Structural design of the working mechanism of the plastic cup stacking machine

The paper presents the structural design of the plastic cup stacking machine working mechanism. Based on the set requirements, a new working mechanism consisting of a cam/gear mechanism is proposed. The cam mechanism enables the change of the kinematic parameters of the working elements, and the gear mechanism provides the change of rotation direction of the output links. Based on the geometrical parameters of the cam mechanism, two principal solution of the working mechanism have been considered. Kinematic position analysis was performed and regulation characteristics have been formed. Increasing the motion range of the output shaft is approximately equal for both solutions, and the change is close to linear. However, one solution has smaller overall dimensions and more favourable values of pressure angle which makes it more efficient. The proposed solution is reliable, efficient and it has a high positioning accuracy that provides high accuracy and repeatability of movement of the output links without a time delay. The driving motor maintains a nominal number of revolution for different kinematic parameters of the machine working elements, which is a significant advantage.