Servo Roll Feeder and Pneumatic Cutter

Background

Solid Power would often need to send samples of the coated foils to its location in South Korea, or to companies that may want to use the product. These samples would need to be consistent cuts at a certain size. This was done through a servo that would grab the roll and feed it through. The system was connected to pressurized air for pneumatic cuts, before feeding it through.

Problem

This system suffered many problems. There was nowhere for the cut roll to go, so it had to be manually moved. This resulted in single sheets being created at a time, a very manual and long process when some orders needed 500 sheets. If there were issues in the length of the sheet, the device would need to be plugged into a computer and the code adjusted. Wires were also loose and the pneumatic connection came undone easily.

Solution

I upgraded this device in many aspects. The “cut” button was moved to be a foot pedal on the floor. After a sheet was cut, it had a track it would roll down into a crate 2 feet away. This allowed for constant operation without needing to move the sheets. Electronics were moved to a plastic container, allowing for easier transportation. Two buttons were added, one that increased the servos speed and one that decreased it. This allowed for the adjustment of sheet size without plugging into the code. These upgrades made the process of cutting hundreds of sheets go from a full day of work, to closer to an hour.

Images for this project are lacking due to its location on the lab floor