Reversible Conveyors

Here’s a quick look at a new feature you’ll discover in FlexSim 2018 Update 2.

Due to popular demand, FlexSim now has the ability to reverse the direction of a conveyor. This feature is still in its early stages, but it was designed specifically to help model a particular and fairly common scenario in material handling. An accumulation buffer is a system where items can be pulled off a main conveyor line when the line gets backed up, and then the items are moved back onto the line when it clears out.

To reverse the conveyor spur that will handle the accumulation, simply set its targetSpeed to a non-zero negative value. All items that accumulated on the conveyor will be fully resumed and ready to re-enter the line.

There is detailed documentation of this scenario, and some specific caveats to be aware of, in the targetSpeed class reference, found in the FlexSim User Manual. And while we’ve tested this feature for this scenario, be aware that other scenarios have not been tested and may not work perfectly quite yet. We’re excited for more development in the future.

Thanks for watching. We hope you enjoy all the great features and improvements found in FlexSim 2018 Update 2.