When you are Australia’s leading systems integrator specialising in measurement automation (and so much more!) your are, of course, going to design, install, integrate, and support many different in-motion dimension weigh scan (DWS) systems around the country.
So, if you are wondering what these sophisticated, revenue assurance, measurement automation systems look like you’ve now hit the jackpot. Below we’ve assembled an image gallery from a very small sample of DWS systems that are representative of the type of work that we do. If you recognise one or more of the installations in the images below you will notice we have been careful not to give away any branding or site ID features.
In a separate post to follow we’ll highlight many of the features of our Harmony DWS Systems Integration & Software product that ties all the hardware together and makes these DWS systems work.
But for now, let’s take a walk through a few DWS systems and some of their fundamental features…
Above: Our Senior Projects Engineer, Peter Hickey, manning the keyboard at the Harmony DWS Software and System Control operator station. A box is approaching the DWS section via a curved belt before it goes through a spacing or gaping conveyor (to ensure correct separation between parcels) and then over the in-motion weigh belt and under the barcode scanners and cubing sensors then through an out-feed belt on its way into a controlled merge as it enters the in motion carousel unit.
The carousel unit was supplied by Diverseco as part of the overall system. We designed and supplied an induct lane into the carousel with integrated spacing conveyors and the 5-sided scan tunnel with weighing and cubing.
Above: The same system again from different angle. The DWS system includes the various conveyors and also acts as an induct lane into a long parcel conveying carousel. This installation was a turnkey design, supply, and install project into a greenfield site in which Diverseco acted as the general contractor.
Above: A close up of this DWS System. This is a “hybrid” 5-sided scanning DWS system which includes both overhead Vision Scanning for both 1D and 2D barcodes and side, front and rear laser barcode scanning for 1D barcodes. It’s called a hybrid because it combines both Vision camera scanning and traditional laser scanning. The yellow fixtures house photo eyes for integrated conveyor control and the whole system combines plc programming and Diverseco’s Harmony DWS Software to control, monitor and record every action that takes place.
Harmony DWS Software and Systems Integration: Putting you in complete control.
Above: A different site. Above is a nice image showing the various modules or components of a standard DWS system. From left to right: Operator Screen showing live events and statistics; Systec IT8000E Intelligent weigh controller for the in-motion weigh-bed; Datalogic Automation SC 6000 industrial bar code controller specifically designed for omni-directional multi-side reading tunnels; a remote display unit showing LWH measurements in cms; and an integrated and programmed siren and light stack signal. Below these items you will find our industrial controls cabinet.
Above left: Diverseco can even integrate the various safety cage doors and locks that are part of the overall system and which are often required in strict safety environments. When you open a cage the line stops and a signal goes off; when you close the cage after exiting the area a re-start signal begins prior to the line re-starting. Above right: a down the line view of a gaping/infeed belt, the weighing belt and an out-feed belt. The barcode scanning and cubing sensors are fixed to frame that is placed over the weigh belt.
Above: In this image the boxes are travelling toward the viewer. When a single-bed weigh-belt is used as the W (or Weigh) in the DWS system then to get a correct weight only one item or box can be on the weigh bed at any one time. In this image the box closest to the bottom is the one on the weigh- belt. The two separate belts prior to the weigh belt are both gaping (spacing) conveyors. Each one can stop and start independently in an instant in order to ensure that only one item is ever on the weigh belt. Integrated photo-eyes (PEs) along the side-frames detect entry and exit and direct conveyor commands even at the highest travel speeds.
Above: Screen shot from the operator control and also what Diverseco can view when we dial in to provide remote support. System and shift statistics from our Harmony DWS Software and an image of the freight item and close up of the scanned barcode.
Above: Harmony DWS System Control and statistics.
Bi-directional System Control at your fingertips via the Human Machine Interface. Complete visual image of the system enable fast reactions and quick problem solving when inevitable faults occur. This system image also relates to the following two images below. Looking at the above image, at bottom, there are two induct-infeed lanes (pm shift) that take the items through the DWS and then sort to the three lanes in the top of the image. In the am shift the three sort lanes act as infeed for custody scanning of local freight, taking items down to the two lanes in the bottom of the image. Faulted items are diverted via a divert lane in the am or simply recirculate in the pm.
The calm before the storm. Here Diverseco provide system control including all sort lane and divert controls for almost any material handling conveyor designs. Top left in the image, sorting to three lanes.
Above: System Software and Control – sortation into three lanes in a challenging general freight environment.
Above: The MaxiCube! This is a stand alone DWS belt line for extra large or non-conveyable items of any shape. The MaxiCube loves ugly items! Diverseco have taken the largest NMI legal for trade certification capability for dimensioning (cubing) items in- motion using our exclusive ParcelScan 2 hardware and have created a stand-alone solution for cubing all types of irregular shapes including flat-packs, tyres, whipper-snippers, carpet rolls and other traditionally non-conveyable freight items.
The MaxiCube incorporates a 6 meter long belt that enables items of any shape up to 2.6 m in length and 1.4m in width and 1.4m in height to be dimensioned (cubed). On the V-shaped overhead frame we have mounted cubing sensors, a remote display and an integrated machine siren and light stack. Conveyor wiring and controls and the Harmony DWS software and related control cabinet are also mounted to the MaxiCube side-frames. An integrated static conveyor scale and handheld barcode scanner located at the infeed area complete the full DWS solution.
Above: The infeed section of the MaxiCube featuring the static scale module. We have fit a section of gravity conveyor over the legal for trade verified platform scale and have “tarred” or zeroed its actual weight. The operator needs simply to scan the barcode of the parcel item place it on the static conveyor scale and then move it on to the driven belt and through the cubing section. All captured data is instantly available for export in the file format required over the user’s network.
So, there you have it! We hope you learned a bit more about DWS by having a look at these systems in the wild. To learn even more about DWS systems or to get pricing on any of our related solutions please give us a call at Diverseco today!