Designing parts feeders using dynamic simulation

We consider the problem of designing traditional (e.g. vibratory bowl) feeders for singulating and orienting industrial parts. Our ultimate goal is to prototype new designs using analyticallyand geometrically-based methods. We have developed a tool for designing industrial parts feeders based on dynamic simulation. Our tool allows us to automatically perform multiple feeder design experiments, and to evaluate their outcomes. These results can then be used to compute the probabilities of a Markov model for the feeder. To demonstrate our technique, we present preliminary results for the design of two simple feeders. Our findings suggest that using dynamic simulation is a promising approach for designing parts feeders.