CN110732487A

CN110732487A - Goods sorting equipment with plane steering type sorting module based on image processing

Info

Publication number: CN110732487A
Application number: CN201810792192.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 程秉祥; 邹泉
Original assignee: Dalian Yinte Visual Intelligent Sensing Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Dalian Yinte Visual Intelligent Sensing Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-07-18
Filing date: 2018-07-18
Publication date: 2020-01-31

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to goods sorting equipment with a plane steering type sorting module based on image processing, comprising a conveyor belt, a scanning module, a sorting module comprising a plurality of sorting devices, each sorting device comprising a plurality of steering mechanisms, each steering mechanism comprising a steering mechanism bracket and a plurality of annular transmission belts, the steering mechanism brackets can be controlled to enable the annular transmission belts arranged on the steering mechanism brackets to rotate in a horizontal plane, and a control unit, the control unit receives and processes goods images and goods conveying information obtained by the scanning module, and determines external characteristics and sorting positions of goods, wherein each steering mechanisms can be individually controlled by the control unit to enable the annular transmission belts to rotate independently in the horizontal plane, the control unit determines the steering mechanism related to the goods to be sorted according to the external characteristics of the goods, and controls the steering mechanism related to steer from the goods conveying direction to a lateral direction when the goods pass through so as to sort the goods.

Description

Goods sorting equipment with plane steering type sorting module based on image processing

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of cargo sorting, in particular to kinds of cargo sorting equipment with a plane steering type sorting module based on image processing.

Background

At present, automatic sorting equipment is widely adopted in automatic production lines in the manufacturing industry and goods sorting lines in the logistics industry, but all the automatic sorting equipment at present need to rearrange goods to be sorted in an automatic or manual mode before sorting, so that the goods are ensured to pass through the sorting equipment in a single-row arrangement mode, otherwise, the goods cannot be correctly sorted.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems, and other technical problems that have yet to be resolved.

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide efficient cargo sorting apparatus that allows cargo to be quickly sorted without affecting the transfer of other cargo.

According to the present disclosure, there is provided kinds of goods sorting apparatus, including:

at least conveyor belts for conveying the goods;

the scanning module comprises an image acquisition device for acquiring goods images and a code scanning device for scanning goods conveying information;

at least sorting modules which are located after the scanning module in the goods conveying direction and to which goods conveyed by the conveyor belt are conveyed, wherein each sorting module comprises a plurality of sorting devices arranged side by side, each sorting device comprises a plurality of diverting mechanisms arranged side by side, each diverting mechanism comprises a diverting mechanism support and a plurality of endless conveyor belts supported in the diverting mechanism support, which endless conveyor belts are arranged in the goods conveying direction in an initial state of the diverting mechanisms, can bear goods conveyed thereon and convey them in a horizontal direction, and the diverting mechanism support can be controlled to rotate in a horizontal plane so that the endless conveyor belts provided on the diverting mechanism support rotate in a horizontal plane, and

a control unit receiving and processing the goods image and the goods conveying information obtained by the scanning module and determining external features and sorting positions of the goods,

wherein each of the steering mechanisms are individually controllable by the control unit to cause the endless drive belt to rotate independently in a horizontal plane,

wherein, when the goods are determined to be sorted at the sorting module, the control unit determines a steering mechanism involved in sorting the goods according to an external feature of the goods, and controls the steering mechanism involved in the plurality of steering mechanisms to steer from the goods conveying direction to a lateral direction when the goods pass, thereby conveying the goods to the sorting position, and

wherein when the goods are determined not to be sorted at the sorting module, the control unit controls the steering mechanism not to perform steering so that the endless belt horizontally conveys the goods in the goods conveying direction to a lower sorting position.

According to this disclosure, goods can convey side by side on the letter sorting module without influencing the letter sorting. Specifically, when the goods need sort, the steering mechanism that involves of sorting device turns to convey the goods towards the letter sorting position of sorting device both sides, and the goods of arranging with it in parallel normally conveys, has consequently greatly improved the speed of goods letter sorting and conveying, thereby wholly promotes letter sorting speed.

Preferably, the steering mechanism is separately restored to its original state immediately after the goods pass through the steering mechanism during the steering of the steering mechanism to sort the goods. Therefore, after the preceding goods are sorted, the following goods can be quickly and smoothly conveyed, thereby improving conveying and sorting efficiency.

Preferably, each sorting module comprises at least four sorting devices, and each sorting device comprises at least four steering mechanisms. The sorting devices and the number of steering mechanisms in each sorting device are not particularly limited, but may be determined according to the goods transfer requirements. For example, each sorting module comprises 7 sorting devices, each comprising 5 turning mechanisms.

Preferably, each of the sorting devices is provided with driving motors for driving all the endless belts of the sorting device to convey the goods in the horizontal direction, and each of the steering mechanisms in each of the sorting devices is provided with rotating motors for driving each of the steering mechanisms to rotate independently in the horizontal plane.

Preferably, each of the sorting devices includes an inner frame in a shape of a rectangular ring standing on a side, and the steering mechanism bracket is supported on a top of the inner frame via a steering bearing.

Preferably, each sorting device is provided with drive shafts driven by the drive motor and the drive shafts drive the endless belts in steps via drive belts, and wherein the drive shafts simultaneously drive all of the drive belts in the sorting device to effect that all of the endless belts of each sorting device convey the items in a horizontal direction.

Preferably, the sorting apparatus is further provided with a rectangular outer frame, a top portion of which is provided with a plurality of circular openings corresponding to the steering mechanisms for accommodating the steering mechanisms, and wherein, in an assembled state of the sorting apparatus, a top surface of the steering mechanism bracket is flush with the top portion of the outer frame, and the endless belt protrudes from the top portion of the outer frame at a predetermined height to the outside.

Preferably, two conveyors are arranged on each side of the sorting module perpendicular to the goods conveying direction, which conveyors can be associated with the same sorting position or with two different sorting positions.

Because of the designated spacing between the front and rear adjacent items, the rear item will not be on the divert facility when the front item is on the diverted divert facility, thereby not affecting the forward delivery of the rear item.

Preferably, the determined external characteristics of the goods comprise the size and position of the goods on the conveyor belt. The control unit determines, on the basis of the size of the goods and the position on the conveyor belt, the steering mechanisms involved when the goods are sorted, and controls these steering mechanisms to perform a steering action.

Preferably, a plurality of sorting modules are provided and only scanning modules are provided, i.e. scans are performed before sorting the goods and the controller controls every sorting modules according to the transportation information and the external characteristics of all goods obtained by the scanning modules to sort all goods to the respective sorting positions.

Preferably, a plurality of sorting modules are provided, and scanning modules are provided before every sorting modules, i.e., before each sorting of the goods, the goods are scanned for information to re-determine their current location information and appearance.

Preferably, another scanning modules are provided after every sorting modules for checking the status of the sorted goods.

Preferably, the scanning module is arranged above the conveyor belt via a carriage. The delivery position information of the cargo may be located at any visible position. For example, the conveying position information of the goods is printed or pasted on the top of the goods, and the conveying position information of the goods may be set on the left or right side thereof. Preferably, an automatic reversing device can also be provided in the goods sorting installation in order to convert invisible labels or position-conveying information into visible information.

Preferably, the scanning module is arranged on the left side or the right side of the conveyor belt through a bracket, and the conveying position information of the goods is correspondingly printed or pasted on the left side or the right side of the goods, thereby realizing the scanning of the conveying position information of the goods.

Preferably, the scanning module is arranged above the conveyor belt via a carriage and the scanning module is arranged for programmable movement on the carriage. From this, the scanning module can move in order to ensure accurately that the transport position information and the external characteristics of goods are scanned.

Preferably, each of the steering mechanisms is capable of steering to the left or right at a predetermined angle based on the cargo conveying direction. The predetermined angle is greater than 0 degrees and less than 90 degrees.

Preferably, the predetermined angle is variable during steering of the steering mechanism, and the predetermined angle is determined by calculation of an external characteristic of the cargo by the control unit. That is, the control unit can control the steering mechanism to steer at a variable angle so that the goods can be delivered to the conveyor in a desired route.

Drawings

The drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and serve to provide a further understanding of the technical spirit of the present disclosure in conjunction with the aforementioned disclosure .

In the drawings:

fig. 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a cargo sorting apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary schematic diagram of a sort module according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary internal configuration diagram of sorting devices of a sorting module according to embodiments of the present disclosure, in which only steering mechanisms are shown.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary internal configuration diagram of sorting devices of a sorting module according to embodiments of the present disclosure, in which five steering mechanisms are shown.

Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary internal configuration diagram of sorting apparatuses of a sorting module according to embodiments of the present disclosure, with the external frame of the sorting apparatus partially shown to more clearly illustrate the relationship between the components.

Fig. 6-9 are schematic views of an operation process of the goods sorting apparatus according to the present disclosure, in which fig. 6 illustrates a case in which two goods side by side are not sorted, fig. 7-8 illustrate a case in which of the two goods side by side are sorted, and fig. 9 illustrates a case in which both the two goods side by side are sorted.

Detailed Description

Before the description, it should be understood that the terms used in this specification and the appended claims should not be construed as limited to the -based and dictionary meanings, but interpreted based on the meanings and concepts corresponding to technical aspects of the present disclosure on the basis of the principle that the inventor is allowed to define terms appropriately for the best explanation.

Further, the description proposed herein is just a preferable example for the purpose of illustrations only, not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, so it should be understood that other equivalents and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure at the time of filing this application.

Fig. 1 is an exemplary schematic view of a goods sorting apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure, and referring to fig. 1, the goods sorting apparatus 1 according to the present disclosure may include a th conveyor belt 10, a scanning module 20, a sorting module 30, a transfer device 40, a second conveyor belt 50, and a control unit 60, each of the

conveyor belts

10 and 50 may be a linear type rolling conveyor belt for transferring goods 100 from a start position to respective sorting positions, only sorting positions are shown in fig. 1, but the number of the sorting positions may be plural according to sorting requirements of the goods.

The scan module 20 is used to image-scan the goods 100 to acquire various information about the goods 100, such as transportation position information and external features of the goods 100, in order to achieve the above-described functions, the scan module 20 of the present disclosure includes an image pickup device (e.g., a camera) and a code scanning device, generally, the transportation position information about the goods 100 is printed or pasted on the top of the goods 100, and thus, the code scanning device of the scan module 20 can acquire the transportation position information of the goods by scanning a two-dimensional code or a bar code and transmit the transportation position information to the control unit 60, however, the transportation position information of the goods may be located at any visible position, for example, the transportation position information of the goods may also be located at the left or right side thereof.

In fig. 1, scanning modules 20 are arranged above the th conveyor belt 10 via a rack 201 and before the sorting modules 30 in order to acquire conveying information and dimensions of the goods 100 before the goods are sorted, however, the position and number of the scanning modules 20 are not limited to the above-mentioned case, for example, the scanning modules may be provided on the left or right side, and may also be provided to be moved programmably, and further , another scanning module 20 may be provided after the sorting modules 30 in order to correct the goods 100 after passing through the sorting modules 30, for example, whether the eligible goods 100 have been sorted, whether the unsorted goods 100 are conveyed in their original position and condition, and so on, and further, according to the requirements, scanning modules 20 may be provided for every sorting modules 30.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary schematic diagram of sorting modules according to embodiments of the present disclosure, a sorting module 30 of the present disclosure is a programmable planar turn type sorting module that allows sorting of eligible goods and allows transfer of ineligible goods on to a lower conveyor belt, as shown in fig. 2, a sorting module 30 according to the present disclosure may be composed of a plurality of sorting devices 31 arranged side by side, each sorting device 31 has a substantially rectangular shape standing on a side.

Fig. 3 shows an exemplary internal configuration diagram of sorting devices of a sorting module according to embodiments of the present disclosure, a sorting device 31 of the present disclosure may include a steering mechanism 310, an inner frame 311, a driving motor 312, a driving shaft 313, a driving belt 314, and a rotating motor 315, only steering mechanisms are exemplarily shown in fig. 3 for clarity, as shown in the drawing, the steering mechanism 310 is disposed on the top of the inner frame 311, specifically, the steering mechanism 310 includes a steering mechanism bracket 317 and a plurality of endless driving belts supported in the steering mechanism bracket 317 via a plurality of pairs of rollers, a top surface of the endless driving belts may be slightly higher than a top surface of the steering mechanism bracket 317 to facilitate conveyance of goods, the steering mechanism bracket 317 is supported on the top of the inner frame 311 by a steering bearing 316, the rotating motor 315 is disposed to be able to drive the steering mechanism bracket 317 to rotate on a horizontal plane, thereby achieving steering of the endless driving belts disposed on the steering mechanism bracket 317 on a horizontal plane, specifically, the steering bearing 316 and the rotating motor 315 are disposed coaxially on a lower vertical rotating shaft of the steering mechanism bracket 317.

Meanwhile, the pairs of rollers on which the endless transmission belt is disposed are driven by the transmission belt 314, thereby circulating the endless transmission belt to achieve horizontal conveyance. The drive belt 314 is drivably coupled to the drive motor 312 via a drive shaft 313. As illustrated in fig. 3, a transmission shaft 313 is provided on the inner frame 313 in a horizontal direction, and a pulley for engaging the transmission belt 314 is provided on the transmission shaft 313.

With the above-described structure, the steering mechanism 310 of the present application can achieve steering on a horizontal plane while achieving horizontal conveyance of the endless belt.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary internal configuration of sorting devices of a sorting module according to embodiments of the present disclosure, in which five steering mechanisms 310 are shown, the five steering mechanisms 310 are arranged along a straight line on an inner frame 311. in the present application, the number of steering mechanisms 310 is not limited to five, but may be determined according to cargo conveyance requirements. the steering mechanisms 310 are each driven by a separate turning motor 315. that is, each steering mechanism 310 is capable of independently steering.

referring to FIG. 5, the sorter 31 of the present disclosure is provided with a generally rectangular outer frame 300, the inner frame 311 and the components disposed thereon as shown in FIG. 4 are mounted in the outer frame 300, the top of the outer frame 300 is provided with five circular openings for receiving five steering mechanisms 310, in the assembled state as shown in FIG. 5, the top surface of the steering mechanism bracket 317 is substantially flush with the top of the outer frame 300, and an endless belt slightly protrudes from the top of the outer frame 300 to facilitate contact with the goods.

In addition, referring again to FIG. 1, two conveyors 40 may be disposed on the left and right sides of the sort module 30, i.e., on both sides in a direction perpendicular to the goods conveying direction, to convey the sorted goods to the sort locations, where the two conveyors 40 may relate to the same sort location or may relate to two different sort locations, that is, the two conveyors 40 may convey the sorted goods to two different locations at the same sort location or may respectively direct the sorted goods to different sort locations, depending on the goods conveying requirements.

Fig. 6 to 9 are schematic views of an operation process of the goods sorting apparatus according to the present disclosure, in which fig. 6 illustrates a case in which two goods side by side are not sorted, fig. 7 to 8 illustrate a case in which of the two goods side by side are sorted, and fig. 9 illustrates a case in which both the two goods side by side are sorted.

The goods 100 (e.g., 100A, 100B, 100C, 100D, 100E, 100F) are first conveyed by the -th conveyor belt 10 at a start position when the goods 100 are sorted, the scanning module 20 performs image acquisition and information scanning on the goods 100 and transmits the acquired image and scanning information to the control unit 60 when the goods 100 pass through the position of the scanning module 20, the control unit 60 can determine a sorting position and size of the goods based on the acquired image and code scanning information, and can determine whether the goods need to be sorted therein according to the code scanning information.

As shown in fig. 7, when it is determined that the

goods

100A and 100B are not sorted here by the code scanning information, the control unit 60 does not control the steering mechanism 310 of the sorting module 30 to make a steering action. Thereby, the

goods

100A and 100B will be transferred to the second conveyor belt 50 by the endless conveyor belt of the steering mechanism 310.

Referring to fig. 8,

goods

100C and 100D are conveyed side-by-side on a conveyor belt. When it is determined through the code scanning information that the goods 100C do not need to be sorted here and the goods 100D need to be sorted here, the designated steering mechanism 310 is controlled to perform a steering action according to the size and the position of the goods 100D on the conveyor belt so as to convey the goods 100D to the conveyor 40. For example, the control unit 60 first determines the diverting mechanisms 310 involved in the passage of the goods 100D through the sorting module and controls the diverting mechanisms 310 to divert towards the conveyor 40 so that the goods 100D can be conveyed to the conveyor 40. Alternatively, additional conveyor belts may be provided at the end of the conveyor 40 to receive and continue to convey the goods sorted therein.

Preferably, a space is formed between two adjacent goods in front and rear, and the space is enough to ensure that the goods which are not to be sorted are not diverted by the diverting mechanism 310 when the goods in front are diverted by the diverting mechanism 310. preferably, an accelerating section or accelerator may be provided before the goods are conveyed to the th conveyor belt 10 to ensure the space between the two adjacent goods in front and rear by increasing the speed of the conveyor belt.

Meanwhile, since the steering mechanism 310 of the sorting module of the present disclosure can be steered individually, when two

cargos

100C and 100D are adjacent in the width direction of the conveyor belt, the sorting module 50 of the present disclosure can steer only the steering mechanism 310 involved in the cargo 100D that is required to be sorted, while maintaining the cargo 100C that is not to be sorted to continue to be conveyed in the cargo conveying direction. Therefore, even when a plurality of goods are conveyed side by side, the sorting module 50 of the present disclosure can accurately sort the designated goods while maintaining the other goods to be continuously conveyed forward. Accordingly, the present disclosure can allow goods to be transferred side by side, thereby maximizing the efficiency of transferring and sorting the goods.

In addition, each of the steering mechanisms 310 is controlled such that when a cargo requiring sorting passes through the steering mechanism 310, the steering mechanism 310 is immediately restored to its original position so as not to interfere with the transfer of the following cargo.

Fig. 9 shows a situation in which two goods side by side are both sorted. As shown in fig. 9, when two

cargos

100E and 100F arranged side by side are simultaneously sorted, the control unit 60 controls the specified steering mechanism 310 to make a steering action according to the sizes and positions of the

cargos

100E and 100F on the conveyor belt, thereby steering the

cargos

100E and 100F to the conveyor 40, respectively.

In particular, in the present disclosure, each steering mechanism 310 is capable of steering within a predetermined angular range based on the cargo conveying direction. For example, based on the goods conveying direction, the steering mechanism 310 can be steered to the left or right within a range of 0-90 degrees so that the goods thereon can be conveyed to the left or right as needed to achieve the desired sorting.

While the present disclosure has been described in conjunction with the above-described embodiments, it is apparent that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Certain features of the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure can be recombined to form new embodiments. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

The cargo sorting apparatus of the type , comprising:

at least conveyor belts for conveying the goods;

the scanning module comprises an image acquisition device for acquiring goods images and a code scanning device for scanning goods conveying information;

at least sorting modules which are located after the scanning module in the goods conveying direction and to which goods conveyed by the conveyor belt are conveyed, wherein each sorting module comprises a plurality of sorting devices arranged side by side, each sorting device comprises a plurality of diverting mechanisms arranged side by side, each diverting mechanism comprises a diverting mechanism support and a plurality of endless conveyor belts supported in the diverting mechanism support, which endless conveyor belts are arranged in the goods conveying direction in an initial state of the diverting mechanisms, can bear goods conveyed thereon and convey them in a horizontal direction, and the diverting mechanism support can be controlled to rotate in a horizontal plane so that the endless conveyor belts provided on the diverting mechanism support rotate in a horizontal plane, and

a control unit receiving and processing the goods image and the goods conveying information obtained by the scanning module and determining external features and sorting positions of the goods,

wherein each of the steering mechanisms are individually controllable by the control unit to cause the endless drive belt to rotate independently in a horizontal plane,

wherein, when the goods are determined to be sorted at the sorting module, the control unit determines a steering mechanism involved in sorting the goods according to an external feature of the goods, and controls the steering mechanism involved in the plurality of steering mechanisms to steer from the goods conveying direction to a lateral direction when the goods pass, thereby conveying the goods to the sorting position, and

wherein when the goods are determined not to be sorted at the sorting module, the control unit controls the steering mechanism not to perform steering so that the endless belt horizontally conveys the goods in the goods conveying direction to a lower sorting position.
2. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the steering mechanism is individually restored to its original state immediately after the passage of the cargo from the steering mechanism during the steering mechanism performs steering to sort the cargo.
3. The cargo sorting apparatus of claim 1, wherein each sorting module includes at least four sorting devices.
4. The cargo sorting apparatus of claim 3, wherein each of the sorting devices includes at least four of the steering mechanisms.
5. Goods sorting installation according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein drive motors are provided for each sorting device for driving all endless belts of the sorting device to transport goods in horizontal direction, and wherein

Wherein each of the steering mechanisms in each of the sorting devices is provided with turning motors for driving each of the steering mechanisms to turn independently in a horizontal plane.
6. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each sorting device comprises an inner frame in the shape of a rectangular ring standing on its side, the steering mechanism bracket being supported on top of the inner frame via a steering bearing.
7. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of the sorting devices is provided with transmission shafts, the transmission shafts are driven by the transmission motor, and the transmission shafts further drive the endless transmission belt by a transmission belt, and

wherein the drive shaft simultaneously drives all drive belts in the sorting devices to effect that all endless drive belts of each sorting device convey the goods in a horizontal direction.
8. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the sorting device is further provided with a rectangular outer frame, the top of which is provided with a plurality of circular openings corresponding to the steering mechanisms for receiving the steering mechanisms, and wherein

Wherein, in an assembled state of the sorting apparatus, a top surface of the steering mechanism bracket is flush with a top portion of the outer frame, and the endless belt protrudes from the top portion of the outer frame at a predetermined height to the outside.
9. The cargo sorting apparatus according to any of claims 1-4, wherein two conveyors are respectively arranged on both sides of the sorting module in a direction perpendicular to the cargo conveying direction.
10. The cargo sorting apparatus according to any of claims 1-4, wherein an acceleration section or an accelerator is provided before the sorting module so as to form a designated interval between two adjacent front and rear cargos by increasing a speed of the conveyor belt.
11. The cargo sorting apparatus according to any of claims 1-4 and , wherein the determined external characteristics of the cargo comprise a size of the cargo and a position on the conveyor belt.
12. The cargo sorting apparatus of any of claims 1-4 and wherein there are a plurality of sorting modules and only scanning modules.
13. The cargo sorting apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein there are a plurality of sorting modules and scanning modules are provided before every of the sorting modules.
14. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 13, wherein another scanning modules are provided after every sorting modules for checking the status of the cargo after sorting.
15. The cargo sorting apparatus according to any of claims , wherein the scanning module is arranged above the conveyor belt via a rack.
16. The cargo sorting apparatus of any of claims , wherein the scanning module is arranged via a rack on a left or right side of the conveyor belt.
17. The cargo sorting apparatus of claim 16, wherein the scanning module is configured for programmable movement on the carriage.
18. The cargo sorting apparatus according to any of claims , wherein each of the steering mechanisms is capable of steering to the left or right at a predetermined angle based on the cargo conveying direction.
19. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the predetermined angle is greater than 0 degrees and less than 90 degrees.
20. The cargo sorting apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined angle is variable during steering of the steering mechanism, and the predetermined angle is determined by calculation of an external characteristic of the cargo by the control unit.