CLIAMS:1. A banding machine (100) to bundle a plurality of articles in a predefined orientation to form a banded article, the banding machine (100) comprising:
an in-feed conveyor (102) having a first end (102-1) and a second end (102-2), installed between a first roller (102-3) and a second roller (102-4), wherein the in-feed conveyor (102) is to receive the plurality of articles from a source at the first end (102-1) to convey the articles to the second end (102-2) of the in-feed conveyor;
an indexing assembly (104) installed downstream and in proximity to the second end (102-2) of the in-feed conveyor (102), the indexing assembly comprising:
a first conveyor (104-1) to receive the plurality of articles from the in-feed conveyor (102) and the convey the plurality of articles downstream in the indexing assembly (104); and
a collator (104-2) installed downstream with respect to the first conveyor (104-1), wherein the collator is to:
receive the plurality of articles from the first conveyor (104-1) to form groups the articles, from amongst the plurality of articles, wherein each of the groups of articles comprise a predefined number of articles in the predefined orientation, and deliver the groups of articles downstream in the banding machine (100); and
a banding assembly (106) installed downstream with respect to the indexing assembly (104), wherein the banding assembly (106) is to receive the groups the articles from the collator (104-2) to band the group of articles into the banded article;
wherein the in-feed conveyor (102) further comprises:
a driver (102-6) coupled to the first roller, wherein the driver (102-6) is to drive the first roller (102-3) to drive the in-feed conveyor;
a speed sensor (102-5) installed in proximity to the first end (102-1) of the in-feed conveyor (102), wherein the speed sensor (102-5) is to sense a speed of the in-feed conveyor (102) to generate a first signal based on the speed of the in-feed conveyor (102); and
a regulator coupled to the speed sensor (102-5) and the driver (102-6), wherein the regulator is to the speed sensor (102-5) to control the speed of the driver (102-6) based on the first signal from.

2. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the indexing assembly (104) further comprises:
a proxy sensor (104-3) installed in proximity to the first conveyor (104-1), wherein the proxy sensor (104-3) is to sense the presence of at least one article to generate a second signal based on the presence or absence of the article in the banding machine (100); and
an actuator coupled to the proxy sensor (104-3), wherein the actuator is to turn the indexing assembly (104) ON or OFF based on the second signal.

3. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the banding machine (100) further comprises:
an orientation mechanism (114) installed upstream and in proximity to the first end (102-1) of the in-feed conveyor (102), wherein the orientation mechanism (114) is to align an orientation of the plurality of articles in accordance with the predefined orientation.

4. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the orientation mechanism (114) is to drop one or more articles, from amongst the plurality of articles, wherein the one or more articles are misaligned with respect to the predefined orientation.

5. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the banding machine (100) further comprises:
a third conveyor (108) installed downstream with respect to the banding assembly (106), wherein the third conveyor (108) is to receive the banded soap units from the banding assembly (106) and discharge the banded soap units from the banding machine (100).
6. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, the banding assembly (106) further comprising:
a second conveyor (106-1) having a front end and a back end installed downstream with respect to the indexing assembly (104), wherein the second conveyor (106-1) is to receive the groups of articles at the front end to convey the groups of articles to the back end in the predefined orientation;
a pair of aligning members (500) installed in proximity to the front end of the second conveyor (106-1), wherein each of the aligning members (502, 504) is installed on either side of the second conveyor (106-1) to align the group of articles in the predefined orientation;
a roll holder (604) installed downstream with respect to the pair of the aligning members (500), wherein the roll holder (604) is to hold a roll of adhesive tape to feed the adhesive tape to band the group of the article to form the banded article;
a tape guide (700) installed downstream and in proximity to the roll holder (604), wherein the tape guide (700) is to guide the adhesive tape along a side the groups of article;
a pair of tape applicator (506) installed downstream with respect to the pair of aligning member (500), wherein each of the first tape applicator (508) and the second tape applicator (510) is to apply the adhesive tape to a side of the grouped article;
a pair of tape applicator (602) installed downstream with respect to the roll holder (604), wherein each of the tape folder(602-5, 602-6) is to fold the adhesive tape to the side of the grouped soap unit; and
a tape cutter installed downstream with respect to the pair of tape applicator (602), wherein the tape cutter is to cut the adhesive tape to a predetermined length.

7. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 6, wherein the pair of aligning member (500) is brushes.

8. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the diameter of the bristles of the brushes is of about 0.6 mm.

9. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 6, wherein the tape guide (700) is to guide the adhesive tape along a center of the side of the groups of articles.

10. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the regulator is a programmable logic controller.

11. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver (102-6) is a servo motor.

12. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claimed 1, wherein the driver (102-6) drives the first roller at about 4000 rpm.

13. The banding machine (100) as claimed in any one of claim 1 and 2, wherein the speed sensor (102-5) is installed at a first predefined distance from the collator.

14. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the proxy sensor (104-3) is installed at a second predefined distance from the collator.

15. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 13, wherein the speed sensor (102-5) is installed at a distance of about 2860 mm from the collator (104-2).

16. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 14, wherein the proxy sensor (104-3) is installed at a distance of about 2130 mm from the collator (104-2)

17. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first conveyor (104-1) comprises a low friction grade index belt.

18. The banding machine (100) as claimed in any one of claim 1 and 2, wherein a bridge (116) is installed between the second end (102-2) of the in-feed conveyor (102) and the first conveyor (104-1) to bridge a gap between the second end (102-2) and the first conveyor (104-1).

19. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 6, wherein the tape cutter is operated by a pneumatic cylinder.

20. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 15, wherein the pneumatic cylinder are powered by an air reservoir.

21. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 16, wherein a capacity of the air reservoir is about 2 liters.

22. The banding machine (100) as claimed in claim 16, wherein the pressure of compressed air inside the air reservoir is about 6 bars.
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