EP2225049B1 - Method for sorting postal items using a process for sorting outputs dynamic allocation - Google Patents
Method for sorting postal items using a process for sorting outputs dynamic allocation Download PDFInfo
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- EP2225049B1 EP2225049B1 EP08865507A EP08865507A EP2225049B1 EP 2225049 B1 EP2225049 B1 EP 2225049B1 EP 08865507 A EP08865507 A EP 08865507A EP 08865507 A EP08865507 A EP 08865507A EP 2225049 B1 EP2225049 B1 EP 2225049B1
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 32
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000004064 recycling Methods 0.000 description 4
- 241000863032 Trieres Species 0.000 description 3
- 238000009825 accumulation Methods 0.000 description 2
- 102100025279 C-X-C motif chemokine 11 Human genes 0.000 description 1
- 101100222381 Homo sapiens CXCL11 gene Proteins 0.000 description 1
- 241001080024 Telles Species 0.000 description 1
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 description 1
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- 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
Definitions
- the invention relates to a method for sorting mail items on N sorting destinations of a sorting plan with a sorting machine comprising a conveyor of items that serves M sorting outlets each provided with a storage bin for mailings removable container handled by a conveyor of bins, as described in EP-A-1,707,275 , EP-A-1,820,575 or EP-A-1726371 .
- the invention applies more particularly to the sorting of mail items of the "large format" type on bucket carousel sorting machines, but the invention can be applied to the sorting of other postal items. These machines have a significant amount of space.
- the aim of the invention is to reduce this congestion by proposing a sorting method according to which, in the sorting plane, the M sorting outlets are associated with only a subset of the N logical destinations.
- the object of the invention is to provide a method for sorting simple postal items and which preserves the operational flow of a bucket carousel of a sorting machine, which uses a sub-sized sorting machine of small size, that is to say, the number of sorting outlets is less than the number of destinations of the shipments.
- the idea underlying the invention is therefore to dynamically allocate the sorting outputs to the logical destinations and to perform a tray change on a sorting output dynamically allocated to a logical destination, the tray extracted from this output sorting is put on a waiting loop of the ferry conveyor. Dynamic allocation and bin switching can be fast enough to prevent shipments destined for a logical destination dynamically overbooked from traversing the entire transit conveyor waiting loop.
- the bins extracted from the dynamically allocated sorting outlets may be partially filled bins that during the sorting process may return to a sorting output dynamically allocated to still store shipments. There is then a recycling of partially filled bins in the sorting outlets of the machine.
- the method according to the invention is more particularly applicable to the sorting of large format items on a conveyor conveyor of the carrousel type with buckets.
- the advantage of the method according to the invention is that it makes it possible to use a sorting machine whose dimensioning is optimized with respect to the number of destinations of the items to be sorted.
- this method makes it possible to optimize the filling the bins, that is to say to leave the bins of the machine only when they are full.
- sorting machine 1 with two feed inlet with 480 physical sorting outlets to sort 600 logical destinations of a sorting plan.
- Each logical destination can correspond to several distribution points of a postman's tour.
- 300 physical outputs of the machine are associated in the sorting plane to a first group of 300 logical destinations while the other 180 sorting outputs of the machine are associated with only a part (180 logical destinations) of the logical destinations of the machine.
- a second group of 300 logical destinations which constitutes another virtual sorting machine.
- the sorting process according to the invention is particularly effective in the situation described hereinafter but it can also operate with a single group of 600 logical destinations assigned to the 480 physical sorting outlets of the sorting machine 1. There is also in this case a number of sorting outputs smaller than the number of logical destinations to process on the machine.
- the sorting machine 1 for sorting postal items thus comprises two supply input lines 2 with automatic unstacking devices supplying a conveyor of items 3 of the bucket carousel type.
- Each bucket is here arranged to move one shipment at a time.
- each item goes into a reading and recognition device automatic address by OCR for example (not shown).
- OCR optical character recognition
- each item is injected into a cup of the carousel 3, the cups of the carousel circulating in a closed loop path above the physical sorting outlets of the machine 1 (not referenced) which are distributed here on two opposite sides of the machine 1.
- the carousel 3 is designed to allow consequently shipments to be recirculated on a waiting loop 4 temporarily.
- the shipping conveyor 3 is controlled by a control / command unit 7.
- Each sorting outlet is provided with a storage bin 5 for shipments.
- the storage capacity of each tray is about fifty shipments.
- the bins 5 of the sorting outlets are removable and interchangeable bins.
- the sorting machine 1 also comprises a tray conveyor 6 provided for transporting trays along the sorting outlets.
- This tray conveyor 6 is able to load and unload a tray 5 at each sorting outlet.
- This tray conveyor 6 is furthermore arranged to follow, along the sorting outlets, a path 8 in a closed loop, which makes it possible to temporarily recirculate (wait) partially filled containers on a waiting loop as described below.
- the closed loop path 8 of the bins conveyor 6 passes to the front and rear of the sorting outlets of the machine so that the bins enter and exit from each sorting outlet as in a "FIFO"("First In, First Out", that is, the first entry in the sort output is the first output).
- the conveyor of bins 6 here comprises two so-called external ferry conveyor sections 9a, 9b (also called OTAC for "Outside Tray Accumulation Conveyor”) respectively connected to two so-called internal ferry conveyor sections 10a, 10b (also called ITAC for "Inside Tray Accumulation Conveyor”) by via input or output tray transfer devices 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b (also called ITD for "Input Transfer Device” or OTD for "Output Transfer Device”).
- the conveyor sections 9a, 9b therefore run along the front side of the sort discharge outlets while the conveyor sections 10a, 10b run along the rear side of the sorting outlets.
- the bin conveyor 6 is also driven by the unit 7.
- the sorting of each shipment is made from the sorting plane in which each sorting output of the machine is associated with a logical destination derived from the postal address automatically read on the surface of the shipment.
- the sorting plan can be seen as an association table stored in the unit 7 which associates a logical destination with a distribution point (for example a postal address), the logical destination being moreover associated in machine memory with a sorting outlet which allows the unit 7 to control the conveyors of consignments 3 and containers 6.
- the allocation (or assignment) of a sorting output to a logical destination for a shipment is done dynamically, that is to say while the sending flows in the conveyor of items 3.
- the thickness of the items can be measured in the sorting machine to anticipate the fill level of sort output bins and to calculate bin replacement requests based on a fill level limit.
- the unit 7 can therefore associate the shipment with a logical destination and normally a sorting outlet. Since the sort plan requires 600 logical destinations, and the sorting units only have 480 physical outputs, the association of a logical destination to a physical sorting output is not a one-to-one association but an association dynamic that does not exist during a whole sorting pass and can therefore move from one physical sort output to another during this pass.
- a first input 2 of the machine with sendings intended for group A of logical destinations indicated on the machine is used. figure 1 .
- 300 physical sorting outputs are used to start a sorting pass with group A.
- These sorting outlets are provided with empty trays at the start.
- the other power input of the machine is not used with sendings to group B of logical destinations.
- the bins of the outputs of group A are therefore filled as and when the shipments of group A in the conveyor 6.
- the figure 1 illustrates the state of operation of the sorting machine at this stage of the sorting process by showing in rectangles with hatching on the right the partially filled sorting outlets 5 associated with group A and in empty rectangles the outlets sorting 5 associated with no logical destination.
- the bins 5 in the conveyor 6 can be identified and tracked by the unit 7 via machine readable codes, such as barcodes.
- FIG. 2 shows an operating state of the sorting machine 1 during a first phase of simultaneous sorting of the items intended for groups A and B of logical destinations, the conveyor of items 3 being supplied at the same time from the two inputs 2 of the machine. At this time, shipments also fill the sorting outlets associated with the logical destinations of group B.
- a set of trays 5 partially filled with shipments associated with Group B logical destinations which are illustrated by a rectangle with a hatch on the left.
- the unit 7 can control the activity or the instantaneous occupation of the physical sorting outlets.
- unit 7 may, for example, choose a physical output associated with group A of logical destinations which has the lowest occupancy and therefore control the conveyor of bins. 6 so that it replaces the partially full container of this sorting outlet with an empty container able to receive the items to be sorted for this overbooked destination.
- the partially filled tank of this sorting outlet is thus removed on the outer conveyor section 9a, 9b and the empty tank is fed by the inner conveyor section 10a, 10b.
- This sorting output can be selected for example according to the number of expected shipments it must receive, for example the number of shipments present in the conveyor 3 and which are intended for it according to the sorting plan.
- the selection criterion is the exit with the lowest occupancy.
- FIGS 3 and 4 show operating states of the machine 1 where partially filled tanks associated with the group A circulate in the conveyor 6 with empty trays.
- the bins reaching the downstream end of the inner conveyor section 10a, 10b are transferred onto the outer conveyor section 9a, 9b by the transfer of bins 12a, 12b.
- empty bins can be transferred on the conveyor section 9a, 9b when they reach the downstream end of the conveyor section 10a, 10b and partially filled bins can be transferred on the conveyor section 9a, 9b either at the following unloading sorting outlet when they are replaced by another tray, or when they reach the downstream end of the inner conveyor section 10a, 10b.
- the figure 5 shows the state of the machine during a recycling of empty bins and partially filled bins on the outer conveyor section 9a, 9b during the sorting process.
- the dynamic allocation process that is performed then requires that the partially full container that has already been used to receive shipments associated with this overbooked logical destination be returned to a sorting outlet, the one which, at a given moment, presents the most low occupation.
- This partially filled container can therefore be loaded into one of the sorting outlets associated with group B. From this moment, bins partially filled in with group A, partially filled bins associated with group B and empty bins run along the closed loop path 8 and partially filled bins are recycled to the sorting outlets by unit 7, which is shown over there figure 6 .
- the figure 7 illustrates the main steps of the dynamic allocation process according to the invention.
- step 20 the unit 7 automatically determines the mailing address for a current mail entering the sorting machine and therefore a logical destination that corresponds to this mailing address in the sorting plan.
- step 21 the unit 7 checks whether this logical destination is a logic destination in overbooking.
- the unit 7 controls the conveyor 6 in step 22 to direct the sending to a sorting outlet of the machine 1 identified in the sorting plane for storage in a bin 5.
- the unit 7 determines in step 23, starting from the instantaneous or predicted occupation levels of the sorting outlets of the machine, an output to reassociate, for example the sorting outlet having the lowest occupation (this occupation level may correspond to a filling rate of the bin).
- the sorting plan in memory in the sorting machine is then updated dynamically in step 24 to associate the logical destination which is overbooked with the lowest occupancy sorting output which was determined in step 23.
- step 24 the logical destination that was previously associated with this sorting output has passed into a state of overbooking in the sorting plan so that the items present, if any, in the conveyor 3 having this logical destination. are then recirculated by the unit 7 in the waiting loop of the conveyor 3 (the unit 7 therefore suspends the unloading of these items in a storage bin).
- the unit 7 also controls the tray conveyor 6 to unload the tray sorting outlet, if necessary partially full, and replace it with a replacement tray, if necessary an empty tray, in which the current shipment may be unloaded at step 22.
- the replacement tray may be also be a tray already partially full in the case where this tray has already been recycled during the sorting process.
- the unit 7 must make this change of bins in a sorting outlet in advance of the arrival of the items in the sorting outlet and the items to be directed to this sorting outlet can be recirculated on the waiting loop 4 before being unloaded in the sorting outlet.
- the management of the bins on the conveyor 6 may require identification of the bins and tracing of the bins along the conveyor 8 in a manner known per se.
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- Separation, Sorting, Adjustment, Or Bending Of Sheets To Be Conveyed (AREA)
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Abstract
Description
L'invention concerne un procédé pour trier des envois postaux sur N destinations de tri d'un plan de tri avec une machine de tri comportant un convoyeur d'envois qui dessert M sorties de tri munies chacune d'un bac de stockage d'envois amovible manipulé par un convoyeur de bacs, comme décrit dans
L'invention s'applique plus particulièrement au tri d'envois postaux du type « grand format » sur des machines de tri à carrousel à godets, mais l'invention peut s'appliquer au tri d'autres envois postaux. Ces machines ont un encombrement assez important.The invention applies more particularly to the sorting of mail items of the "large format" type on bucket carousel sorting machines, but the invention can be applied to the sorting of other postal items. These machines have a significant amount of space.
Le but de l'invention est de réduire cet encombrement en proposant un procédé de tri selon lequel dans le plan de tri, les M sorties de tri sont associées à un sous-ensemble seulement des N destinations logiques.The aim of the invention is to reduce this congestion by proposing a sorting method according to which, in the sorting plane, the M sorting outlets are associated with only a subset of the N logical destinations.
Le but de l'invention est de proposer un procédé de tri d'envois postaux simple et qui préserve le débit opérationnel d'un carrousel à godets d'une machine de tri, qui utilise une machine de tri sous-dimensionnée de faible encombrement, c'est-à-dire dont le nombre de sorties de tri est inférieur au nombre de destinations des envois.The object of the invention is to provide a method for sorting simple postal items and which preserves the operational flow of a bucket carousel of a sorting machine, which uses a sub-sized sorting machine of small size, that is to say, the number of sorting outlets is less than the number of destinations of the shipments.
A cet effet, l'invention a donc pour objet un procédé pour trier des envois postaux sur N destinations de tri avec une machine de tri comportant un convoyeur d'envois qui dessert M sorties de tri munies chacune d'un bac de stockage d'envois amovible manipulé par un convoyeur de bacs, caractérisé en ce qu'il comprend les étapes suivantes :
- détecter qu'un envoi courant à trier a une certaine destination logique dite en surréservation qui n'est pas associée à une sortie de tri,
- en réponse à cette détection, allouer de façon dynamique à cette destination logique en surréservation une certaine sortie de tri de la machine qui est occupée par une autre destination logique, effectuer dans ladite certaine sortie de tri un changement de bacs de stockage et mettre en attente sur une boucle du convoyeur de bacs le bac extrait de ladite certaine sortie de tri.
- detect that a current item to be sorted has a certain logic destination said overbooked which is not associated with a sorting output,
- in response to this detection, dynamically allocate to this overbooked logical destination a certain sorting output of the machine which is occupied by another logical destination, performing in said certain sorting output a change of storage bins and put on hold on a loop of the tray conveyor the tray extracted from said certain sorting outlet.
Le procédé selon l'invention peut présenter les particularités suivantes
- le bac de stockage extrait de ladite certaine sortie de tri est mis en recirculation sur un trajet en boucle fermée du convoyeur de bacs et dans lequel les envois correspondant à ladite autre destination logique sont mis en recirculation sur un trajet en boucle fermée du convoyeur d'envois ;
- on associe un premier sous-ensemble des sorties de tri à un premier sous-ensemble des N destinations logiques et on associe un second sous-ensemble des sorties de tri à un second sous-ensemble des N destinations logiques, et dans lequel si on détecte qu'une destination logique du second ensemble de destinations logiques est dans un état de surréservation, on alloue de façon dynamique à cette destination logique en surréservation une certaine sortie de tri qui fait partie du premier sous-ensemble de sorties de tri ;
- ladite certaine sortie de tri est choisie en considérant l'occupation instantanée ou prévisionnelle des sorties de tri ;
- le procédé est prévu pour trier des envois du type grand format, dans lequel on utilise un carrousel à godets pour déplacer les envois le long des sorties de tri.
- the storage bin extracted from said sorting outlet is recirculated on a closed loop path of the bin conveyor and in which the shipments corresponding to said other logical destination are recirculated on a closed loop path of the conveyor of the conveyor. shipments;
- a first subset of the sorting outputs is associated with a first subset of the N logical destinations and a second subset of the sorting outputs is associated with a second subset of the N logical destinations, and in which if one detects that a logical destination of the second set of logical destinations is in a state of overbooking, dynamically allocating to this overbooked logical destination a certain sorting output which is part of the first subset of sort outputs;
- said certain sorting output is chosen by considering the instantaneous or forecast occupation of the sorting outlets;
- the method is provided for sorting large format shipments in which a bucket carousel is used to move shipments along the sorting outlets.
L'idée à la base de l'invention est donc d'allouer de façon dynamique les sorties de tri aux destinations logiques et de réaliser un changement de bacs sur une sortie de tri allouée dynamiquement à une destination logique, le bac extrait de cette sortie de tri étant mis sur une boucle d'attente du convoyeur de bacs. L'allocation dynamique et le changement de bac peuvent être suffisamment rapides pour éviter que les envois destinés à une destination logique mise dynamiquement en surréservation parcourent toute la boucle d'attente du convoyeur d'envois. Les bacs extraits des sorties de tri allouées dynamiquement peuvent être des bacs partiellement pleins qui au cours du processus de tri peuvent revenir dans une sortie de tri allouée dynamiquement pour stocker encore des envois. On a alors un recyclage de bacs partiellement pleins dans les sorties de tri de la machine. Le procédé selon l'invention s'applique plus particulièrement au tri d'envois grand format sur un convoyeur d'envoi du type carrousel à godets.The idea underlying the invention is therefore to dynamically allocate the sorting outputs to the logical destinations and to perform a tray change on a sorting output dynamically allocated to a logical destination, the tray extracted from this output sorting is put on a waiting loop of the ferry conveyor. Dynamic allocation and bin switching can be fast enough to prevent shipments destined for a logical destination dynamically overbooked from traversing the entire transit conveyor waiting loop. The bins extracted from the dynamically allocated sorting outlets may be partially filled bins that during the sorting process may return to a sorting output dynamically allocated to still store shipments. There is then a recycling of partially filled bins in the sorting outlets of the machine. The method according to the invention is more particularly applicable to the sorting of large format items on a conveyor conveyor of the carrousel type with buckets.
L'avantage du procédé selon l'invention est qu'il permet d'utiliser une machine de tri dont le dimensionnement est optimisé par rapport au nombre de destinations des envois à trier. En outre, ce procédé permet d'optimiser le remplissage des bacs, c'est-à-dire de ne sortir des bacs de la machine que lorsqu'ils sont pleins.The advantage of the method according to the invention is that it makes it possible to use a sorting machine whose dimensioning is optimized with respect to the number of destinations of the items to be sorted. In addition, this method makes it possible to optimize the filling the bins, that is to say to leave the bins of the machine only when they are full.
La présente invention sera mieux comprise et d'autres avantages apparaîtront à la lecture de la description détaillée d'un mode de réalisation pris à titre d'exemple nullement limitatif et illustré par les dessins annexés, dans lesquels :
- la
figure 1 montre très schématiquement une machine de tri postal à carrousel à godets selon l'invention dans un premier état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 2 montre très schématiquement la machine de tri postal dans un second état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 3 montre très schématiquement la machine de tri postal dans un troisième état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 4 montre très schématiquement la machine de tri postal dans un quatrième état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 5 montre très schématiquement la machine de tri postal dans un cinquième état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 6 montre très schématiquement la machine de tri postal dans un sixième état de fonctionnement. - La
figure 7 est un organigramme qui illustre les étapes principales du procédé pour trier des envois selon l'invention avec une machine de tri telle représentée sur lesfigures 1 à 6 .
- the
figure 1 shows very schematically a postal sorting machine bucket carousel according to the invention in a first operating state. - The
figure 2 shows very schematically the postal sorting machine in a second state of operation. - The
figure 3 schematically shows the postal sorting machine in a third state of operation. - The
figure 4 shows very schematically the postal sorting machine in a fourth state of operation. - The
figure 5 shows very schematically the postal sorting machine in a fifth state of operation. - The
figure 6 shows very schematically the postal sorting machine in a sixth state of operation. - The
figure 7 is a flowchart that illustrates the main steps of the method for sorting shipments according to the invention with a sorting machine such as shown in FIGS.Figures 1 to 6 .
Dans la description qui suit du processus de tri selon l'invention, on considère qu'on utilise une machine de tri 1 à deux entrée d'alimentation avec 480 sorties de tri physiques pour trier 600 destinations logiques d'un plan de tri. Chaque destination logique peut correspondre à plusieurs points de distribution d'une tournée du facteur.In the following description of the sorting process according to the invention, it is considered that we use a
On considère que 300 sorties physiques de la machine sont associées dans le plan de tri à un premier groupe de 300 destinations logiques tandis que les 180 autres sorties de tri de la machine sont associées à une partie seulement (180 destinations logiques) des destinations logiques d'un second groupe de 300 destinations logiques lequel constitue une autre machine de tri virtuelle.It is considered that 300 physical outputs of the machine are associated in the sorting plane to a first group of 300 logical destinations while the other 180 sorting outputs of the machine are associated with only a part (180 logical destinations) of the logical destinations of the machine. a second group of 300 logical destinations which constitutes another virtual sorting machine.
On a donc ici avec les deux groupes de destination logiques disjoints en quelque sorte deux machines de tri virtuelles qui exploitent deux sous-ensembles disjoints de sorties de tri de la machine de tri 1 désignés par A et B sur les
Le processus de tri selon l'invention est particulièrement efficace dans la situation décrite ci-après mais il peut aussi fonctionner avec un seul groupe de 600 destinations logiques affectées aux 480 sorties de tri physiques de la machine de tri 1. On a également dans ce cas un nombre de sorties de tri plus petit que le nombre de destinations logiques à traiter sur la machine.The sorting process according to the invention is particularly effective in the situation described hereinafter but it can also operate with a single group of 600 logical destinations assigned to the 480 physical sorting outlets of the
Sur la
Chaque sortie de tri est munie d'un bac 5 de stockage pour les envois. La capacité de stockage de chaque bac est d'une cinquantaine d'envois environ. Les bacs 5 des sorties de tri sont des bacs amovibles et interchangeables.Each sorting outlet is provided with a
Comme représenté sur la
Sur la
Les tronçons de convoyeur 9a, 9b longent donc le côté avant de déchargement en bac des sorties de tri tandis que les tronçons de convoyeur 10a, 10b longent le côté arrière de chargement en bac des sorties de tri. Le convoyeur de bacs 6 est également piloté par l'unité 7.The
Le tri de chaque envoi, c'est-à-dire le transport de l'envoi depuis une entrée d'alimentation 2 jusque dans un bac de sortie de tri 5 se fait à partir du plan de tri dans lequel chaque sortie de tri de la machine est associée à une destination logique dérivée de l'adresse postale lue automatiquement sur la surface de l'envoi. Le plan de tri peut être vu comme une table d'association mise en mémoire dans l'unité 7 qui associe à un point de distribution (par exemple une adresse postale) une destination logique, la destination logique étant par ailleurs associée en mémoire machine à une sortie de tri ce qui permet à l'unité 7 de contrôler les convoyeurs d'envois 3 et de bacs 6.Selon l'invention, l'allocation (ou affectation) d'une sortie de tri à une destination logique pour un envoi se fait de façon dynamique, c'est-à-dire pendant que l'envoi circule dans le convoyeur d'envois 3. En plus de cette allocation dynamique, l'épaisseur des envois peut être mesurée dans la machine de tri pour anticiper le niveau de remplissage des bacs de sortie de tri et pour calculer des demandes de remplacement de bac basée sur une limite de niveau de remplissage.The sorting of each shipment, that is to say the transport of the shipment from a
Lorsque l'adresse postale d'un envoi a été reconnue automatiquement, l'unité 7 peut donc associer à l'envoi une destination logique et normalement une sortie de tri. Puisque le plan de tri nécessite 600 destinations logiques, et que les unités de tri n'ont que 480 sorties physiques, l'association d'une destination logique à une sortie de tri physique n'est pas une association une à une mais une association dynamique qui n'existe pas pendant toute une passe de tri et qui peut donc se déplacer d'une sortie de tri physique à une autre pendant cette passe.When the mailing address of a shipment has been recognized automatically, the
Au début d'une passe de tri, on considère qu'on utilise une première entrée 2 de la machine avec envois destinés au groupe A de destinations logiques indiquées sur la
Les bacs des sorties du groupe A se remplissent donc au fur et à mesure du passage des envois du groupe A dans le convoyeur 6.The bins of the outputs of group A are therefore filled as and when the shipments of group A in the
La
Les bacs 5 dans le convoyeur 6 peuvent être identifiés et suivis par l'unité 7 par l'intermédiaire de codes lisibles par machine, tels que des codes barres.The
Lorsqu'un premier bac contenant des envois destinés à être triés sur le groupe B de destinations logiques entre dans la machine 1 au niveau d'un dispositif de lecture d'adresse par exemple, des envois à trier sur le groupe A de destinations logiques sont toujours en train d'être dirigés vers les bacs partiellement remplis correspondant au groupe A. Pour les envois destinés au groupe B, on a seulement 180 destinations logiques qui sont associées dans le plan de tri à 180 sorties physiques restantes de la machine 1 lesquelles ne sont pas utilisées pour trier les envois du groupe A.La
Il arrive un moment où un premier et puis d'autres envois à trier sur le groupe B de destinations logiques sont présents dans le convoyeur 3 et ne peuvent pas être triés du fait que leur destination logique de tri n'est pas associée à une sortie de tri effective dans le plan de tri, puisque le nombre de sorties de tri est insuffisant pour les 600 destinations logiques. Ce ou ces destinations logiques sont donc dans un état dit de surréservation ce qui est détecté par l'unité 7. En réponse à la détection d'une destination logique en état de surréservation (un ou plusieurs envois sont présents dans le convoyeur 3 et ont une destination logique qui n'est pas actuellement associée à une sortie de tri de la machine), l'unité 7 entreprend un processus d'allocation dynamique de sorties de tri physiques.There comes a time when a first and then other shipments to be sorted on group B logical destinations are present in the
Dans ce processus d'allocation dynamique, l'unité 7 peut contrôler l'activité ou l'occupation instantanée des sorties de tri physiques. Quand un envoi à trier sur le groupe B de destinations logiques a une destination logique en surréservation, l'unité 7 peut par exemple choisir une sortie physique associée au groupe A de destinations logiques qui présente la plus faible occupation et donc commander le convoyeur de bacs 6 pour qu'il remplace le bac partiellement plein de cette sortie de tri par un bac vide apte à recevoir les envois à trier pour cette destination en surréservation. Le bac partiellement plein de cette sortie de tri est donc enlevé sur le tronçon de convoyeur extérieur 9a, 9b et le bac vide est amené par le tronçon de convoyeur intérieur 10a, 10b.In this dynamic allocation process, the
Cette sortie de tri peut être sélectionnée par exemple en fonction du nombre d'envois prévisible qu'elle doit recevoir, par exemple le nombre d'envois présents dans le convoyeur 3 et qui lui sont destinés selon le plan de tri. Le critère de sélection est celui de la sortie ayant la plus faible occupation.This sorting output can be selected for example according to the number of expected shipments it must receive, for example the number of shipments present in the
On peut donc avoir à changer plusieurs bacs partiellement pleins par plusieurs bacs vides dans les sorties de tri. Les
La
Afin de ne pas surcharger le convoyeur de bacs 6, ce qui pourrait ralentir le processus de recyclage des bacs, une quantité limitée de bacs vides sont acceptés sur le tronçon de convoyeur intérieur 10a, 10b. Une fois cette limite atteinte, des bacs vides supplémentaires venant par exemple d'un système de convoyeur d'entrée ou ICS (Infeed Conveyor System), sont mis en attente dans une réserve de bacs vides. Ceci permet de garder une circulation fluide de bacs à l'intérieur du convoyeur 6 et de préparer un changement de bacs rapide dans les sorties de tri en gardant un stock local de bacs vides sur le convoyeur de stockage de bacs.In order not to overload the
Le recyclage des bacs associés au groupe A et au groupe B continue jusqu'à la fin de la passe de tri.The recycling of the bins associated with group A and group B continues until the end of the sorting pass.
La
A l'étape 20, l'unité 7 détermine automatiquement l'adresse postale pour un envoi courant entrant dans la machine de tri et donc une destination logique qui correspond à cette adresse postale dans le plan de tri.In
A l'étape 21, l'unité 7 contrôle si cette destination logique est une destination logique en surréservation.In
Si la destination logique n'est pas en surréservation, l'unité 7 commande le convoyeur 6 à l'étape 22 pour diriger l'envoi vers une sortie de tri de la machine 1 identifiée dans le plan de tri pour un stockage dans un bac 5.If the logical destination is not overbooked, the
Si maintenant la destination logique de l'envoi courant est en surréservation à l'étape 21, l'unité 7 détermine à l'étape 23, à partir des niveaux d'occupation instantanée ou prévisionnelle des sorties de tri de la machine, une sortie à réassocier, par exemple la sortie de tri ayant la plus faible occupation (ce niveau d'occupation peut correspondre à un taux de remplissage du bac). Le plan de tri en mémoire dans la machine de tri est alors mis à jour dynamiquement à l'étape 24 pour associer la destination logique qui est en surréservation avec la sortie de tri de plus faible occupation qui a été déterminée à l'étape 23.If now the logical destination of the current shipment is overbooked in
En même temps dans l'étape 24, la destination logique qui était associée auparavant à cette sortie de tri est passée dans un état de surréservation dans le plan de tri de sorte que les envois présents le cas échéant dans le convoyeur 3 ayant cette destination logique sont alors mis en recirculation par l'unité 7 dans la boucle d'attente du convoyeur 3 (l'unité 7 suspend donc le déchargement de ces envois dans un bac de stockage).At the same time in
A l'étape 25, l'unité 7 commande également le convoyeur de bacs 6 pour décharger la sortie de tri du bac, le cas échéant partiellement plein, et le remplacer par un bac de remplacement, le cas échéant un bac vide, dans lequel l'envoi courant pourra être déchargé à l'étape 22. Le bac de remplacement peut être également un bac déjà partiellement plein dans le cas où ce bac a déjà été recyclé pendant le processus de tri.In
Bien entendu, l'unité 7 doit réaliser ce changement de bacs dans une sortie de tri de façon anticipée à l'arrivée des envois dans la sortie de tri et les envois destinés à être dirigés vers cette sortie de tri peuvent être mis en recirculation sur la boucle d'attente 4 avant d'être déchargés dans la sortie de tri. Par ailleurs, la gestion des bacs sur le convoyeur 6 peut nécessiter une identification des bacs et un traçage des bacs le long du convoyeur 8 de manière connue en soi.Of course, the
Claims (5)
- A method of sorting mailpieces amongst N sorting destinations with a sorting machine including a mailpiece conveyor (3) that serves M sorting outlets, each of which is provided with a removable mailpiece storage tray (5) that is handled by a tray conveyor (6), said method being characterized in that it comprises the following steps:detecting (21) that a current mailpiece to be sorted has a certain logical destination that is said to be "overbooked" and that is not associated with a sorting outlet;in response to such detection, dynamically allocating (24) to said overbooked logical destination a certain sorting outlet of the machine that is occupied by another logical destination, making a storage tray change (25) in said certain sorting outlet, and putting the tray extracted from said certain sorting outlet on standby on a loop (8) of the tray conveyor (6).
- A method according to claim 1, wherein the storage tray extracted from said certain sorting outlet is put into re-circulation on a closed-loop path (8) of the tray conveyor (6), and wherein the mailpieces corresponding to said other logical destination are put into re-circulation on a closed-loop path (4) of the mailpiece conveyor (3).
- A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a first subset of the sorting outlets are associated with a first subset (A) of the N logical destinations, and a second subset of the sorting outlets are associated with a second subset (B) of the N logical destinations, and wherein, if it is detected that a logical destination of the second subset (B) of logical destinations is in an overbooked state, a certain sorting outlet that belongs to the first subset (A) of sorting outlets is dynamically allocated to said overbooked logical destination.
- A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said certain sorting outlet is chosen by considering the instantaneous or forecast occupancy of the sorting outlets.
- A method according to any preceding claim, for sorting mailpieces of the "large-format" or "flats" type, wherein a bin carrousel (3) is used for moving the mailpieces along the sorting outlets.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US99697207P | 2007-12-13 | 2007-12-13 | |
PCT/FR2008/052292 WO2009081008A2 (en) | 2007-12-13 | 2008-12-12 | Method for sorting postal items using a process for sorting outputs dynamic allocation |
Publications (3)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP2225049A2 EP2225049A2 (en) | 2010-09-08 |
EP2225049B1 true EP2225049B1 (en) | 2011-09-14 |
EP2225049B2 EP2225049B2 (en) | 2014-09-10 |
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Family Applications (1)
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EP08865507.1A Not-in-force EP2225049B2 (en) | 2007-12-13 | 2008-12-12 | Method for sorting postal items using a process for sorting outputs dynamic allocation |
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US (1) | US8504192B2 (en) |
EP (1) | EP2225049B2 (en) |
AT (1) | ATE524246T1 (en) |
ES (1) | ES2372161T5 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2009081008A2 (en) |
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2008
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- 2008-12-12 ES ES08865507.1T patent/ES2372161T5/en active Active
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- 2008-12-12 WO PCT/FR2008/052292 patent/WO2009081008A2/en active Application Filing
- 2008-12-12 AT AT08865507T patent/ATE524246T1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
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EP2225049B2 (en) | 2014-09-10 |
ES2372161T3 (en) | 2012-01-16 |
US20100318216A1 (en) | 2010-12-16 |
EP2225049A2 (en) | 2010-09-08 |
ES2372161T5 (en) | 2014-11-13 |
WO2009081008A2 (en) | 2009-07-02 |
US8504192B2 (en) | 2013-08-06 |
ATE524246T1 (en) | 2011-09-15 |
WO2009081008A3 (en) | 2009-08-20 |
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