CN217451027U

CN217451027U - Sorting system

Info

Publication number: CN217451027U
Application number: CN202220769869.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 叶婵君
Original assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-02
Filing date: 2022-04-02
Publication date: 2022-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 2032-04-02

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a sortation system having a carrier storage area for storing carriers, the carriers including at least two layers of storage bits extending in a height direction, and the storage bits for storing containers; a first handling mechanism configured for receiving target cargo at the workstation zone and handling the target cargo from the workstation zone to the carrier storage zone; the second carrying mechanism is arranged in the carrier storage area and is configured to receive the target goods delivered by the first carrying mechanism, carry the target goods to a target container on the carrier corresponding to the target goods and deliver the target goods into the target container. The number of carriers and the number of storage bits on the carriers may be adjusted based on the sorting workload. Compared with the existing sorting system, the system can increase the number of containers by multiple times under the condition that the area of the existing sorting field of a user cannot be expanded so as to deal with the sorting scene needing a large number of containers.

Description

Sorting system

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of warehousing systems, in particular to a sorting system.

Background

The existing sorting system is that containers are tiled in a sorting field, and a sorting robot carries the goods to the sorting field according to the coding addresses of the goods and delivers the goods to the corresponding containers.

Because the mode of packing box container tiling occupies area of ground very much, under the condition that needs sort some little commodities, the volume of commodity is not big, and weight is not high, but the variety is various, and the container is very many correspondingly after the letter sorting, under the limited condition in ground area, current letter sorting system can't satisfy customer's letter sorting demand.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

This openly in order to solve current letter sorting system and occupy the big problem in letter sorting place, provide a letter sorting system.

The sorting system of the present disclosure includes:

a workstation zone;

a carrier storage area configured for storing a carrier, the carrier comprising at least two layers of storage spaces extending in a height direction, each layer of the storage spaces having at least one storage location for storing a container;

a first transfer mechanism configured to receive target cargo at the workstation zone and transfer the target cargo from the workstation zone to the carrier storage zone;

and the second carrying mechanism is arranged in the carrier storage area and is configured to receive the target goods delivered by the first carrying mechanism, carry the target goods to a target container corresponding to the target goods and deliver the target goods into the target container.

In one embodiment of the sortation system of the present disclosure, the second handling mechanism is further configured for retrieving target goods from the target container and delivering the target goods onto the first handling mechanism;

the first transporting mechanism is also configured to transport the target cargo from the carrier storage area to the workstation area and deliver the target cargo to a target storage location corresponding to the target cargo.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the loading surface of the first handling mechanism and the loading surface of the second handling mechanism are docked by a sloped ramp configured to slide the target cargo under its own weight from the loading surface of the first handling mechanism onto the loading surface of the second handling mechanism.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, both sides of the inclined chute are provided with a guard extending along the sliding direction of the target cargo.

In one embodiment of the sortation system of the present disclosure, the first handling mechanism has a first pick-and-place assembly including a carrier and a rotating member rotatably disposed on the carrier, the rotating member having a first position and a second position;

when the bearing piece is located at the first position, the bearing piece bears the rotating piece, and the object bearing surface of the rotating piece extends along the horizontal direction;

when the rotating piece is located at the second position, the object carrying surface of the rotating piece inclines to a preset angle relative to the horizontal direction to form the inclined slideway.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the loading surface of the first handling mechanism and the loading surface of the second handling mechanism are docked by a conveyor line configured to transport the target cargo from the loading surface of the first handling mechanism to the loading surface of the second handling mechanism.

In one embodiment of the sortation system of the present disclosure, both sides of the conveyor line have guard bars extending in the conveying direction.

In an embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the first carrying mechanism further includes a first moving assembly, the first taking and placing assembly is disposed on the moving assembly, and the first moving assembly is configured to drive the first taking and placing assembly to move.

In one embodiment of the sortation system of the present disclosure, the second conveyance mechanism comprises:

the second picking and placing assembly is provided with a carrying surface and is configured to be used for delivering the target goods from the carrying surface to the target container or delivering the target goods to the carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism;

the second moving assembly is arranged on the second taking and placing assembly and is configured to drive the second taking and placing assembly to move between a butt joint position with the first carrying mechanism and the target container.

In one embodiment of the sortation system of the present disclosure, the second motion assembly comprises:

a horizontal slide rail;

the second taking and placing assembly is arranged on the vertical slide rail and is configured to slide along the vertical slide rail.

In an embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the second carrying mechanism includes a plurality of second picking and placing assemblies, and the plurality of second picking and placing assemblies are sequentially arranged at intervals along a height direction.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the sorting system further comprises a main channel, the main channel is configured to connect the workstation area and the carrier storage area, and the main channel is divided into a plurality of squares, and each square is provided with corresponding position information;

the first conveyance mechanism determines a destination based on the position information.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, both ends of the main channel are provided with the workstation zones, both of which are configured to perform the same job or different jobs.

In an embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the carrier storage areas are disposed on both sides of the main channel.

In an embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, a plurality of the carriers are sequentially arranged at intervals in the carrier storage area along an extending direction of the main channel, an interval area between two adjacent carriers is marked as a roadway, and the second carrying mechanism is arranged in the roadway.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the first carrying mechanism is configured to place the target cargo into the target container on two adjacent carriers or take the target cargo out of the target container on two adjacent carriers.

In one embodiment of the sorting system of the present disclosure, the sorting system further comprises:

an identification device configured to identify identity information of the target good;

and the control server is in communication connection with the identification device, the first carrying mechanism and the second carrying mechanism, and determines a target container or the target storage position corresponding to the target cargo based on the identity information of the target cargo.

The sorting system of the present disclosure includes a workstation zone, a carrier storage zone, a carrier, a container, a first handling mechanism and a second handling mechanism. The carrier storage area is used for storing a carrier, the carrier comprises at least two layers of storage positions extending along the height direction, and the storage positions are used for storing containers; a first handling mechanism configured for receiving target cargo at the workstation zone and handling the target cargo from the workstation zone to the carrier storage zone; the second carrying mechanism is arranged in the carrier storage area and is configured to receive the target goods delivered by the first carrying mechanism, carry the target goods to a target container on the carrier corresponding to the target goods and deliver the target goods into the target container.

One mode of operation of the sorting system is: the first carrying mechanism receives the delivered target goods in the workstation area, carries the delivered target goods to the second carrying mechanism, delivers the target goods to the second carrying mechanism, and carries the target goods to the target container corresponding to the target goods by the second carrying mechanism and delivers the target goods to the target container.

The carriers of the sorting system of the present disclosure have at least a storage space extending in a height direction, each layer of the storage space has at least one storage bit, and the number of carriers and the number of storage bits on the carriers can be adjusted according to the sorting workload. Compared with the existing containers tiled in the sorting field, the sorting system can place more carriers in the limited sorting field, and a plurality of containers are stored on the carriers, so that the sorting system is suitable for sorting tasks with various types and large quantity of goods. That is, compared with the existing sorting system, the system can increase the number of containers by several times to cope with the sorting scene requiring a large number of containers in the case that the area of the existing sorting site of the user cannot be expanded.

In addition, the sorting system utilizes the first carrying mechanism to carry the target goods between the workstation area and the carrier storage area, and arranges the second carrying mechanism in the carrier storage area to receive the target goods delivered by the first carrying mechanism and carry the target goods to the target container, and then delivers the target goods into the target container, thereby automatically completing the sorting task and reducing the labor intensity of manual sorting.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a plan layout schematic of one embodiment of a sortation system of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a partial perspective view of one embodiment of a sortation system of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a partial isometric view of one embodiment of a sortation system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the primary control steps of one embodiment of a method of controlling a sortation system of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of the main control steps of another embodiment of the control method of the sorting system of the present disclosure.

The one-to-one correspondence between component names and reference numbers in fig. 1 to 3 is as follows:

the system comprises a work station area 1, a carrier storage area 2, a carrier 3, support legs 30, a horizontal laminate 31, a container 4, a first carrying mechanism 5, a first moving component 50, an object bearing component 51, a rotating component 52, a vertical column 53, a second carrying mechanism 6, a second moving component 60, a horizontal sliding rail 601, a vertical sliding rail 602, a second picking and placing component 61, a main channel 7 and target cargos 8.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that: the relative arrangement of the components and steps, the numerical expressions, and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure unless specifically stated otherwise.

The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate.

In all examples shown and discussed herein, any particular value should be construed as exemplary only and not as limiting. Thus, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, further discussion thereof is not required in subsequent figures.

Additionally, the use of the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., to distinguish between components or regions of a same name does not limit the importance or existing sequence of such components or regions.

In the existing sorting system, a plurality of containers required for sorting are flatly laid on a sorting field, and then goods to be sorted are delivered into target containers corresponding to the containers one by manual or automatic equipment. This kind of sorting system can also deal with the letter sorting task that the goods kind is few, but when handling the letter sorting task that the goods kind is many and the volume is big, needs a very big letter sorting place with tiling and put a large amount of containers, but provides so huge letter sorting place and has caused very big puzzlement for the user.

Therefore, the novel sorting system is provided, the sorting system can implement sorting tasks with various goods and large quantity in a limited sorting field, and the puzzlement and the difficult problem faced by a user are well solved.

The sorting system of the present disclosure includes a workstation zone, a carrier storage zone, a carrier, a container, a first handling mechanism and a second handling mechanism. The carrier storage area is used for storing carriers, the carriers comprise at least two layers of storage spaces extending along the height direction, each layer of storage space is provided with at least one storage position, and the storage positions are used for storing containers; a first handling mechanism configured for receiving target cargo at the workstation zone and handling the target cargo from the workstation zone to the carrier storage zone; the second carrying mechanism is arranged in the carrier storage area and is configured to receive the target goods delivered by the first carrying mechanism, carry the target goods to a target container on the carrier corresponding to the target goods and deliver the target goods into the target container.

The carriers of the sorting system of the present disclosure have at least two layers of storage bits extending in the height direction, and the number of carriers and the number of storage bits on the carriers can be adjusted according to the sorting workload. Compared with the existing containers tiled in the sorting field, the sorting system can place more carriers in the limited sorting field, and a plurality of containers are stored on the carriers, so that the sorting system is suitable for sorting tasks with various types and large quantity of goods. That is, compared with the existing sorting system, the system can increase the number of containers by several times to cope with the sorting scene requiring a large number of containers in the case that the area of the existing sorting site of the user cannot be expanded.

For the convenience of understanding, the sorting system and the operation mode thereof provided by the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

Referring to fig. 1-3, a sortation system of the present disclosure, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, includes a workstation area 1, a carrier storage area 2, a carrier 3, a container 4, a first handling mechanism 5, and a second handling mechanism 6.

The workstation area 1 is an area divided on a sorting field, and an operation table or a carrier is arranged in the workstation area to prevent goods and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a carrier parking area is subdivided in the workstation area 1, and a carrier storing goods is transported to the carrier parking area, so that a worker or a robot takes out the goods from the carrier and delivers the goods to a first transporting mechanism, or the worker or the robot takes out the goods on the first transporting mechanism and puts the goods on the carrier, and transports the carrier out of the workstation area to perform a next workstation area after the carrier is full of containers.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a conveyor line is provided in the workstation area 1 of the present disclosure, and the conveyor line is configured to convey goods in the workstation area to the next workstation area or convey goods in the previous workstation area to the workstation area. The conveyor line comprises a belt conveyor, a powered roller conveyor, or a combination of both conveyors.

The carrier storage area 2 is another area divided at the sorting site to be different from the work station area, and is configured to store carriers.

The carrier comprises at least two layers of storage spaces extending in the height direction, each layer of storage spaces is provided with at least one storage position, and the storage positions are used for storing containers.

Referring to fig. 2, a carrier 3 of the present disclosure is embodied as a fixed carrier according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The carrier 3 comprises four supporting legs 30 supported on a sorting field, and a plurality of layers of horizontal plates 31 arranged on the four supporting legs 30 at intervals in the height direction, wherein a storage space between two adjacent horizontal plates is divided into a plurality of storage positions, and the storage positions are used for storing one container 4. Each storage location has unique identity information so that the system can find a target container corresponding to a target good based on the unique identity information.

Distinguished from the storage function, the container 4 includes a general container and a special container, wherein the general container is a container capable of storing any goods, such as a storage box, an arrangement box and the like, and the special container is a container specially used for placing a certain kind or a certain kind of goods, such as a shoe box, a fresh food box, a water bucket and the like. The containers are distinguished from the materials, and comprise paper boxes, glass bottles, plastic boxes, metal boxes, leather cases and the like.

The first handling mechanism 5 is configured for receiving the target cargo at the workstation area 1 and handling the target cargo from the workstation area 1 to the carrier storage area 2.

The second carrying mechanism 6 is disposed in the carrier storage area 2 and configured to receive the target cargo delivered by the first carrying mechanism 5, carry the target cargo to a target container corresponding to the target cargo on the carrier, and deliver the target cargo to the target container.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the loading surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 and the loading surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 are docked by a slanted ramp configured to slide the target cargo under its own weight from the loading surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 into the loading surface of the second carrying mechanism 6.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 2, the first handling mechanism 5 of the present disclosure at least includes a first moving assembly 50 and a first pick-and-place assembly, wherein the first pick-and-place assembly is configured to receive the target cargo 8 and deliver the target cargo 8 onto the second handling mechanism 6, the first pick-and-place assembly is disposed on the first moving assembly 50, and the first moving assembly 50 is configured to drive the first pick-and-place assembly to move.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first motion assembly 50 of the present disclosure may be an AGV cart.

An AGV is a transport vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic or optical automatic navigation device, capable of traveling along a predetermined navigation route, and having safety protection and various transfer functions. The industrial application does not need a driver's truck, and a rechargeable battery is used as a power source of the truck. Generally, the traveling path and behavior can be controlled by a computer, or the traveling path is set up by using an electromagnetic track (electromagnetic path-following system), the electromagnetic track is adhered to the ground, and the unmanned transport vehicle moves by using a message brought by the electromagnetic track or uses a ground two-dimensional code or SLAM navigation.

In which, slam (hierarchical localization and Mapping), also called cml (current localization and localization), performs instant positioning and Mapping, or performs Mapping and positioning concurrently. The problem can be described as: if a robot is placed at an unknown position in an unknown environment and there is a way to draw a complete map of the environment while the robot is moving, the complete map (a continuous map) refers to every corner where a room can enter without being obstructed.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, with continued reference to fig. 2, the first pick-and-place assembly of the present disclosure includes a bearing member 51 and a rotating member 52, wherein the bearing member 51 is oppositely disposed on the moving assembly 50, the rotating member 52 is rotatably disposed on the bearing member 51, and the rotating member 52 has a first position and a second position.

When the rotating member 52 is located at the first position, the rotating member 52 and the object 51 are sequentially abutted in the height direction so that the object 51 bears the rotating member 52, and the carrying surface on the object 51 extends in the horizontal direction to receive the target cargo 8.

It will be appreciated that the loading surface of the turning member 52 extends in a horizontal direction, so that the stability of the target cargo 8 on the first handling mechanism 5 can be ensured when moving between the work station area 1 and the carrier storage area 2.

It should be noted that the target cargo 8 is delivered to the first conveyance mechanism 5 by a manual or automatic device in the sorting system.

When the rotating member 52 is located at the second position, the loading surface of the rotating member 52 is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal direction to form the inclined slide, that is, to make the target cargo on the loading surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 slide onto the loading surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 under the action of its own weight.

Further, in order to prevent the target cargo 8 from falling and breaking during sliding from the inclined chute into the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6, in this embodiment, the two sides of the inclined chute of the rotating member 52 of the present disclosure are provided with a protective baffle along the sliding extending direction of the target cargo 8, so as to prevent the target cargo 8 from moving in the direction perpendicular to the sliding extending direction, thereby preventing the carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 from falling.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 and the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 of the present disclosure are docked by a conveyor line, and the conveyor line is configured to convey the target cargo from the carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism 5 onto the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6, the conveyor line being provided on the first carrying mechanism 5.

According to some embodiments disclosed, the conveying line of the present disclosure is particularly a belt conveyor. The belt conveyor is an economical logistics conveying device which is indispensable for forming a rhythmic assembly line. The belt conveyer consists of two end rollers and closed conveyer belt. The roller driving the conveyer belt to rotate is called a driving roller (transmission roller); the other is referred to as a direction-changing drum, which simply changes the direction of movement of the conveyor belt. The driving roller is driven by the motor through the speed reducer, and the conveying belt is dragged by the friction force between the driving roller and the conveying belt.

According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the conveyor line of the present disclosure is embodied as a powered roller conveyor. The power roller conveyor finishes conveying by taking a motor as a power driving roller, is suitable for conveying various boxes, bags, trays and other articles, and bulk materials, small articles or irregular articles need to be conveyed on the trays or in the turnover boxes. The power roller conveyer mainly comprises a roller, supporting legs, a tension brace, a driving device, a speed regulating device, a regulating foot and the like.

In detail, after the first transporting mechanism 5 transports the target goods from the workstation region 1 to the carrier storage region 2, the object carrying surface of the first transporting mechanism 5 is butted with the object carrying surface of the second transporting mechanism 6, that is, the object carrying surfaces of the first transporting mechanism 5 and the second transporting mechanism 6 are substantially kept in the same plane, and then the transporting line is started to drive the target goods to gradually move towards the object carrying surface of the second transporting mechanism 6 until most or all of the target goods enter the object carrying surface of the second transporting mechanism 6.

Of course, in order to make the target cargo more completely enter the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6, the first carrying mechanism 6 may also be provided with an auxiliary pushing mechanism, and when the conveying function of the conveying line on the target cargo fails, the auxiliary pushing mechanism may push the target cargo completely onto the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a conveying line may also be disposed on the second carrying mechanism 6 of the present disclosure, and when the target cargo is conveyed to the conveying line partially entering the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 by the conveying line of the first carrying mechanism 5, the conveying line on the second carrying mechanism 6 conveys the target cargo to the central area of the carrying surface thereof, so as to ensure the placing stability of the target cargo.

Similarly, in order to prevent that the transfer chain from carrying the object face to fall and falling down and breaking in the target goods conveying process, in this embodiment, the both sides of the transfer chain of this disclosed second handling mechanism 6 all are provided with the guard flap that extends along direction of delivery to block the displacement of target goods along the perpendicular to direction of delivery, thereby can guarantee the security and the reliability of target goods in the conveying process.

At present, the conventional second carrying mechanism in the prior art usually includes a frame and a flap mechanism, a loading plate for loading goods is disposed on the flap mechanism, the loading plate has a storage slot for placing goods, the loading plate can move horizontally and vertically with respect to the frame of the second carrying mechanism to reach the position of a target container stored in a rack, and the loading plate can rotate in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis with respect to the frame, so that when the loading plate receives goods at a connection position, a slot opening of the storage slot for the loading and unloading of goods faces a roadway between racks at the left and right sides of the frame, so that the first carrying mechanism can send goods into the storage slot of the loading plate of the second carrying mechanism through the slot opening, when the loading plate is translated horizontally or vertically with respect to the frame to reach the target container to place the goods, the loading plate rotates 90 degrees horizontally around the vertical axis with respect to the frame, so that the notch of the object holding groove of the bearing plate is turned to the upper part of the container opening of the target container and corresponds to the notch, finally the bearing plate is turned over by a preset angle relative to the rack so that goods on the bearing plate slide into the target container under the action of self weight, and then the bearing plate of the second carrying mechanism in the above step is reversed to return to the connection position for carrying out the next carrying task.

It can be seen that, during the carrying task performed by the above conventional second carrying mechanism, at least two carrying plates thereof need to rotate twice around the vertical axis in the horizontal plane, so that the notch of the storage slot thereof is butted with the first carrying mechanism in the docking position, or butted with the target container in the delivery position.

Compared with the prior art, the conveying line used by the second carrying mechanism disclosed by the disclosure receives or delivers the goods, the step of carrying the goods to rotate in the carrying process is omitted, the risk of the goods sliding off from the second carrying mechanism in the carrying process is reduced, the carrying safety and reliability are ensured, and the operation steps of the second carrying mechanism are simplified.

In addition, no matter the belt conveyor or the power roller conveyor is of a relatively mature mechanical structure and is relatively simple in structure, the delivery target goods are delivered by the aid of the conveying line structure, and design cost and manufacturing cost of the second carrying mechanism are reduced to a certain extent.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sorting system of the present disclosure further includes a docking mechanism having a chute, an entrance of the chute is located below the loading surface of the first carrying mechanism 5, an exit of the chute is located above the loading surface of the second carrying mechanism 6, the chute is configured such that the target cargo entering the chute slides under its own weight from the entrance to the exit, and the docking mechanism is disposed on the second carrying mechanism 6.

In detail, after the first transporting mechanism 5 transports the target cargo to the carrier storage area 2, the carrying component thereof puts the target cargo into the entrance of the chute through the rotating component or the transporting line, and then the target cargo slides along the chute under its own weight to leave from the exit and slide onto the carrying surface of the second transporting mechanism 6.

With reference to fig. 2, in this embodiment, the first carrying mechanism 5 of the present disclosure further includes a vertical column 53, a lower end portion of the vertical column 53 is fixedly disposed on the first moving assembly 50, and an upper end portion of the vertical column 53 is fixedly disposed on the object bearing member 51, so that the first taking and placing assembly has a certain height from the ground, and a worker can take and place goods conveniently in a standing posture.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the upright 53 of the present disclosure may also be configured as a telescopic mechanism so that it drives the first pick-and-place assembly to ascend and descend relative to the first moving assembly 50, thereby adjusting the relative height position between the carrying surfaces of the remaining workers or the second carrying mechanism 6. Of course, the sorting system of the present disclosure can also adjust the height of the object carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 by adjusting the relative height position of the object carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 with respect to the object carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism 5, and then the two are approximately located in a horizontal plane, so as to facilitate the docking.

After the first transporting mechanism 5 delivers the target cargo on the cargo surface to the cargo surface of the second transporting mechanism 6 by any one of the above embodiments, the second transporting mechanism 6 transports the target cargo to the target container corresponding to the target cargo on the carrier 3.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 3, the second handling mechanism of the present disclosure includes a second moving assembly 60 and a second pick-and-place assembly 61. The second pick-and-place assembly 61 has a carrying surface and is configured to deliver the target cargo from the carrying surface into the target container. The second pick-and-place assembly 61 is disposed on the second moving assembly 60, and the second moving assembly 60 is configured to move the second pick-and-place assembly 61 between the docking position with the first carrying mechanism 5 and the target container.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the second motion assembly of the present disclosure includes a horizontal slide 601, a vertical slide 602. The vertical slide rail 602 is disposed on the horizontal slide rail 601 and configured to slide along the horizontal rail 601, and the second pick-and-place assembly 61 is disposed on the vertical slide rail 602 and has a bearing surface and configured to slide along the vertical rail 602.

Based on the coordinate position (horizontal coordinate + vertical coordinate) of the target container on the carrier corresponding to the target cargo, the second carrying mechanism 6 firstly drives the second pick-and-place assembly 61 to slide to the horizontal coordinate position of the target container along the horizontal slide rail 601 by the vertical slide rail 602, then the second pick-and-place assembly 61 drives the target cargo thereon to slide to the vertical coordinate position of the target container along the vertical slide rail 602, and makes the bearing surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 be located above the opening of the target container, or makes the bearing surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 be substantially flush with the opening of the target container, and then delivers the target cargo into the target container.

As described above, in the manner of adjusting the relative height distance between the object carrying surfaces of the first carrying mechanism 5 and the second carrying mechanism 6, based on the structure of the second carrying mechanism 6 in the embodiment, after the first carrying mechanism 5 moves from the workstation 1 to its docking position, the second carrying mechanism 6 can slide along the horizontal slide rail 601 by a certain distance by controlling the vertical slide rail 602, and the second pick-and-place assembly 61 slides along the vertical slide rail 602 by a certain distance, so that the object carrying surfaces of the first carrying mechanism 5 and the second carrying mechanism 6 are approximately located in the same horizontal plane.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the second moving assembly of the present disclosure may be an AGV cart or a robotic arm, and the second pick-and-place assembly is disposed at an end of the robotic arm.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a conveying line is disposed on the second pick-and-place module 61 of the second handling mechanism 6 of the present disclosure, and the conveying line is configured to convey the target goods on the carrying surface from the current position to the direction of the target container until the target goods falls into the target container.

It should be noted that the specific structure of the second pick-and-place assembly 61 may also be similar to that of the first pick-and-place assembly, that is, the second pick-and-place assembly 61 may also be composed of an object bearing member and a rotating member, and the rotating member is provided with an object bearing surface and has two positions. When the second picking and placing assembly 61 is located at the first position, the carrying surface on the rotating member extends along the horizontal direction to receive the target goods; when the second picking and placing assembly 61 is located at the second position, the object carrying surface on the rotating member is inclined at a preset angle with the horizontal direction, so that the target goods can be thrown into the target container from the object carrying surface under the self-weight.

Also, in order to prevent the target cargo from falling and falling down from the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6 into the target container, in this embodiment, the two sides of the carrying surface of the rotating member of the present disclosure are provided with the protective baffles along the sliding extending direction, so as to prevent the target cargo from falling down from the carrying surface of the second carrying mechanism 6.

In the workstation 1, the target cargo may be delivered to the loading surface of the first transporting mechanism 5 manually or automatically, and the destination may be manually transferred to the first transporting mechanism 5, or similarly, the coordinate position of the target container corresponding to the target cargo on the carrier may be manually transferred to the second transporting mechanism 6. It will be appreciated that this operation is possible for a small number of sorting jobs, but would require significant labor costs and manual mishandling problems if a large number of sorting jobs were involved.

As described above, the carrier 3 of the present disclosure has two layers of storage spaces sequentially arranged at intervals in the height direction, and each layer of storage space has at least one storage bit, and it can be understood that any number of storage spaces may be arranged in the height direction and any number of storage bits may be arranged on each layer of storage space by those skilled in the art based on the specific structure of the carrier 3.

In order to improve the sorting efficiency, the second carrying mechanism 6 of the present disclosure has a plurality of second picking and placing assemblies 61, and the plurality of second picking and placing assemblies 61 are sequentially arranged at intervals along the height direction, that is, the plurality of second picking and placing assemblies 61 are sequentially arranged on the vertical slide rail 602 along the height direction, and the interval between two adjacent second picking and placing assemblies 61 can satisfy the requirement of respectively picking out the target goods from two adjacent containers, or putting the target goods into two adjacent containers.

Of course, each second pick-and-place assembly 61 may be configured with an independent height adjustment mechanism on the vertical slide rail 602, so as to adjust the relative height between the plurality of second pick-and-place assemblies 61 according to the actual scene, so as to put a plurality of target containers into the corresponding target containers at the same time, thereby improving the sorting efficiency.

To this end, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the sorting system of the present disclosure further includes an identification device and a control server. The control server is in communication connection with the identification device, the first carrying mechanism and the second carrying mechanism, and is configured to obtain a carrying destination of the first carrying mechanism and position information of a target container of the target cargo on the carrier based on the identity information of the target cargo, and transmit the destination and the position information to the first carrying mechanism and the second carrying mechanism respectively.

The identification device includes any one of a reader, a 2D/3D image acquisition apparatus, and a depth information acquisition apparatus.

The control server is in communication connection with the identification device, the first carrying mechanism and the second carrying mechanism in a wired or wireless mode, a worker operates the control server through an operation console to work, the control server is a software system which runs on the server and has data storage and information processing capabilities and can be connected with a software system of an execution device in a wireless mode, the control server can comprise one or more servers and can be a centralized control framework or a distributed computing framework, the control server is provided with a processor and a storage, a database can be arranged in the storage, and the corresponding relation between target goods and target containers is stored in the database.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the sorting system of the present disclosure further includes a main channel 7, the main channel 7 is configured to connect the workstation area 1 and the carrier storage area 2, and the main channel 7 is divided into a plurality of squares, and corresponding position information is set in each square, optionally the position information may be drawn or pasted in the form of a two-dimensional code in the square.

The first conveyance mechanism 5 is configured to recognize the position information of the square and determine whether or not the conveyance destination is reached, that is, the first conveyance mechanism stops after moving from the station area to the conveyance destination based on the position information within the square. For example, the docking point of the carrier 3 where the target container whose transport destination is the target cargo is located and the main tunnel 7 may be a tunnel entrance of a tunnel formed between two adjacent carriers 3.

As mentioned above, the sorting system of the present disclosure is particularly suitable for sorting tasks involving a relatively large amount of target goods, for this reason, the carrier storage areas 2 are disposed on both sides of the main channel 7 of the sorting system of the present disclosure, and a plurality of carriers 3 are sequentially disposed at intervals in each carrier storage area 2 along the extending direction of the main channel 7, the interval area between two adjacent carriers 3 is marked as a roadway, and the second carrying mechanism 6 is disposed in the roadway.

It will be appreciated that a second handling mechanism 6 may be provided in each lane to cooperate from one of the two adjacent vehicles 3.

In order to reduce the configuration cost of the sorting system, with continued reference to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, one second handling mechanism 6 of the present disclosure is configured to put the target goods into the target containers on two adjacent carriers 3, or take the target goods out of the target containers on two adjacent carriers 3. That is, the first carrying mechanism 6 can be used with two carriers.

With continued reference to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the two ends of the main channel 7 of the present disclosure are provided with the workstation zones 1, and the two workstation zones 1 are configured to perform the same work or perform different works.

For example, both the work station areas 1 can perform sorting work, that is, the first carrying mechanism 5 takes respective target goods from both the work station areas 1 at the same time, and then respectively sends the target goods to different destination areas, thereby improving the sorting efficiency.

Of course, one of the two work station areas 1 performs the sorting work, and the other one performs the work subsequent to the sorting work, that is, the first carrying mechanism 5 takes the target goods from one work station area 1 and carries the target goods to the destination, and the second carrying mechanism 6 delivers the target goods to the target container on the carrier 3. When the next procedure of the sorting work needs to be carried out, the target goods are transported to the other work station area 1 from the carrier storage area by the first transporting mechanism 5, so that the working mode of the sorting system is expanded.

To this end, an operation mode of the sorting system of the present disclosure is completed, that is, the first carrying mechanism 5 and the second carrying mechanism 6 are used to carry the target goods in the workstation 1 to the target container corresponding to the target goods and deliver the target goods into the target container, thereby completing a sorting task.

To expand the sorting system, it is also configured to have a second mode of operation, which can be said to be a reverse operation of the first mode of operation, that is, to transport the target goods at the carrier storage area 2 to the workstation area 1 and deliver the target goods to the target storage location, which may be located at a container, a tray, a carrier or a conveyor line, which may be docked with a subsequent station.

In detail, the first handling mechanism 5 is further configured to receive the target cargo delivered by the second handling mechanism 6, to handle to the station 1 area, and to deliver the target cargo to the target storage location of the station 1 area.

In the carrier storage area, the target cargo may be delivered to the second transporting mechanism 6 by a manual or automatic device, and then delivered to the first transporting mechanism 5 by the second transporting mechanism 6.

In addition to the above sorting system, the present disclosure also provides a method for controlling a sorting system, where the sorting system is the sorting system in any of the above embodiments, and the following text will describe specific steps of the method with reference to fig. 4 and 5, and detailed descriptions have been given in the foregoing for specific structures and working principles of each component of the sorting system, and are not repeated herein separately.

Referring to fig. 4, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control method of the sorting system of the present disclosure mainly includes the following steps:

and S11, in the workstation area, the first carrying mechanism receives the target goods, carries the target goods from the workstation area to the second carrying mechanism and delivers the target goods to the second carrying mechanism.

It should be noted that, in the workstation area, a target cargo is delivered onto the carrying surface of the first carrying mechanism by a human or other automatic device, and before delivery, the identification device such as a scanning gun confirms the identity information of the target cargo and sends the identity information to the control server, the control server retrieves a target container corresponding to the target cargo from the database based on the identity information, and the information of the target container displays the carrier number where the target container is located and the position coordinates of the target container on the carrier, such as the coordinate position along the horizontal direction and the coordinate position along the vertical direction, and sends the coordinate position to the second carrying mechanism.

And S12, the second carrying mechanism carries the target goods to the target container corresponding to the target goods and delivers the target goods into the target container.

The control service sends the coordinate position of the target container corresponding to the target goods to the second carrying mechanism, the second carrying mechanism drives the vertical slide rail to move to the horizontal coordinate position of the target container from the current position along the horizontal slide rail based on the coordinate position, then the vertical slide rail drives the second taking and placing assembly to slide to the vertical coordinate position of the target container from the current position along the vertical slide rail, at the moment, the second carrying mechanism can deliver the target goods into the target container, the sorting task is finished in sequence, the second carrying mechanism returns to the initial position, and the next sorting is considered.

The initial position of the second transport mechanism is a position where the second transport mechanism is abutted against the first transport mechanism, and the initial position is a fixed position so that the transport destination of the first transport mechanism is relatively fixed, that is, when the first transport mechanism transports the target cargo from the work station area to the carrier storage area, the transport destination is fixed, and the first transport mechanism does not need to determine the transport destination again according to each sorting task. It is understood that the initial position fixing described herein is the docking position with a second handling means in a plurality of sorting tasks, and is also the position of the lane entrance of the lane in which the second handling means is located.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 5, the control method of the present disclosure further includes the following main steps:

and S21, the second carrying mechanism takes out the target goods from the carrier and delivers the target goods to the first carrying mechanism.

It should be noted that the second pick-and-place assembly of the second transporting mechanism may pick up the target cargo from the target container in a manner of sucking, grabbing, clamping, hooking, and lifting, and before the target cargo is picked up, the identification device such as the scanning gun confirms the identity information of the target cargo and sends the identity information to the control server, and the control server retrieves the information of the target storage location on the workstation region corresponding to the target cargo from the database based on the identity information and sends the information of the target storage location to the first transporting mechanism, so that the first transporting mechanism takes the information as the destination of the movement of the first transporting mechanism.

After the target goods are taken out of the target container, the second taking and placing assembly of the second carrying mechanism slides along the vertical slide rail by the relative distance between the current position and the initial position of the second taking and placing assembly, and the second taking and placing assembly slides along the vertical slide rail by the relative distance between the current position and the initial position of the second carrying mechanism, and the second taking and placing assembly is driven by the vertical slide rail to slide along the horizontal slide rail by the relative distance to finally reach the initial position of the second carrying mechanism, and then the target goods are delivered to the first carrying mechanism.

And S22, the first carrying mechanism carries the target goods to the target storage position of the workstation area and delivers the goods to the target storage position.

After receiving the target goods delivered by the second carrying mechanism, the first carrying mechanism moves to a target storage position of the workstation area based on the information of the target storage position sent by the control server, and the target storage position can be arranged on any goods placing apparatuses such as an operation table, a conveying line and a carrier.

Therefore, the sorting system disclosed by the invention can be used for carrying the target goods from the workstation area to the carrier storage area to complete the sorting task, and can also be used for taking out the sorted target goods and carrying the sorted target goods to the workstation area again to carry out the next procedure.

Of course, the control method of the sorting system of the present disclosure has all the technical effects of the sorting system described above, and those skilled in the art can fully understand based on the foregoing description, and therefore, the detailed description is omitted here.

Having described embodiments of the present disclosure, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or improvements made to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A sorting system, characterized in that the sorting system comprises:

a workstation area (1);

a carrier storage area (2) configured for storing a carrier (3), the carrier (3) comprising at least two levels of storage spaces extending in a height direction, each level of storage spaces having at least one storage location for storing a container (4);

a first handling mechanism (5) configured for receiving target cargo (8) at the workstation area (1) and handling the target cargo (8) from the workstation area (1) to the carrier storage area (2);

and the second carrying mechanism (6) is arranged in the carrier storage area (2) and is configured to receive the target goods (8) delivered by the first carrying mechanism (5), carry the target goods to a target container corresponding to the target goods (8) and deliver the target goods into the target container.

2. Sorting system according to claim 1, characterised in that the second handling mechanism (6) is further configured for taking target goods (8) out of the target container and delivering them onto the first handling mechanism (5);

the first handling mechanism (5) is further configured for handling the target goods from the carrier storage area (2) to the workstation area (1) and delivering the target goods to a target storage location corresponding to the target goods (8).

3. Sorting system according to claim 2, characterised in that the carrier surface of the first handling means (5) and the carrier surface of the second handling means (6) are docked by means of a tilting ramp, which is configured to slide the target goods (8) under their own weight from the carrier surface of the first handling means (5) onto the carrier surface of the second handling means (6).

4. Sorting system according to claim 3, characterized in that both sides of the inclined chute are provided with a protective fence extending in the sliding direction of the target goods (8).

5. Sorting system according to claim 3, characterised in that the first handling mechanism (5) has a first pick-and-place assembly comprising a carrier (51) and a rotating member (52) rotatably arranged on the carrier (51), the rotating member (52) having a first position and a second position;

when the bearing piece (51) is located at the first position, the rotating piece (52) is borne by the bearing piece (51), and the carrying surface of the rotating piece (52) extends along the horizontal direction;

when the rotating piece (52) is located at the second position, the object carrying surface of the rotating piece inclines to a preset angle relative to the horizontal direction to form the inclined slideway.

6. Sorting system according to claim 1, characterised in that the carrier surface of the first handling mechanism (5) and the carrier surface of the second handling mechanism (6) are docked by a conveyor line configured to transport the target goods (8) from the carrier surface of the first handling mechanism (5) to the carrier surface of the second handling mechanism (6).

7. Sorting system according to claim 6, characterised in that both sides of the conveyor line are provided with protective baffles extending in the conveying direction.

8. Sorting system according to claim 5, characterised in that the first handling mechanism (5) further comprises a first moving assembly (50), the first pick-and-place assembly being arranged on the first moving assembly (50), and the first moving assembly (50) being configured to bring the first pick-and-place assembly into movement.

9. Sorting system according to claim 2, characterised in that the second handling mechanism (6) comprises:

a second pick-and-place assembly (61) having a loading surface and configured for delivering the target goods (8) from the loading surface into the target containers or onto the loading surface of the first handling mechanism (5);

a second moving assembly (60), wherein the second pick-and-place assembly (61) is arranged on the second moving assembly (60), and the second moving assembly (60) is configured to drive the second pick-and-place assembly (61) to move between a butt joint position with the first carrying mechanism (5) and the target container.

10. Sorting system according to claim 9, characterised in that the second kinematic assembly (60) comprises:

a horizontal slide rail (601);

the vertical sliding rail (602) is arranged on the horizontal sliding rail (601) and is configured to slide along the horizontal sliding rail (601), and the second taking and placing assembly (61) is arranged on the vertical sliding rail (602) and is configured to slide along the vertical sliding rail (602).

11. Sorting system according to claim 10, characterised in that the second handling means (6) comprise a plurality of said second pick-and-place assemblies (61), said second pick-and-place assemblies (61) being arranged in succession at intervals in the height direction.

12. Sorting system according to any of claims 1-11, characterised in that it further comprises a main channel (7), said main channel (7) being configured for connecting said workstation zone (1) and said carrier storage zone (2), and said main channel (7) being divided equally into several squares, in each of which a corresponding position information is provided;

the first conveyance mechanism (5) determines a destination based on the position information.

13. Sorting system according to claim 12, characterised in that both ends of the main channel (7) are provided with the workstation zones (1), both workstation zones (1) being configured for carrying out the same work or different works.

14. Sorting system according to claim 12, characterised in that the carrier storage areas (2) are provided on both sides of the main channel (7).

15. Sorting system according to claim 12, characterised in that a plurality of said vehicles (3) are arranged in said vehicle storage area (2) at intervals in sequence along the extension direction of said main aisle (7), the interval area between two adjacent vehicles (3) being denoted as a roadway in which said second handling means (6) are arranged.

16. Sorting system according to claim 15, characterised in that the first handling mechanism (5) is configured to put the target goods (8) into target containers on two adjacent carriers (3) or to take the target goods (8) out of target containers on two adjacent carriers (3).

17. The sortation system as claimed in any of claims 2 to 11, further comprising:

-an identification device configured for identifying identity information of the target good (8);

and the control server is in communication connection with the identification device, the first carrying mechanism (5) and the second carrying mechanism (6), and determines a target container or the target storage position corresponding to the target cargo (8) based on the identity information of the target cargo (8).