DE20103664U1 - Conveyor system - Google Patents

Description

TERMEER STEINMEISTER & PARTNER GBR PATENTANWÄLTE - EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS

Dr. Nicolaus ter Meer, Dipl.-Chem. Peter Urnei, Dipl.-Phys. GebharrJ Murkle, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Mauerkirchurstrasse 45 D-81679 MUNICH Helmut Steinmeister, Dipl.-Ing. Manfred Wiebusch

Artur-Ladebeck-Strasse D-33617 BIELEFELD

51

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28.2.2001

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Conveyor Technology GmbH

Herforder Str. 265A

33609 Bielefeld

FORWARD SYSTEM

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28.2.2001

FORWARD SYSTEM

The invention relates to a conveyor system for articles in a warehouse, which can be moved on slide rails on supports provided with hooks, in particular coat hangers, with an intermediate storage area for newly delivered articles and a sorting system for sorting the articles into individual collection points according to any criteria.

In practice, it is common practice for goods from an external manufacturer or the company's own production department to be delivered to a warehouse in an unsorted manner to first be collected and then sorted according to various criteria, for example into orders for individual customers. This can now be done essentially automatically if the individual articles are provided with a code that is read by scanners or other reading devices on the conveyor line. However, if certain articles are to be transported to the individual collection points and, in addition, these articles are to be arranged in a certain order in the collection point, many articles have to be repeatedly passed around the entire system. The sorting process therefore takes a correspondingly long time. The sorting capacity of conventional systems of this type is limited and, accordingly, the wear and tear on the system and the energy consumption are too high in relation to the sorting capacity actually achieved.

The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a conveyor system of the type mentioned above, which enables a considerable increase in the sorting speed compared to conventional systems.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a conveyor system of the above type in that the intermediate storage is formed by at least one sorting storage with an endless, ring-shaped closed conveyor section.

In suitably large storage systems, a whole series of sorting conveyors of this type can be provided directly at the goods inlet. The sorting conveyors according to the invention have the form of an endless loop with inlet and outlet in the form of suitable switches.

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In the worst case scenario, the individual items have to go through the entire loop once before they are discharged and sorted into the individual collection points. This discharge can already take place in the correct order, whereas with conventional intermediate storage the goods can only be removed in the order in which they were stored.

Preferably, there are carriers in the sorting bins, which each catch a hook of an article that has entered the sorting bin by sliding directly on the slide rails and separate the hooks and keep them at a distance. This makes it possible to read and save the code of the individual articles that enter the sorting bins using a scanner at the inlet. In this way, the data processing system used is always informed about which articles are located where in which sorting bin. When the articles are discharged from the sorting bins, they can be dragged directly over the system's slide rails again using latches.

Within the sorting buffers, the carriers are also dragged by latches. This conveyor system is designed as a so-called power-and-free system, i.e. the carriers with the separated articles can be released and stored by the latches, for example, in front of an outlet of the sorting buffer. At this point, the data of the article and, if applicable, the carrier are already stored in the system.

The articles discharged from the individual sorting stores are discharged by means of switches onto a common conveyor line, from which the individual collection points branch off via switches. The common conveyor line can also be designed as a closed loop if all the desired sorting steps cannot be achieved otherwise.

In the following, preferred embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a conveyor system according to the invention;

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Fig. 2 shows a partially sectioned side view of a short section of the rail system used in the sorting storage areas.

Fig. 3 shows the rail system of Fig. 2 in cross section.

According to Fig. 1, the articles are fed unsorted via a slide rail 10. In the embodiment described, it is assumed that the articles are items of clothing that are pulled on hangers over slide rails.

The articles then go to a separation station 12, where they are separated and recorded with the help of a scanner 14 and stored in the associated data processing system. Suitable codes, such as a barcode, are attached to the items of clothing for scanning by the scanner 14. Instead of optical scanning, a transponder on the individual items of clothing can also be recorded electromagnetically. The only important thing at this point is that the individual articles are identified and that their position is recorded in the data processing system and further tracked by it.

After being blocked, the individual coat hangers are each gripped by a latch of a latch conveyor (not shown in Fig. 1) and pulled over the slide rail 10 at the intervals schematically indicated in Fig. 1.

From the slide rail 10, the items of clothing are transported according to their code, i.e. according to their type, size, color, etc., via switches 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 into individual sorting stores 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 arranged in parallel. These have the function of conventional intermediate stores at the entrance to a warehouse and sorting system, but are also provided with a sorting function. In each of these sorting stores there is a conveyor system known as a power-and-free conveyor. These are conveyors which transport the articles individually at predetermined intervals, but can also release them in a jam in a much closer order. Using the example of the first sorting store, potential jam positions 40, 42 are shown at the end of each of the two straight sections.

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In a conventional power-and-free conveyor, the individual articles at the rear end of a pile are released by the conveyor elements, such as the transport clinkers, and the pile is gradually cleared at the front end by the clinkers running over the pile taking the clothes hanger in the first position with them. For example, for pile position 40, this means that the pile is cleared piece by piece from its front end in pile position 40, and the individual items of clothing, if they are required for the further sorting process, are discharged via the outlet 44 of the sorting storage 28 and fed into the distribution section 48 via the subsequent switch 46.

If the individual items of clothing are not or not yet required for the subsequent sorting process, they run past the outlet 44 to the rear end of the accumulation in the other accumulation position 42 and so on.

In this way, it is possible to remove certain individual items of clothing from the individual sorting stores 28,30,32,34,36,38 in any order, whereas the simple intermediate stores that were previously used only offered the option of removing the items of clothing in the order specified. Since the sorting stores 28,30,32,34,36,38 are conveniently located relatively close to the entrance to the respective warehouse, the goods only have to travel a relatively short distance within the individual sorting stores during the sorting process, whereas with conventional sorting conveyors they often have to run repeatedly through the entire hall.

From the distribution line 48, the individual articles then only have to be delivered via the individual switches 50 to the individual collection points 52.

During the entire sorting process, the path of the individual articles can be tracked after they have been recorded at the entrance by the scanner 14 and entered into the data processing system. In this case, additional scanners can be provided for control purposes at the entrance to the individual sorting stores 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and/or at the entrance to the distribution line 48.

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The accuracy of the control of the path of the individual articles through the system with the aid of the data processing system depends, among other things, on the articles being reliably separated at the entrance in the separation station 12 and also being taken along piece by piece when picked up again in the accumulation positions 40, 42. This can be problematic if, for example, the hooks are formed by the relatively thin hooks of wire coat hangers. Here it can happen that a latch on a latch conveyor occasionally takes two or three coat hangers with it or even loses a coat hanger. Naturally, the allocation of the individual articles to certain positions calculated by the data processing system then becomes confused. In particular within the sorting stores 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, additional carriers can be provided for the distribution of unstable articles such as items of clothing on wire hangers, which are each assigned to an individual coat hanger for the time it stays in the sorting stores and take this along. This is shown in Fig. 2 and 3 using the example of a rail section. In Fig. 2 and 3, an upper rail 54 is shown, in which the already mentioned several times pawl conveyor runs, the pawls of which are designated 56, 58. In the lower area there is the also already mentioned slide rail 60, on which the coat hangers slide, and between the two there is a guide rail 62 on which carriers 64, 66, 68 equipped with rollers run.

As shown in Fig. 3, the rollers 70, 72 are guided on the upper and lower sides of the guide rail 62, and since two rollers are provided one behind the other on the upper side, the drivers 64, 66, 68 are always held in the vertical position shown in Fig. 2.

The carriers 64, 66, 68 have carrier pockets 74, 76, 78 on their lower side, which are each delimited by a front and a rear, downward-pointing finger 80, 82. In particular, the rear finger enters a groove on the upper surface of the slide rail 60, so that the individual coat hangers are reliably carried in the conveying direction, i.e. from right to left in Fig. 2.

The already heated power and free function is achieved by the fact that the pawls 56,58 are pivotably suspended on axes 86,88 on support arms 90,92.

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which are pulled by a chain (not shown) running inside the upper rail 94. The pawls 56, 58 also have a downwardly directed hook 94, 96 at the trailing end, which can engage a transverse pin 98 on the upper side of the drivers 64, 66, 68. This pin 98 bridges a recess 100 on the upper side of the drivers 64, 66, 68 in the transverse direction.

As shown on the left in Fig. 2, the pawls 56, 58 also have a lower cam surface 102, 104. When the pawls run onto a driver 64, 66, 68 on the guide rail 62 with this cam surface, they are raised until the hooks 94, 96 are lifted over the pin 98. The drivers therefore remain behind one another at a shortened distance, as is necessary to form a jam. The pawls, supported by the cam surfaces 102, 104, run over such a jam along its entire length, but fall down at the driver furthest to the front and thus reduce the jam bit by bit from the front.

The assignment of one carrier to exactly one coat hanger largely excludes the possibility that, due to hooking or overlapping coat hangers, either several coat hangers or no coat hanger at all will be carried by a latch.

The carriers remain within the individual sorting storage units. If a garment is to be discharged at the outlet 44 of a sorting storage unit, it is now necessary to let the individual clothes hangers run over a downward-facing rail section of the slide rail 60 so that they automatically exit the carrier pocket 74, 76, 78.

According to Fig. 2, all three rails 54, 60 and 62 are attached to a common support profile 106.

Finally, we will return to Fig. 1. Using the example of the sorting storage 30, Fig. 1 shows a simple possibility of further increasing the sorting performance by providing the closed circulation path of the sorting storage 30 with additional outlets 108,110.

Claims (6)

1. Conveyor system for articles which can be moved on slide rails ( 60 ) on supports provided with hooks, for example coat hangers, with an intermediate storage area ( 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 ) for freshly delivered articles and a sorting system for sorting the articles into individual collection points ( 52 ) according to any criteria, characterized in that the intermediate storage area is formed by at least one sorting conveyor ( 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 ) with an endless, ring-shaped closed conveyor section. 2. Conveyor system according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of sorting stores ( 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 ) are connected parallel to one another via switches ( 16 , 18 , 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 ) to a conveyor line extending from the entrance of the system and have outlets ( 44 ) from which the sorting conveyors are connected parallel to one another via switches ( 46 ) to a distribution line ( 48 ), to which, on the other hand, a plurality of collection points ( 52 ) are connected one after the other via switches ( 50 ). 3. Conveyor system according to claim 2, characterized in that the conveyor system has at least one scanner ( 14 ) arranged at the inlet, which detects the articles and enters them in their sequence into a data processing system of the system. 4. Conveyor system according to claim 3, characterized in that ratchet conveyors are provided in the conveyor system at least in the region of the slide rail ( 10 ) leading from the inlet to the individual sorting stores and the distribution section ( 48 ) following the sorting stores. 5. Conveyor system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a conveyor system is provided within the sorting storage ( 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 ), which comprises a lower slide rail ( 60 ) and an upper guide rail ( 54 ) with a latch conveyor and between the two rails a middle guide rail ( 64 ), on which carriers ( 64 , 66 , 68 ) provided with rollers are guided freely, each of which has a carrier pocket ( 74 , 76 , 78 ) open at the bottom for receiving a hook of an article and in the upper region a load ( 98 ) to be grasped by the latches of the latch conveyor. 6. Conveyor system according to claim 5, characterized in that the catch is formed by a transversely directed pin ( 98 ) which bridges a recess ( 96 ) on the upper side of the drivers ( 64 , 66 , 68 ) in the transverse direction.