EP1715963B1 - System and method for sorting postal articles using two feeders - Google Patents

System and method for sorting postal articles using two feeders Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1715963B1
EP1715963B1 EP05707263A EP05707263A EP1715963B1 EP 1715963 B1 EP1715963 B1 EP 1715963B1 EP 05707263 A EP05707263 A EP 05707263A EP 05707263 A EP05707263 A EP 05707263A EP 1715963 B1 EP1715963 B1 EP 1715963B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
articles
postal articles
postal
feeder
compartments
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 - Fee Related
Application number
EP05707263A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1715963A1 (en
Inventor
Armin Zimmermann
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.)
Siemens AG
Original Assignee
Siemens AG
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 Siemens AG filed Critical Siemens AG
Publication of EP1715963A1 publication Critical patent/EP1715963A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1715963B1 publication Critical patent/EP1715963B1/en
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • 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
    • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination
    • B07C3/02—Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
    • B07C3/08—Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution using arrangements of conveyors

Definitions

  • the various embodiments described herein relate to a system and method for sorting articles within a mail processing system.
  • articles and mail or postal articles refer to mail items, magazines, books and other such essentially flat items.
  • a mail processing system at a postal service's processing site sorts all articles for the carriers and packages the sorted articles for each domestic address. A carrier's responsibility includes putting all of these articles into an appropriate sequence for efficient delivery to the domestic addresses.
  • the mail processing system is highly automated to handle the amount of daily articles.
  • a delivery point packaging (DPP) system that separates the articles, reads their destination addresses and groups the articles based upon their respective destination addresses.
  • DPP delivery point packaging
  • One example of a DPP system includes an arrangement of a multitude of individual compartments or slots for individual articles. Feeders insert the articles into a transport system at loading points. At this point, the destination address of an article is known and the transport system transports the article along a delivery path to a slot that is pre-assigned to the destination address of that article.
  • a general aspect of a mail processing system is to operate it as efficient and reliable as possible and as inexpensive as possible to the postal service.
  • One parameter that influences efficiency and operating costs is the number of delivery passes necessary to deliver the articles to the compartments assigned to particular delivery addresses. Reducing the number delivery passes improves efficiency and reliability and reduces operating cost. It is, therefore, an objective to provide a mail processing system that allows operation with a minimum number of delivery passes.
  • one aspect involves a system for sorting postal articles that includes a plurality of postal article feeders.
  • a delay line receives postal articles from one of the feeders
  • a delivery line receives postal articles from another of the feeders.
  • Each one of a plurality of towers has a plurality of destination compartments arranged to receive the postal articles from the delay line and the delivery line. The destination compartments move laterally with respect to the towers.
  • a plurality of trays receives the postal articles from the delivery and delay lines and delivers the postal articles to select destination compartments.
  • a first feeder is operated to insert a first stream of postal articles into a delivery line at a predetermined first rate
  • a second feeder is operated to insert a second stream of postal articles into a delay line at a predetermined second rate.
  • the postal articles are loaded from the delivery line and the delay line onto a plurality of trays.
  • the trays move on a rail system along a plurality of destination compartments arranged to selectively receive the postal articles from the delay line and the delivery line.
  • the first and second rates are selected to provide for a predetermined throughput of the rail system. To empty the destination compartments, the destination compartments move with respect to the trays.
  • Figure 1 shows a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a mail processing system to provide for a general overview of a mail processing system.
  • the illustration depicts basic flows and functional relationships within the system. These basic flows and functional relationships include sections for feeding articles, routing the articles and sorting the articles. These flows and relationships represent some of the main functional features of the system. Those of ordinary skill in the art of mail processing systems will appreciate that the system includes a variety of other functional features. A more detailed description of one embodiment of the system and its structural components follows.
  • the feeding section separates individual articles from batches of mail to identify their individual destination addresses.
  • the feeding section includes in one embodiment feeders 2, 4 and optical character readers (OCR) or bar code readers, or a combination of these readers.
  • OCR optical character readers
  • the feeder section hands the articles to the routing section.
  • the routing section includes an infrastructure that transports the articles according to their destination addresses to the sorting section.
  • the infrastructure of the routing section includes, among other elements, vertical diverters 6, 7, 8.
  • the sorting section is associated with the routing section to receive the articles and includes a predetermined number of towers 10, 12, 14 that have a plurality of compartments 20 for the articles. In one embodiment, each compartment 20 is assigned to an individual destination address.
  • the feeder 2 inputs letters to the system and the feeder 4 other flat items.
  • the feeders 2, 4 generate two separate streams of articles.
  • the feeders 2, 4 may be conventional feeders whose structure and operation are known to those of ordinary skill in the art of mail processing systems.
  • the feeder 2 is coupled to a delivery line 16 to receive letters from the feeder 2.
  • the delivery line 16 includes switches 16a, 16b to deliver a letter to one of the three towers 10, 12, 14.
  • the feeder 4 is coupled to a delay line 18 to receive flat items from the feeder 4.
  • the delay line 18 includes switches 18a, 18b, 18c to deliver a flat item to one of the towers 10, 12, 14.
  • the delivery line 16 receives the letters from the feeder 2 at a throughput of about 3 letters per second, and is a pinch belt system, for example, running at a velocity of about 3 m/s.
  • a delay line is not coupled to the feeder 2 because letters are typically bar-coded making the destination address immediately available.
  • the delay line 18 is a U-channel that functions as a storage section for the flat articles.
  • the delay line 18 receives the flat articles at a throughput of about one letter per second and provides for a time delay configured to allow the system to perform the optical character reading.
  • the throughput ratio of letters to other flats is 3:1. If the delay line 18 runs at a velocity of about 0,5 m/s and a delay time of about 30 s is desired, the delay line 18 may have a length of about 15 m before reaching the first switch 18a. Further, the switches 18a, 18b, 18c are U-channel switches.
  • the U-channel of the delay line 18 and the switches 18a, 18b, 18c provide that the flat articles are transported in a substantially upright (vertical) position leaning against the legs of the "U".
  • devices may be inserted into the transport path to bring the flat articles into a desired position (e.g., by turning or twisting) for further handling.
  • a central controller monitors and controls the mail processing system. Among other functions, the central controller controls the operational speeds and throughputs of the feeders 2, 4, the operation of the delivery line 16 and the delay line 18 and the operation and position of the switches 16a, 16b, 18a, 18b, 18c. Further, the central controller is configured to handle rejected articles and to re-feed them or, if necessary, to send them to a manual feeder.
  • each tower 10, 12, 14 includes two frames 10a, 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b, wherein each has a predetermined number of levels and compartments 20 configured to move laterally with respect to the frames 10a, 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b. It is contemplated that the top view of Figure 1 shows only one of the towers' levels that have substantially identical structures. Further, in each tower 10, 12, 14, a rail system 22 couples the two frames 10a, 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b and operates on a per level basis.
  • each level there are trays 24, 26 configured to move on the rail system 22 in front of the compartments 20 and along a closed loop, for example, at a velocity of about 1,4 m/s.
  • the rail system 22 may have a length of about 56 m per level and tower 10, 12, 14. In one embodiment, about 40 trays 24, 26 may move counter-clockwise per level and tower 10, 12, 14.
  • the compartments 20 of each level can be reached by the trays 24, 26 for delivery of an article.
  • each frame 10a, 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b has 15 levels, and the compartments 20 of each level are arranged in double-deep rows, for example, each row having between a few dozen and several hundred compartments, for example 168.
  • the compartments 20 are next to each other, for example, with a horizontal pitch of about 300 mm and a length of about 400 mm.
  • the 15 levels may have a vertical distance from each other of about 150 mm and a total active height of about 2,25 m.
  • two or more levels are assigned to one mail carrier, for example, three levels per mail carrier, there are several hundred compartments 20 assigned to one mail carrier.
  • each frame 10a, 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b may serve five mail carriers.
  • the mail articles reach the various levels of the towers 10, 12, 14 selectively through the vertical diverters 6, 7, 8 coupled between the switches 18a, 18b, 18c and described in more detail with reference to Figure 4 .
  • Figure 2 illustrates a cross sectional view of an embodiment of a frame 10a of the mail processing system.
  • the cross sectional view shows the 15 levels of the frame 10a, the compartments 20 in double-deep arrangement and the rail system 22.
  • a carrier 25 is configured to receive three trays 24 and to transport the trays 24 along the rail system 22 to the compartments 20.
  • the system may be configured so that each tray 24 moves independently on the rail system 22.
  • Figure 2 shows a flat article on each tray 24. It is contemplated that the other frames 10b, 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b have essentially the same structure.
  • Each carrier 25 is configured to move independently on the rail system 22 and to stop in front of the compartment 20 assigned to the flat article's destination address.
  • Each tray 24 may move with respect to the carrier 25 to deposit the flat article into a compartment 20 of the first or second row.
  • the flat article may be pushed or dropped into the compartment 20.
  • a telescopic arm may transfer the flat article from the tray 24 to the compartment 20.
  • the compartment 20 may have a slip off device, or any other suitable device to hold the flat article within the compartment 20.
  • Figure 3 illustrates a side view of one (e.g., frame 14b) of the frames 10a - 14b shown in Figure 1 .
  • the levels are numbered.
  • Each of the 15 levels includes a conveyor belt system.
  • the conveyor belt is cleated so that the space between two cleats forms one of the compartments 20.
  • Figure 3 shows a tray 24 (level 10) positioned next to a compartment 20, compartments 20 containing mail articles (levels 6 and 10), and high volume containers 29 (e.g., 5 containers). It is contemplated that the containers 29 can be reached by the trays 24 and that the containers 29 may be assigned, for example, to companies that receive a substantial amount of mail. As shown in Figure 3 , the containers 29 are positioned on the right-hand side of the frame 14b.
  • the mail processing system waits until all compartments 20 are filled, or all mail articles of the present batch of mail have been sorted, and then activates the conveyor belt system to move the compartments 20 laterally with respect to the rail system 22, for example, from right to left. It is contemplated that the system operates the conveyor belt system of one level independent from the belt system of the other levels.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates in level 6 a series of wrapped packages at the left-hand side of the frame 14b. The packages may then be stacked in a container for sorted mail.
  • FIG 4 illustrates one embodiment of the vertical diverter 6 coupled to the frame 10a of the mail processing system.
  • the vertical diverter 6 is coupled to receive flat articles from the switch 18c.
  • a system of interconnected switches 30 and sections 32 are configured to selectively divert a flat article to reach one of the available (15) levels of the frame 10a.
  • the switches 30 and sections 32 are based on a flat belt system that drops the flat articles at the desired level onto a tray 24.
  • the belt system and the trays 24 are arranged so that an appropriate angle of inclination exists that assists dropping the flat articles onto the trays 24.
  • a stop or hold-down mechanism may be provided to assist loading the trays 24.
  • FIGs 5 - 7 illustrate various options for operating and arranging the feeders of the mail processing system.
  • the total throughput of the feeders is four articles per second (4/s).
  • the (letter) feeder 2 operates at a rate of four articles per second (4/s), but leaves a gap after every third article.
  • the feeder 2 inserts letters into the delivery line 16 at a rate of three letters per second (3/s).
  • the feeder 4 operates at a rate of one article per second (1/s) and, as such, inserts a flat item into the delay line 18 at a rate of 1/s.
  • the two streams of articles merge into a single stream. That is, once the trays 24, 26 are loaded, they travel at a rate of 4/s.
  • a tray 24 with a flat item follows setting a letter to flats ratio of 3:1.
  • the (letter) feeder 2 operates at a rate of three articles per second (3/s), and the feeder 4 operates at a rate of one article per second (1/s).
  • the letter to flats ratio is 3:1, as in Figure 5 , the two streams cannot be merged to a single stream.
  • a feeder 2' is configured to output letters and flat items at a rate of two articles per second (2/s).
  • a feeder 4' is configured to output letters and flat items at a rate of two articles per second (2/s). Both feeders 2', 4' leave a gap after each article.
  • the two streams of articles merge into a single stream.
  • one tray with a flat item follows setting a letter to flats ratio of 1:1.

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  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
EP05707263A 2004-02-09 2005-02-08 System and method for sorting postal articles using two feeders Expired - Fee Related EP1715963B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US54229504P 2004-02-09 2004-02-09
PCT/EP2005/001261 WO2005075116A1 (en) 2004-02-09 2005-02-08 System and method for sorting postal articles using flatbed sorter

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1715963A1 EP1715963A1 (en) 2006-11-02
EP1715963B1 true EP1715963B1 (en) 2008-04-09

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP05707263A Expired - Fee Related EP1715963B1 (en) 2004-02-09 2005-02-08 System and method for sorting postal articles using two feeders

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EP (1) EP1715963B1 (ja)
JP (1) JP2007520342A (ja)
CN (1) CN1917968A (ja)
DE (1) DE602005005955T2 (ja)
WO (1) WO2005075116A1 (ja)

Families Citing this family (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
AU2008206361A1 (en) 2007-01-12 2008-07-24 Opex Corporation Method and apparatus for sorting items
CN104226606A (zh) * 2014-08-08 2014-12-24 王龙虎 一种能提高自动分拣效率的二维分拣方法
CN104550031B (zh) * 2015-01-16 2017-01-25 昆山新宁物流有限公司 一种物流用分拣装置
CN104550037A (zh) * 2015-01-16 2015-04-29 昆山新宁物流有限公司 一种多功能分拣装置
CN106144382B (zh) * 2015-04-27 2020-08-14 顺丰速运有限公司 一种自动化分拣机轨道内查找快件的方法及装置
RU2705283C2 (ru) * 2015-04-29 2019-11-06 Штефан КЛОЦНЕР Система для автоматической упаковки журналов и газет для каждого отдельного газетного киоска
US10722920B2 (en) * 2017-02-21 2020-07-28 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Device and method for delivery point sorting
CN107716323B (zh) * 2017-09-13 2019-08-16 立际物流科技（上海）有限公司 一种柔性分拣机分拣包裹的方法
EP3556479A1 (en) * 2018-04-17 2019-10-23 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Device and method for delivery point sorting
US11780676B2 (en) 2019-08-14 2023-10-10 Opex Corporation Systems and methods for managing inventory
CN113772312B (zh) * 2021-09-14 2023-10-13 深圳市库宝软件有限公司 货物运输控制方法、装置、设备、仓储系统及存储介质

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5954330A (en) * 1996-12-02 1999-09-21 Bell & Howell Postal Systems Inc. Method and apparatus for synchronizing a document feeder with a mail sorting conveyor
US7138596B2 (en) * 2001-08-01 2006-11-21 Pippin James M Apparatus and method for mail sorting

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP2007520342A (ja) 2007-07-26
CN1917968A (zh) 2007-02-21
EP1715963A1 (en) 2006-11-02
WO2005075116A1 (en) 2005-08-18
DE602005005955D1 (de) 2008-05-21
DE602005005955T2 (de) 2009-05-20

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