EP1450310B1 - Modul zur schnellen Gewichtsbestimmung - Google Patents

Modul zur schnellen Gewichtsbestimmung Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1450310B1
EP1450310B1 EP04290260.1A EP04290260A EP1450310B1 EP 1450310 B1 EP1450310 B1 EP 1450310B1 EP 04290260 A EP04290260 A EP 04290260A EP 1450310 B1 EP1450310 B1 EP 1450310B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
mail item
weighing
module
format
sensing
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.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP04290260.1A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1450310A1 (de
Inventor
Olivier Galtier
Christian Nicolas
Didier Painault
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.)
Quadient Technologies France SA
Original Assignee
Neopost Technologies 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 Neopost Technologies SA filed Critical Neopost Technologies SA
Publication of EP1450310A1 publication Critical patent/EP1450310A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1450310B1 publication Critical patent/EP1450310B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00661—Sensing or measuring mailpieces
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00185—Details internally of apparatus in a franking system, e.g. franking machine at customer or apparatus at post office
    • G07B17/00193—Constructional details of apparatus in a franking system
    • G07B2017/00241—Modular design
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00661—Sensing or measuring mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00685—Measuring the dimensions of mailpieces
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00661—Sensing or measuring mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00701—Measuring the weight of mailpieces

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the specific field of mail processing. It is particularly aimed at a dynamic weighing module of a mail processing machine interposed between a mail item supply module and a franking module of these articles.
  • Dynamic weighing modules intended to be implemented with franking machines are well known.
  • the French request N ° 2,388,352 illustrates a particular example. These devices are formed of a weighing plate and drive bands for the automatic transport of mail items from one edge to another of this tray.
  • the weigh module can be used alone but is usually inserted into a mail processing assembly between the franking module input and the output of the feeder module from which the enclosed envelopes to be franked are ejected.
  • the weighing is done on the fly, that is to say during the transfer of the envelope through the weighing module, and without interrupting the means of transport of this envelope.
  • the processing rates become important, that is to say in practice greater than 8000 envelopes per hour (more than 2 envelopes per second), it appears that the weighing can not be done without reducing the speed of transport and therefore the rate of general postage.
  • the invention proposes to overcome this disadvantage with a weighing module implementing an improved weighing method for processing envelopes on the fly with particularly high rates, in particular more than 8000 envelopes per hour.
  • a goal of the invention is to allow this treatment without significant structural changes of the weighing module.
  • a weighing module comprising a weighing platform incorporating a load cell and at least one motorized drive band for transporting a mail item from one edge to the other of the weighing platform, characterized in that it comprises means for detecting the format of this mail piece and processing means for calculating the weight of this mail item in a determined weight range obtained from this format.
  • the format detecting means comprise means for detecting the length of this article of mail, means for detecting the thickness of this article of mail and means for detecting the width of this article of mail.
  • said mail article length detecting means includes an occultation flag
  • said mailpiece thickness detecting means includes a Hall effect detector
  • said width detecting means includes an optical sensor.
  • the processing means comprise an amplification chain of a measurement signal supplied by said load cell whose gain varies selectively according to the format of the mail item.
  • a mail processing machine conventionally comprises at least, arranged upstream downstream with respect to the direction of advance of the mail items, a mail item supply module 10, a dynamic weighing module 12 and a module 14 postage. Each of these elements is connected to the previous by a computer link 16A, 16B.
  • Such a machine can free mail items of different formats, from the American format No. 5 (76.2mm * 127mm) to the European format b4 (250mm * 353mm) through the European format C6 / 5 (114mm * 229mm) and this up to a determined thickness, for example 16 mm, corresponding to the height of the slot for introducing the mail items into the feeder.
  • the weighing module 12 comprises a weighing plate 18 with its weighing cell 20 and a single belt or drive belt 22 for transporting mail items from one edge to the other of this plate, more specifically a position upstream of this plate, at an upstream transverse face 24 of the weighing plate, to a downstream position, at a downstream transverse face 26 of this plate.
  • These belt transport means are actuated by a drive motor 28, advantageously of electric type, actuated from processing means 30, advantageously comprising a circuit microprocessor, which also manages information passing through computer links.
  • a device for holding mailpieces intended to press these articles on the weighing platform during their transport comprises, for example, three support elements arranged one behind the other in the direction of transport of the mailpieces and each formed by an arm for holding 32, 34, 36 at the lower end of which is fixed a flap 38, 40, 42 or any other similar flexible pressure means (brush, roller, roller) whose length is relatively large to exert a sufficient pressure force on the mail item.
  • These support elements are mounted perpendicularly to a longitudinal vertical wall 44 referencing the mail items.
  • the motorized drive belt 22 has a width at least equal to that of the flap or elastic pressure means, in order to optimize the guiding and the lateral setting of the mailpieces, advantageously favored by its inclination towards the longitudinal wall of reference of a given angle with respect to the direction of transport of mail items.
  • This angle depends in particular on the length of the weighing module. For a weigh module having a weighing platform 60 cm long on which is mounted three support elements each equipped with a flap of 8 cm wide, this angle is about 2.5 °.
  • the weighing module also integrates a series of transport rollers 46, 48 arranged at the input of the module at its upstream transverse face 24 and intended to ensure extraction of mail items ejected by the supply module 10. According to the configuration of the mail processing machine, these rollers can sometimes be present directly at the output of the power supply module.
  • the weighing module comprises at its input means of format detection 50 connected to the means of processing and to provide him with data relating to the thickness, the length and the width of this article of mail.
  • These format detecting means comprise an occultation flag 52 for measuring the length of the mailpieces advantageously arranged between the drive rollers and actuated by the front and the rear end of the mail articles, an optical sensor 54 for measuring the width of mail items and a Hall effect sensor 56 for measuring the thickness of these mail items.
  • the figure 3 shows in more detail the material structure of the processing means 30 connected to the weighing cell 20 which delivers an analog measurement signal V1 proportional to the force exerted on its internal strain gauges.
  • the signal V1 is amplified in a variable gain amplifier 60 which delivers an amplified signal V2 which has passed through a low-pass filter 62 in order to eliminate the high-frequency components (which also acts as an anti-aliasing filter) and at the output of which is available a filtered signal V3.
  • This filtered signal is then sampled in an analog / digital converter 64 which delivers a series of samples Vi for a microcontroller circuit 66 which is responsible for processing these digital signals to develop a weight value P which is then transmitted to the machine through the computer link 16B to develop the postage amount.
  • This microcontroller 66 which conventionally comprises calculation means and memory means also receives, from the different detectors 52, 54, 56, information relating to the format of the envelopes to be weighed which, if necessary (a simple counter is sufficient for the measurement of length), have previously been digitized by a second analog / digital converter 68.
  • the sampling frequency Fi of the two converters which may be identical or not, is developed by the circuit 66 from its internal clock . Note however that the presence of the second converter 68 is of course justified only if the signals provided by the detectors are of analog type.
  • the processing means 30 further comprise, at its microcontroller 66, software means for determining, before determining the weight P of a mailpiece, predetermining a probable weight interval for this article of mail according to the format of this article. mail when it is entered in the weighing module 12.
  • the inventors For each of these types of envelopes, the inventors have established a curve increasing the evolution of the weight of this envelope according to its thickness (up to a thickness of 16 mm) when filled with documents of standard grammage and closed.
  • the following table shows an extract of the results of these measurements, corresponding respectively to the envelopes DL, C5 and C4 pouch for four different thicknesses, the first corresponding to a maximum permissible thickness for this envelope (beyond a closure becomes difficult without rupture) and the last being relative to a minimum thickness corresponding to the insertion of a single document per envelope.
  • the operation of the weigh module is as follows.
  • the measurement process begins with the passage of the front edge of the mail piece, coming out of the feed module 10, on the length detector 52.
  • This passage indeed gives the starting point for measuring the length of this article. but also its thickness by the detector 56 and its width by the detector 54.
  • the recording sequence of the samples from the thickness and width sensors does not start immediately when the occultation flag 52 passes but a few millimeters later (for example 20 mm) to take into account the non-linear shape of this flag.
  • This registration process continues during the advancement of the mail article on the weighing plate 18 and its transfer to the franking module 14, but over a determined distance (for example 70 mm) less than the smallest envelope length (that of the C7 format), for the measurement of this thickness and the width.
  • these measurements of thickness and width are completed when the rear edge of the article of mail passes over the occultation flag which resumes its initial rest position, this passage putting an end to the measurement of the length of the mail article.
  • This passage also gives the starting signal of the actual weighing, subject as previously to a precautionary offset of 20 mm for example.
  • the sampling frequency will determine the number of samples taken from which the weight of the mail piece will be calculated.
  • the gain adaptation of the amplification chain always allows operation of the converter with a maximum resolution, the measurement accuracy obtained is particularly high over the entire weight range of the weighing module.
  • the present invention can not be limited to the format detection means described in the present application and any other similar device for the desired measurement is possible.
  • the measurement of the length of the mail items can also be performed simply by an optical measuring device and the thickness measurement of these items by a probe for example.
  • the illustrated module has only one motorized drive band, it is of course possible to consider a module having several of these bands width then reduced proportionally.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Devices For Checking Fares Or Tickets At Control Points (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)

Claims (6)

  1. Dynamisches Wägemodul, umfassend eine Wägeplatte (18), in die eine Wägezelle (20) integriert ist, und wenigstens ein motorisiertes Antriebsband (22) für die Beförderung eines Poststücks von einem Rand der Wägeplatte zum anderen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass es Mittel (50) zur Erfassung des Formats dieses Poststücks, die der Wägeplatte vorgeordnet sind, und Verarbeitungsmittel (30) umfasst, um anhand dieses vor dem Start des Wiegens erfassten Formats einen wahrscheinlichen Gewichtsbereich für dieses Poststück zu bestimmen und um so das Gewicht dieses Poststücks in dem anhand dieses Formats erhaltenen bestimmten Gewichtsbereich zu berechnen.
  2. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Mittel zur Erfassung des Formats ein Mittel zur Erfassung der Länge dieses Poststücks, ein Mittel zur Erfassung der Dicke dieses Poststücks und ein Mittel zur Erfassung der Breite dieses Poststücks umfassen.
  3. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das Mittel zur Erfassung der Länge des Poststücks eine Abdeckmarke (52) umfasst.
  4. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das Mittel zur Erfassung der Dicke des Poststücks einen Hall-Effekt-Sensor (56) umfasst.
  5. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das Mittel zur Erfassung der Breite des Poststücks einen optischen Sensor (54) umfasst.
  6. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Verarbeitungsmittel eine Kette zur Verstärkung (60) eines durch die Wägezelle gelieferten Messsignals, dessen Verstärkung sich in Abhängigkeit von dem Format des Poststücks selektiv ändert, umfassen.
EP04290260.1A 2003-01-31 2004-02-02 Modul zur schnellen Gewichtsbestimmung Expired - Lifetime EP1450310B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR0301162 2003-01-31
FR0301162A FR2850753A1 (fr) 2003-01-31 2003-01-31 Module de pesee pour pesee a la volee

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1450310A1 EP1450310A1 (de) 2004-08-25
EP1450310B1 true EP1450310B1 (de) 2016-07-20

Family

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Family Applications (1)

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EP04290260.1A Expired - Lifetime EP1450310B1 (de) 2003-01-31 2004-02-02 Modul zur schnellen Gewichtsbestimmung

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US (1) US7098410B2 (de)
EP (1) EP1450310B1 (de)
FR (1) FR2850753A1 (de)

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1677258A3 (de) * 2004-12-15 2007-12-19 Die Schweizerische Post Vorrichtung zum Erzeugen einer Tarifetikette für Postsendungen
US7416183B2 (en) * 2005-06-06 2008-08-26 Pitney Bowes Inc. Postal weighing platform with integrated feeding and deskewing functions
FR2916885B1 (fr) * 2007-05-28 2009-11-27 Neopost Technologies Dispositif de determination automatique du format d'un article de courrier
US7880099B1 (en) * 2007-06-11 2011-02-01 Data-Pac Mailing Systems Corp. Shape based postage rate measurement system
FR2931977A1 (fr) * 2008-06-03 2009-12-04 Neopost Technologies Procede d'affranchissement en fonction de la categorie de courrier
DE102009035107A1 (de) 2009-07-29 2011-02-03 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum näherungsweisen Wiegen eines Gegenstands
DE102010002396A1 (de) 2010-02-26 2011-09-01 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Wiegen von Gegenständen unterschiedlicher Gewichtsklassen
US20110209923A1 (en) * 2010-02-26 2011-09-01 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Method and Device for Weighing Objects of Different Weight Classes
FR2956992B1 (fr) 2010-03-08 2012-02-17 Solystic Installation de tri postal avec un pesage selectif

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US2812904A (en) * 1950-12-21 1957-11-12 Continental Electrolog Corp Equipment for rating packages by various parameters including volume, weight, density and zone
US2708368A (en) * 1950-12-21 1955-05-17 Continental Silver Co Inc Equipment for rating by volume, weight, and zone
US2688878A (en) * 1951-03-28 1954-09-14 Continental Silver Co Inc Equipment for rating by volume, weight, and zone
DE2717721A1 (de) * 1977-04-21 1978-10-26 Postalia Gmbh Anlage zur frankierung von postsendungen
US4872521A (en) * 1987-12-18 1989-10-10 Pitney Bowes Inc. Platen module for a modular mailing machine
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US7162459B2 (en) * 2002-12-19 2007-01-09 Pitney Bowes Inc. Method and system for estimating weights of mailpieces

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2850753A1 (fr) 2004-08-06
US20040173386A1 (en) 2004-09-09
US7098410B2 (en) 2006-08-29
EP1450310A1 (de) 2004-08-25

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