CHAOTIC DYNAMICS OF REPEATED IMPACTS IN VIBRATORY BOWL FEEDERS

The vibratory bowl feeder is widely used to convey small engineering parts, and can be considered as a typical non-linear dynamic system experiencing repeated impacts with friction. This paper presents a simplified model and analysis for the dynamic behavior of a single part on the vibrating track of the bowl feeder. While the previous studies are restricted to the sliding regime, the presented analysis is focused on the hopping regime where the high conveying rate is available. The periodic and chaotic regions in the hopping regime are identified through numerical simulation and experimental analysis. It is verified experimentally that the conveying rate in the chaotic region is roughly independent of variations of external parameters. The dynamic effects from the variation of several physical parameters are examined and the important features for the effective design of the vibratory feeder are presented. This research holds much potential for leverage over design problems of a wide range of mechanisms and tools with repeated collisions.