Transport entities
SimEvents
The Conveyor System block transports entities across the surface of a conveyor. Entities enter the block by sliding onto the conveyor surface and they depart the block by sliding off. You can specify the speed of the conveyor. If the conveyor speed is variable, a second input port appears on the block to accept anonymous entities that carry data for specifying the new conveyor speed. Use this block to model transportation applications involving production systems, or logistical systems.
In the Conveyor System block:
You can specify the speed and the surface length of the conveyor. You can specify the length and the minimum distance between the transported entities.
Entities slide into the conveyor surface and an entity is considered as inside the conveyor surface when its front side coincides with the surface entry.
Entities slide out of the conveyor surface and an entity is considered as outside the conveyor surface when its back side coincides with the surface entry.
Conveyor speed determines the total time between an entity entry to the surface and its exit from the surface.
Entity can enter and exit the conveyor surface provided that:
There are no other entities blocking the entity when the
Blocked output behavior is set to
Accumulate
.
The conveyor surface is not paused when the Blocked output
behavior is set to Pause
. For
more information, see Blocked output behavior.
For instance, suppose that the conveyor length is 10
,
entity length is 1
, and conveyor speed is
5
. Then, it takes 2.2
simulation time
for the entity to depart the surface. 10/5 = 2
to travel
through the surface and 1/5 = 0.2
to depart from the surface
because its length is 1
.
After en entity enters the conveyor surface, the next entity enters after the first one travels to the specified minimum distance between entities.
The capacity of the conveyor system is the maximum number of entities allowed on the surface. The capacity is determined by the total surface length, entity length, and the minimum distance between entities.
For example, suppose that the entity length is 1
meter,
conveyor system surface length is 100
meters, and the
distance between entities are 15
meters. The capacity of the
conveyor system becomes 6
entities.
When using the Conveyor length, Conveyor speed, Minimum distance between entities, and Entity length value parameters ensure that the values are consistent with each other.
For example, specify the entity length of 10 cm and a conveyor system of length 100 m to achieve consistency:
Set the Conveyor length parameter to
100
.
Set the Entity length parameter to 0.1.
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