The SDSU Mechatronics lab is equipped with 6 Dornor conveyors or belt lines which allow the student to design and construct conveyor solutions to assigned problems. Each conveyor is powered by a variable speed Bodine DC motor which is controlled by a Siemens PLC. The motor controllers are optically isolated to reduce any shock hazard or ground loops to the PLC.

As illustrated in the animation and accompanying photographs, the conveyors have been equipped with grab rails constructed of ½" aluminum rod. These are similar to those typically used to hold beakers and various glassware in a chemistry lab. By adopting this system of hardware, the student can quickly construct or modify a fixture to fulfill a design problem. The animation shows a pneumatic piston being used to divert orange juice containers onto a secondary belt. The pneumatic actuator is being controlled by a optical fiber sensor located to the left of the piston. The fiber’s beam is being broken by the label of the container. If the container is missing the label, the pneumatic actuator is not activated and the orange juice product is rejected and continues down the main conveyor to a rejection bin.