Vibratory bowls, also referred to as “vibratory bowl feeders,” are feeder bowls that are mounted to a vibrating drive unit in order to orient and conveyor parts between processes. As the most common type of parts feeder, as well as the oldest, vibratory bowls are self-contained systems that work best with small metal or plastic parts.
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Most often used in the pharmaceutical, glass, foundry, concrete, food processing, mining, plastics and automotive industries, vibratory bowls can be constructed from stainless steel in order to meet sanitary grade requirements, but are also often constructed from cast aluminum. Typical parts that vibratory bowls handle include washers, nuts, studs, plugs, bolts, pills, rings and screws, as well as dry bulk materials. Vibratory bowls are typically used in parts manufacturing processes in order to orient and sort finished and semi-finished parts for additional processing or packaging. Quiet and effective, vibratory bowls offer high feed rates as well as using very few moving parts resulting in low maintenance and down time.
Utilizing vibrations to convey parts, vibratory bowls consist of a feeder bowl and a vibrating drive unit. The feeder bowl is mounted to the vibrating drive unit, which is equipped with a variable-amplitude controller that vibrates the feeder bowl and causes the parts to move upwards on an inclined spiral track that climbs along the vibratory bowl's inner wall. The purpose of the track is to align and sort the parts in reliable and consistent positions based on the desired requirements. Initially, parts are dumped into the feeder bowl, which vibrates and turns. As a result of the vibrations, the parts move along the track until they come across obstacles that are designed to align the parts in a particular manner. This orientation of the parts allows for easy usage further down the processing line. Special features can be added to vibratory bowls for additional benefits such as special bed liners for better handling of abrasive materials and dust-proof outlet covers for increased dust protection. In addition, the length, width and depth of the bowl feeder can be adjusted depending on the size of the parts.
