DE60107616T2 - Method for sorting bulk goods by means of a conveyor system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process used to sort out a lot of items loaded in bulk on a conveyor system according to a predefined order. This process is basically characterised by the fact that it includes two different phases to separate the items thanks to the presence on the conveyor system of two groups of exits; it being provided, in particular, that the first separation phase carried out with the first. group of exits is preliminary to the second and final separation phase carried out with the second group of exits, that is the phase that allows to sort out the items according to the predefined order.

Description

The present patent application for An industrial invention relates to a method that is used to sort out a quantity of goods that are masses on conveyor systems according to a specific order, article after article, loaded or becomes.

The System according to the present Invention relates to a specific technical sector, the conveyor systems offers that capable are to weed out items that are loaded in bulk.

One first type of these systems is through so-called sorting systems shown.

These Close systems a supply band or a supply line and various outputs, the used to separate the articles. According to their working principle the first article entering the system, usually the first article that leaves him, which allows the articles sort out into different groups. In these systems is the number of outputs according to the number of defined groups to be generated.

This System type has a charging station, an identification station, a unidirectional transport or conveyor belt (line) and multiple outputs with automatically controlled exchanges or restorations, one for every destination or destination.

Of the significant advantage of this system type is through fast operation shown as unloading takes place together with loading and different Articles being handled in a parallel, concurrent manner, because no predefined positions are necessary.

These Systems can However, not used when the separation level or the Degree of separation of the article is high. As a matter of fact, it would to get a specific order in the output of the article be necessary, so many outputs how to provide the number of incoming items, and this is not possible for reasons which concern space and costs.

cascade systems are sometimes realized to get a higher degree of separation. In receives these systems a downstream installation an item set of one of the goals, which is directed to the upstream installation are. For performing purposes could to mention that a shipping system contains a first machine that ships the items sorted out and a second machine containing the articles of a particular Takes messengers and sorts them out to customers.

When ever however, a specific order of exit is required or is requested, article for Articles, the number of machines and outputs is always very high.

One second type of conveyor systems is represented by the so-called ordering systems. The Applicant This patent application was in this field as a manufacturer for a long time Time is active.

The Close ordering systems multiple collaborative machines receiving the articles and unload them, one by one, in the desired one Starting order; It is envisaged that the starting order not related to the order of entry.

Of the significant advantage of this system type is the ability to the articles according to any to sort or sort a predefined order, since they have one Include search phase, Article for Articles, inside or inside the structure of a temporary warehouse or stock with a different schedule compared to the reception phase.

These Systems are therefore extremely practical and efficient, as they are for a high Separation of unloading lists, or, in any case, for the possibility ensure a high degree of separation.

Of the The weak point of this type of system is the reduced speed the reorganization processes, since unloading does not take place together with loading. Out This reason is to search for a specific article in the saved To search list, necessary to repeat the positioning for each article.

Once implemented in a conveyor system, the method according to the present invention takes into account The invention provides the particular advantages of the two types of system mentioned above, without combining their disadvantages. More specifically, the method according to the present invention provides the same level of performance as the ordering systems, while maintaining the typical advantages of rejection systems, as mentioned above, in limited cost and volume, capability to consider any output order, item by item, and to the limited number of outputs.

Especially according to the new one Procedures are the articles two different separation phases subjected: the first introductory or pre-phase realizes the predefined order of articles during the second, final separation phase.

In Seeing the maximum number of articles requires implementation the method according to the present invention Invention realization of a system with two groups of outputs, each Group with a number of outputs equal to the square root of the maximum number of articles in the Crowd, rounded up. To sort out a maximum of 100 items, It is therefore necessary to have a system with two groups of outputs have, with ten outputs, defined as A1, A2 through A10 and the other ten outputs defined as B1, B2 to B10.

Based on the method according to the present invention Invention must the identification codes of the loaded into the system article known be as well as the desired Discharge order, article for article. The positions of the articles along outputs B1, B2 ... B10 become according to this Order booked on the basis of a logical principle, where the first article to be unloaded is the first position of exit B1 book, the second article the second position of the same Exit B1 will book and so on until the maximum article quantity that is up the conveyor belt (line) B1, which was booked with the Number of outputs for every Group (ten in this example) corresponds.

Of the first article after the articles that the ten positions of output B1 (this is the eleventh article) will book the second position book from Exit B2; likewise, the first article, after the articles that have posted the ten positions of exit B2, the book first position from exit B3, and so on until the ten Positions from exit B10 have been posted.

As soon as the articles on the conveyor system, that by the logical principle according to the present invention are operated, the articles are initially along the exits from rows A1 to A10, according to the position sorted out to those on the outputs booked from rows B1 to B10. Exactly all articles, which were designed to occupy the first positions of outputs B1-B10, to exit A1 (this is the first article, the eleventh article, the twenty-first article, ... up to the ninety-first article) promoted; all the articles that are designed to be the second positions of the Outputs B1-B10 too are being promoted to the exit A2 (this is the second article, the twelfth Article, the twenty-second article ... until the ninety-second Article) and so on, until all the articles that have been designed to take the tenth position of the outputs B1 to B10, promoted to output A10 (this is the tenth article, the twentieth article, ... until to the hundredth article).

One Unloading starts as soon as the receipt of a quantity has ended and the crowd along exits A1-A10 was divided, starting from exit A1, which contains the ten articles in discharges the first positions of the ten outputs B1-B10; likewise discharges output A2 the ten articles in the second positions of the exits B1-B10 to the ten articles located in exit A10 in the tenth positions of the same outputs B1-B10 were unloaded.

It must be noted Be that to the right final choice within the outputs B1-B10 ensure the order in which the articles are within each output from A1 to A10 is not relevant.

output A1 for Considering presentation purposes, it can be said that the ten Article for this Output were designed to be loaded in a rigorous sequence can (i.e., the first, the eleventh, the twenty-first, ... until that ninety-first) such as the sequence shown in the table below, but likewise, with the same efficacy, in a completely random order (i.e. the twenty-first, the ninety-first, the first, the thirty-first, the forty-first, etc.) as long as all these articles the first article of their respective subsets of ten each Articles are.

Around the logical principle according to the present To better understand the invention, reference is made to Table A, which shows the sorting out of a 100-item quantity.

The Table [A] is prepared before the arrival of 100 items, by numbers from 1 to 100 at each of the identification codes of the Items in the desired final Order will be assigned. Then the table becomes horizontal Direction from left to right, filled from top to bottom.

The Table [A] becomes horizontal for outputs read from group B and vertical for outputs from group A. In practice, for each Identification code, the destination during the separation phase corresponds to outputs in group A with the column, and the destination for outputs in group B corresponds to the line.

It must be noted be that sorting process with a double cycle according to the present Invention by a sorting system with two groups of outputs such shown above can be, or through two independent systems, in cascade each of them with a single group of outputs, or through a single system that is equipped with a single group of outputs is, as long as the outputs can be divided into two parts and therefore as exits from series A and then as outputs be used by series B, while maintaining that the articles are separated along the same conveyor belt.

- Table A -

For lighter ones Reference moves this description continues with a practical example of the operation of the Method according to the present Invention, with the help of graphical symbols, each symbol represents an article, which is to be sorted out. For reasons of simplicity, this example refers to a lot of 16 articles. It goes without saying, however, that the same logical principle for quantities can be used with any number of articles as desired.

und in der folgenden Reihenfolge aussortiert werden mußIn view of the above, it can be understood that the 16 articles are sorted out by means of a system equipped with two sets of outputs, each of them containing four outputs equal to the square root of the number (sixteen) articles of articles to be sorted out can. In this example, the articles arrive at the system operated according to the present invention in the following random order:

and must be sorted out in the following order

More accurate is, as can be seen from the alphanumeric codes, the with the manifold symbols are the final ones Purpose, the mass-loaded article according to a desired sequence of four different To sort out sub-quantities, each of them with four elements; It is envisaged that the four articles of each subset will be in accordance with one predefined sequence are ordered.

• – die erste Untermenge mit Artikeln α1, α2, α3, α4
• – die zweite Untermenge mit Artikeln β1, β2, β3, β4
• – die dritte Untermenge mit Artikeln χ1, χ2, χ3, χ4
• – die vierte Untermenge mit Artikeln δ1, δ2, δ3, δ4.

With reference to the symbols and alphanumeric codes identifying the articles, it can be seen that the ultimate purpose of this demonstration is to generate a sequence of four subsets, as explained below

• The first subset of articles α1, α2, α3, α4
• The second subset of articles β1, β2, β3, β4
• - the third subset with articles χ1, χ2, χ3, χ4
• The fourth subset with articles δ1, δ2, δ3, δ4.

To this end will be followed by two subsequent stages of separation, each of them acting on a group of four outputs. The four inputs for the first separation phase (or initial division) are called A1, A2, A3, A4 and the second group of outputs for the second separation phase (or final Division) as B1, B2, B3, B4.

The Description drives the arrangement of the articles at the end of the second separation phase according to the below Table B to fill out is by placing the icons of the articles in the desired final order from top to bottom and from left to right.

- Table B -

As shown in Table B, the articles become during the first separation phase assigned to the output corresponding to the vertical line to which they belong then they are taken to the second separation phase step and directed to the exit corresponding to the same horizontal line, the they belong.

selbst wenn nicht notwendigerweise in der korrekten Reihenfolge wie oben beschrieben.Therefore, the articles are sorted out during the first separation phase as follows:

even if not necessarily in the correct order as described above.

The essential condition for the first separation phase of the process is that the four specific articles, which are directed to the particular output (A1-A4) within of the specific exit, even if they are in random order available.

to for ease of reference, it may be said that output A1 is necessarily the first goal of the articles identified with α1, β1, χ1, δ1 is that these Articles are stored there in an ordered order or sequence or can be deposited but also - as an alternative example - in the Sequence χ1, α1, δ1, β1 or in any other possible Sequence.

Then are the items that are positioned in the outputs A1, A2, A3, A4 are taken, starting from exit A1 to A4 and to the exits of Group B sent. At this stage, the articles are sent to the goals Group B sorted out as shown below

takes to get the articles from the outputs from group B, starting from B1 to B4, can be the desired order obtained as shown below:

Finally is to note that for a practical implementation of the method according to the present invention Invention that for Sorting system used for this purpose, by an electric control unit (which is able to handle and handle the entire procedure control) and a reader supported must become, which is able to identify the items loaded on the system and the identification results to the electric control unit transferred to.

Claims (2)

A method used to sort out quantities of goods loaded in bulk onto conveyor systems according to a particular order, article by article, characterized in that it is implemented in a sorting system having two different but in number identical groups of outputs ( A1-A _n / B1-B _n ) according to which, when articles are mass loaded on the system, the identification codes of each article are known, as well as the order in which the articles are to be unloaded, articles for Items; it being provided that, according to a predetermined discharge order, the various articles entering the system automatically with the position they occupy in the second group of outputs (B1-B _n ), - using a suitable processor - is based on the logical principle that the first article to be unloaded must be assigned to the first position of the first output (B1), that the second article to be unloaded must be assigned to the second position of the first output (B1), up to the last item to be unloaded, which must be assigned to the last position of the last output (B _n ); wherein it is provided that initially the articles are assigned to the first group of outputs (A1-A _n ) according to the logical principle that all articles assigned to the first positions in the outputs of the second group (B1-B _n ) are assigned must be promoted to the first output (A1) [that] all articles, to the second positions of the outputs of the second group (B1-B _n) are assigned to be conveyed to the second output (A2), to the Last output of the first group (A _n ), in which all articles assigned to the last position of the outputs of the second group (B1-B _n ) must be promoted; wherein it is additionally provided that the articles which are transmitted according to an ordered sequence from the first group of outputs (A1-A _n ) to the second group at outputs (B1-B _n ) according to the logical principle that the articles, the are included in the first output (A1) of the first group, one after the other, in which outputs of the second group (B1- _Bn ) are unloaded, so that they always occupy the first positions that the articles contained in the second Output of the first group (A2), one after the other, into which outputs of the second group (B1- _Bn ) are unloaded, so that they always occupy the second positions, up to the items which are in the last output ( An) of the first group are unloaded, one after the other, into the outputs of the second group (B1-B _n ), so that they always occupy the last positions. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the articles loaded in each output of the first group of outputs (A1-A _n ) are arranged in a predefined order, based on the position which they have in the corresponding output (B1 -B _n ) of the second group, wherein it is provided that the first position of the first output (A1) is occupied by the first article, which is assigned to the first output (B1) of the second group, that the second position of first output (A1) is taken by the first item assigned to the second output (B2) of the second group, that the third position of the first output (A1) is occupied by the first item corresponding to the third output (B3) of the first item is assigned to the second group, and so forth, as the first position of the second output (A2) of the first group is occupied by the second article corresponding to the first output (B1) of the second group in that the second position of the second output (A2) of the first group is assigned by the second article assigned to the second output (B2) of the second group that the third position of the second output (A2) of the first group of the second article assigned to the third output (B3); and so on.