This document describes the design of a vibratory bowl feeder (VBF) to feed bottles and caps into an assembly system for the biomedical industry. The design process included determining the optimal dimensions of the bottle (diameter of 36mm and height of 56mm to hold 60ml) and cap. The stable orientation for the cap is horizontal bottom side open, while for the bottle it is vertical opening facing top. The VBF design uses passive systems like wiper blades and slots as well as active systems like air pressure to guide the parts into the stable orientations for assembly. CAD models and diagrams illustrate the final VBF pathway designs for the bottle and cap.

1. MAE 564 – Manufacturing Automation
Project 1: Vibratory Bowl Feeder Design (VBF)
Arvind Ravi - 50168360
Ajaipal Singh Chhina - 50168957
Abstract: Vibratory feeders are a very useful method
for conveying or feeding various parts and materials
in automatic assembly system. The design of the
industrial part feeder is a long and trial and error
process that can be time consuming. Some
researches came up with dynamic simulation and
generic design method or algorithm to produce VBF.
This report illustrates an example of one such design
for bottle and cap used for the biomedical industry.
The primary contribution of this paper is to illustrate
VBF design for bottle and cap along with its
constraints and design guidelines.
Introduction: The initial phase of this design is to
create the bottle and cap which can hold a volume
of 60 ml. The calculations were made according the
formula stated below.
𝜋𝑟2
ℎ=60,000 mm3
The above formula states the volume of the bottle,
where r is the radius and h is the height. Using
optimization, we find the value of these two
parameters and the results are shown below.
d=36mm, h=56mm - Bottle
Using thee above dimensions we create the design
for bottle and determine the stable configurations
which is produced as output from the VBF. The
bottle and cap are provided with helical grove with
a specified pitch. The two parts are separately fed
into the indexing table from VBF for assembly. The
dimensions of the bottle and cap are used to design
the VBF pathway along with the slots and wiper
blades. The VBF pathway eliminates certain
configurations and outputs the desired
configuration for assembly. The batch production of
this bottle and cap in bio-medical industry is also
taken into account for the design. The CAD model
for the bottle and cap are shown below for
reference.
Figure 1: Bottle used in bio-medical industry
Figure 2: Bottle Cap in bio-medical industry

2. Possible Orientation:
Bottle:
Cap:
Vibratory bowl feeder Design:
In this report we will be explaining the vibratory
design for two parts, cap and bottle respectively.
CAP stable configuration: Horizontal bottom Side
Open.
VBF for CAP: For designing the pathway or trajectory
we came up with a set of design guidelines as
penned below
 Positive thread of 6o angle was created for
the cap – VBF design
 The width of the trajectory path was
considered to be 36mm.
 In-order to eliminate two of the horizontal
standing orientation we created a wiper
blade of 45o angle. – Passive system
 This wiper blade will eliminate two vertical
orientations for the cap.
 Then we brought-in scallop to eliminate the
horizontal bottom side open position. -
Passive system
 Then we had a ridge to invert from
horizontal top side open position to the
bottom side open position. – Active System
 The stable configuration is the given as the
output
The VBF pathway for the cap is shown in the figure.
Figure 3: VBF design pathway for the cap
Bottle Stable configuration: Vertical opening facing
top is the stable configuration
VBF for Bottle: Design guidelines for VBF design are
followed and penned below
 Positive thread of 6o angle was created for
the cap – VBF design
 The width of the trajectory path was
considered to be 36 mm.
 The wiper blades are placed initially to
eliminate the vertical orientation. The angle
of the wiper blade is 45o. -Passive system
 This wiper blade will eliminate two vertical
orientations for the bottle.
 Narrow track is provided in-order to
eliminate other orientation other than
horizontal one. - Passive system
 Air pressure is provided in-order to act as a
torque controller where it changes the
orientation of the horizontal bottle

3. depending upon the center of gravity. –
Active system
 Slot or gap is provided to eliminate the
position where the open side is in the
direction of the conveyor because the center
of gravity is above the center line of the
cylinder i.e. more oriented towards the top
side.
 The output orientation is fed inside a 3-d
tube in the downward direction which
outputs the stable configuration. –Passive
system
Figure 4: VBF pathway for the bottle.
References:
 Lecture 3 videos
 Geometry and part feeding Journal paper