EP2236424B1 - Method and device for inserting individual products into containers in a robot street - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The invention relates to a method and a device for inserting individual products into containers in a robot line according to the preamble of claim 1.

State of the art

The invention relates to a robot road, as used for converting individual products into storage groups, which can accommodate a certain number of individual products. In the following, the term container is used instead of the term storage group, which means less of the container as such, but much more individual products or a group of individual products, which after the implementation by the robot in a defined position relative to a transport device and possibly in a defined position within the group of individual products.

Usually, the individual products are delivered on a product belt and the containers are transported on a container belt and guided along the fixed position robots. A container belt can be a transport device on the fixed or variable distance, but with respect to the transport device itself stationary container or Cartesian certain deposit positions be introduced. It may be in container tapes but also thermoforming machines or conveyor chains, which are in fixed, or only due to the indexing variable distance troughs or containers.

From the point of view of a central control or the individual controls of each robot of such a robot road, there is no difference whether they are containers or troughs or Cartesian depositing positions.

In practice, the containers to be filled are usually delivered to a first transport device and accumulated there. Subsequently, the containers are transferred from the first transport device to a second transport device, effectively the actual container belt, on which the filling with the individual products happens, and after complete filling, transferred to a third transport device for the removal of the filled containers. In the filling of stationary with the container band connected containers, in particular wells of a thermoforming machine or inlet chains of tubular bag machines, however, the pre-entry, filling and removal of the container takes place on a single transport device.

In DE 42'08'818 C2 is a robot road shown in which the robot with respect to the product strip and container belt are not in a fixed position, but limited in their direction and mechanically coupled are movable and which are individually movable orthogonal to their direction. In this case, both the picking up of the individual products, as well as the storage of the individual products in a container with moving product band or container band can be done. At most, the individual product leading product band is stopped temporarily, which makes the coupling to a continuously producing production machine for individual products, and it can only take a product at any given time or pick up a product and not both robots together. Also, no advantage from the arrangement of the product band shown in the same direction and in the opposite direction can be seen.

EP 0'749'902 B1 In contrast, shows a robot road, in which at the inlet of the individual products in the robot road, the individual products are counted and in each of which a new container is released onto the container band upon reaching the necessary for complete filling of a container number of individual products. It is further shown that the container band and the product band move in synchronism or that the container band and the product band are realized by a common band. It is problematic that with irregular introduction of individual products or their introduction on narrow product bands can not be ensured that all containers are completely filled.

Either WO 2004/113030 A1 , as well as EP 1'285'851 A1 take this problem and show a robot road, in which the individual products are also counted at the entrance to the robot road and in which by means of a mathematical optimization each counted individual product in a robot road in the container, respectively a storage position, for loading by a particular robot in assigned to the robot road. This discrete loading optimization is computationally expensive in practice and likewise does not ensure that in case of irregular or in relation to the depositing positions to be filled per container less introduction of individual products all containers are completely occupied.

This problem of incomplete filling will both in DE 29817239 U , as well as at EP 1'352'831 B1 addressed in each case an intermediate storage of individual products is proposed, which can be used if necessary for the complete filling of containers. The disadvantage here is that the power to store and remove individual products by one or more robots in the cache on the overall performance of the robot road is to be deducted.

Other comparable facilities are off EP 1`160`166 B1 , here for the simultaneous filling of standing and lying products, as well as from FR 2754239 A1 known with regard to separate supply of various individual products. However, these systems all have no new approaches to the problem mentioned above.

Another generic method is off EP 0'856'465 B1 known. Here, individual products and containers are fed in parallel transport facilities for individual products and containers in countercurrent along a robot road. In single or multiple intersecting transport devices, the transport direction of the product band and the container band is also chosen so that the principle of Gegenstromwirkweise is maintained. The relative speed of the irregularly supplied individual products to the delivered containers, but also the delivery of the next to be filled Container, controlled by the last in the conveying direction of the container or, in the case of failure, penultimate robot so that only completely filled containers leave the working area of this last robot. Both the picking up of the products, as well as the storage of the products take place, as in DE 42 08 818 C2 shown by synchronization of the robot on the moving product band or container band. Next is in EP 0'856'465 B1 described that as far as possible no individual products should leave the working area of the last robot in the direction of the individual products. From the representation of the invention of EP 0'856'465 B1 various measures are taken to see how this is achieved. From paragraphs 61 and 62 it can be seen that the control of the last robot in the direction of the container belt or, if it fails, the second robot can reduce the speed of the container belt, if otherwise an incompletely filled container from the working area of the last or penultimate robot would move. Further, it is described in paragraph 64 that thereby the containers located in the working area of the previous robots in the running direction of the container band are more or less filled by these previous robots. The fact that the performance of all robots is used until the container is completely filled when the container belt is retarded can be used to ensure that no individual products that have not been transferred into containers leave the robot line.

Next will be out EP 0'856'465 B1 It is known that this principle can also be realized only with a single robot, which is often the case with a correspondingly small number of individual products to be translated into containers is.

Out US 6,122,895 and EP 0'856'465 B1 go even more execution features. In particular, a method is also described in which the delivery of the next container to be filled into the working area of the robots takes place as a function of the delivery of the necessary number of individual products.

In summary, it is in a robotic street according EP 0'856'465 B1 So a combination of several, possibly due to the amount of supplied individual products, additionally necessary robots, which translate as many individual products maximum to their complete filling in containers and a single-working, last or in the second outlast robot whose task it is To completely fill the container and release it after complete filling, as well as to release the next empty container into the robot line.

This method is therefore particularly suitable for robot lines, in which there are often complete interruptions in the introduction of individual products and in which the product band in the robot line can not be stopped or at least delayed. There it is necessary for all robots to convert as many individual products into containers as possible, because of the interruption in the introduction of individual products to a standstill of the container belt, since no fully filled containers from the working area of the last robot can be moved, but in the rear Range of robotic street still individual products in containers have to be implemented. It comes in this case to a subsequent unavoidable acceleration of the container belt as soon as individual products are returned to the product tape, as the last robot in the direction of the container belt can not work itself, since he in the already completely or almost completely filled containers no or only individual finds empty deposit positions more.

However, the method proves to be disadvantageous when it comes to the supply of individual products by the majority only to fluctuations or if in the case of an interruption in the supply of individual products, the product band in the Umsetzbereich the robot road can be stopped, which is usually the case. In these cases, there is an excessive utilization of the robot in individual areas of the robot road and it comes to significantly greater speed differences of the container band, as it would be required due to the fluctuations in the supply of individual products. Another disadvantage is that this method requires a complex adjustment of the speed of the product strip and the container band relative to each other for different types of individual products, as far as the robots should be used evenly.

It is also the case that, in practice, even when this method is used, control of the complete filling of the containers following the conversion region of the robot line is often required. Although the last robot control technology ensures that all containers are fully loaded, so it is from a practical point of view that certain products are not be taken clean, damaged when gripped or not be implemented accurately. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the goal of the complete filling of the container by means of this method, although theoretically achieved, but in practice nevertheless a test is required.

Finally is off EP 1 `226` 408 B1 a system with at least two robots, in which a weight-determined loading of the container takes place on the basis of a weight determination of the individual products to be reacted.

EP 1 819 994 B1 on the other hand presents a method and a device for the weight-determined formation of groups and containers, wherein there are several transport devices for discharging the groups and containers used are used. It is particularly important to form different groups on different transport devices and thereby increase the efficiency of the system. In this case, this method proves to be disadvantageous when it comes to form groups and containers as similar as possible and to ensure that all supplied individual products are implemented without at most incomplete groups or containers must be re-supplied.

EP 0'781'172 B1 On the other hand, it deals less with the weight-determined loading by means of a robot road itself, but instead presents a method of making a prediction of the probability that a container can be effectively completely filled on the basis of historical weight values of the individual products. It turns out that above all the numerous presence of individual products for Ready loading of a container is critical.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and an associated apparatus, in which in a robotic street countercurrent process as uniform as possible implementation of individual products in containers, such as blisters on a transport device, wells a Gruppierkette, individual product stack with Mitnehmer provided chain or deep-drawn wells of a thermoforming packaging machine, can be realized so as to improve the efficiency and uniform operation of the system, without increasing the cost of handling the container to be filled significantly.

This object is achieved by a method and a device having the features of patent claims 1 and 16, respectively.

Presentation of the invention

The invention is based on the principle of cascaded countercurrent. By using the cascaded countercurrent, the conversion efficiency of each individual robot in a robotic route can be designed such that, regardless of the number of individual products brought about, an increase in the concentration of the container in the direction of travel of the container belt, for example linear or digressive, is ensured.

The number of robots in a robot road is determined by the individual products introduced. In the case of different types of individual products, which are processed in lots on the same robot line, the single product which requires the greatest utilization is determining. This utilization is usually determined by the number of individual products introduced, but in a few cases also by other criteria such as the weight of the individual products. If, for example, the number of brought-up individual products to determine the number of robots, the interpretation is carried out in practice according to the following procedure. In a first step, an average conversion time per individual product is calculated. This average turnaround time is determined by the pick and place handling time, the travel time between place of pickup and place of picking, product distribution of the individual products on the product line, and the size and geometry of the work area of each robot. From this average conversion time and from the number of maximum expected number of individual products, the minimum necessary number of robots is determined after rounding up. This Value is usually corrected in practice with a safety factor to compensate for disturbances such as missing containers, bad individual products, robot stop due to contamination, disturbances in the position and rotational position detection, etc.

It is also usually the case in practice that the transport device for the individual products can be stopped in the transfer area of the robot road.

The term "conversion region of the robot road" is understood here and below to mean that region in which the products to be converted are detected by the robots of the robot road and converted into the corresponding containers to be filled. In contrast, the working area of a robot is understood to mean that area which is covered by a single robot. The work areas of the individual robots can overlap. The conversion area of the robot road is made up of the sum of the work areas of the individual robots.

According to the invention, the filling of the depositing positions of each container in a robot line with at least two robots, which operate in a cascaded countercurrent process, realized so that the increase of the levels of the container in the Umsetzbereich the robot road is maintained by each robot independently and as accurately as possible.

Essential for the operation of the cascaded countercurrent process is that the concentration of the individual products at the inlet of the robot line is measured. Concentration refers to the amount of currently delivered individual products in relation to the maximum expected number of individual products. Ideally, the concentration of individual products currently in the implementation area of the robot road is also taken into account. This measured concentration determines at all times which robot currently has control of the product band, the container band and the transfer performance of the robots.

Insofar as no individual products - equivalent to concentration 0 - are introduced on the product line at the entrance of the robot line, as is the case immediately before the start of production or in the event of production interruptions, all robots are instructed to complete their current implementation of an individual product and then to wait. Also, the transport device for the individual products and for the container in the transfer area is brought to a standstill. By this standstill can be avoided that it comes in the re-feeding of individual products to large fluctuations in the conversion performance of the robot.

Essential for the uniform utilization of the robot road is the setting of the desired filling level of the last in the running direction of the container belt and second last robot for that single product, which is introduced with the maximum number expected for the robot road. For this purpose, the system is designed in such a way that the delivery of the maximum expected number of individual products means that the container belt is not controlled by the last robot. For this purpose, one will set the desired level of the last and the second last robot so that Accordingly, the control of the container belt by the second-last robot takes place, thereby using the robot road more evenly.

As soon as individual products - equivalent to concentration> 0, but nearly = 0 - are only occasionally delivered to the product line at the inlet of the robot line, the first robot in the transport direction of the container assumes control of the container belt.

Correspondingly, in the case of a linear increase in the nominal filling levels, a robot located in the middle between, in the direction of transport of the containers, first and last robot, or a degressive increase in the nominal filling levels, a robot shifted by the degression from the center assumes control of the container band, if half the number of maximum expected individual products - corresponds to concentration 50 - is delivered to the inlet of the robot road.

If different types of individual products are processed in lots on the robot line, which differ in the maximum number of individual products brought up per variety, the maximum concentration differs according to this difference.

The transition of the control of the container belt to a robot positioned further back in the direction of transport of the containers due to a decrease in concentration depends mainly on how great the decrease in concentration is. Accordingly, there are provisions to make that the, preferably linear or degressive, increasing level of the container is maintained as accurately as possible. At the same time, but must be sufficient Umsetzkapazität be in the transport direction of the container first robot of the system to be present so that the products located on the product tape can be as completely as possible converted into containers.

For this purpose, a threshold for the decrease in concentration is determined. If the decrease in concentration is less than the threshold value, the transition of the control of the container belt to a robot positioned further back in the transport direction of the container is shifted synchronously with the point in the single product flow at which the concentration decrease has occurred.

If, on the other hand, the decrease in concentration is greater than the threshold value, the permissible fill level of all robots is increased in accordance with the decrease in concentration. It should be noted that at most the permissible level of the first robot in the direction of the container must be increased more than the allowable level of the last in the direction of the container robot.

This increase takes place in such a way that the second last robot in the running direction of the container has to be completely filled immediately. This ensures that the second to last robot can take control of the robot road later until the system is in balance. All other robots may then be filled to such an extent that they could reach a level which corresponds to the normal level of the second-to-last robot. The second to last robot will continue to work fully with the now lower product flow. Once the point of concentration decline has reached those in the transport direction of the container further positioned backward robot, which Due to the concentration of the individual products at the inlet of the robotic line, the permissible fill levels in all robots, except for the second-to-last, are lowered back to their normal level. At the same time, the robot which, because of the concentration of the individual products at the inlet, has the control of constantly checking whether this robot and the robots lying behind it in the running direction of the containers exceeds its set level or not, begins. As soon as these no longer exceed their nominal level, this robot takes control of the container belt from the second-to-last robot.

This process step ensures that even with a strong decrease in concentration in the individual product supply all individual products can be converted into containers and that as many containers in the front of the container band are still completely filled and can be removed. At best, a small overflow can not be avoided since the containers can no longer be completely filled by the third robot.

The transition of the control of the container belt to a further in the transport direction of the container further positioned robot due to an increase in concentration always takes place immediately when such a concentration increase is detected at the inlet of the robot road. This ensures that even with batch deliveries of individual products, all individual products can always be implemented.

In each case all robots, which have reached their desired level of the container and which in the transport direction of the Containers in front of the robot, which currently controls the container band, are put into a waiting position, although possibly individual products are in your work area and the containers in your work area are not yet fully occupied. This ensures in particular that individual products also reach the working areas of the first robot in the running direction of the containers and are implemented there.

The nominal performance of each robot is set based on the maximum expected concentration so that all robots together are able to completely translate the individual products on the product belt into containers on the container belt. Further, each individual robot is set to translate maximally so many products into containers that the increase in fill levels of the individual product containers on each robotic robot robot is maintained upon delivery of the maximum expected products. The increase of the levels can be predicted depending on the relative speed of the transport devices for the individual products and for the container preferably linear or degressive rising. The nominal speed of the transport device for the containers is set so that the number of deposit positions brought up per container corresponds to the maximum expected number of individual products. Ideally, this coordination is done in such a way that each robot is able to implement the corresponding number of individual products during a continuous activity. In practice, it will therefore be considered, for varieties of individual products, which differ significantly in the maximum concentration, in each case, the nominal conversion performance of each robot for each variety of individual products adapt.

The actual concentration measurement is carried out by transmitting the current production quantity to the robot road or by a measurement as accurate as possible with a sensor on or before the inlet to the robot road. The earliest possible transmission of the number of brought-up individual products to the robot road has the advantage that it can react more quickly in case of strong concentration differences in the introduction of individual products. As far as the concentration is measured with a sensor, the position and rotational position or another characteristic of the individual products can be determined at best with the same sensor.

An additional improvement in the uniformity of the utilization of the robot road and the fullest possible filling of the container can be achieved that also the distribution of the individual products in the Umsetzbereich the robot road is taken into account.

If the product band can be continuously adjusted in its speed, then the concentration measurement must also take this speed into consideration.

This ensures that the robot road works as efficiently as possible at all times and that the individual robots are evenly loaded. At the same time, the cascaded control of the increase of the fill levels of the containers ensures that no complex prediction and assignment of products to be converted to individual robots becomes necessary. Finally, too ensures that it no longer comes to large differences in speed on the transport device of the container.

The speed of containers on the one hand and individual products on the other hand relative to each other is controlled uniformly by the method, and it is ensured that each container leaves the transfer area of the robot road as completely as possible.

A further advantage is that transport belts, ie transport means in which the containers are arranged at fixed distances on the means of transport, can also be used as depositing belts. Examples of this are transport chains, which carry containers via fixedly mounted on the chain carrier or thermoforming machines, which introduce formed at regular intervals wells.

Whether both partial goals, ie the one hand as complete as possible filling all container leaving the conversion area and at the same time complete emptying of the product band, simultaneously be realized depends inter alia on whether only a single variety of products on the product tape is present and must be implemented in the container , or if several varieties are mixed up on the product line. In this case, the simultaneous achievement of both objectives is hardly possible, unless the composition of the products on the product band can be quantitatively controlled by the individual varieties, or no specific composition of products within the containers is necessary.

Other functional advantages are that - in the running direction When the container is viewed, at the beginning of the transfer region a free deposit position is always available in the container, and towards the end of the transfer region, especially if different products are mixed on the product belt, the probability that a particular single product is needed in the working area of this product is greatest is in the direction of the container last robot and the slowing or stopping the container band can be reduced to a minimum.

This fact proves to be particularly valuable if individual products are introduced on the product line, which must be sorted according to certain criteria on the basis of their properties and / or distribution. For example, this allows individual products with different, normally distributed weights to be converted so that a balanced filling of the containers can take place.

Because a weight or type determination takes place for each individual product, it is also obvious that a single characteristic - for example a detection of a serial number or a tracking number - is detected directly and that, on the basis of this individual characteristic, containers are formed with one or more specific and therefore known individual characteristics become.

In the arrangement of the containers at fixed intervals and thus on fixed positions of the container band is usually no control of the container and no control of whether in the containers certain deposit positions are free, necessary, starting from the fixed existing empty positions on the Behältereinlauf the robot road for each container at the beginning of Umsetzbereiches is known, at which position - both relative within a container, as well as absolutely along the container band - a free deposit position, if necessary, for which variety, which feature or which weight of the individual product exists.

Insofar as the containers can not be brought in at regular intervals, the ongoing calculation of the conversion performance of each robot must take into account that, correspondingly, the increase in the nominal filling level of each robot can change continuously.

With the method and the device according to the invention, it is possible with a high packing performance to ensure that the containers are always filled as completely as possible and that the robots of a robot line work uniformly without the need for elaborate and compute-intensive optimization measures. In addition, it can be achieved that as far as possible all individual products are packed.

Further advantageous variants of the method and advantageous embodiments will become apparent from the dependent claims.

In the following, the subject invention will be explained with reference to a preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figur 1:

eine Aufsicht auf eine Roboterstrasse im Gegenstrombetrieb, wobei die Behälter in gleichmässigem Abstand mittels einer Transportkette oder Tiefziehmaschine herangeführt werden. Dabei verfügt jeder Roboter über eine Steuerung und über einen Sensor.

Figur 2:

eine Aufsicht auf eine Roboterstrasse im Gegenstrombetrieb, wobei zusätzlich eine Zentralsteuerung und eine zentrale Sensoreinheit gezeigt sind.

Figur 3:

beispielhafter Verlauf der Heranführung von Einzelprodukten. Hier mit maximalem Produktestrom.

Figur 4:

ditto mit mittlerem Produktestrom.

Figur 5:

ditto mit minimalem Produktestrom.

Figur 6:

Ablauf der Schwellwertüberprüfung

Figur 7:

Ermittlung der Sollfüllstände

Show it:

FIG. 1:

a plan view of a robot road in countercurrent operation, wherein the containers are introduced at a uniform distance by means of a transport chain or thermoforming machine. Each robot has a control and a sensor.

FIG. 2:

a plan view of a robot road in countercurrent operation, in addition, a central controller and a central sensor unit are shown.

FIG. 3:

exemplary course of the introduction of individual products. Here with maximum product flow.

FIG. 4:

ditto with medium product flow.

FIG. 5:

ditto with minimal product flow.

FIG. 6:

Expiration of the threshold value check

FIG. 7:

Determination of the nominal filling levels

Ways to carry out the invention

An embodiment according to the invention is described below with reference to FIG FIGS. 1 and 2 described in more detail.

In FIG. 1 run the product band 6 and the container belt 7 in the opposite direction parallel to each other and the container 3 are introduced at a fixed distance. The controller 11a of the last robot 4a takes over the central control function. The counting and at the same time the position recognition of the products takes place with the camera 9a of the last robot 4a.

In FIG. 2 In addition, a central controller 11 is used. The counting of the products takes place with a camera 8 at the inlet of the product belt 6.

On the container belt 7 is in FIG. 1 a motor 19 is shown, which is connected to the controller 11a of the last robot 4a, and whose speed and thus the transport speed of the container 3 is controlled on this container belt 7 accordingly. If instead of a controller 11a, 11b, 11c to each individual robot a - in FIG. 2 As shown, central controller 11 is used for all robots 4a, 4b,..., 4n, motor 19 is correspondingly connected to this controller 11. If a thermoforming machine or a tubular bag machine is used to feed the containers, their own control system is to be connected to the controller 11a of the last robot 4a, or alternatively to the central controller 11.

The drive 18 of the product belt 6 is shown without connection to a controller, as illustrated thereby is to be that the product belt runs at a predetermined speed and, accordingly, the amount of brought up on the product band 6 individual products 2 can not be influenced. In practice, however, the motor 18 to be connected to the central controller 11 or with the controllers 11a, ..., 11n, so that the central controller 11 or the controllers 11a, ..., 11n the respective speed of the product strip 6 for the calculation of can calculate the effective position of the individual products 2 on the product band 6 at a certain time and so that the controls can bring the product band to a standstill when no more individual products 2 are fed to the inlet.

The actual detection of the products is done with one or more sensors. In FIG. 2 a camera 8 is shown, which detects the entire width of the product band 6 and counts the zoomed individual products 2 and transmits the value to the central controller 11. Alternatively, in Fig. 1 at the product infeed of the robot 4a, a camera 9a is shown, which also detects the entire width of the product band and counts the products and transmits them to the robot controller 11a. In addition, the camera 9a detects the position, ie the position and rotational position, of the individual products 2. If necessary, this camera 9a will scan and evaluate only a specific region of the product band 6 for position detection. All further robots 4b, 4c are likewise equipped with a sensor, here camera, 9b, 9c, these cameras detecting the rotational position and position of those individual products 2 which are necessary for the filling of the containers 3 by the robots 4b, 4c according to the invention. With a high-resolution camera 8, it may be unnecessary under circumstances that further cameras 9a, 9b, 9c are necessary. The camera 8 then detects the entire product band 6 and the central controller 11 transmit the results to the controllers 11a, 11b,..., 11n. Alternatively, of course, only a single central controller 11 can manage the results and possibly also the motion planning for all robots 4a, 4b,..., 4n.

The actual procedure is based on the FIGS. 3 to 5 described. It shows FIG. 3 a schematic course for the most common product which robots street with full supply of individual products most heavily utilizes. FIG. 4 shows a schematic course for a medium product. FIG. 5 finally shows a course for a product with a relatively low supply, which does not load the plant.

The design of the plant is carried out according to the variety, which requires the largest capacity of robot road 1. In FIG. 3 this is shown with the maximum prefix (= 100) of individual products 2. On the basis of this maximum approach and on the basis of the size of the container 3, the number of required robots 4a, 4b, ..., 4n set and determines the target speed of the container belt 7. Next, a threshold 32 is set. This threshold value 32 determines how much the supply of individual products 2 may go back so that the robot 4b, 4n retains control over the supply of the containers 3, which alone would have control over the container band 7 due to the supply. A decrease 23, which is smaller than the threshold 32, means that only a shift of the control over the supply of the containers 3 to one of the rear robots 4b, ..., 4n is necessary. A decrease 29 to a value 30, which is stronger than the threshold 32, on the other hand, means that the control of the second-to-last robot 4b has control over the container belt 7. Note, however, that with a small feeder, as in FIG. 5 This case can not occur because the decrease in the product feed can not fall below the threshold 32. If there is a production failure 24-27, the product belt 6 is stopped and the control responsibility is transferred to the last robot 4a. All robots 4a, ..., 4n go into waiting position and the system goes on hold until at position 27 again products are supplied. Due to the then brought up number 28 of individual products 2 immediately a transition of control responsibility to one of the robots 4a, ..., 4n instead.

With a drop in the product feeder 30, which falls below the threshold value 32 and correspondingly has the second last robot 4b in control of the supply of the container 3, two goals can be achieved. On the one hand, all products 29 have to be implemented, which were introduced before the decline. On the other hand, when the normal product flow 33 is re-established, the control must again be transferred to the robot 4a,..., 4n which is responsible for controlling the supply of the containers 3 on the basis of the supplied number 33 of the individual products 2.

This control transition is in FIG. 6 shown. On the left side of the scheme is the case according to FIG. 5 represented where the threshold value 32 is not exceeded due to the decrease 30. On the right side is the case according to FIG. 3 and 4 represented where the threshold 32 is exceeded. It is essential that all robots 4c, ..., 4n are instructed immediately to fill the containers 3 as far as possible to the desired level of robot 4b and that at the same robot 4b takes control of the container belt 7. Only when point 30 has reached the actually responsible robot 4c,..., 4n, the nominal filling levels are lowered back to normal level. The then responsible robot takes control of the container belt 7 as soon as all the robots behind him are also below the desired level. Until then, robot 4b retains control of container belt 7.

The setpoint levels are set during the commissioning of robot road 1 for each type of individual product 2. In FIG. 7 is shown as an example for two grades how the nominal levels are set. In this case, the curve 41 shows the desired filling levels for a single product 2, which in terms of numbers requires the entire capacity 100% of the robot road 1. The setpoint levels rise linearly because there are no reserves available for a degressive increase in the level. Curve 40 shows a declining slope - represented by points 40d and 40e. On the other hand, in curve 42, even with maximum introduction of the variety of individual products 2, only so many individual products 2 are introduced that the 70% capacity is required. Correspondingly, here the robot 4d has the control responsibility over the container belt 7 at maximum delivery of individual products. This definition is shown by the lines 42c and 42d. Although Robot 4d has the responsibility, at his position in Robot Street 1 he will never completely fill the container, but only to about 55% as shown in point 42e.

The failure of a robot 4a, ..., 4n will not be explained in more detail with reference to figures. A failure is compensated by, on the one hand, the desired levels of the still be adapted to operating robots and in that in the event of failure of a controlling robot, the immediately adjacent, underlying robot takes control of the pre-accession of the container 3.

This approach can not be applied to a single robot 4a since it requires the method that, except for a decrease in production beyond the threshold 32, partially filled containers 3 are supplied by at least one robot 4b into the working area of the robot 4a.

The operating principle can also be applied to product band 6 and container band 7 running at an angle to each other, as long as the crossing region is large enough, although disadvantages must be accepted through this crossing and the resulting level differences and mutual covers of the individual transport devices 6 and 7.

Claims (19)

1. Method for placing at least one type of individual products (2) supplied in lots into containers (3) that hold a certain number of individual products by means of a robot line (1) consisting of at least two robots (4a, 4b, 4c), wherein the individual products (2) are irregularly transported to an infeed of the robot line (1) to individually pick and place them into containers (3) in a transfer area of the robot line (1) and wherein the individual products (2) and the containers (3) are transported in counterflow, or at least in a counterflow mode, on at least one transporting device (6) for the individual products (2) and on at least one transporting device (7) for the containers (3),
   characterized in that
   the delivery of a next container (3) to be filled into the transfer area is controlled by any desired robot (4a, 4b, 4c) and in that
   the robot (4a, 4b, 4c) that controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled is determined from the number of individual products (2) currently supplied to the infeed of the robot line (1).
2. Method according to Claim 1,
   characterized in that
   the distribution of the individual products (2) currently located in the transfer area of the robot line (1) is taken into account for the determination of the robot (4a, 4b, 4c) that controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled.
3. Method according to Claim 1 or 2,
   characterized in that
   a nominal filling level of the containers (3) is determined for each robot (4a, 4b, 4c) and in that the nominal filling level of the containers (3) is set as increasing in the running direction of the containers and in that
   each robot (4a, 4b, 4c) that has reached its nominal filling level and is not currently controlling the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled no longer transfers any individual products (2) into containers (3) and in that
   the next container (3) to be filled is directed into the transfer area and the foremost container (3) is taken away if the robot (4a, 4b, 4c) that is currently controlling the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled has reached its nominal filling level.
4. Method according to Claim 3,
   characterized in that
   for each type of individual products (2) a maximum-required transfer performance is determined in advance on the basis of their maximum-supplied number or on the basis of other performance-determining properties and in that
   it is determined on the basis of this maximum-required transfer performance which robot (4a, 4b, 4c) controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled if the maximum number of this type of individual products (2) is supplied and in that
   it is determined on the basis of this maximum-required transfer performance and an increase in the nominal filling levels that is set in advance which robot (4a, 4b, 4c) arranged farther back in the running direction of the containers (3) controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled if correspondingly fewer than the maximum number of this type of individual products (2) is supplied.
5. Method according to Claim 4,
   characterized in that
   the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled is controlled by the first robot in the running direction of the containers (1) if fewer of one type of individual products (2) than the required transfer performance of this first robot are supplied.
6. Method according to Claim 4,
   characterized in that
   all of the robots (4a, 4b, 4c) complete their current transfer movement of an individual product (2) and go into the inactive position and the product belt (6) is brought to a standstill in the transfer area if no individual products (2) are delivered.
7. Method according to Claim 4,
   characterized in that
   for each type of individual products (2) there is set a threshold value that corresponds to a maximum value by which the number of individual products (2) of this type supplied to the infeed may decline as a maximum for the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled to be controlled by the robot (4a, 4b, 4c) corresponding to this number of individual products (2) supplied.
8. Method according to Claim 7,
   characterized in that
   if the threshold value is exceeded, the second-last robot in the running direction of the containers (3) controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled and in that
   this robot completely fills the containers (3) before it delivers the next container (3) to be filled into the transfer area and in that in the case of all the other robots, the permissible filling level is increased to the nominal filling level of the second-last robot and in that
   as soon as the position on the product belt (6) at which the number of supplied products (2) has decreased reaches the robot that would control the delivery of the containers (3) on the basis of the products (2) supplied to the infeed, the permissible filling levels for all of the robots (4a, 4b, 4c) is lowered again to the normal nominal filling level and in that
   this robot takes over the control of the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled as soon as it and all of the robots arranged after it in the running direction of the containers (3) no longer exceed their nominal filling level.
9. Method according to Claims 7 and 8,
   characterized in that
   the distribution of the individual products (2) in the transfer area is additionally taken into account for the checking of the threshold value.
10. Method according to Claim 4,
    characterized in that
    for each type of individual products (2) at least one control value is determined on the basis of the transfer performance prescribed for each robot (4a, 4b, 4c) and in that
    in the event of a deviation from this control value, the speed of at least one robot (4a, 4b, 4c) and/or the speed of at least one transporting device (6, 7) is adjusted until this control value is reached again.
11. Method according to Claim 4,
    characterized in that
    containers (3) that are combined as a group are handled by a robot (4a, 4b, 4c) in the same way as an individual container (3).
12. Method according to Claim 4,
    characterized in that
    in the event of failure of a robot (4a, 4b, 4c), the nominal filling levels of every robot (4a, 4b, 4c) are adjusted and in that
    at least one of the following items of information is taken into account to determine the robot (4a, 4b, 4c) that controls the delivery of the next container (3) to be filled:

    - the number of individual products (2) currently supplied,

    - the adjusted nominal filling levels,

    - the number of individual products (2) in the transfer area,

    - a resulting exceeding of a threshold value.
13. Method according to Claim 4,
    characterized in that
    the transfer of the individual products (2) into the containers (3) additionally takes place in an optimized manner on the basis of one or more properties of each individual product (2) relative to at least one other property.
14. Method according to one of the preceding Claims 1 to 13,
    characterized in that
    the control of the robot line (1) is performed by a single controller (11) or by a number of interconnected individual controllers (11a, 11b, 11c) of the robots (4a, 4b, 4c).
15. Method according to Claim 14,
    characterized in that
    data values that determine and describe the containers (3) with regard to their weight determination and/or individual characteristic determination and/or type determination are communicated by the controller (11, 11a, 11b, 11c) of the robot line (1) when the containers (3) are taken away from the transfer area of the robot line (1) .
16. Apparatus for placing individual products (2) into containers (3) that hold a certain number of individual products (2), comprising at least two robots (4a, 4b, 4c) arranged one after another, wherein the individual products (2) and the containers (3) are supplied in counterflow, or at least in a counterflow mode, on at least one transporting device (6) for the individual products (2) and on at least one transporting device (7) for the containers (3),
    characterized in that
    the apparatus has control means (11, 11a, 11b, 11c) which are formed in such a way as to allow the placement of the individual products (2) into the containers (3) by one of the methods of Claims 1 to 15.
17. Apparatus according to Claim 16,
    characterized in that
    at least one sensor (8), in particular a camera (9a, 9b, 9c), photoelectric sensor, proximity sensor, 3D image processing system, weighing unit or, instead of the sensor or sensors, a data bus to the upstream production process of the individual products (2) or to the upstream and downstream controllers is available to determine the number of individual products (2) and to determine the position, orientation and nature of these individual products (2).
18. Apparatus according to Claim 16 or 17,
    characterized in that
    the apparatus has means that allow a weight determination, individual characteristic determination and/or type determination for each individual product (2) supplied and in that on the basis of this determination, the individual products (2) can be selectively placed into containers (3) specific to their weight, individual characteristic and/or type.
19. Apparatus according to Claim 18,
    characterized in that
    the apparatus has a data interface at which a data value associated with the container (3) taken away from the transfer area of the robot line (1) and corresponding to the weight determination, individual characteristic determination and/or type determination of the individual products (2) placed in the container (3) is transmitted when each container (3) is taken away.

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