CN218049053U

CN218049053U - Picking system

Info

Publication number: CN218049053U
Application number: CN202222265621.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈凯
Original assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hai Robotics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-26
Filing date: 2022-08-26
Publication date: 2022-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 2032-08-26

Abstract

The present application is directed to a picking system. The sorting system comprises an upper-layer conveying line and a lower-layer conveying line, wherein a first sorting station is arranged on one side of the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line in the conveying direction, and a second sorting station is arranged on the other side of the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line in the conveying direction; an unloader for supplying the to-be-picked bins to the upper and lower conveyor lines such that the upper and lower conveyor lines convey the to-be-picked bins to the first and second picking stations for picking; and the feeding machine is used for recovering the sorting rear bins conveyed by the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line. The application provides a system of selecting, rational utilization selects district's area to promote the efficiency of selecting.

Description

Picking system

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of intelligent logistics, in particular to a sorting system.

Background

With the development of artificial intelligence and logistics automation, the intelligent warehousing technology as an important part thereof is also more mature. For the intelligent storage, the arranged picking workstation replaces the original picking completely operated by manpower, and the picking efficiency is improved. For the arranged picking work stations, a larger space is generally needed to be occupied as a picking space, so that the area occupied by the picking work stations is larger. The work station is selected in the utilization and supplies the demand that the case volume can't satisfy the manual work and select the process of selecting, selects the efficiency of work station lower and has caused the waste to shared great space.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In order to solve or partially solve the problems existing in the related art, the application provides a picking system which reasonably utilizes the area of a picking area so as to improve the picking efficiency.

The present application provides a picking system comprising:

the device comprises an upper-layer conveying line and a lower-layer conveying line, wherein a first sorting station is arranged on one side of the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line in the conveying direction, and a second sorting station is arranged on the other side of the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line in the conveying direction;

an unloader for supplying the to-be-picked bins to the upper and lower conveyor lines such that the upper and lower conveyor lines convey the to-be-picked bins to the first and second picking stations for picking;

and the feeding machine is used for recovering the sorted rear bins conveyed by the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line.

In one embodiment, the unloader has an upper discharge port for supplying the upper conveyor line with the bins to be sorted and a lower discharge port for supplying the lower conveyor line with the bins to be sorted; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the feeding machine is provided with an upper material receiving port and a lower material receiving port, the upper material receiving port is used for recovering the material conveyed by the upper conveying line to select the rear material box, and the lower material receiving port is used for recovering the material conveyed by the lower conveying line to select the rear material box.

In one embodiment, the unloader has an upper discharge port and a lower discharge port, the loader has an upper receiving port and a lower receiving port, the lower conveyor line and the upper conveyor line butt joint respectively along the one end of direction of conveyance the lower discharge port and the upper discharge port of the unloader, the other end butt joint respectively the lower receiving port and the upper receiving port of the loader.

In one embodiment, at least one of the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line is provided with a sorting line at one side along the conveying direction;

the system also comprises at least one transfer mechanism which is used for transferring the bins to be picked between the upper conveying line or the lower conveying line and the sorting line.

In one embodiment, the lower conveying line is provided with a lower sorting line at one side in the conveying direction, and the lower sorting line is positioned at one side of the upper conveying line in the conveying direction and is lower than the upper conveying line;

the system also comprises at least one transfer mechanism for transferring the bins to be picked between the lower conveying line and the lower sorting line or for transferring the bins to be picked between the upper conveying line and the lower sorting line;

the first picking station is adjacent to the lower picking line, so that the bins to be picked on the lower picking line are directly picked;

the second picking station is adjacent to the upper conveying line, so that the bins to be picked on the upper conveying line are directly picked.

In one embodiment, the second picking station is provided with a tread platform such that the standing surface of the second picking station is higher than the standing surface of the first picking station.

In one embodiment, the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line have the same conveying direction;

the conveying direction of the lower sorting line is opposite to or the same as that of the lower conveying line.

In one embodiment, the at least one transfer mechanism comprises a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism;

the first transfer mechanism and the second transfer mechanism are respectively arranged at two ends of the sorting line along the conveying direction;

the first transfer mechanism is used for transferring the bins to be picked on the lower layer conveying line or the upper layer conveying line to the picking line for picking, and the second transfer mechanism is used for transferring the bins to be picked on the picking line to the lower layer conveying line or the upper layer conveying line.

the lower-layer conveying line is provided with a lower-layer sorting line at one side along the conveying direction, the upper-layer conveying line is provided with an upper-layer sorting line at one side along the conveying direction, and the upper-layer sorting line and the lower-layer sorting line are arranged at different sides;

the system also comprises a transfer mechanism used for transferring the bins to be picked between the lower layer conveying line and the lower layer picking line or transferring the bins to be picked between the upper layer conveying line and the upper layer picking line,

the transferring mechanism can also reciprocate in the vertical direction and is used for transferring the bins to be picked between the upper-layer conveying line or the upper-layer sorting line and the lower-layer conveying line or transferring the bins to be picked between the lower-layer conveying line or the lower-layer sorting line and the upper-layer conveying line;

the first picking station is adjacent to the lower picking line so that the bins to be picked on the lower picking line are picked directly;

the second picking station is adjacent to the upper picking line so that the bins to be picked on the upper conveying line are picked directly.

In one embodiment, the system further comprises an empty box delivery module for providing empty boxes to the first picking station and/or the second picking station via the upper conveyor line and/or the lower conveyor line; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the system further comprises a collecting device for collecting order boxes of the first and/or second picking station at least via the upper and/or lower conveyor lines or collecting exception boxes from the upper and/or lower conveyor lines.

In one embodiment, the system comprises the empty box launch module and the collection device;

the unloading machine and the loading machine are respectively arranged at two ends of the lower-layer conveying line and the upper-layer conveying line along the conveying direction, and the empty box throwing module and the collecting device are respectively arranged at two ends of the lower-layer conveying line and the upper-layer conveying line along the conveying direction;

the unloader with empty case input module branch is located lower floor's transfer chain with the both sides of upper strata transfer chain along direction of delivery, the material loading machine with collection device branch is located lower floor's transfer chain with the both sides of upper strata transfer chain along direction of delivery.

In one embodiment, the second picking station is provided with an empty bin buffer bit;

the system further comprises an empty box throwing module, wherein the empty box throwing module is provided with an empty box throwing line port, and the empty box throwing line port is in butt joint with the lower layer conveying line so as to provide an empty box for the empty box caching position through the lower layer conveying line.

In one embodiment, the second picking station is further provided with a first detection device for detecting whether the empty box buffer position has an empty box;

the system is configured to enable the empty box throwing module to throw the empty boxes to the lower-layer conveying line through the empty box throwing port after the first detection device outputs a detection signal indicating that the empty box cache position has no empty boxes.

In one embodiment, the second picking station has an order box line position;

the system further includes a collection device having an order box collection port;

the order box collecting port is in butt joint with the lower layer conveying line so as to collect order boxes which are thrown from the order box throwing line to the lower layer conveying line.

In one embodiment, the second picking station is further provided with a second detection device for detecting the order box picking completion trigger signal;

the system is configured to enable the collecting device to collect the order boxes which are picked and delivered from the order box delivery line to the lower layer conveying line through the order box collecting port after the second detecting device detects the order box picking completion triggering signal.

In one embodiment, the system further includes a straddle ladder disposed above the upper conveyor line, the straddle ladder communicating with the second picking station.

The technical scheme provided by the application can comprise the following beneficial effects:

the system of selecting that this application embodiment provided, the mode of the workbin of waiting to select is carried to double-deck transfer chain makes the sorting station can arrange in the both sides that the transfer chain is relative, when not influencing two sorting station in the work of selecting personnel, the setting of selecting station is chosen to the both sides relatively and the setting of selecting the position is compared with two selections of unilateral, has obviously shortened the transmission distance of the workbin of waiting to select at the transfer chain, has reduced the length demand that the transfer chain arranged at direction of delivery, has practiced thrift its area that occupies.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the application.

Drawings

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the application will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the application, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts throughout the exemplary embodiments of the application.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a picking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic view in a left-hand direction of the picking system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic view in rear elevation of the picking system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of another picking system shown in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of the picking system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While embodiments of the present application are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present application may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

The application provides a system of selecting, this system of selecting can be applied to the field that needs to select the goods such as commodity circulation, storage, and does not do specific limitation here. The following description will be made in detail by taking as an example a picking system which applies the picking system to the field of smart warehousing and can pick goods according to orders.

Referring to fig. 1-3, a picking system of an embodiment of the present application is disposed at a picking area in a warehouse for diverting bins stored in the warehouse to the picking area on demand to complete a picking job.

The picking system comprises an upper conveyor line 1 and a lower conveyor line 2, and the conveying directions (as indicated by arrow L in fig. 2, which will not be separately emphasized in the following) of the upper conveyor line 1 and the lower conveyor line 2 are provided with a first picking station 3 on one side and a second picking station 4 on the other side. Optionally, the first sorting station 3 and the second sorting station 4 are respectively arranged on two sides of the conveying lines perpendicular to the conveying direction, the conveying directions of the two conveying lines are the same, the upper conveying line 1 can be located right above the lower conveying line 2, but is not limited to the position, and the bins to be sorted can be conveyed simultaneously through the two conveying lines. The mode that the workbin was treated to double-deck transfer chain carries makes the sorting station can arrange in the both sides that the transfer chain is relative, when not influencing two sorting personnel's in the sorting station the work of selecting, the setting that the sorting station was chosen in relative both sides is compared with the setting of the two sorting positions of unilateral, has obviously shortened the transmission distance of the workbin of treating to select at the transfer chain, has reduced the length demand that the transfer chain arranged at direction of delivery, has practiced thrift its area that occupies. It is understood that the conveying directions of the upper conveying line 1 and the lower conveying line 2 are not limited to the same direction, and may be reversed according to actual needs in practical applications.

It will be appreciated that in one embodiment, the bin to be picked is a bin in which goods are stored in a warehouse, and the bin is transported to the picking area as the bin to be picked based on the information of the goods required for the order. And when carrying the workbin of waiting to select at upper transfer chain 1 and lower floor's transfer chain 2, can will wait to select the workbin and carry to first sorting station 3 and second sorting station 4 and select in order to select according to the order demand, it becomes to select the back workbin after selecting to wait to select the workbin.

Referring to fig. 1, the sorting system further includes an unloader 5 and an loader 6, the unloader 5 serving to supply the upper and

lower conveyor lines

1 and 2 with the bins to be sorted, so that the upper and

lower conveyor lines

1 and 2 convey the bins to be sorted to the first and

second sorting stations

3 and 4 for sorting. And the feeding machine 5 is used for recovering the sorted bins conveyed by the upper conveying line 1 and the lower conveying line 2. The unloader 5 and the loader 6 are respectively butted through the two layers of conveying lines, so that the picking personnel respectively positioned at the two picking stations can respectively obtain required picked goods from the to-be-picked bins conveyed on the two conveying lines on the two sides of the conveying lines, and the picked bins are recovered through the loader 6.

Tripper 5 and material loading machine 6 dock the direction of delivery both ends of transfer chain 2 along transfer chain 1 and lower floor respectively on the upper strata, and direction of delivery is by 5 directions of tripper to the direction of material loading machine 6 for the workbin that to select who derives by tripper 5 gets into upper strata transfer chain 1 and lower floor's transfer chain 2, will select the back workbin via upper strata transfer chain 1 and lower floor's transfer chain 2 and retrieve to material loading machine 6.

Alternatively, the unloader 5 may be provided as a device for buffering at the picking area and capable of supplying the sorted bins to the two-tier conveyor line, and the loader 6 may be provided as a device for retrieving and buffering the sorted bins from the two-tier conveyor line for transportation back to the original position or a new position in the warehouse rack for storage. The specific structure and implementation of the unloader 5 and the loader 6 will not be described in detail.

In an alternative embodiment, see fig. 1, at least one of the unloader 5 and the loader 6 is provided with a double-deck opening to correspond to the upper conveyor line 1 and the lower conveyor line 2.

In one embodiment, the unloader 5 has a double-deck opening, and the unloader 5 has an upper discharge port 501 and a lower discharge port 502, wherein the upper discharge port 501 is used for supplying the bins to be sorted to the upper conveyor line 1, and the lower discharge port 502 is used for supplying the bins to be sorted to the lower conveyor line 2.

In one embodiment, the feeding machine 6 has a double-layer opening, the feeding machine 6 has an upper layer receiving port 601 and a lower layer receiving port 602, the upper layer receiving port 601 is used for recovering the sorted bins conveyed by the upper layer conveying line 1, and the lower layer receiving port 602 is used for recovering the sorted bins conveyed by the lower layer conveying line 2.

In one embodiment, the lower conveyor line 2 and the upper conveyor line 1 respectively butt against the lower discharge port 502 and the upper discharge port 501 of the unloader 5 at one end along the conveying direction, and respectively butt against the lower receiving port and the upper receiving port of the loader 6 at the other end.

The mode that the workbin was selected and/or was picked back workbin from two-layer transfer chain recovery simultaneously is provided to two-layer transfer chain simultaneously through double-deck opening that sets up to realize two transfer chain inputing simultaneously and/or export simultaneously, be favorable to promoting to provide to two transfer chain and wait to select the workbin and retrieve the efficiency of selecting the back workbin, when having improved two and choosing the selection station and waiting to select the efficiency of selecting the workbin on the transfer chain, improve the efficiency of retrieving the back workbin of selecting, avoid blocking up on the transfer chain, improve moving efficiency.

Optionally, when the opening provided by the unloader 5 and the loader 6 is used for providing the to-be-sorted bin to the conveying line or recovering the sorted bin, a conveying belt butted with the conveying line is arranged corresponding to each opening position, and the conveying direction of the conveying belt is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying line, so that the boxes can be switched between the conveying line and the conveying belt. It will be understood that the conveyor belts mentioned above for interfacing with the conveyor lines may also be provided with the same conveyor lines, and are not particularly limited herein.

The application is double-deck open-ended unloader and material loading machine that what upper transfer chain 1 and lower floor transfer chain 2 docked is for the example. The details of how the upper conveyor line 1 and the lower conveyor line 2 transport the bins to be sorted to the first sorting station 3 and the second sorting station 4 for sorting are explained:

in one embodiment, at least one of the upper layer conveying line 1 and the lower layer conveying line 2 is provided with a sorting line at one side along the conveying direction; the system also comprises at least one transfer mechanism which is used for transferring the bins to be picked between the upper conveying line 1 or the lower conveying line 2 and the picking line. Through the mode that sets up the line of choosing in one side of at least one kind of upper transfer chain 1 and lower floor's transfer chain 2, avoid waiting to select the workbin and carry the first sorting station 3 and the second sorting station 4 that relative both sides set up in order to select when, the work of choosing of conveying line pair that is in upper and lower bilayer and arranging hinders, and then influences and select efficiency. Move and carry mechanism and can shift the workbin of waiting to select between transfer chain and selection line, select the work of selecting through waiting to select the workbin on selecting the line in at least one in station 3 and the second of selecting station 4 in the first selection for set up relatively and select the work of selecting in the completion that the station homoenergetic is high-efficient, stable of selecting of both sides.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the lower conveying line 2 is provided with a lower sorting line 7 at one side in the conveying direction, and the lower sorting line 7 is positioned at one side of the upper conveying line 1 in the conveying direction and is lower than the upper conveying line 1; the transfer mechanism is used for transferring the bins to be picked between the lower conveying line 2 and the lower sorting line 7. The first picking station 3 is adjacent to the lower picking line 7 so that the bins to be picked on the lower picking line 7 are picked directly; the second picking station 4 is adjacent to the upper conveyor line 1 so that the bins to be picked on the upper conveyor line 1 are picked directly. Through this kind of mode that sets up lower floor's sorting line 7 in one side of lower floor transfer chain 2, avoided waiting to select the workbin and directly selected on lower floor transfer chain to avoid the relative first sorting station 3 that sets up and second sorting station 4 to interfere each other in the process of selecting, avoid selecting of first sorting station 3 department to receive the restriction of upper transfer chain 1, raise the efficiency and guarantee the operation safety of first sorting station 3 department. Moreover, the transferring mechanism arranged on the lower-layer sorting line 7 can transfer the to-be-sorted bins into or out of the lower-layer sorting line according to requirements, so that the to-be-sorted bins of the lower-layer sorting line 7 can be directly sorted by the first sorting station 3 or the sorted bins after being sorted by the first sorting station 3 can be recycled into the material feeding machine 6 from the lower-layer conveying line 2.

In an alternative embodiment, the transfer mechanism may be used to transfer the bins to be picked between the upper conveying line 1 and the lower sorting line 2. When the remaining goods in the bin sorted by the first sorting station 3 or the bin sorted by the second sorting station 4 still meet the sorting requirement of the other sorting station, the to-be-sorted bin sorted by the sorting station can be transferred to another conveying line or a sorting line through the arranged transfer mechanism so as to be sorted by the other sorting station, and the goods in the to-be-sorted bin can be fully sorted. For example, when the to-be-picked bin enters the upper conveying line 1 and the lower conveying line 2 through the double-layer opening of the unloader 5, the picker directly picks the to-be-picked bin on the upper conveying line 1 at the second picking station 4, the to-be-picked bin is moved into the lower picking line 7 by the transfer mechanism, and the picker picks the to-be-picked bin of the lower picking line 7 at the first picking station 3. After the bin to be sorted in the lower sorting line 7 is sorted, if the sorted bin is also a demand bin in the second sorting station 4, the bin is transferred to the upper conveyor line 1 by the transfer mechanism to be sorted at the second sorting station 4. The bins to be sorted which are picked by the upper conveyor line 1 via the second sorting station 4 are the same and will not be described in detail here. When the first sorting station 3 and/or the second sorting station 4 finishes sorting the bins to be sorted, the sorted bins are obtained and are recycled to the material feeding machine 6 through the upper-layer conveying line 1 or the lower-layer conveying line 2 where the sorted bins are located at the moment.

On the basis of the above embodiment, the upper conveying line 1 may further be provided with an upper sorting line on one side along the conveying direction, the upper sorting line and the lower sorting line 7 are arranged on different sides, the transfer mechanism is further configured to transfer the bins to be sorted between the upper conveying line 1 and the upper sorting line, and the second sorting station 4 is adjacent to the upper sorting line, so that the bins to be sorted on the upper conveying line 1 are directly sorted.

It will be appreciated that when the second picking station 4 picks the bins to be picked directly from the adjacent upper conveyor line 1, the standing surface of the first picking station 3 may for example be directly the ground and the lower picking lines 7 may be arranged at a height convenient for the pickers of the first picking station 3 to pick in order to facilitate picking by the pickers of the two picking stations located on either side. The second sorting station 4 is provided with a stepping table, and a sorting person stands on the stepping table, so that the standing surface of the second sorting station 4 is higher than the standing surface of the first sorting station 3, and the sorting work can be directly carried out on the upper conveying line 1 or the to-be-sorted bins on the upper sorting line.

Optionally, the conveying direction of the upper conveying line 1 is the same as that of the lower conveying line 2, and when the transferring mechanism is used for transferring the bins between the lower conveying line 2 and the lower sorting line 7, the conveying direction of the lower sorting line 7 may be opposite to that of the lower conveying line 2, or may be the same as that of the lower sorting line, which is not specifically limited herein. When a bin needs to be transferred between the lower pick line 7 and the upper feed line 1, the lower pick line 7 is arranged to be transported in the opposite direction to the lower feed line 2. When the first sorting station 3 sorts the to-be-sorted bins from the lower sorting line 7 and the second sorting station 4 sorts the to-be-sorted bins from the upper conveying line 1, the provided transfer mechanism can meet the transfer requirement of the bins of the lower sorting line 7 between the lower conveying line 2 and the upper conveying line 1.

In an embodiment, the provided transferring mechanisms at least include a first transferring mechanism 702 and a second transferring mechanism 701, and the first transferring mechanism 702 and the second transferring mechanism 701 are respectively arranged at two ends of the sorting line along the conveying direction; the first transfer mechanism 702 is used for transferring the bin to be picked on the lower layer conveying line 2 or the upper layer conveying line 1 to the sorting line for sorting, and the second transfer mechanism 701 is used for transferring the bin after being picked on the sorting line to the lower layer conveying line 2 or the upper layer conveying line 1.

Optionally, the picking line is disposed at one side of the lower conveying line 2, and is marked as a lower picking line 7. The lower sorting line 7 and the lower conveying line 2 are opposite in direction, the direction of conveying the bin to be sorted along the lower sorting line 7, and the second transferring mechanism 701 is positioned in front of the first transferring mechanism 702. First move and carry mechanism 702 and include first lift portion and first move the portion of carrying, first lift portion and first move the portion of carrying and drive the direction mutually perpendicular of workbin motion, first lift portion is used for selecting back workbin with upper conveyor line 1 and puts down lower floor's sorting line 7 to supply first sorting station 3 to select, first move the portion of carrying and be used for pushing lower floor's sorting line 7 with lower floor's conveyor line 2 the workbin of selecting. The second transfer mechanism 701 includes a second lifting portion and a second transfer portion, the directions of the second lifting portion and the second transfer portion driving the bins to move are perpendicular to each other, the second transfer portion is used for pushing the sorted bins of the lower sorting line 7 to the lower conveying line 2, and the second lifting portion is used for lifting the sorted bins of the lower sorting line 7 to the upper conveying line 1 so as to select in the second sorting station 4. The first lifting portion and/or the second lifting portion may include, for example, an air cylinder, a screw nut pair, and the like, which are provided with the placing platform and drive the placing platform to move in the vertical direction, and the first transferring portion and/or the second transferring portion may include, for example, a push block, and an air cylinder, a screw nut pair, and the like, which drive the push block to reciprocate in the horizontal direction, which is not specifically limited herein.

It is to be understood that the first lifting unit and the second lifting unit may be the same or different from each other, and the first transfer unit and the second transfer unit may be the same or different from each other, and specific configurations of the lifting unit and the transfer unit are not described in detail herein.

In an embodiment, when the lower picking line 7 is disposed on only one side of the lower conveying line 2, the lower picking line 7 is disposed with two transferring positions along the conveying direction, the two transferring positions are respectively used for placing the first transferring mechanism 702 and the second transferring mechanism 701, the second transferring mechanism 701 is disposed on one side close to the unloader 5, the transferring mechanism can drive the bin to move in the horizontal direction to move between the lower picking line 7 and the lower conveying line 2, and can also drive the bin to move in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction to move between the lower picking line 7 and the upper conveying line 1. The specific working process is as follows: the unloader 5 respectively provides the bins to be selected to the upper-layer conveying line 1 and the lower-layer conveying line 2 through the upper-layer discharge hole 501 and the lower-layer discharge hole 502, and when the bins to be selected on the upper layer are conveyed to the position, corresponding to the second selecting station 4, of the upper-layer conveying line 1, workers can select required goods from the bins to be selected according to requirements; when the lower layer of to-be-picked bin is conveyed to the action range of the first transfer mechanism 702 corresponding to the lower layer conveying line 2, the to-be-picked bin of the lower layer conveying line 2 is moved to the lower layer picking line 7 through the action of the first transfer mechanism 702, the movement direction of the lower layer picking line 7 opposite to that of the lower layer conveying line 2 enables the to-be-picked bin to move to the position corresponding to the first picking station 3 again, and a worker can pick required goods from the to-be-picked bin according to requirements. When the bin sorted by the first sorting station 3 continues to move to the action range of the second transfer mechanism 702, it is determined whether the goods in the bin have the goods required by the second sorting station 4, if yes, the second transfer mechanism 702 drives the bin to move vertically upward to a side corresponding to the upper conveying line 1, and then the second transfer mechanism 702 moves horizontally to drive the bin to enter the upper sorting line 1 and enter the second sorting station 4 along with the upper sorting line 1 for sorting, if not, the second transfer mechanism 702 drives the bin to move horizontally at a position corresponding to the lower sorting line 7, so as to drive the bin to enter the lower conveying line 2 from the lower sorting line 7. Similarly, if the bin sorted by the second sorting station 4 has the goods required by the first sorting station 3, when the bin moves to the action range of the upper conveyor line 1 corresponding to the second transfer mechanism 702, the second transfer mechanism 702 moves vertically upward to one side corresponding to the upper conveyor line 1, moves the bin to the transfer position, drives the bin to move vertically downward to the position corresponding to the lower sorting line 7, and pushes the bin to enter the lower sorting line 7 for the worker to sort. When the bin after picking is not needed by other picking stations, the bin can be recovered by the feeding machine 6 along with the movement of the corresponding layer conveying line, so that the goods in the bin to be picked on the conveying line can be fully picked, and the picking efficiency is improved.

In an alternative embodiment, see fig. 4, the upper conveyor line 1 and the lower conveyor line 2 are provided with a sorting line on one side in the conveying direction, respectively, and the conveying direction of the upper conveyor line 1 and the lower conveyor line 2 is the same. That is, the lower layer conveying line 2 is provided with the lower layer sorting line 7 along one side of the conveying direction, the upper layer conveying line 1 is provided with the upper layer sorting line 101 along one side of the conveying direction, and the upper layer sorting line 101 and the lower layer sorting line 7 are arranged on different sides. The first picking station 3 is adjacent to the lower picking line 7 so that the bins to be picked on the lower picking line 7 are picked directly; the second picking station 4 is adjacent to the upper picking line 101 so that the bins to be picked on the upper conveying line 1 are picked directly. The system also comprises a transfer mechanism for transferring the bins to be picked between the lower conveying line 2 and the lower picking line 7 or transferring the bins to be picked between the upper conveying line 1 and the upper picking line 101. And the transfer mechanism can also reciprocate in the vertical direction and is used for transferring the to-be-picked bins between the upper-layer conveying line 1 or the upper-layer sorting line 101 and the lower-layer conveying line 2 or transferring the to-be-picked bins between the lower-layer conveying line 2 or the lower-layer sorting line 7 and the upper-layer conveying line 1.

It is understood that, in order to enable the transfer mechanism to meet the above requirements at the same time, the transfer mechanism may be disposed at a position near the tail end of the conveying line (i.e., a side near the discharge port) in the conveying direction. When the workbin after selecting on lower floor selection line 7 is deposited and selects required goods in upper strata selection line 101, move and carry the vertical downstream of mechanism to the position that corresponds 2 one sides of lower floor's transfer chain, this workbin is picked the line 7 and is sent back lower floor's transfer chain 2 after and when moving to the position that corresponds the mechanism that moves of transfer along with lower floor's transfer chain 2 through lower floor, move and carry the mechanism and can will promote workbin lateral movement in order to move and carry to moving and carry the position, and drive the vertical upward movement of workbin to the position of upper transfer chain 1 one side through moving and carrying the mechanism, it carries the mechanism with workbin horizontal propelling movement to upper transfer chain 1 to recycle again, so that can convey to upper strata selection line 101 and select. When the workbin after picking line 101 on the upper strata was selected has the required goods of picking line 7 on the lower floor, move and carry the vertical upward movement of mechanism to the position that corresponds 1 one side of upper transfer chain, this workbin is picked line 101 on the upper strata and is sent back before upper transfer chain 1, the mechanism that moves that is located one side can promote this workbin lateral movement and move the position in order to get into, thereby make move and move the mechanism and drive the vertical downstream of workbin to one side of lower floor's transfer chain 2, the rethread moves and carries the mechanism and drive workbin lateral movement, in order to move the workbin to lower floor's transfer chain 2, in order to carry this workbin to lower floor through lower floor's transfer chain 2 and select line 7 in order to select.

Alternatively, for the provided transfer mechanism, the specific structure and how to implement the corresponding movement can be referred to the transfer mechanism in the above embodiment, and for the transfer mechanism, as long as the required functions can be implemented, detailed description is not given here.

In addition, the transferring mechanism can be arranged on one side, close to the discharge port, of the sorting line in the conveying direction according to requirements, so that the transferring mechanism can move in the vertical direction to reciprocate between an upper layer and a lower layer, and meanwhile, the to-be-sorted material boxes can be transferred to the conveying line or the sorting line according to requirements, and detailed description is omitted here.

In an embodiment, on the basis of arranging the lower picking line 7, an upper picking line 101 is arranged on one side corresponding to the upper conveying line 1, the lower picking line 7 and the upper picking line 101 are arranged on the opposite sides, and the moving direction of the picking lines is opposite to that of the conveying lines. The one end that the line 101 is picked to the upper strata is close to unloader 5 sets up and moves a position 1011, and should move a position 1011 and can follow vertical direction motion, can move along vertical direction to the one end that the line 101 is picked to the upper strata is close to unloader 5 and to the one side that the line 7 was picked to lower floor and 2 parallel and level of lower floor's transfer chain, and this state down move a position 1011 can with the lower floor pick the one end of line 7 and set up in 2 both sides of lower floor's transfer chain relatively. The transfer position 1011 is provided with a transfer mechanism which can drive the material box to move horizontally so as to push the material box to the lower layer conveying line 2 or the upper layer conveying line 1. The specific working process is as follows: the unloader 5 respectively provides the bins to be selected to the upper-layer conveying line 1 and the lower-layer conveying line 2 through the upper-layer discharge hole 501 and the lower-layer discharge hole 502, when the bins to be selected of the upper-layer conveying line 1 are conveyed to one end, far away from the unloader 5, of the corresponding upper-layer selecting line 101, the bins to be selected at the position are controlled to be pushed to enter the upper-layer selecting line 101, the upper-layer selecting line 101 drives the bins to be selected to enter the second selecting station 4 through movement opposite to the conveying lines, and workers can select needed goods from the bins to be selected according to requirements; when the to-be-selected bin conveyed to the lower-layer conveying line 2 from the unloader 5 moves to one end, far away from the unloader 5, of the lower-layer sorting line 7, the to-be-selected bin at the position is pushed to enter the lower-layer sorting line 7 in a control mode, the lower-layer sorting line 7 drives the to-be-selected bin to enter the first sorting station 3 through the movement opposite to the conveying line, and a worker can select required goods from the to-be-selected bin according to demands. When the bin sorted by the second sorting station 4 continues to move in the upper sorting line 101, whether the goods in the bin have the goods required by the first sorting station 3 is judged, if yes, the transferring position 1011 drives the transferring mechanism to vertically move upwards to the end part of the upper sorting line 101 close to one end of the unloader 5, the transferring mechanism drives the bin of the upper sorting line 101 to enter the transferring position 1011 through driving the bin to move in the horizontal direction, and the transferring position 1011 drives the transferring mechanism and the bin to vertically move downwards to one side of the lower conveying line 2 opposite to one end of the lower sorting line 7. The material box is pushed to horizontally move to the lower layer conveying line 2 through the transferring mechanism, so that the material box can enter the lower layer sorting line 7 through the lower layer conveying line 2 to complete sorting; if not, the material box is pushed to return to the upper layer conveying line 1 to flow into the material loading machine 4. Similarly, when the bin sorted by the first sorting station 3 continues to move in the lower sorting line 7, whether the goods in the bin have the goods required by the second sorting station 4 is judged, if yes, the transferring position 1011 drives the transferring mechanism to vertically move downwards to one side of the lower conveying line 1, the transferring mechanism drives the bin at the end part of the lower sorting line 7 to enter the transferring position 1011, the transferring position 1011 vertically moves upwards to drive the bin to one side of the upper sorting line 101, and the transferring mechanism drives the bin to horizontally move to the upper conveying line 1, so that the sorting is repeatedly completed; if not, the material box is pushed to return to the lower layer conveying line 2 to flow into the transfer-in feeding machine 4. Thereby fully select the goods in the workbin of waiting to select on the conveyer line to improve and select efficiency.

In an embodiment the system further comprises at least one of an empty box drop module 8 and a collecting device 9, the empty box drop module 8 being adapted to provide empty boxes to the first picking station 3 and/or the second picking station 4 via the upper conveyor line 1 and/or the lower conveyor line 2. The collecting device 9 collects at least the order boxes after the completion of the picking at the first picking station 3 and/or the second picking station 4 through the upper layer conveying line 1 and/or the lower layer conveying line 2, or collects abnormal boxes from the upper layer conveying line 1 and/or the lower layer conveying line 2. By utilizing the characteristic that the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4 can pick the to-be-picked bins on the first picking station through the upper layer conveying line 1 and the lower layer conveying line 2, the upper layer conveying line 1 and the lower layer conveying line 2 can be utilized to provide empty bins for the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4, and the upper layer conveying line 1 and the lower layer conveying line 2 can be utilized to collect order bins after picking is completed from the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4. Need not to get into first sorting station 3 and second sorting station 4 in order to change over to the empty case, roll out order case or unusual case, rational utilization transfer chain avoids having in first sorting station 3 and the second sorting station 4 not convenient for under the circumstances of business turn over, can satisfy the normal circulation of selecting work and change, guarantees the smooth and easy of operation flow. The empty box dosing module 8 and/or the collecting device 9 may for example comprise, but are not limited to, a conveyor belt.

When the system set up empty case and put in module 8 and collection device 9, unloading machine 5 and material loading machine 6 divide and locate lower floor's transfer chain 2 and upper strata transfer chain 1 along direction of delivery's both ends, and empty case is put in module 8 and collection device 9 and is divided and locate lower floor's transfer chain 2 and upper strata transfer chain 1 along direction of delivery's both ends. Unloading machine 5 and empty case are put in module 8 and are located lower floor's transfer chain 2 and upper transfer chain 1 along direction of delivery's both sides, and material loading machine 6 and collection device 9 divide and locate lower floor's transfer chain 2 and upper transfer chain 1 along direction of delivery's both sides.

Optionally, the oppositely arranged unloader 5 and empty box feeding module 8 can provide empty boxes or bins to be selected for being selected by the upper layer conveying line 1 and/or the lower layer conveying line 2 according to requirements by butting the conveying lines with the conveying belts vertically arranged on the conveying lines, so that the empty boxes can be selected or collected by the corresponding first picking station 3 and/or the second picking station 4. The oppositely arranged feeding machine 6 and collecting device 9 can also be completed by means of the butt joint of the arranged conveyor belts, and the details are not described here.

It will be appreciated that the provision of the empty box dropping module 8 and the collecting device 9 can be achieved by merely providing a conveyor belt abutting against the conveyor line, the order picker dropping the empty boxes to the conveyor belt to be diverted to the conveyor line or pushing the order boxes through the conveyor line to the conveyor belt on the side of the feeder 6. Alternatively, the present invention may be realized by providing other matching structures, which are not limited in detail herein.

In an alternative embodiment, when the system is arranged in the picking area, the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4 are respectively arranged in a first area and a second area which are divided along two sides of the conveying direction of the conveying line, and the second area belongs to a library area, so that the system cannot walk back and forth, and can collide with a robot for avoiding, and the like. Therefore, the empty box circulation module 8 and the collecting device are arranged, and the staff only need to maintain the fixed position of the second sorting station 4 to be fixed, so that the safety problem is avoided. Specifically, the second sorting station 4 is provided with an empty box buffer position 401, and the empty box releasing module 8 has an empty box releasing port, and is butted with the lower layer conveying line 2 through the empty box releasing port so as to provide an empty box to the empty box buffer position 401 through the lower layer conveying line 2. The second picking station 4 is provided with an order box placing line position 402, and the collecting device 9 is provided with an order box collecting port which is butted with the lower layer conveying line 2 so as to collect order boxes placed from the order box placing line position 402 to the lower layer conveying line 2.

It is understood that, for the set empty box buffer bit 401 and the order box line-casting bit 402, the two bits may be merged and set in the same slot position in order to save space. When a certain order on the order box placing line position 402 in the second picking station 4 is finished to be picked and boxed or stacked to a certain number, the picking operation can be controlled to stop through a button arranged on the order box placing line position 402, and a worker can put the order box in the slot position to the upper layer conveying line and/or the lower layer conveying line for putting the order box to the conveying line, so that the order box enters the collecting device 9. After the order boxes are removed from the order box line placement location 402, empty boxes may be transported to the slot locations of the just-placed order boxes so that the empty boxes become new order boxes after being bound with new orders, thereby facilitating personnel to place items from the order boxes to be placed according to the orders. This kind utilizes the transfer chain to accomplish the empty case of second sorting station 4 and carries and the roll-out of order case, rational utilization spatial structure overall arrangement, when improving the area utilization ratio of selecting the district, solves the inconvenient problem of circulation of the empty case of sorting station, order case that set up relatively, guarantees to select the smoothness of operation.

When the empty box buffer position 401 and the order box line-feeding position 402 are arranged at different slot positions, the shelf arranged at the second sorting station 4 comprises a first shelf 403 and a second shelf 404 which are arranged at two sides of the stepping platform, the first shelf 403 is provided with the empty box buffer position 401, namely, the slot position used for placing the empty box and then binding the order information is arranged in the empty box, and a worker can obtain the empty box from the first shelf 403 and sort the material from the to-be-sorted box according to the order information bound on the empty box. And temporarily storing the order boxes after the picking is finished in the second shelf 404, and the order boxes can be diverted through the order box placing line position 402 set by the second shelf 404. Optionally, the first picking station 3 is also provided with oppositely arranged shelves. Compared with the second picking station 4, the first picking station 3 has an open area which is convenient for entering and exiting, a worker or a machine can conveniently replenish the empty boxes or move out the order boxes to the goods shelf, and the first picking station 3 is arranged without butting the empty box throwing module 8 and the collecting device 9.

In order to facilitate the order picker to enter the second picking station 4 surrounded by the equipment to complete picking work, the system further comprises a cross ladder 10 arranged above the upper conveying line 1, and the cross ladder 10 is communicated with the second picking station 4.

In an embodiment, each part of the devices in the system may be connected to the control device through a network, and corresponding instructions sent by the control device can control each part to perform corresponding actions, where the network may be a wired network or a wireless network, and is not limited specifically herein. It will be appreciated that the control means may comprise one or more terminals, and/or one or more servers.

The control device is at least used for sending a first starting instruction, a second starting instruction and a third starting instruction, and the unloading machine 5 is used for receiving the first starting instruction and inputting the to-be-picked bins into the picking stations corresponding to the upper conveying line 1 and the lower conveying line 2 from the upper discharging port 501 and the lower discharging port 502 respectively according to the first starting instruction. The feeding machine 6 is used for receiving a second starting instruction and enabling the sorted bins of the upper conveying line 1 and the lower conveying line 2 to enter from the upper receiving port and the lower receiving port for recycling according to the second starting instruction. The upper conveying line 1, the lower conveying line 2 and the lower sorting line 7 are used for receiving a third starting instruction, and are used for starting the two conveying lines to move in the same direction, and the lower sorting line 7 and the lower conveying line 2 move in the opposite direction, and the moving direction of the same-direction movement is the direction from the unloader 5 to the unloader 6.

When the picker picks at the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4, in the process of conveying the to-be-picked bins by the conveying lines, the control device sends action instructions to the first transfer mechanism 702 and the second transfer mechanism 701, the first transfer mechanism 702 and the second transfer mechanism 701 realize corresponding actions through the received action instructions, so that the to-be-picked bins of the lower conveying line 2 or the upper conveying line 1 are moved into the lower picking line 7 to be picked by the first picking station 3, and the to-be-picked bins picked by the first picking station 3 after being picked by the lower picking station enter the upper conveying line 1 to be picked by the second picking station 4. The control device can control the actions of the first transfer mechanism 702 and the second transfer mechanism 701 according to the running condition of the to-be-picked bin on the conveying line and the picking line and the information of the remaining goods in the to-be-picked bin, so that the two transfer mechanisms can complete the running track of the to-be-picked bin between the conveying line and the picking line according to the action instruction, the remaining goods in the to-be-picked bin cannot be picked by another picking station and are recovered by the feeding machine 6 as the picked bin, the goods in the to-be-picked bin on the conveying line can be fully picked, and the picking efficiency is improved.

It will be appreciated that during picking of the bins to be picked at the first and

second picking stations

3, 4, the picker needs to load the picked items into empty bins to obtain finished bins. The outer surface of the empty box can be pasted with information such as two-dimensional codes and labels, and sorting personnel can obtain corresponding cargo information from the empty box to sort according to requirements, so that the order box pasted with the information such as the two-dimensional codes and the labels is obtained. Optionally, the goods information attached to each empty box in each picking station may be the same or different, and the goods information attached to the empty boxes released between two picking stations may be the same or different, which is not specifically limited herein. In order to improve picking efficiency, the picking of a batch of order boxes needs to be completed at a time, i.e. the goods picked in both picking stations are the same to get the same order box.

In an alternative embodiment the second sorting station 4 is further provided with first detection means for detecting whether there is an empty bin in the empty bin buffer bit 401, and control means for receiving a detection signal that there is no empty bin. The system is configured such that, after the first detection device outputs a detection signal indicating that the empty box cache location 401 does not have an empty box, the control device controls the empty box dropping module 8 to start up, so that the empty box dropping module 8 drops an empty box to the lower-layer conveyor line 2 through the empty box dropping port. When the control device controls the empty box throwing module to start, a first stop command is sent to the lower layer discharge hole 502 of the unloading machine 5, and the lower layer conveying line 2 is used for throwing the empty boxes to the second sorting station 4. When first detection device detects empty case buffer position 401 full position, send full case signal to controlling means, controlling means control empty case input module 8 stops, unloader 5 restarts and puts in the workbin of waiting to select to lower floor's transfer chain 2, and first sorting station 3 and second sorting station 4 continue to select work. The first detection means may for example comprise a photo sensor provided at the empty box buffer bit 401.

Optionally, the empty box buffer position 401 and the second transfer mechanism 701 are arranged oppositely, and when the empty box is driven to the position corresponding to the empty box buffer position 401 by the lower-layer conveying line 2, the empty box can be pushed into the empty box buffer position 401 by controlling the second transfer mechanism 701.

The second picking station 4 is further provided with a second detection device for detecting a picking completion trigger signal of the order boxes, the control device is used for receiving the trigger signal, the system is configured to receive the trigger signal after the second detection device detects the picking completion trigger signal of the order boxes, the control device is used for receiving the trigger signal, the collection device 9 is controlled to start, the unloading machine 5 is controlled to stop conveying the to-be-picked material boxes to the lower-layer conveying line 2 according to the trigger signal, and the collection device 9 is enabled to collect the picked material boxes which are thrown from the order boxes to the lower-layer conveying line through the order box collection ports. For example, the second detecting means may be a button detecting circuit for detecting an order box picking completion trigger signal generated when a button provided on the second shelf 404 is pressed, for example. When the stored order boxes are full or are about to be full, the collecting device can be started by knocking down the button, and the unloader 5 is controlled to stop conveying the to-be-picked boxes to the lower conveying line 2. The lower conveyor line 2 is used for conveying the order boxes thrown through the order box throwing line 402 to the collecting device 9, so that the order boxes at the second picking station 4 are turned, the button is reset, and the unloader 5 is restarted to enable the first picking station 3 and the second picking station 4 to finish picking work.

Optionally, when the order box is driven by the lower layer conveying line 2 to the corresponding order box collecting opening, the order box of the lower layer conveying line 1 may be pushed into the order box collecting opening by the arranged first transferring mechanism 702 or the additionally arranged transferring mechanism.

The present application further provides a control method, referring to fig. 5, which is applied to the system in the above description, and the control method includes the following steps:

s100, the unloader is controlled to convey the to-be-sorted bins to the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line, a first sorting station is arranged on one side of the conveying direction of the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line, and a second sorting station is arranged on the other side of the conveying direction of the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line.

And S110, controlling the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line to convey the bin to be sorted to the first sorting station and/or the second sorting station for sorting.

And S120, controlling the upper-layer conveying line and the lower-layer conveying line to convey the sorted bins to a feeder.

In the embodiment of the application, the control device can control each part to execute corresponding actions. The control device can acquire the information of the order to be picked and the information of the goods in the bin to be picked before the control system starts the picking work. When the unloader is controlled to deliver the bins to be selected to the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line for the first selecting station and the second selecting station to carry out, the control device can judge whether the selecting requirement of the selecting station or the other selecting station can be met according to the condition that the sorting station selects residual goods in the bins to-be-selected bins according to order requirements, if so, the bins are continuously selected by the selecting station or the bins are transferred to the other conveying line through the control transfer mechanism for the other selecting station to be selected, and if not, the bins are used as the bins after being selected and are conveyed to the stacker for recycling through the control conveying line on the layer.

When control unloader is waited to select the workbin to upper transfer chain and lower floor's transfer chain transmission, include: and controlling an upper-layer discharge port of the unloader to transmit the to-be-selected material box to an upper-layer conveying line, and controlling a lower-layer discharge port of the unloader to transmit the to-be-selected material box to a lower-layer conveying line.

When control upper transfer chain and lower floor transfer chain will select the back workbin and carry the material loading machine, include: the upper conveying line is controlled to convey the sorted material box to an upper material receiving port of the feeding machine, and the lower conveying line is controlled to convey the sorted material box to a lower material receiving port of the feeding machine.

In an alternative embodiment, controlling the upper and lower conveyor lines to convey bins to be picked to the first and/or second picking station for picking includes:

controlling the upper conveying line to convey the to-be-sorted bins to a second sorting station adjacent to the upper conveying line so that the upper to-be-sorted bins are sorted at the second sorting station; controlling the lower-layer conveying line to transfer the bin to be sorted to the lower-layer sorting line through the transfer position, so that the bin to be sorted is sorted at a first sorting station of the lower-layer sorting line; wherein, the lower layer sorting line is arranged on one side of the lower layer conveying line along the conveying direction.

Or when the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line are provided with sorting lines, the upper conveying line is controlled to load the to-be-sorted bins to the upper sorting line through the transferring displacement, so that the to-be-sorted bins are transferred to the second sorting station of the upper sorting line to be sorted; controlling the lower-layer conveying line to transfer the to-be-picked material boxes to the lower-layer picking line through the transfer positions so as to control the to-be-picked material boxes to be picked at a first picking station of the lower-layer picking line; wherein, lower floor selects the line to locate lower floor's transfer chain along direction of delivery one side, and the upper strata is selected the line and is located upper transfer chain along direction of delivery one side, and the upper strata is selected the line and is selected the line abnormal side setting with lower floor.

In another optional embodiment, controlling the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line to convey the bin to be picked to the first picking station and/or the second picking station for picking may further include:

controlling the upper conveying line to convey the bin to be sorted to a second sorting station adjacent to the upper conveying line, so that the bin to be sorted is primarily sorted at the second sorting station; conveying the to-be-picked bin subjected to primary picking to a lower-layer picking line through a transfer position, so that the to-be-picked bin subjected to primary picking is picked again at a first picking station of the lower-layer picking line; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

controlling a lower-layer conveying line to transfer the bin to be sorted to a lower-layer sorting line so that the bin to be sorted is primarily sorted at a first sorting station of the lower-layer sorting line; and loading the primarily picked bins to be picked to the upper conveying line through the transferring displacement, so that the primarily picked bins to be picked at the lower layer are picked again at a second picking station adjacent to the upper conveying line.

In an embodiment, when the first picking station and/or the second picking station requires an empty box, the method further comprises: and controlling the empty box throwing module to throw the empty boxes to the lower-layer conveying line, and controlling the lower-layer conveying line to convey the empty boxes to the empty box cache positions corresponding to the second picking station.

Optionally, the empty bin dropping module is configured to drop an empty bin to the second picking station, and the method specifically includes: and after detecting a detection signal indicating that the empty box buffer position of the second sorting station has no empty box, enabling the empty box throwing module to throw the empty box to the lower-layer conveying line so as to provide the empty box to the empty box buffer position through the lower-layer conveying line.

In an embodiment, when there is a need to transfer finished order or exception cases from the picking station to the first and/or second picking station, the method may comprise: and controlling the lower-layer conveying line to convey the order boxes placed at the order box placing line position of the second sorting station to the collecting device, or controlling the upper-layer conveying line and/or the lower-layer conveying line to convey the abnormal boxes to the collecting device.

Optionally, the collecting device is used for collecting order boxes or exception boxes from the second sorting station, and the method specifically includes: and after detecting the picking completion trigger signal of the order boxes, enabling the collecting device to collect the order box feeding line position of the second picking station and feed the order box feeding line position to the picking completion order box conveyed by the lower-layer conveying line.

A control apparatus for a picking system includes a memory and a processor. It will be appreciated that the control means may comprise one or more terminals, and/or one or more servers.

The Processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), other general purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete Gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

The memory may include various types of storage units, such as system memory, read Only Memory (ROM), and permanent storage. Wherein the ROM may store static data or instructions that are required by the processor or other modules of the computer. The persistent storage device may be a read-write storage device. The persistent storage may be a non-volatile storage device that does not lose stored instructions and data even after the computer is powered down. In some embodiments, the persistent storage device employs a mass storage device (e.g., magnetic or optical disk, flash memory) as the persistent storage device. In other embodiments, the permanent storage may be a removable storage device (e.g., floppy disk, optical drive). The system memory may be a read-write memory device or a volatile read-write memory device, such as a dynamic random access memory. The system memory may store instructions and data that some or all of the processors require at run-time. Further, the memory may comprise any combination of computer-readable storage media, including various types of semiconductor memory chips (DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, flash, programmable read only memory), magnetic and/or optical disks may also be employed. In some embodiments, the memory may include a removable storage device that is readable and/or writable, such as a Compact Disc (CD), a digital versatile disc read only (e.g., DVD-ROM, dual layer DVD-ROM), a Blu-ray disc read only, an ultra-dense disc, a flash memory card (e.g., SD, min SD, micro-SD, etc.), a magnetic floppy disk, and the like. Computer-readable storage media do not contain carrier waves or transitory electronic signals transmitted by wireless or wired means.

The memory has stored thereon executable code which, when processed by the processor, causes the processor to perform some or all of the methods described above.

Furthermore, the method according to the present application may also be implemented as a computer program or computer program product comprising computer program code instructions for performing some or all of the steps of the above-described method of the present application.

Alternatively, the present application may also be embodied as a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium (or computer-readable storage medium, or machine-readable storage medium) having stored thereon executable code (or a computer program, or computer instruction code) which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device (or electronic device, server, etc.), causes the processor to perform some or all of the various steps of the above-described methods in accordance with the present application.

Having described embodiments of the present application, 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.

Claims

1. A sorting system, comprising:

2. The picking system of claim 1,

the unloader is provided with an upper layer discharge hole and a lower layer discharge hole, the upper layer discharge hole is used for providing the to-be-sorted material box for the upper layer conveying line, and the lower layer discharge hole is used for providing the to-be-sorted material box for the lower layer conveying line; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the feeding machine is provided with an upper material receiving port and a lower material receiving port, the upper material receiving port is used for recovering the material picked after the upper conveying line is conveyed, and the lower material receiving port is used for recovering the material picked after the lower conveying line is conveyed.

3. The sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the unloader has an upper discharge port and a lower discharge port, and the loader has an upper receiving port and a lower receiving port, and one end of the lower conveyor line and one end of the upper conveyor line in the conveying direction are respectively abutted against the lower discharge port and the upper discharge port of the unloader, and the other end is respectively abutted against the lower receiving port and the upper receiving port of the loader.

4. The sorting system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line is provided with a sorting line on one side in the conveying direction;

5. The sorting system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lower conveying line is provided with a lower sorting line on one side in the conveying direction, the lower sorting line being located on one side in the conveying direction of the upper conveying line and lower than the upper conveying line;

6. The picking system of claim 5, wherein the second picking station is provided with a tread such that a standing surface of the second picking station is higher than a standing surface of the first picking station.

7. The picking system of claim 5,

the conveying direction of the upper conveying line is the same as that of the lower conveying line;

8. The picking system of claim 4,

the at least one transfer mechanism comprises a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism;

9. A picking system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the upper conveying line and the lower conveying line have the same conveying direction;

the transfer mechanism can also reciprocate in the vertical direction and is used for transferring the to-be-picked bin between the upper-layer conveying line or the upper-layer sorting line and the lower-layer conveying line or transferring the to-be-picked bin between the lower-layer conveying line or the lower-layer sorting line and the upper-layer conveying line;

the second picking station is adjacent to the upper picking line so that the bins to be picked on the upper conveying line are directly picked.

10. The picking system of claim 1, further comprising an empty bin drop module for providing empty bins to the first picking station and/or the second picking station via the upper conveyor line and/or the lower conveyor line; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

11. The picking system of claim 10, wherein the system includes the empty bin launch module and the collection device;

the unloader and the empty box feeding module are respectively arranged on two sides of the lower-layer conveying line and the upper-layer conveying line along the conveying direction, and the loader and the collecting device are respectively arranged on two sides of the lower-layer conveying line and the upper-layer conveying line along the conveying direction.

12. The picking system of claim 5, wherein the second picking station is provided with an empty bin buffer location;

the system further comprises an empty box throwing module, wherein the empty box throwing module is provided with an empty box throwing port, and the empty box throwing port is in butt joint with the lower layer conveying line so as to provide an empty box for the empty box cache position through the lower layer conveying line.

13. The sorting system according to claim 12, wherein the second sorting station is further provided with first detection means for detecting whether the empty bin buffer bit is empty;

14. The picking system of claim 12, wherein the second picking station has an order box line position;

15. The picking system of claim 14, wherein the second picking station is further provided with a second detection device for detecting the order box picking done trigger;

16. The picking system of claim 5, further comprising a straddle ladder disposed above the upper conveyor line, the straddle ladder communicating with the second picking station.