Commissioned by a leading UK manufacturer of over-wrapping equipment, Helium3 were asked to resolve the problem of accumulating and storing products within a 24hr assembly line during maintenance procedures.

A box which has been over-wrapped on the assembly line

The reed boxes from the production line

Detail of Clarinet Reed box

Helium3 worked closely with our clients to conceptualise various solutions and detail engineer the chosen concept. Our team interfaced with external suppliers of drive and logic control systems and provided a comprehensive manufacturing pack for production.

Initial concepts for the machine included a carousel to radially buffer the boxes

Further concepts moved closer to the familiar verticle stacking system

The final concept utilised vertical stacking and sensors to monitor how 'full' the system was

A machine which stored 10 minutes of production line capacity within horizontally louvred carossels was developed, allowing 320 products to be stored and re-introduced with ease. The design could be configured to accept larger pack sizes and storage capacities.

For the first time our client could sell their range of standard over-wrapping machines into 24hr continious production lines worldwide. This opened up exciting new markets and presented new business opportunities.

This accumulator model is now in use at Vandoren in France, one of the world's largest manufacturers of musical instrument accessories.

Detail of custom chain mechanism

The final product

Detail of buffer armature