subject: What is a vibratory feeder and its uses? [print this page] In many industries, vibratory feeders are a big part of a product line; they are an industrial machine that uses vibration to "feed" material to a process or another machine. They use both vibration and gravity to move the material. Gravity is used to determine the direction, either down, or down and to a side, and then vibration is used to move the material.
They have 3 main purposes, they move products along a conveyor belt for assembly or collection in a particular order, or they can send products into a robotic process through timed distribution, and also move products into containers for inventory or counting tasks.
Common vibratory feeders are cone shaped. The material is delivered in an uncontrolled fashion into the top of the feeder which then in turn controls the delivery of the material through the bottom of the feeder. One example is in the use of counting and bottling pills in the chemical industry. A large batch goes into the top of the feeder then using gravity they will fall through the bottom of the feeder one at a time so they can be counted and bottled. This allows bottles to get filled automatically. The vibration part of the feeder stops any congestion and makes sure the pills keep moving towards the exit and into the bottle.
They can be used in many different industry sectors. The chemical industry I have mentioned but also the food industry uses them for country confectionary or other food products. They can be customised to do whatever your manufacturing process requires. Feeders can be built to any size, for indoor or outdoor use. Many heavy duty feeders are using in the recycling industry to sort and separate. Most packing plans will use conveyors and feeders of some sort.
