EP0645330A1 - Greifvorrichtung für flache Gegenstände und Entstapelvorrichtung mit einer solchen Greifvorrichtung - Google Patents

Greifvorrichtung für flache Gegenstände und Entstapelvorrichtung mit einer solchen Greifvorrichtung Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0645330A1
EP0645330A1 EP94402118A EP94402118A EP0645330A1 EP 0645330 A1 EP0645330 A1 EP 0645330A1 EP 94402118 A EP94402118 A EP 94402118A EP 94402118 A EP94402118 A EP 94402118A EP 0645330 A1 EP0645330 A1 EP 0645330A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
vacuum
gripper
gripping
flat objects
transfer
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP94402118A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0645330B1 (de
Inventor
Philippe Martin
Jean-Marc Teluob
Jean-Luc Astier
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Solystic SAS
Original Assignee
Cga Hbs
Compagnie Generale dAutomatisme CGA HBS SA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Cga Hbs, Compagnie Generale dAutomatisme CGA HBS SA filed Critical Cga Hbs
Publication of EP0645330A1 publication Critical patent/EP0645330A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0645330B1 publication Critical patent/EP0645330B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
    • B65H3/08—Separating articles from piles using pneumatic force
    • B65H3/12—Suction bands, belts, or tables moving relatively to the pile
    • B65H3/124—Suction bands or belts
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C1/00—Measures preceding sorting according to destination
    • B07C1/02—Forming articles into a stream; Arranging articles in a stream, e.g. spacing, orientating
    • B07C1/025—Devices for the temporary stacking of objects provided with a stacking and destacking device (interstack device)
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
    • B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2701/00—Handled material; Storage means
    • B65H2701/10—Handled articles or webs
    • B65H2701/19—Specific article or web
    • B65H2701/1916—Envelopes and articles of mail

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a gripper for flat objects. It also relates to a device for unstacking flat objects equipped with this gripper.
  • the mail is placed on edge on a conveyor belt, backed by a pallet. Thanks to a motorization of the conveyor and the pallet, the mail advances towards the gripper.
  • the conveyor leads to an abrupt change in level, hereinafter called the fall, and the mail then arrives in a supply store located between the conveyor and the gripper.
  • the gripper includes vacuum zones in front of which a perforated belt passes.
  • the mail When leaving the gripper, the mail passes in front of the vacuum zone of the double outlet separator, located on the other side of the mail. This body retains the mail which would be driven by friction by the previous mail, so as to let go only one mail at a time.
  • the mail is taken up in a transfer device or evacuator which provides the interface between the unstacking device and a sorting device.
  • the suction cup described is a bellows suction cup made of a material such that, when it grasps the first plate of the stack, it retracts under the effect of the vacuum and carries with it the surface of the object seized.
  • This gripping device has the disadvantage of only allowing a limited flow.
  • a gripping member consisting of a perforated belt guided and actuated by pulleys.
  • This gripping member comprises a low vacuum chamber permanently activated and provided for pre-positioning the pleats to be unstacked, and a vacuum head located near a device for separating double sockets and a transfer device.
  • This document also teaches a gradual speeding up of the unstacked fold in two stages making it possible to reduce the brutality of unstacking, which authorizes the treatment of open folds.
  • a transfer member and a separator member for double sockets comprising retaining means are arranged in the immediate vicinity of the gripping member and provision is made for the actuation of the retaining means when the front edge of a fold is taken supported by the transfer body.
  • the object of the present invention is to solve this problem by proposing a gripper for flat objects which ensures a drive without damage to open or weakly rigid mails, this gripper comprising a perforated belt driven by motorization means and gripping means by depression disposed inside said belt, and a gripping face on which transits said moving belt in a transfer direction, and means for separating double sockets being arranged substantially opposite an outlet edge of said gripping face.
  • the gripper for flat objects is characterized in that the vacuum gripping means comprise at least two vacuum heads substantially adjacent and aligned in the direction of transfer, one of said vacuum heads being at least partially opposite the double outlet separation means.
  • a gripper in a preferred embodiment of a gripper according to the invention further comprising means for generating on its gripping face a zone with low vacuum and high flow rate, the adjacent vacuum heads are arranged between said low vacuum generation means and the end of said gripping face near the separation means of double sockets.
  • a device for unstacking flat objects comprising supply means, a gripper for flat objects according to the invention, means for separating double sockets and transfer means, characterized in that the gripper comprises at least two vacuum heads arranged parallel to the transfer direction.
  • the unstacking device 10 comprises routing means, in particular a motorized conveyor 14, a supply magazine 13, a gripping device 20 according to the invention, a device for separating double sockets 24 and a transfer device 16.
  • the gripping device 20 comprises a perforated belt 15 driven by motorization means (not shown) around a set of pulleys 26-33 whose axes are substantially parallel to one another. These axes may, by way of nonlimiting example, be perpendicular to the surface of the mat 14 and to the substantially planar bottom of the supply store 13. But it is also possible to envisage arrangements where this perpendicularity is not guaranteed.
  • the gripper 20 has on one side of the supply magazine 13 a substantially vertical gripping face 2 against which the first flat object of a stack of flat objects will be pressed due to the application of forces generated at a Z0 zone with low vacuum and high flow.
  • This zone Z0 located substantially in the center of the gripping face 2, is intended to attract the first fold of the stack of folds located in the magazine 13.
  • the zone Z0 thus has the function of vacuuming the objects and bringing them into contact of the gripping face.
  • the low vacuum is generated by a fan 40 located outside the movement circuit of the perforated belt 15 and operating permanently.
  • transfer direction D representing the direction of movement of the plies supported by the gripper.
  • This transfer direction also represents the direction of movement of the perforated belt 15 at the level of the gripping face 2 of the gripper.
  • the concepts of upstream and downstream used in the following are considered with respect to the direction of transfer from upstream to downstream.
  • Two zones with high depression Z1, Z2 are located downstream of the zone with low depression Z0, while a third zone with high depression Z3 is located upstream of said zone with low depression Z0.
  • the three high vacuum zones are located behind the perforated belt 15 and are generated respectively by three vacuum heads 21, 22, 23.
  • the third depression zone Z3 has the function of ensuring a retacking of the offset folds while the first two and second zones Z1, Z2 are provided for driving the folds towards the transfer device 16.
  • the different return pulleys 26-33 arranged within the gripper so as to bypass the area to low vacuum Z0 and to include the vacuum heads 21, 22, 23. It should be noted that the vacuum generation devices have not been shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 for reasons of simplification. The usual vacuum generation techniques can be implemented in a gripper according to the invention depending on the actual energy availability.
  • the two high vacuum zones Z1, Z2 and the jogging zone Z3 are vacuum controlled by solenoid valves (not shown). These zones move the objects according to the conveying direction.
  • the first and second vacuum zones Z1, Z2 are preferably adjacent and best fill the gap between the low vacuum zone of the vacuum head 24 of the double tap separator. This guarantees excellent retention of a driven fold until it is taken over by the double tap separator 24 and the transfer device 16.
  • the perforations made in the belt 15 make it possible to apply vacuum forces generated by the various vacuum heads 21, 22, 23 to the first object of the stack stored in the supply store 13.
  • an object 1 is gripped by the gripping device 20, it is then moved to the transfer device 16 by driving the perforated belt 15 in the direction of transfer D.
  • the second vacuum zone 22 is preferably placed at the level of the separating device 24 located on a wall 42 opposite the gripping face 2 of the gripper 20, so as to allow at least partial compensation of the retaining forces developed by the vacuum head of the separating device 24 by vacuum forces developed at the second vacuum zone 22. This is very important when it is a single, slightly rigid ply that is being processed. Thanks to the presence of this second depression zone 22, the weakly rigid fold will pass unhindered, and in particular without being crumpled, the region of the double tap separator.
  • the motorized members of the perforated belt 15 are controlled so that the latter is put back in motion at each successive unstacking according to a predetermined speed ramp.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
EP94402118A 1993-09-27 1994-09-23 Greifvorrichtung für flache Gegenstände und Entstapelvorrichtung mit einer solchen Greifvorrichtung Expired - Lifetime EP0645330B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR9311458 1993-09-27
FR9311458A FR2710624B1 (fr) 1993-09-27 1993-09-27 Préhenseur d'objets plats et dispositif de dépilage équipé de ce préhenseur.

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0645330A1 true EP0645330A1 (de) 1995-03-29
EP0645330B1 EP0645330B1 (de) 1998-02-04

Family

ID=9451255

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP94402118A Expired - Lifetime EP0645330B1 (de) 1993-09-27 1994-09-23 Greifvorrichtung für flache Gegenstände und Entstapelvorrichtung mit einer solchen Greifvorrichtung

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US5507480A (de)
EP (1) EP0645330B1 (de)
JP (1) JP3475198B2 (de)
CA (1) CA2132803C (de)
DE (1) DE69408391T2 (de)
FR (1) FR2710624B1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1873096A2 (de) * 2006-06-28 2008-01-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Vorrichtung zum Nachfüllen von Stapeln flacher, auf der Kante stehenden Gegenständen in einer Vereinzelungseinrichtung
EP1857388A3 (de) * 2006-05-11 2010-10-13 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Vorrichtung zum Trennen und Entnehmen von Papierblättern
US8480072B2 (en) 2010-03-25 2013-07-09 Solystic Flat-article feed device and a postal sorting machine

Families Citing this family (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6443444B1 (en) * 1999-10-04 2002-09-03 Lockhead Martin Corporation Singulation mechanism
US6575450B2 (en) 2001-01-30 2003-06-10 Lockheed Martin Corporation Singulation mechanism
DE102005003374A1 (de) * 2004-12-23 2006-07-06 Böwe Bell + Howell GmbH Briefeingabestation mit Rüttler
DE102007007811B3 (de) * 2007-02-16 2008-04-30 Siemens Ag Vorrichtung zum Ausrichten von flachen Gegenständen
JP4950812B2 (ja) 2007-08-29 2012-06-13 株式会社東芝 紙葉類取り出し装置
US9340377B2 (en) 2013-03-12 2016-05-17 United States Postal Service System and method of automatic feeder stack management
US9056738B2 (en) 2013-03-13 2015-06-16 United States Postal Service Anti-rotation device and method of use
US9376275B2 (en) 2013-03-12 2016-06-28 United States Postal Service Article feeder with a retractable product guide
US9061849B2 (en) 2013-03-14 2015-06-23 United States Postal Service System and method of article feeder operation
US9044783B2 (en) 2013-03-12 2015-06-02 The United States Postal Service System and method of unloading a container of items

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1267012B (de) * 1964-07-20 1968-04-25 Telefunken Patent Vereinzeler mit einer Einrichtung zur Verhinderung von Doppelabzuegen
DE1904705A1 (de) * 1969-01-31 1970-08-06 Licentia Gmbh Saugbandvereinzeler fuer flache Sendungen
GB1263292A (en) * 1969-01-02 1972-02-09 Parnall & Sons Ltd Improvements relating to sheet feeding apparatus
EP0525582A1 (de) * 1991-07-25 1993-02-03 Compagnie Generale D'automatisme Cga-Hbs Verfahren zum Vereinzeln von insbesondere offenen Poststücken und Verfahren zum Herstellen von dieser Vorrichtung

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2856187A (en) * 1955-11-18 1958-10-14 Pitney Bowes Inc Workpiece feeding device
US4148476A (en) * 1975-05-06 1979-04-10 Ab Svenska Flaktfabriken Conveyor for lamellar material
JPS54115870A (en) * 1978-02-27 1979-09-08 Masaharu Matsuo Belt paper feeder
US4357007A (en) * 1980-04-24 1982-11-02 International Standard Electric Corporation Singler device
IT1129850B (it) * 1980-11-13 1986-06-11 San Cassiano Di Drocco A & C S Macchina impastatrice
FR2696163B1 (fr) * 1992-09-25 1994-11-04 Cga Hbs Dépileur d'articles plats incluant un dispositif de retaquage.

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1267012B (de) * 1964-07-20 1968-04-25 Telefunken Patent Vereinzeler mit einer Einrichtung zur Verhinderung von Doppelabzuegen
GB1263292A (en) * 1969-01-02 1972-02-09 Parnall & Sons Ltd Improvements relating to sheet feeding apparatus
DE1904705A1 (de) * 1969-01-31 1970-08-06 Licentia Gmbh Saugbandvereinzeler fuer flache Sendungen
EP0525582A1 (de) * 1991-07-25 1993-02-03 Compagnie Generale D'automatisme Cga-Hbs Verfahren zum Vereinzeln von insbesondere offenen Poststücken und Verfahren zum Herstellen von dieser Vorrichtung

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1857388A3 (de) * 2006-05-11 2010-10-13 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Vorrichtung zum Trennen und Entnehmen von Papierblättern
EP1873096A2 (de) * 2006-06-28 2008-01-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Vorrichtung zum Nachfüllen von Stapeln flacher, auf der Kante stehenden Gegenständen in einer Vereinzelungseinrichtung
EP1873096A3 (de) * 2006-06-28 2008-02-13 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Vorrichtung zum Nachfüllen von Stapeln flacher, auf der Kante stehenden Gegenständen in einer Vereinzelungseinrichtung
US8480072B2 (en) 2010-03-25 2013-07-09 Solystic Flat-article feed device and a postal sorting machine

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US5507480A (en) 1996-04-16
FR2710624A1 (fr) 1995-04-07
CA2132803A1 (fr) 1995-03-28
JP3475198B2 (ja) 2003-12-08
DE69408391T2 (de) 1998-06-04
EP0645330B1 (de) 1998-02-04
CA2132803C (fr) 2004-09-14
JPH07149442A (ja) 1995-06-13
FR2710624B1 (fr) 1995-11-10
DE69408391D1 (de) 1998-03-12

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