric to the belt. The wrapping of the belt starts. Once the wrapping gets over, the fabric guide moves back to its original position with the help of pneumatic cylinder in which the fabric guide is fixed. The small pneumatic cylinder in the guide unit holds the fabric. Once the pneumatic cylinder holds the fabric, the knife [3.8] unit moves forward and stops near the fabric. The knife [3.8] now cuts the fabric and goes back to its original position. The knife [3.8] unit moves forward and backward by pneumatic cylinder. This process continues for every belt.

The belt unloading unit comprises of a belt ejector [4.1] with pneumatic cylinder, a belt lifting finger [4.2] with pneumatic cylinder and a belt unloading arm [4.3] with pneumatic cylinder.

Once the wrapping operation is completed, the driven pulley [2.5] in the wrapping unit moves up by servo motor enabling the belt to loosen. After the driven pulley [2.5] moves up, the belt lifting cylinder [4.2] fixed behind the drive pulley [2.1] moves up. The belt lifting cylinder [4.2] has two fingers. With the two fingers, belt lifting cylinder [4.2] takes the belts out of the drive pulley [2.1]. After wrapping the belt gets stick to the drive pulley grooves [2.1]. Small amount of force is required to take the belt out of grooves. This force is generated by the lifting cylinder and takes the belt out of the grooves.

Once the belt comes out of the drive pulley [2.1], the belt unloading cylinder [4.3] moves forward. The unloading cylinder [4.3] has a round steel pipe. The pipe is in arc shape. Once the unloading cylinder [4.3] moves forward, the steel pipe goes and stops in front of the drive pulley [2.1].

The ejector cylinder [4.1] is fixed behind the drive pulley [2.1]. The ejector cylinder [4.1] has a small finger made of nylon material. Once the unloading cylinder [4.3] moves front and the arm are in front of the drive pulley [2.1], the ejector cylinder [4.1] ejects the belt from the belt lifting cylinder [4.2]. After belt ejection, the unloading cylinder [4.3] moves back to its original position. The belt loader [ 1.2] loads the belt to the wrapping unit and the process continues from starting.

The driven pulley [2.5] is fixed with the servo motor [2.6] with torque measurement and screw rod assembly [2.7]. When the belt is loaded between the drive and driven pulley [2.5], the driven pulley

[2.5] stretches the uncured belt. Once the tension is achieved, the stretching stops. Based on the position of the driven pulley [2.5], the machine calculates the length of the each belt. Based on the length, wrapping is performed.

In order to deskill the operator and to ensure proper loading of belt, designed a vertical loading of the belt with gravitational force. The belt is hanged at one end and separated by separator [1.6]. The belt hangs in the belt carrier [1.1] and does not stick to each other. The loader has special fingers

[1.5] operated by pneumatic cylinder [11]. The finger [1.5] gently carries the belt and loads it in the drive pulley [2.5]. The uncured belt does not stick to the finger [1.5] since it was hanging in its self load by gravity.

In order to reduce the floor space, the horizontal orientation of the feeder [3.4] is fixed vertically. An additional roller [3.5] is provided near the feeder guide to facilitate the free flow of fabric. The roller is a gravity roller and rotates freely. The material of the roller is Aluminum. The feeder [3.4] has two guides operated by screw mechanism. This is used to guide the fabric or any textile material during wrapping.

The method of automated belt wrapping machine, comprising of following steps: loading of belt in the belt carrier assembly [1.1] by an automated loader;

The once the belt is loaded in the drive pulley [2.1], the driven pulley [2.5] stretches the belt to a certain tension, the tension and the stretch are controlled by two or more servo motors [2.6] and once the set tension is crossed, the machine calculates the belt length by predefined formula which was feed to the machine. entering the belt reference size in the user interface; advancing the belt by the carrier assembly [1.1] and loading the belt in the loader assembly [1.2] and detection of unloading belt from the carrier by the sensor to control the actuation of belt carrier assembly [1.1]; loading of the belt in the loader assembly [1.2] comprises of steps: loading of the belt in the fingers [1.5] of the loader arm, movement of the belt loader assembly [ 1.2] by the pneumatic cylinder [11] towards the drive pulley

[2.1], on completion of one stroke, the pneumatic cylinder [ 11 ] in the loader assembly [ 1.2] moves up, oscillation of the loader arm downward by the pneumatic cylinder [11] attached to the block, and loading of the belt in the grooves of drive pulley [2.1],

The cylinder stroke of the loader assembly [1.2] is programmed to end at the centre of the drive pulley grooves [2.1], on loading of the belt in the drive pulley [2.1] the pneumatic cylinder [11] moves back to its home position. positioning of the driven pulley [2.5] 150 mm less than the belt size reference between the drive pulley [2.1] and the driven pulley [2.5]; stretching of the belt by the driven pulley [2.5] up to the set torque value by means of the servo motor [2.6] mounted on the bracket with the screw rod [2.7] guided by the linear motion guides; on achieving the set torque, the driven pulley [2.5] stop stretch and the machine calculate the belt length based on the sensor feedback of the stretch motor of the driven pulley [2.5]; movement of the feeder guide unit [3.4] in the feeder unit [3.4] towards the stitch pulley [2.2] in the wrapping unit; wherein the method for feeding wrapper to the feeder guide unit [3.4] comprises of steps: pulling of the wrapper by the wrapping unit, the roller mounted in the linear guide moves upward and hits the top sensor, the jacket pulling roller [3.2] unit unwinds the jacket driven by the electric motor; the wrapper then passes through the overflow sensor assembly [3.3], and on unwinding the jacket the roller linear guides hits the bottom sensor, enabling to stop the unwinding of the jacket, movement of stitch pulley [2.2] in the wrapping unit towards the drive pulley [2.1] and sticking of the fabric in the belt; simultaneously moving the supporting rollers [2.4] of the trap unit [2.3] towards the trap to hold the belt in place;

The automated length measurement and overlap control system actuates the servo motor [2.6] of the drive pulley [2.1] if the feedback value of the stretch motor matches the set reference value in the controller; the drive pulley [2.1] starts to rotate the belt in the belt drive unit; wrapping of the belt along its length by the trap unit [2.3]; monitoring of the belt length by the length measuring system in the driven unit [2.5];

The trap unit [2.3] comprises of the three set of two rollers in which the first two rollers act as a guide roller for the belt, the second two rollers folds the fabric in the belt right side, and the third set of two rollers folds the fabric in the belt left side; the drive pulley [2.1] stops to rotate after wrapping the belt, the feeder guide [3.4] moves upward by the pneumatic cylinder [11], forward movement of the knife assembly [3.8] by the pneumatic cylinder [11] to cut the wrapper; after cutting the wrapper, the drive pulley [2.1] is actuated to rotate to 60% of the belt length; the movement of the driven pulley [2.5] upwards by servomotor control and the stitch pulley [2.2] and the supporting roller [2.4] moves backwards by the pneumatic cylinders [11]; removing the belt from the wrapping unit by the belt unloading unit on releasing tension in the belt, comprising of steps: upward movement of the belt lifting cylinder [4.2] fixed behind the drive pulley [2.1], grasping of the belt by the fingers of the lifting cylinder [4.2], forward movement of the belt unloader [4.3], wherein the arc round pipe of the unloader places itself in front of the drive pulley [2.1], belt ejector fixed behind the drive pulley [2.1] comprising fingers ejects the belt from the belt lifting cylinder [4.2] after the unloader [4.3] is placed in front of the drive pulley [2.1], and the belt unloader unit moves back to its home position on unloading of the belt.

Advantages:

• The vertical loading by gravitational force accesses for easy automation and saves floor space.

• The rack and pinion in the loading arm unit ensures the smooth loading of belt in the drive pulley.

• The vertical feeder is to save the floor space of the machine.

• The entire process of wrapping is automated and man intervention is eliminated.

Although, the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto, without parting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.