DE102021132067A1 - grab head - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a gripping head with a fork arrangement, a counter-holder and a hold-down device, which are designed to be individually adjustable in order to be able to transport a container.

Description

The invention relates to a gripping head for picking up or placing goods/containers.

In the case of large retail chains and discounters in particular, a high level of logistical effort is required for the distribution of goods to their sales centers or sales branches. Normally, the sorted products are temporarily stored on so-called customer trays in large distribution centers with corresponding high-bay warehouses. These products are delivered by the manufacturer on manufacturer pallets, for example Europe pallets, in layers and sorted to the distribution center - for interim storage it is then necessary, for example, to depalletize the sorted pallets in layers. Such a depalletizing is done either by hand with an enormous outlay in terms of personnel or else automatically by means of a depalletizing system, as is the case, for example, in the patent EP 2 794 439 B1 the applicant is described.

The sorted products stored temporarily are then put together on picking pallets for delivery to branches/distribution centers. Such a system is, for example, also going back to the applicants WO 2018/029268 A1 described.

The picking of the goods / containers can be done, for example, via a picking device, as in the WO 2019/154815 A1 is described.

A problem with such an approach is that in some countries no Euro pallets are used, so that goods/containers delivered on such a Euro pallet, which are arranged on the Euro pallet, for example, sorted or mixed, are repacked onto another pallet, for example a half pallet Need to become. So far, this repackaging has been done by hand, which is particularly problematic in the case of food and is time-consuming on the one hand and error-prone on the other.

In contrast, the invention is based on the object of creating a device with which this repackaging can also be automated for different containers.

This problem is solved by a gripping head with the features of patent claim 1.

Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The gripping head according to the invention is designed for the removal or delivery of goods/containers or other goods - hereinafter referred to as containers - from or onto a task or removal station or a transport aid, such as a pallet, and has a fork assembly for carrying the container, a Hold-down device for applying a holding force to the container in the direction of the fork arrangement and with a counter-holder whose direction of action is oriented transversely to the holding force, with the fork arrangement, the hold-down device and the counter-holder each being adjustable by means of a drive in order to pick up or remove the container. This adjustment can be done on multiple axes.

Due to the independently adjustable components (fork arrangement, hold-down device and counter-holder), practically any container can be picked up or released without the need for time-consuming conversion.

The structure of the gripping head is particularly compact if the respective drive is designed as a linear drive.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the fork arrangement is designed to be adjustable in width, so that the support width is variable. It is particularly advantageous if the fork arrangement is also designed to be adjustable transversely to the width adjustment. The effective width of the counter-holder can be adjustable with that of the fork arrangement.

The support of the container can be further improved if the fork arrangement has three forks which are arranged parallel to one another, the distance between the outer forks being adjustable.

The linear drives for adjusting the fork arrangement, the hold-down device and/or the counter-holder can be designed, for example, with a servomotor and a belt drive or spindle drive.

In a variant of the invention, the hold-down device is guided along a vertical guide and the counter-holder and the fork arrangement are each guided along a horizontal guide, with these horizontal guides running at a distance from the forks of the fork arrangement. In this way, a comparatively large space is made available in which the container can be positioned on the forks.

The horizontal guides for the counter holder and the fork arrangement can each be designed with two guide profiles.

The connection of the gripping head to a traversing device (portal) is particularly simple if the gripping head has a console that is designed as an interface to the portal or the like.

This console can be resiliently mounted on the gripping head, the spring arrangement being designed as an overrun safety device. For example, if the gripping head runs into an obstacle due to the deflection of the spring arrangement, it can be concluded that there is a fault and the system can be switched off accordingly.

The gripping head can be controlled particularly flexibly if it is held on a portal that can be moved along an X axis, a Y axis and a Z axis and is also designed with a rotation axis R, via which the gripping head can be rotated in order to be able to access the container in different directions.

The effectiveness of the gripping head is further improved if the counter-holder is designed with a plurality of counter-holder segments, one of which is assigned to a fork and the spacing of which can be adjusted according to the fork spacing.

The counter-holder can be adjustable in the horizontal direction independently of the fork arrangement.

These counter-holder segments can, for example, run parallel to the fork arms of the fork arrangement.

The structure of the gripping head can be further simplified if a middle, non-adjustable counterholder segment is designed as a guide/guide mast for the hold-down device. This is then preferably also adjusted when the counter-holder is adjusted in the horizontal direction.

• 1 eine dreidimensionale Darstellung eines erfindungsgemäßen Greifkopfes in einer Grundposition;
• 2 eine Ansicht des Greifkopfes aus 1 in Blickrichtung von schräg unten;
• 3 eine Seitenansicht des Greifkopfes gemäß den 1 und 2;
• 4 eine Detaildarstellung des Greifkopfes gemäß den 1 bis 3;
• 5 den erfindungsgemäßen Greifkopf in einer Position mit verstelltem Gegenhalter;
• 6 den Greifkopf gemäß 1 mit einer in Horizontalrichtung verstellter Gabelanordnung;
• 7 den Greifkopf gemäß 1 mit einer in der Breite verstellten Gabelanordnung;
• 8 den Greifkopf gemäß 1 mit in der Breite verstellter Gabelanordnung und in Horizontalrichtung verstelltem Gegenhalter;
• 9 den Greifkopf gemäß 1 mit in der Breite und in der Horizontalposition verstellter Gabelanordnung und
• 10 den Greifkopf gemäß 1 mit einem in Vertikalrichtung verstellten Niederhalter.

Preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below using schematic drawings. Show it:

• 1 a three-dimensional representation of a gripping head according to the invention in a basic position;
• 2 a view of the gripping head 1 viewed from diagonally below;
• 3 a side view of the gripping head according to the 1 and 2 ;
• 4 a detailed view of the gripping head according to the 1 until 3 ;
• 5 the gripping head according to the invention in a position with an adjusted counter-holder;
• 6 according to the gripping head 1 with a horizontally adjusted fork assembly;
• 7 according to the gripping head 1 with a width-adjusted fork assembly;
• 8th according to the gripping head 1 with width-adjusted fork arrangement and counter-holder adjusted in horizontal direction;
• 9 according to the gripping head 1 with fork arrangement adjusted in width and in horizontal position and
• 10 according to the gripping head 1 with a hold-down device that is adjusted in the vertical direction.

1 shows a three-dimensional view of a gripping head 1 according to the invention, which is carried, for example, by a portal (not shown), via which the gripping head 1 can be moved along three linear axes (X, Y, Z) and an axis of rotation R, for example in the food sector, for example, practically all on the market to process the containers or other goods. By moving the portal, the gripper head 1 can be optimally aligned in relation to the containers, so that these can be transported, for example, between a loading station (feed table) and a removal station, for example to load goods provided on a Euro pallet according to the specifications of a packing pattern generator (loading pattern generator). to position a predetermined loading image on a half-pallet or the like. As explained at the beginning, this repacking was previously done by hand, since automation was not possible due to the geometrically very different containers. This automation of the processing of containers is made possible by the flexibility of the gripping head 1 according to the invention, which allows individual adaptation to any container.

The gripping head 1 according to the invention is connected to the portal (not shown) via a bracket 2 , this bracket 2 being connected to a base frame 6 of the gripping head 1 via a spring arrangement 4 . In the illustrated embodiment, this spring arrangement 4 is designed with four spiral springs 8 . The spring arrangement 4 acts as an overrun safety device, with an excessive deflection of the spring arrangement 4 generating a stop signal with which the movement of the gripping head 1 is stopped.

As will be described in detail below, the base frame 6 carries a fork arrangement 10 with three fork arms 12, 14, 16, which are designed to carry the container (not shown). To adapt to the base of these containers, the distance between the forks 12, 14, 16, ie the support width of the fork assembly 10 in direction B (see 1 ) can be adjusted. The adjustment range can be between 200 mm and 600 mm, for example.

The fork arrangement 10 can also be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the forks 12, 14, 16 via a further drive - this adjustment is in 1 marked with the arrow HG. Accordingly, the forks 12, 14, 16 of the fork assembly 10 can be adjusted in a horizontal plane both in the width direction B and in the direction HG arranged transversely thereto. The last-mentioned adjustment is used, for example, to set down a container arranged on the forks 12, 14, 16 after the relative positioning on a delivery-side table by the forks being “moved out”, so to speak.

“Horizontal direction” is understood below to mean that direction/plane in which the three forks 12, 14, 16 are arranged. The vertical direction/vertical plane is then perpendicular to the horizontal plane defined in this way - this is in principle a gripping head-oriented reference system, with the horizontal plane generally also running parallel to the floor of the picking device and the vertical plane running in the direction of gravity, i.e. perpendicular to the floor.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the three forks 12, 14, 16 of the fork assembly 10 are attached via fork arms 18, 20, 22 to a movable support plate 24 or a support frame, which is adjustably mounted on the base frame 6 via a guide that will be explained in more detail below. The adjustment of the support plate 24 takes place via a linear drive 26, which is designed as a belt drive with a servomotor 28 and a circulating toothed belt 30. The latter is guided on the base frame 6 via a deflection roller 32 and a guide roller arrangement 34 .

The toothed belt 30 is connected to a driver 36 whose 1 bottom end section is attached to the support plate 24, so that by adjusting the toothed belt 30 and a corresponding movement of the driver 36 in the direction HG, the support plate 24 along the in 1 not visible guide is adjusted with respect to the base frame 6 and correspondingly the forks 12, 14, 16 are adjusted in the direction of HG.

The gripping head 1 according to the invention also has a counter-holder 38, via which the container is supported on the back, i.e. on the side remote from the end sections of the forks 12, 14, 16. The container can also be pushed down from the forks 12, 14, 16 via this counter-holder 38. In the illustrated embodiment, the counter-holder 38 has three counter-holder segments 40, 42, 44, each of which runs parallel to a fork arm 18, 20, 22 of the fork assembly 10 and thus perpendicular to the forks 12, 14, 16.

These three counter-holder segments 40, 42, 44 are connected along two guide profiles 46, 48 connected to the fork arms 18, 22 and one in 1 invisible guide 71 (see 2 ) can be moved in order to adjust the counter-holder 38 in the HS direction. This adjustment direction runs parallel to the adjustment direction HG of the fork arms 12, 14, 16. This adjustment is in turn carried out via a linear drive 50 designed as a belt drive, which is designed with a further servomotor 52 and a toothed belt 54, which in turn is driven via an in 1 driver, not shown, is connected to the counter-holder 38 in order to adjust the counter-holder segments 40, 42, 44 in accordance with the actuation of the servomotor 52. This adjustment is made from the in 1 illustrated basic position in the direction of the forks 12, 14, 16. In the illustrated embodiment, the linear drive 50 is mounted on a base 56, which in turn is firmly connected to the base frame 6. The counter-holder 38 is not visible in Fig 1 ) on the guide profiles 46, 48 and on the in 2 visible guide 71 of the base 56 out.

According to the illustration in 1 the gripping head 1 according to the invention also has a hold-down device 58 with a hold-down plate 60 which is adjustable in the vertical direction V. This hold-down plate 60 is guided in the vertical direction on the central counter-holder segment 44 , which thus also acts as a kind of mast for the hold-down plate 60 . The vertical adjustment of this hold-down device 58 takes place via a third linear drive 62, which is also a belt drive with a servo motor 64 and an in 1 only partially visible toothed belt 66 is formed, which in turn is attached to the hold-down device 58 via a driver.

As explained in more detail below, the width of the two outer forks 12, 16 is adjusted in direction B via two further linear drives. The position of the two outer counter-holder segments 40, 42 is also adjusted, while the position of the middle fork tine 14 and the middle counter-holder segment 44 designed as a guide mast remain unchanged during the width adjustment.

2 shows the gripping head 1 in a view obliquely from below. It can be seen in this illustration that the base 56 is connected to the base frame 6 via a large number of support struts 68 , these support struts 68 passing through a slot 70 in the adjustable support plate 24 . The never the retaining plate 60 of the hold-down device 58 is in 2 visible with its supporting surface facing the container, which can be brought into contact with the container by actuating the hold-down linear drive 62 .

The linear drive 26 for adjusting the fork arrangement 10 in the horizontal direction HG is also clearly visible in this representation, the toothed belt 30 being guided on the base frame 6, as explained. The base 56 carries at its in 2 Visible lower large area a parallel to the guide profiles 46, 48 running guide 71, along which the guide profiles 41a, 41b are guided via a transverse plate 75 with a profile 77.

3 shows a side view of the gripping head 1 according to FIG 1 and 2 . As explained above, the console 2 is connected via the spring arrangement 4 to the base frame 6 which carries the linear drive 26 with the servo motor 28 and the toothed belt 30 . This is connected via the driver 36 to the support plate 24 to which the middle fork arm 20 is fixed. The two fork arms 18, 22 connected to the forks 12, 16 (the latter not visible in 3 ) are each connected to the support plate 24 via a guide plate 72, 74 and a transverse guide 76, 78. These transverse guides 76, 78 allow the width of the fork assembly 10 to be adjusted.

According to the side view in 3 each transverse guide 76, 78 has a guide carriage 80, 82 which is connected to the respective guide plate 72, 74 and which can be adjusted in the transverse direction along a respective pair of guide rails 84a, 84b or 86a, 86b. The pairs of guide rails 84, 86 run in accordance with the illustration 3 perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and are attached to the support plate 24. The guide carriages 80, 82 are each adjusted via a linear drive 88, 90, of which 3 only a servo motor 92 of the linear drive 88 is visible. The specific structure of the linear drives 88, 90 is based below 4 explained.

In the representation according to 3 one can also see relatively clearly the linear drive 62 for the vertical adjustment of the hold-down device 58 with the hold-down plate 60, which can be adjusted along the middle counter-holder segment 44 in the V-direction. As explained, the adjustment takes place via the linear drive 62, the toothed belt 66 of which is connected via a driver 96 to the hold-down device 58, which can be adjusted in the vertical direction on the counter-holder segment 44. The guidance of the transverse direction (see arrow B in 1 ) adjustable counter-holder segments 40, 42 takes place, as described, via the transverse plate 75, which can be adjusted along the guide 71, and whose guide profiles 41a, 41b guide the transversely adjustable guide carriages 39a, 39b.

The width adjustment of the fork assembly 10 is again based on 4 explained, which is a cut-away rear view (i.e. from behind on the view according to 3 ) of the linear drive 90, via which the guide carriage 82 can be adjusted along the pair of guide rails 84a, 84b. The linear drive 90 has the aforementioned servo motor 94 which drives a spindle 110 which in turn meshes with a spindle nut 112 which is connected to the guide carriage 82 via a coupling profile 114 . Accordingly, the spindle nut 112 and thus the guide carriage 82 can be adjusted by controlling the servo motor 94 and correspondingly the spindle 110 . The other guide carriage 80 is adjusted via the in 3 visible linear drive 88 in a corresponding manner. Both linear drives 88, 90 can be driven synchronously, so that a symmetrical width adjustment takes place. In principle, these linear drives 88, 90 can also be driven independently of one another, so that asymmetrical adjustment is possible.

The gripping head 1 according to the invention thus enables a very variable adaptation of its gripping/supporting geometry to different types of containers. This is achieved in particular by the adjustability of the carrying width of the fork assembly 10 in direction B and its adjustment option in the longitudinal direction of the forks 12, 14, 16 (adjustment in the direction HG), by the adjustment option of the counter-holder 38 and the hold-down device 58 in the direction HS (parallel to the Direction HG) and made possible by the vertical adjustment of the hold-down device 58, through which practically every container can be reliably lifted and fixed in position during transport.

5 shows a position of the gripping head 1, in which the fork assembly 10 in their also in the 1 until 3 shown basic position (minimum support width). The counter holder 38 and the hold-down device 58 are adjusted in the direction of the end sections of the forks 12, 14, 16 by activation of the linear drive 50, so that the counter holder segments 40, 42, 44 are arranged in the region of the end sections of these forks 12, 14, 16.

This representation also shows very clearly the structure of the fork arms 18, 20, 22, with the central fork arm 20 being formed by a bracket which is formed on two fork supports 116a, 116b which in turn are connected to the support plate 24. The two outer fork arms 18, 22, which can be adjusted transversely with respect to the fork arm 20, are, as explained, connected to the respective guide plate 72 or 74, which in turn is operatively connected to the guide profiles 46 or 48, respectively.

The hold-down device 58 is in the position according to FIG 5 shown in its overhead basic position. This position can be set, for example, in order to push a container arranged on the forks 12, 14, 16 during transport over the counter-holder 38 and to position it on a table or a pallet.

As explained, this adjustment of the counterholder 38 takes place via the linear drive 50, the servomotor 52 of which drives the toothed belt 54, which is connected via a driver 118 to the transverse plate 75, which in turn is operatively connected to the counterholder segments 40, 42, 44. In the representation according to 5 is this driver 118 in its left end position, while in the illustrations according to the 1 until 3 is adjusted in the direction of the fork supports 116a, 116b.

6 shows a position of the gripping head 1 in which the counter-holder 38 and the hold-down device 58 are in their in 1 shown basic position. The fork assembly 10 is adjusted by controlling the linear drive 26 and corresponding adjustment of the support plate 24 in the direction HG, so that the driver 36 of the linear drive 26 in its in 6 right end position is in which the support plate 24 is extended to the maximum with respect to the base frame 6.

In this extended position, one can see that the support plate 24 forms a structural unit that can be adjusted in the direction HG with the fork supports 116a, 116b. This representation also shows the driver 118, which is in its basic position and is connected to the servomotor 52 of the linear drive 50 via the toothed belt 54.

This position can also be used, for example, to move a container back (view after 6 ) of the fork assembly 10 to strip off the forks 12, 14, 16 or to pick up a container, the forks 12, 14, 16 then moving to the left again ( 6 ) are processed. The container is thereby supported by the counter-holder 38 .

7 shows a position in which the counter-holder 38 and the hold-down device 58 are in 6 shown basic position. The fork assembly 10 is adjusted in direction B, with the two outer forks 12, 16 being adjusted synchronously with respect to the middle stationary fork 14. This width adjustment takes place via the in 4 linear drives 88, 90 shown, whereby by adjusting the spindles 110, on the one hand, the guide carriages 80, 82 (the latter not visible in 7 ) and on the other hand the guide carriages 39a, 39b of the counter-holder 38 can be adjusted. In the representation according to 7 one can also clearly see the toothed belt 66 of the linear drive 62 for the vertical adjustment of the hold-down device 58, which is deflected on the console of the middle fork arm 20.

This position is assumed, for example, to pick up a container which, due to a comparatively large container width, requires a corresponding adjustment of the fork arrangement 10 in direction B, in which case the end sections of the fork prongs 12, 14, 16 are then moved under the container by appropriate activation of the portal. At the same time, the counter-holder 38 and the hold-down device 58 can then be adjusted in order to position or fix the container from the rear and from above.

8th shows one 5 corresponding position, with respect to this position only the width of the fork assembly 10 according to 7 is misaligned. As explained, this position can be taken to 7 set down picked up containers on a plate or pallet.

9 shows one 6 corresponding position of the gripping head 1, with the fork arrangement 10 in 9 to a greater width than in 6 is set. Both in the representation according to 8th as well as in the representation according to 9 the hold-down device 58 is shown in its upper position.

10 shows the gripping head 1 also with the wide setting of the fork assembly 10 according to FIG 7 , wherein the counter-holder 38 is in its basic position. In contrast to the position according to 7 However, if the hold-down device 58 with the hold-down plate 60 is moved downwards in the vertical direction V, for example to apply a supporting force to a container, so that it is supported on the forks 12 , 14 , 16 . As explained above, this adjustment takes place by controlling the linear drive 62, with the servomotor 64 and the toothed belt 66 (see 7 , 8th and 9 ) the hold-down device 58 is moved along the middle counter-holder segment 44 designed as a guide mast. The counter-holder 38 is also set to the greater width B, in which the two outer counter-holder segments 40, 42 are also set to the width B.

The above-described gripping head 1 with the adjustment options described puts the user in a position to process practically any container, particularly in the food sector.

Disclosed is a gripping head with a fork arrangement, a counter-holder and a hold-down device, which are designed to be individually adjustable in order to be able to transport a container.

Reference List

1

grab head

2

console

4

spring assembly

6

base frame

8th

spiral spring

10

fork assembly

12

fork

14

fork

16

fork

18

fork arm

20

Fork arm / console

22

fork arm

24

support plate

26

linear actuator

28

servo motor

30

timing belt

32

pulley

34

guide roller assembly

36

driver

38

counter holder

39

guide carriage

40

counterholder segment

41

leadership profile

42

counterholder segment

44

counterholder segment

46

leadership profile

48

leadership profile

50

linear actuator

52

servo motor

54

timing belt

56

Base

58

hold-down

60

hold down plate

62

linear actuator

64

servo motor

66

timing belt

68

support brace

70

slot

71

guide

72

guide plate

74

guide plate

75

cross plate

76

lateral guidance

77

profile

78

lateral guidance

80

guide carriage

82

guide carriage

84

pair of guide rails

86

pair of guide rails

88

linear actuator

90

linear actuator

92

servo motor

94

servo motor

96

driver

98

counterholder guide

100

counterholder guide

110

spindle

112

spindle nut

114

coupling profile

116

fork support

118

driver

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• EP 2794439 B1 [0002]
• WO 2018/029268 A1 [0003]
• WO 2019/154815 A1 [0004]

Claims (15)

Gripper head for picking up or loading goods/packages from or onto a loading or pick-up station or a transport aid, for example a pallet, with a support arrangement that is designed to carry the packing unit, a hold-down device (58) for loading the packing unit with a Holding force in the direction of the support arrangement and with a counter-holder (38), the effective direction of which is oriented transversely to the holding force, the support arrangement, the hold-down device (58) and the counter-holder (38) being adjustable in each case by means of a drive in order to adapt to the container. gripping head Claim 1 , wherein the support assembly is horizontally adjustable. gripping head Claim 1 or 2 wherein the support assembly has a fork assembly (10). Gripper head according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the drive is a linear drive (26, 50, 62, 88, 90). Gripper head according to one of the preceding patent claims, in which the width of the support arrangement, in particular a fork arrangement (10), is adjustable. Gripper head after one of patent claims 3 until 5 wherein the fork arrangement (10) has three forks (12, 14, 16) which are arranged parallel to one another, the distance (B) from the outside forks (12, 16) preferably being adjustable. Gripper head according to one of the preceding patent claims, wherein linear drives (26, 50, 62, 88, 90) each have a servo motor (28, 52, 64, 92, 94) and a belt drive or a spindle drive which, via a driver (36, 96 , 118) is in operative connection with the component to be adjusted. Gripper head according to one of the preceding patent claims, in which the hold-down device (58) is guided along a vertical guide and the counter-holder (38) and adjustable fork arms (12, 16) of the fork arrangement (10) are each guided along a horizontal guide which are spaced apart from the fork arms (12 , 14, 16) of the fork assembly (10). gripping head Claim 1 , wherein the horizontal guides each have guide profiles (46, 48) or the like. Gripper head according to one of the preceding patent claims, with a console (2) which forms a mechanical interface to a portal or the like. gripping head Claim 10 , wherein the console (2) is resiliently mounted on a base frame (6), wherein a spring arrangement (4) is designed as an overrun safety device. gripping head Claim 10 or 11 , whereby the portal can be adjusted along three linear axes (X, Y, Z) and one rotational axis (R). Gripper head according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the counter-holder (38) is designed with three counter-holder segments (40, 42, 44), one of which is assigned to a fork and the spacing of which can be adjusted according to the fork spacing (B). gripping head Claim 13 , wherein counter-holder segments (40, 42, 44) run parallel to fork arms (18, 20, 22) of the fork assembly (10). gripping head Claim 13 or 14 , wherein a central counter-holder segment (44) is designed as a guide for the hold-down device (58).

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