A lid transport conveyor including a frame, a first pulley and a second pulley that are carried by the frame, a device for driving the first pulley in rotation, an endless conveyor belt mounted between the first pulley and the second pulley, a slide profile carried by the frame, the slide profile including a suction groove whose open side directly faces a main face of the conveyor belt, a pump capable of drawing air through the suction groove, conveyor belt including a through-orifice positioned in line with the suction groove during movement of the conveyor belt; a lid being held by suction in contact with a face of the conveyor belt that is opposite to the main face, when the orifice is directly opposite the suction groove.

A transport unit that comprises a de-stacking device which is configured to drop trays from a stack of trays individually or in groups into a drop area, and a transport belt unit with a transport surface passing through the drop area for receiving and transporting away the dropped trays. The transport surface may comprise at least one opening. A negative pressure device may be provided to generate a suction force in the drop area through one or more of the openings of the transport surface, wherein the suction force sucks the dropped trays in the drop area in a direction towards the transport surface. This configuration reduces the rebound of the trays when they impact the transport surface as they are dropped. The invention also relates to a corresponding method for transporting trays.

An apparatus for transporting veneer sheets, where the veneer sheets each have an upper surface, a lower surface, and a plurality of edges connecting the upper surface to the lower surface. The apparatus includes a vacuum source and a conveyor for transporting individual sheets of veneer along a direction of travel to a predetermined location. The conveyor includes a belt running in the direction of travel. A vacuum opening adjacent the belt is in communication with the vacuum source to draw respective sheets of veneer to the belt by suction applied to the upper surface or the lower surface of the veneer sheets via the vacuum opening. The position of the conveyor is adjustable in a direction transverse the direction of travel to accommodate veneer sheets having different lengths.

A system for connecting photovoltaic cells is disclosed. The system comprises a flexible component feeder source for feeding the photovoltaic cells to a process that couples them together; a vacuum conveyor for receiving at a first location the coupled photovoltaic cells and including openings through which a vacuum is applied to hold the coupled photovoltaic cells in place; a moving belt above the vacuum conveyor at a second location, where the vacuum conveyor and the moving belt are driven in a predetermined relation to one another for conveying the coupled photovoltaic cells from the first location to the second location; a vacuum source for applying a vacuum through the openings to cause the moving belt to apply a pressure to an upper surface of the coupled photovoltaic cells to compress the coupled photovoltaic cells; and a curing source at the second location for curing the compressed coupled photovoltaic cells.

A suction unit, including a first module, a second module, and a third module. The first module is provided with an air-permeable zone. The second module is provided with air holes a. The third module is provided with air holes b. A solder ribbon and a solar cell are sequentially stacked on the first module. A channel S2 is formed by the air holes b and the air holes a to fix the first module to the second module. A channel Si is formed by the air holes b, the air holes a and the air-permeable zone to fix the solder ribbon and the solar cell on the first module.

A trolley device is used to convey laminar elements. The trolley device includes at least one belt that defines a closed loop, a plurality of pulleys, at least one drive pulley being configured to act on the belt, the pulleys being mounted on a frame with a supporting region over which a section of the belt can be slid and wherein suction means linked to the belt are provided. The belt includes at least on the outer face thereof a projecting section of predetermined length that protrudes in height with respect to the rest of the belt, the projecting section being provided with a plurality of through holes aligned in position with through holes made in the belt.

A vacuum holder for articles, a combination of a vacuum holder and an article, a system for holding and conveying articles, and a method for holding and conveying articles are disclosed. The vacuum holder includes a main body having a surface and an air passageway leading to the surface, and a valve joined to the main body and in fluid communication with the air passageway. The vacuum holder includes an extensible skirt gasket with an opening therein. An article can be placed adjacent to the surface of the main body, and a vacuum can be drawn through the air passageway to hold the article to the vacuum holder. The valve maintains the vacuum between the article and the vacuum holder without being connected to a vacuum source, until it is desired to release the article from the vacuum holder.

Carriers are disclosed for supporting a plurality of agricultural cores on a plurality of core supports for coating by a flexible film. The plurality of core supports may include a pedestal for supporting a respective agricultural core and a core periphery region having a plurality of bridge elements which couple the pedestal to the connecting structure between the plurality of core supports. The carriers may include a vacuum system that independently communicates a partial vacuum to an aperture in each respective pedestal and a plurality of apertures in the core periphery region of a respective core support between the bridge elements.

A deburring apparatus includes (among other components) a frame and an elongated flat element connected to the frame. Rollers are adapted to support and rotate a vacuum belt around the apparatus. A perforation device is positioned and adapted to make perforations in the vacuum belt as the vacuum belt is rotated by the rollers. Making the perforations in the vacuum belt causes debris to remain in at least one of the perforations. The elongated flat element is positioned to contact the debris in the perforations.

In an induction system for use with an object processing system, a distribution system is disclosed for providing dissimilar objects into one of a plurality of receiving units. The distribution system includes a conveyor section that travels over a vacuum roller, and the plurality of receiving units arranged generally below the vacuum roller such that an object with a mass will fall toward one of the plurality of receiving units based on both the object's mass and a vacuum force applied to the object through the conveyor section.