CN108940895B

CN108940895B - Three-dimensional sorting device

Info

Publication number: CN108940895B
Application number: CN201810537925.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王兴平; 陈志生; 贺志兵
Original assignee: Shenzhen Zhilai Science and Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Zhilai Science and Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-30
Filing date: 2018-05-30
Publication date: 2021-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-30
Also published as: CN108940895A

Abstract

The invention relates to a three-dimensional sorting device, which comprises a conveying unit, a sorting unit and a sorting unit, wherein the conveying unit is used for moving a sorted article in the vertical direction and placing the article to different sorting ports; the sorting openings are arranged on a circumference which takes the center of the conveying unit as a circle center and takes a set distance as a radius, and at least one of the height of each sorting opening and the position of each sorting opening on the circumference is different from other sorting openings of the sorting device. The three-dimensional sorting device has the following beneficial effects: so that the occupied area of the whole sorting device is greatly reduced.

Description

Three-dimensional sorting device

Technical Field

The invention relates to sorting equipment for express delivery or mails, in particular to a three-dimensional sorting device.

Background

The sorting of the express delivery or the mail refers to that the express delivery or the mail with the same or similar address or in the same delivery area is identified from other express deliveries or mails according to the receiving address of the express delivery or the mail, so that the delivery is facilitated. For example, the sorting criterion is that a delivery range of a deliverer or a delivery device is used as a sorting area, and all couriers or addresses of delivery addresses in the area are identified and placed together, so that the subsequent delivery steps are facilitated. This identification and selection is typically done on a larger range of mail. For example, a courier or mail on a street may be sorted among mails addressed to the same area. In the prior art, large-scale sorting equipment has been adopted for a sorting center in a large area, and the equipment is generally in a pipeline form, that is, sorting openings are arranged along the length direction of a conveying belt, express deliveries or mails are placed on the conveying belt, and the express deliveries or the mails are sorted out through different sorting openings, so that the sorting of the express deliveries or the mails is realized. However, such sorting lines are not only costly, but also take up a large amount of space to identify and move the parcels or mailpieces. This disadvantage is not very important for large sorting centers. However, for sorting points on a base level, such as a street or a few streets, the use of sorting equipment is limited due to the lack of such a site, and manual sorting is generally only used.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problems that the three-dimensional sorting device has lower cost, occupies less land and has lower requirements on the land, and the defects of higher cost, larger land occupation and higher requirements on the land in the prior art are overcome.

The technical scheme adopted by the invention for solving the technical problems is as follows: constructing a stereoscopic sorting apparatus including a conveying unit that moves an article to be sorted in a vertical direction and places the article to a different sorting gate; the sorting openings are arranged on a circumference which takes the center of the conveying unit as a circle center and takes a set distance as a radius, and at least one of the height of each sorting opening and the position of each sorting opening on the circumference is different from other sorting openings of the sorting device.

The apparatus further comprises a control unit for scanning a label on the article to be sorted, acquiring data representing a destination address of the article on the label, determining a sorting opening corresponding to the destination address of the article according to the data and set data, generating a control signal, controlling the conveying unit to operate, and placing the article in the sorting opening.

Furthermore, the device also comprises a sorting inlet for the conveying unit to obtain the sorted articles; the control unit comprises a scanning module for scanning bar codes, two-dimensional codes or characters on the labels, and the scanning module is arranged above or on the side surface of the sorting inlet.

Furthermore, the sorting opening is arranged on a regular polygon or circular frame surrounding the conveying unit, and the center position of the conveying unit is the center position of the regular polygon or the circular frame.

Further, the sorting inlet is arranged at the bottom of one side of the frame, and the reset position of the conveying unit is close to the sorting inlet; wherein the reset position is an initial position where the conveying unit returns after completing conveying of one sorted article and is ready to start sorting of the next article.

Furthermore, the three-dimensional sorting device also comprises a horizontal or inclined article conveying belt which conveys the sorted articles from the outside of the three-dimensional sorting device to the sorting inlet.

Further, the conveying unit comprises a rotating module, a bracket arranged on the rotating module, a lifting module arranged on the bracket and a connecting module moving along with the lifting module; the rotating module comprises a rotating plate driven by a rotating motor, and the bracket is arranged on the rotating plate and rotates along with the rotating plate; the lifting module comprises a lifting plate arranged in the bracket, and the height of the lifting plate is changed under the driving of a height adjusting motor; the connection modules are mounted on the lift plate for gripping the sorted articles and causing the sorted articles to move with the connection modules in the conveyor unit.

Furthermore, the bracket comprises four upright pillars which are rectangular and enclosed and a plurality of reinforcing columns which are connected with the adjacent pillars in the horizontal direction; the lifting plate is arranged in the middle of the support, the lifting motor is arranged on one side of the support, and the height of the lifting plate is changed along with the rotation of the lifting motor through a synchronous wheel and a synchronous belt; the connecting module is arranged on the lifting plate and comprises a linear motor and a connecting arm which extends out or retracts under the drive of the linear motor, and a clamping structure is arranged on the connecting arm and used for clamping the tray; the rotating module comprises a base, a rotating motor arranged on the base and a rotating plate connected with the rotating motor through a speed reducing mechanism; the speed reducing mechanism is meshed with the rotating plate through a gear structure arranged in the middle of the rotating plate, and the bracket is connected to one surface of the rotating plate.

Further, each sorting opening is associated with a transport path that allows an article entering the sorting opening to be moved into the receptacle associated with the sorting opening.

Furthermore, the height of each sorting opening is higher than the sum of the height of the position of the corresponding container and the height of the container.

The three-dimensional sorting device has the following beneficial effects: scanning at a sorting inlet of an express or mail, determining a sorting port corresponding to a delivery address of the express or mail, and conveying the express or mail to the corresponding sorting port through a conveying device; the conveying direction of the courier or the mail is changed from the horizontal movement to the vertical movement, so that the arrangement of the sorting ports thereof is changed from a maximum of two in the case of the horizontal conveyance by the same distance to more than two, for example, 5 or 6 in moving by the same distance, for example, by raising by a set height, so that the occupation area of the whole sorting apparatus is greatly reduced.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the positions of a sorting port, a sorting inlet and a conveying unit in an embodiment of a three-dimensional sorting apparatus according to the invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the stereoscopic sorting device in the embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the transmission unit in the embodiment.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, in an embodiment of the stereoscopic sorting apparatus of the present invention, the stereoscopic sorting apparatus includes a conveying unit 1 that moves an article to be sorted in a vertical direction and places the article to a different sorting gate 3; the sorting ports 3 are arranged on a circumference which takes the center of the conveying unit 1 as a circle center and takes a set distance as a radius, and at least one of the height of each sorting port 3 and the position of each sorting port on the circumference is different from other sorting ports of the sorting device. In the present embodiment, the position on the circumference refers to the angle and height of the sorting opening 3 on the circumference, for example, if the position of the sorting inlet 2 on the circumference is taken as the position of zero degrees, there may be a sorting opening 3 arranged on an angle of 45 degrees clockwise along the circumference, and the height of the sorting opening 3 is a unit height; meanwhile, another sorting opening 3 is arranged at a position which rotates 90 degrees along the circumferential clockwise direction, and the height of the sorting opening 3 is two unit heights; further, another sorting port 3 is provided at a position rotated by 135 degrees clockwise along the circumference, the height of the sorting port 3 being a set height, and so on. In summary, in this embodiment, at least one of the angle and height parameters of each two sorting openings is different.

In the present embodiment, the stereoscopic sorting apparatus further includes a control unit (not shown) that scans a label on the article to be sorted, acquires data indicating a destination address of the article on the label, specifies the sorting port 3 corresponding to the destination address of the article based on the data and set data, generates a control signal to control the operation of the conveying unit, and places the article in the sorting port 3. Generally, in the present embodiment, one sorting opening 3 corresponds to all addresses on one or several streets or in a set area, and generally, one delivery person or one delivery point is responsible for all addresses in the delivery range; these addresses are placed or assigned to a sorting mouth 3 in a predetermined manner; these addresses can also be modified, the general purpose of which is to place or assign a sorting opening 3 with the area in charge of a courier or delivery point, so that mail or items or courier passing through the sorting opening 3 can be taken directly by the responsible courier or delivery point without further selection.

In this embodiment. As mentioned above, the sorting device also comprises a sorting inlet 2 for the delivery unit to take the sorted articles; specifically, the sorted articles are fed into the sorting device through the sorting inlet 2 (see fig. 1). Meanwhile, the control unit comprises a scanning module for scanning bar codes, two-dimensional codes or characters on the labels, the scanning module is arranged above or on the side surface of the sorting inlet 2 and is used for scanning the labels on the articles passing through the sorting inlet 2 one by one and obtaining delivery information on the labels, and the information plays a role in the sorting device and is mainly address information for delivery.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the sorting opening 3 is arranged on a regular polygonal or circular frame 4 surrounding the transport unit 1, the center position of the transport unit 1 being the center position of the regular polygon or circle. In the present embodiment, the sorting inlet 2 is provided at the bottom of one side of the frame, and the reset position of the conveying unit 1 is close to the sorting inlet 2; wherein the reset position is an initial position where the conveying unit 1 returns after completing conveying of one sorted article and is ready to start sorting of the next article.

In order to transfer the sorted articles quickly and automatically into the sorting inlet 2 of the sorting device, the sorting device comprises, in this embodiment, a horizontal or inclined article conveyor belt (not shown) which transports the sorted articles from outside the three-dimensional sorting device to the sorting inlet 2. In this embodiment, the article to be sorted is conveyed to the start or initial position where the conveyor 1 starts to acquire the article after entering the sorting apparatus through the article conveyor, and the conveyor can acquire the article and convey the article to a different sorting gate based on the delivery information of the label on the article obtained by scanning. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the articles can be automatically sorted only by one person or device placing the sorted articles on the article conveyor belt in a set direction one by one. The positioning according to the set direction is actually related to the installation position of the scanning device, for example, if the scanning device is installed above the sorting entrance, the set direction is the upward side of the article to which the label is attached or provided, so that the scanning device can scan the label on the sorted article, and the delivery information of the sorted article can be obtained therefrom. When the scanning device is installed at the side of the sorting inlet, obviously, the surface of the sorted goods with the labels should face the side of the scanning device when the sorted goods are placed on the goods conveyer belt.

Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the conveying unit 1 includes a rotating module 9, a bracket 8 provided on the rotating module 9, a lifting module 7 mounted on the bracket 8, and a connecting module 6 moving together with the lifting module; the rotating module 9 comprises a rotating plate 92 driven by a rotating motor 91, and the bracket 8 is mounted on the rotating plate 92 and rotates together with the rotating plate 92; the lifting module 7 comprises a lifting plate 73 arranged in the bracket 8, and the lifting plate 73 is driven by a height adjusting motor 71 to change the height; the attachment modules 6 are mounted on the lift plate 73 for gripping a sorted article and causing the sorted article to move with the attachment module 6 in the conveyor unit.

In the present embodiment, the bracket 8 includes four upright pillars 81 enclosing a rectangle and a plurality of reinforcing pillars 82 connecting the adjacent pillars 81 in the horizontal direction; that is, in the present embodiment, when the positions of the four support columns 81 are connected by a connecting line on a horizontal plane, a rectangle can be obtained, and the four support columns 81 are respectively disposed at the four corners of the rectangle; the reinforcing column 82 is placed in a horizontal position, and both ends thereof are connected to different support columns 81, respectively. The lifting plate 73 is disposed in the middle of the four pillars 81, the lifting motor 71 is disposed at one side of the bracket 8, and the lifting plate 73 changes its height with the rotation of the lifting motor 71 by means of a timing wheel and a timing belt 72. In other words, in the present embodiment, the four support columns 81 form a rectangular column structure on the rotating plate 92, and a plurality of reinforcing columns 82 are connected between every two adjacent support columns 81 to form the bracket 8; the holder 8 is connected to the rotating plate 92 and rotates in accordance with the rotation of the rotating plate 92; meanwhile, since the frame 8 has only a frame of a rectangular column structure without a panel, the lifting module 7 may be installed on one side of the frame 8, and the lifting plate 73 of the lifting module 7 may be disposed at a vacant position in the middle of the pillar 81.

In this embodiment, the connecting module 6 is disposed on the lifting plate 73, and includes a linear motor and a connecting arm extending or retracting under the driving of the linear motor, and the connecting arm is provided with a clamping mechanism for clamping the sorted articles. The rotating module 9 comprises a base (not shown in the figure), a rotating motor 91 arranged on the base, and a rotating plate 92 connected with the rotating motor through a speed reducing mechanism; the speed reducing mechanism is engaged with the rotating plate 92 through a gear structure provided at an intermediate position of the rotating plate 92, and the bracket 8 is attached to a surface of the rotating plate, which is an upper surface or a surface away from the ground of the rotating plate 92 in fig. 3.

In general, in this embodiment, the process of the above-mentioned conveying unit 1 to take and convey the sorted articles may be: the conveying unit 1 rotates and lowers the height of the position so that the position where the connecting arm extends is lower or higher than the position of the article to be sorted, extends the connecting arm at the position to clamp the article to be sorted, then retracts the connecting arm to retract the article to be sorted between the supporting columns 81, then, according to the position of the sorting opening 3 into which the article to be sorted should be placed, the conveying unit 1 performs a series of actions such as rotating, lifting and the like so that the article is moved to the position of the sorting opening where the article needs to be placed, then extends the connecting arm to place the tray into the sorting opening where the tray needs to be placed, finally, the clamping mechanism is released to place the article into the corresponding sorting opening, and finally, the conveying unit is reset to return to the initial position to prepare for next article conveying.

In the present embodiment, each sorting opening 3 is associated with a transport channel (not shown) for moving the articles entering the sorting opening 3 into the corresponding receptacle (not shown) of the sorting opening 3. In order to facilitate the transport of the articles from the sorting openings 3 to their respective receptacles, in the present embodiment, the height of each sorting opening is higher than the sum of the height of the location of its respective receptacle and the height of the receptacle itself.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A stereoscopic sorting device is characterized by comprising a conveying unit, a sorting unit and a sorting unit, wherein the conveying unit is used for moving a sorted article in a vertical direction and placing the article to different sorting ports; the sorting ports are arranged on a circumference which takes the center of the conveying unit as the center of a circle and takes a set distance as a radius, and the position of each sorting port on the circumference is different from that of other sorting ports of the sorting device; the sorted articles enter the containers corresponding to the sorting openings through the sorting openings;

the control unit scans the label on the sorted article, acquires the data representing the destination address of the article on the label, determines a sorting port corresponding to the destination address of the article according to the data and the set data, generates a control signal to control the conveying unit to operate, and places the article in the sorting port; the conveying unit is used for acquiring the sorted articles; the control unit comprises a scanning module for scanning bar codes, two-dimensional codes or characters on the label, and the scanning module is arranged above or on the side surface of the sorting inlet;

the conveying unit comprises a rotating module, a bracket arranged on the rotating module, a lifting module arranged on the bracket and a connecting module moving along with the lifting module; the rotating module comprises a rotating plate driven by a rotating motor, and the bracket is arranged on the rotating plate and rotates along with the rotating plate; the lifting module comprises a lifting plate arranged in the bracket, and the height of the lifting plate is changed under the driving of a height adjusting motor; the connecting module is arranged on the lifting plate and used for clamping the sorted articles to return to the bracket, so that the sorted articles move along with the connecting module in the conveying unit;

wherein, one sorting port corresponds to one deliverer or one delivery point and is responsible for all addresses in the delivery range; these addresses are previously placed or assigned to the sorting opening so that mail or items or couriers passing through the sorting opening can be taken directly by the responsible courier or delivery point without further selection.

2. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting port is provided on a frame of a regular polygon or a circle surrounding the conveying unit, and the center position of the conveying unit is the center position of the regular polygon or the circle.

3. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sorting inlet is provided at a bottom of one side of the frame, and the reset position of the conveying unit is close to the sorting inlet; wherein the reset position is an initial position where the conveying unit returns after completing conveying of one sorted article and is ready to start sorting of the next article.

4. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a horizontal or inclined article conveyor that transports the sorted articles from outside the stereoscopic sorting apparatus to the sorting inlet.

5. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus of claim 4, wherein the support includes four upright columns enclosing a rectangle and a plurality of reinforcing columns connecting adjacent columns in a horizontal direction; the lifting plate is arranged in the middle of the support, the lifting motor is arranged on one side of the support, and the height of the lifting plate is changed along with the rotation of the lifting motor through a synchronous wheel and a synchronous belt; the connecting module is arranged on the lifting plate and comprises a linear motor and a connecting arm which extends out or retracts under the drive of the linear motor, and a clamping structure is arranged on the connecting arm and used for clamping the article; the rotating module comprises a base, a rotating motor arranged on the base and a rotating plate connected with the rotating motor through a speed reducing mechanism; the speed reducing mechanism is meshed with the rotating plate through a gear structure arranged in the middle of the rotating plate, and the bracket is connected to one surface of the rotating plate.

6. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each sorting port is connected with a transfer passage for moving the articles entering the sorting port to the corresponding receptacle of the sorting port.

7. The stereoscopic sorting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the height of each sorting opening is higher than the sum of the height of the position of the corresponding container and the height of the container itself.