DE20203287U1 - Clipboard device for the automatic repackaging of articles from a pallet into containers - Google Patents

Description

Intermediate storage device for automatic repacking
of items from a pallet into containers

The present invention relates to an intermediate storage device for automatically repacking articles from a pallet into containers with an automatic depalletizing station comprising a camera system, a robot cell with a gripper and a pallet and container conveyor system.

Automatic container systems require items on pallets to be repackaged into containers. This process is usually performed at manually operated workstations.

The upper half of Fig. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a repacking system in which the repacking process is carried out manually by the operating personnel. The articles on pallets are transported to the repacking location using a pallet conveyor system 4. From there, the operating personnel removes one or more articles from the pallet shown on the left in Fig. 1 (cross made of dashed lines) in order to pack a container shown on the right in Fig. 1 (cross made of solid lines). The container is transported by a container conveyor system 5. An initially empty container is conveyed to the repacking location from the right-hand track of the container conveyor system 5. When the container is full, it is conveyed away from the repacking location using the left-hand track of the container conveyor system 5 in order to transport a new, empty container from the right-hand track to the repacking location.

If the pallet to the left of the operator is empty during this process, the empty pallet is transported downwards in the figure to be replaced by a new, full pallet.

Many of the items stored on pallets are packed in boxes, which allows for automation of the repacking process. For this automatic repacking process, an automatic depalletizing station is used, which is equipped with

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a camera system 1, a robot cell 2 with a gripper 3 and a pallet 4 and container conveyor system 5. This repacking system is also shown in Fig. 1, with the robot 2 located in the lower part of Fig. 1 and no operating personnel being required for the automatic repacking.

The robot 2 (see Fig. 2) is a 6- or 7-axis articulated arm robot that is equipped with a gripper 3 (not shown in Fig. 2). However, other types of robot can also be used. The gripper 3 has a large number of suction cups that make it possible to pick up the boxes. Furthermore, the suction cups can be switched on and off individually and in groups, or a vacuum can be switched on, via suction circuits. Flow valves prevent the vacuum from collapsing if one or more suction cups cannot attach themselves. Compressed air valves ensure that the vacuum is quickly released.

The camera system 1, which is shown in its rest position in Fig. 1, consists of a line camera or a two-dimensional image sensor, which is required for scanning the pallet layer. The camera system 1 takes an image of the top layer of the pallet packed with articles in order to evaluate the recorded image, for example using a computer, whereby the position of the articles in the top layer on the pallet is determined. This information is passed on to a higher-level control system (not shown), which uses this data to give instructions to the robot cell 2, in particular the gripper 3 of the robot 2, as to where the individual articles are located on the pallet and how they must be picked up by the gripper 3 in order to be repackaged directly into an empty container, which is provided at the repacking location on the container conveyor system 5.

The pallet conveyor technology 4 is required for the transport of the pallets. The empty containers are transported on the container conveyor technology 5 and the full containers are transported away again after the repacking process. The load in the pallet conveyor technology area is pallets,

In particular, Euro pallets with basic dimensions of 800 x 1200 mm and industrial pallets with dimensions of 1000 x 1200 mm with a maximum load weight of 1000 kg to 1500 kg are used. For example, containers with a basic dimension of 600 x 400 mm and a maximum load weight of 20 to 25 kg are used as load in the area of container conveying technology 5.

This automated repacking process works well as long as the items to be repacked are palletized according to fixed rules (arrangement patterns) and have a sufficiently large tolerance with regard to their packing density in the container. This means that, based on a given tolerance, for example, only two items per layer can be loaded into the container, so that the tolerance of the location of the items in the container is large enough that no camera system needs to be installed on the container conveyor system 5 side in order to determine a arrangement pattern of the items to be repacked in the container from the outset. An arrangement pattern is the (optimal) arrangement of the items per container layer in order to accommodate as many items as possible per layer. If another camera system - similar to camera system 1 on the pallet conveyor system side - is provided on the container conveyor system side, this means high initial investment costs and high maintenance costs due to the high technology required. Furthermore, taking a snapshot and then evaluating it is time-consuming and thus extends the repacking time.

Furthermore, the items to be repackaged can change during transport due to, for example, temperature fluctuations or mechanical influences (e.g. slipping), so that the geometry of the item packaging can change depending on external influences. Furthermore, finishing patterns can differ individually if the supplier has palletized the items manually. Boxes with a different size could also have been used for palletizing.

This means that an "optimized" finishing pattern may not be

the solution for packing a container layer, for example because the total volume of an article has increased due to a rise in temperature or production tolerances. In such a case, the last article to be packed into a container layer no longer fits into the layer. This leads to an unforeseeable interruption of the repacking process. The last article to be repacked into the layer must therefore be packed manually. Such interruptions in an automated chain can have serious consequences for the further operation of an overall system in which an automated depalletizing station is only part of the overall system.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a

to provide a fully automatic repacking system that has a low purchase price, enables items to be repacked from a pallet into containers quickly, easily and precisely and does not require manual intervention during repacking.

The present invention is defined in the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are described in the dependent claims.

Further features, advantages and embodiments can be found in the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a prior art depalletizing station in which articles are repackaged into containers either manually or automatically;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a robot according to the prior art;

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Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of a depalletizing station with an intermediate storage device according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a detailed plan view of the inventive

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Fig. 5 is a side view of the depalletizing station shown in Fig. 2 with the intermediate storage according to the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a further detailed plan view of the intermediate shelf according to the invention, wherein the articles are arranged differently compared to Fig. 4.

In the following, an intermediate storage device according to the present invention will be described, which can be used in an automatic depalletizing system described above to repack articles from pallets into containers.

Fig. 3 shows a plan view of a fully automatic depalletizing system in which the intermediate storage unit 6 according to the invention is contained. The other components or modules contained in Fig. 3 have already been described in the prior art.

Fig. 4 shows an intermediate storage device 6 according to the invention in detail. The intermediate storage device 6 comprises a storage surface 9 and a movable pair of slides 8 arranged in the plane of the storage surface. The pairs of slides 8 are connected to a motor or a pneumatic drive in order to be able to be moved in the plane of the storage surfaces 9. Furthermore, articles (not shown) which are packed in boxes 7 as an example are shown in Fig. 4. The dashed line shown around the boxes 7 symbolizes the internal dimensions of the container to be filled. The dimensions shown by the dashed line

The area enclosed by the line corresponds to the area of the container interior to be filled.

Fig. 5 shows a side view of Fig. 3. If a pallet with boxes is in the removal position of the robot 2, the camera 1 scans the position of the items or boxes on the pallet by moving the camera 1 horizontally over the pallet to be repackaged, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3, and taking a picture. The image obtained is passed on to a higher-level software system (not shown). The depalletizing robot 2 receives the approach coordinates from the higher-level system and begins to transfer the packages or boxes from the pallet to the intermediate storage area 6 according to the invention.

Transfer to the intermediate storage 6 is necessary when the tolerances of the boxes are too small for the items to be stored directly in the container or when finishing patterns are required due to the dimensions of the boxes, i.e. generally speaking, the individual items need to be compacted or pressed together again. This compacting process takes place on the intermediate storage 6 or on the storage area

9. The support surface 9 consists of a material with a low coefficient of static friction or has, for example, spherical rollers integrated into its surface so that a body placed on it can be easily moved along the support surface.

The robot 2 therefore removes boxes from the pallet and places them on the intermediate layer 6. The image previously created by the camera 1 and the resulting finishing pattern are used to position the boxes 7 on the storage surface 9 approximately in accordance with the finishing image. To do this, the robot rotates the box 7 to be placed on the storage surface 9 by 90° during the placement process, for example.

Fig. 6 shows a very similar representation of the intermediate storage 6 according to the invention as Fig. 4. However, here the boxes 7 are rotated by 90° compared to the boxes 7 in Fig. 3 in order to be able to repack as many boxes 7 per layer as possible into the container. The way in which the boxes 7 must be arranged in order to satisfactorily pack the container is - as already mentioned above - determined by the higher-level software system, which will not be discussed further below.

After being placed on the storage surface 9 by the robot 2, the boxes 7 are usually not yet optimally arranged. For example, the boxes do not fit into the area provided for them inside the container due to expansion. One or two pairs of sliders 8 therefore press the boxes together diagonally to the inside dimensions of the container. After this process, the gripper 3 of the robot 2 grasps the entire finishing pattern for the container and packs it into the container. This closing of the finishing pattern ensures that the boxes can be placed in the container, even if they would not have fit in before.

In Fig. 4 and 6, the two pairs of slides 8 are made of two plates connected to one another, the plates enclosing a right angle and the surfaces facing the interior dimensions of the container being perpendicular to the storage surface 9. When retracted, the two slides 8 of the pair of slides enclose an area that corresponds to the base area of the interior of the container to be loaded. It is not absolutely necessary for the enclosed area to be rectangular. It is entirely possible to design the slides in such a way that any shape of the base area of the container to be filled can be reproduced. For example, a circle can also serve as the base area if the container to be filled is a barrel, for example. In this case, the pair of slides could consist of two open half cylinders.

Preferably, the slide pairs have a height of 50 to 100 mm. The slides can also be designed to be height-adjustable.

The slide pairs 8, which in Fig. 4 and 6 consist of two interconnected, right-angled plates, can of course also consist of several individual plates or elements that are not interconnected, each of which is connected to a motor or a pneumatic drive so that they can be moved individually. Furthermore, slide elements are provided that are adjustable in length so that the slide pairs of the intermediate storage 6 can be adapted to different container internal dimensions without having to completely replace the slide pairs 8.

The storage surface can also be arranged at an angle to the horizontal so that, for example, boxes always run against the fixed slide ruler below, and thus only the second gear ruler has to be installed as a driven unit.

The intermediate storage according to the invention for repacking articles from a pallet into containers offers a wide range of advantages. The intermediate storage's collapsible sliders allow container layers to be aligned and compacted. Carton tolerances can be compensated. By placing the cartons on the intermediate storage again, regripping processes involving tilting, turning and swiveling of the cartons are possible. The container layers can also be put together individually.

Claims (10)

1. Intermediate storage device for automatically repacking articles from a pallet into containers with an automatic depalletizing station comprising a camera system ( 1 ), a robot cell ( 2 ) with a gripper ( 3 ) and a pallet and container conveyor system ( 5 ), characterized in that the intermediate storage device has:
a storage surface ( 9 ) onto which articles picked up from a pallet by the gripper ( 3 ) can be deposited and from which deposited articles can be picked up for storage in containers; and
a slide device which can be moved in the plane of the storage surface and has slides which are arranged perpendicular to the storage surface ( 9 ), wherein the slides, in a retracted state, enclose an area in the plane of the storage surface ( 9 ) which corresponds at most to a base area of a container interior to be packed. 2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the sliders have a first and a second surface which are arranged at a certain angle to each other when the base area of the container interior to be packed has four sides. 3. Device according to claim 2, wherein the angles between the first and second surfaces of the sliders of the slider pair are determined by two diagonally arranged angles of the base surface of the container interior. 4. The device of claim 2, wherein a slider consists of a first and a second element which are movable separately from one another, the first element having a surface corresponding to one of the first and second surfaces and the second element having a surface corresponding to the other of the first and second surfaces. 5. Device according to claim 1, wherein the slides are connected to a motor or a pneumatic drive to move the slides. 6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the height of the slide surfaces is preferably in a range of 50 mm to 100 mm. 7. Device according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the sliders are height adjustable. 8. Device according to one of claims 2 to 4, wherein preferably the first surface has a length of 560 mm and the second surface has a length of 360 mm. 9. Device according to one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the first and second surfaces are adjustable in length to enclose different container interior floor areas. 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the storage surface is angled relative to the horizontal and at least one slider is rigidly attached to the storage surface so that deposited articles slide against the rigid slider by gravity.