EP2962969B1 - Device for separating sheet goods - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device for separating sheet material according to the preamble of patent claim 1 and a method for separating sheet material according to the preambles of claim 15. Generic devices for separating sheet material on the one hand on a Blattgutaufnehmer, which is adapted to receive a single Sheet piece of a sheet stack comprising a plurality of Blattgutstücke, and on the other hand an actuator which is designed for displacing the Blattgutaufnehmers. The actuator, for example, puts the Blattgutaufnehmer in a certain movement, so that the Blattgutaufnehmer can deduct, for example, the uppermost piece of sheet or the lowest Blattgutstück a sheet stack from the stack of sheets.

Such a device for separating sheet material is for example in the WO 2014/005715 A1 described. There, the Blattgutaufnehmer is designed in the form of an oscillating conveyor belt, can be removed with the individual Blattgutstücke of a sheet material stack.

A generic device is further from the document US 2013/108408 A1 known. There, a kind of robot is provided, which removes a top Schnittgutblatt from a stack with suction cups. A camera is used to position the suction cups.

The sheet material may be, for example, paper sheets, cardboard sheets, banknotes, such as banknotes, banknotes, checks or the like.

In facilities which process such sheet material, for example banknotes, occasional use is made of an image acquisition unit which captures an image of a surface of a sheet item and provides corresponding image data. An evaluation unit connected downstream of the image acquisition unit provides an evaluation result as a function of the evaluation of the image data, wherein the system further processes the processing of the sheet items as a function of this evaluation result. For example, such an approach is in the DE 10 2011 000 783 A1 known. There, by means of the image acquisition unit and the evaluation unit, a check for authenticity of the bank note takes place.

The problem with the known devices for separating sheet material is that occasionally individual sheet items can not be picked up and / or lose their liability to Blattgutaufnehmer during removal from the sheet stack and thus have a certain unreliability.

Object of the present invention is to provide means that allow a more reliable separation of sheet material.

This object is achieved by each subject matter of independent claims 1 and 15. Features of advantageous embodiments are specified in the dependent claims.

The device of a first aspect is configured to determine a picking position in response to the evaluation result and to position the Blattgutaufnehmer at the receiving position to receive the Blattgutstück at the receiving position and to remove from the sheet stack. The receiving position marks, for example, a specific location of the surface of the individual sheet item, at the the Blattgutaufnehmer is to be positioned to receive the single piece of sheet from the sheet stack. According to the invention, the device (claim 1) is adapted to selectively receive the single piece of sheet material by means of a first picking mechanism of the sheet stock picker and / or by means of a second picking mechanism of the sheet stock picker to remove the piece of sheet material from the stack of sheets.

The following statements relate both to the device of the first aspect and to the device of the claimed invention.

The present invention includes the recognition that the surfaces of the sheets to be singled of the sheet stack, in particular the respective adhesive properties of the sheets, may vary from one another. The variance in the surface quality of the individual sheet items may be due to many reasons: For example, the stack of sheets is a stack of unsorted sheet items, for example, an accumulation of Blattgutstücke different types. For example, the sheet material stack comprises notes of different denomination. Vouchers of different denominations have different surface textures, these differences may arise, for example, by the different security features of these notes. In addition, the Blattgutstücke can differ significantly in terms of their age and condition, which may also affect the respective Oferflächenbeschaffenheit. For example, some sheet pieces have holes and / or cracks, which affects the adhesive properties at the respective locations of the surface of the sheet pieces.

It is a basic idea of the present invention that the separation of sheet material does not take place statically and independently of the sheet material to be separated, but rather that an adaptation of the singulation process takes place depending on the nature of the piece of sheet material to be separated.

According to the first aspect, this adaptation manifests itself, for example, in that a suitable picking position is determined for each sheet item of the stack of sheet material, at which the respective individual piece of sheet is picked up and removed from the sheet stack.

According to the present invention, this adaptation manifests itself, for example, in that a suitable picking mechanism is selected for each piece of sheet material of the sheet stack, in order to receive and remove the respective individual sheet piece from the sheet stack. The sheet receiver of the apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention is thus adapted to implement at least two (or more) different receiving mechanisms and the apparatus selects one or more selection mechanisms for the respective singulation operation to perform the singulation.

The features of the device of the first aspect may be advantageously combined with the features of the present invention. For example, the apparatus of the first aspect is adapted to selectively receive the piece of sheet material by means of the first receiving mechanism of the Blattgutaufnehmers and / or by means of the second receiving mechanism of the Blattgutaufnehmers to remove the sheet item from the sheet stack. In an exemplary embodiment of the device of the present invention, it is provided that the device has an image acquisition unit which is designed to acquire an image of a surface of the individual sheet item and to provide image data, as well as an evaluation unit connected downstream of the image acquisition unit, which is designed to receive the image Image data and for providing an evaluation result in dependence on an evaluation of the image data, wherein the device is designed to select the first and / or second pick-up mechanism in dependence on the evaluation result.

In one embodiment, the evaluation unit is designed to use the image data to determine the type of sheet item to be picked up, for example the denomination of a banknote, and to determine the adhesive properties as a function of the determined type of sheet item. For example, as part of the evaluation, the evaluation unit determines that the piece of sheet material to be picked up is a 5-euro note. For example, the evaluation unit is designed to access a memory in which various standard properties are stored for different types of sheet stock. For example, the evaluation unit determines the particular type of sheet item depending on the particular type of sheet item assigned standard properties and provides the evaluation result depending on the determined standard properties. For example, the standard properties can specify for notes of different denomination where the respective notes of value have suitable adhesive properties.

Hereinafter, further embodiments of the apparatus of the first aspect and the apparatus of the present invention will be described. The features of these further embodiments may be combined with each other as well as with the optional features already described above to form further embodiments, unless expressly described as alternative to each other.

In one embodiment, the evaluation unit is designed to determine adhesion properties of a surface of the sheet item based on the image data and to provide the evaluation result as a function of the adhesive properties. Depending on how the adhesive properties of the surface of the sheet items are designed, for example, depending on the evaluation result, either a suitable receiving position for picking up the sheet item is determined and / or the first or second picking mechanism is selected. In other words, it is preferable that the evaluation result is indicative of the picking position and / or the picking mechanism to be used. For example, the evaluation result indicates that the first picking mechanism is to be used at a certain picking position of the single sheet piece to be picked up to successfully pick up and remove the sheet piece from the sheet stack.

In a further embodiment, the sheet accumulator comprises first means for executing the first take-up mechanism, the first means being adapted to receive the sheet item by generating a first attractive force, for example a suction force. The Blattgutaufnehmer includes, for example, a suction cup to suck the single Blattgutstück and record in this way from the sheet stack. In an exemplary embodiment, the device is designed to determine a suitable exception position depending on the evaluation result, to position the Blattgutaufnehmer at this receiving position by means of the actuator and then record the Blattgutstück with the first means from the sheet stack and then the Blattgutaufnehmer with the recorded Blattgutstück of the actuator to put the taken sheet material piece away from the stack of sheets towards another position.

For example, the first means comprises a suction sleeve and a suction piston movably arranged in the suction sleeve, wherein the suction piston is designed to generate a negative pressure by its movement in a space defined by the suction sleeve, the suction piston and the surface of the individual Blattgutstücks empty space. The suction sleeve is coupled for example via a coupling piece to a guide element of the actuator.

In another embodiment, the sheet material pickup comprises second means for carrying out the second picking mechanism, the second means being adapted to feed the sheet piece by generating a second attraction force, for example a van der Waals force. For example, the second means comprises an adhesive sheet configured to form a van der Waals force upon contact with the surface of the single piece of sheet. By way of example, the adhesive film is a so-called gecko adhesive film, for example a Gecko® Nanoplast® film from Gottlieb Binder.

For example, the adhesive sheet on a surface facing the stack of sheets comprises a plurality of microscopic elements, such as small hairs approximately perpendicular to the film, for example at a density of about a few thousand pieces per cm ² , for example 25,000 pieces per cm ² . The adhesive film preferably has a thickness of less than one millimeter, for example 0.3 mm. For example, the adhesive film has an area of a few square centimeters.

In a further embodiment, the Blattgutaufnehmer the device is adapted to record the Blattgutstück either by operation of the first means and / or the second means.

The selection of the first means and / or the second means for receiving the individual piece of sheet material can optionally be effected in dependence on an evaluation logic, which is implemented, for example, in said evaluation unit, that is based on an evaluation of the image data, and / or inherently by the Blattgutaufnehmer itself, especially without logic (without software-based evaluation).

• Einerseits ist es möglich, dass die Vorrichtung besagte Bilderfassungseinheit und besagte Auswerteeinheit aufweisen. In diesem Fall ist die Auswerteeinheit beispielsweise derart eingerichtet, dass das von ihr bereitgestellte Auswerteergebnis indikativ für den auszuwählenden Aufnahmemechanismus, also indikativ für das auszuwählende erste und/oder zweite Mittel des Blattgutaufnehmers ist. Das Auswerteergebnis zeigt beispielsweise an, dass das Blattgutstück durch Ausüben einer Saugkraft aufzunehmen ist und/oder durch Ausüben einer van-der-Waals-Kraft. Die Bestimmung des auszuwählenden Aufnahmemechanismus kann aber auch auf einer anderen Auswertelogik als auch eine Auswertung von Bilddaten basieren.

Thus, in one embodiment, the sheet material picker comprises a mechanical selection means adapted to select the picking mechanism depending on the nature of the surface of the single sheet piece. In other words, the sheet receiver is preferably configured to automatically select the pick mechanism appropriate to the nature of the surface of the single sheet piece based on its mechanical construction. This will be explained in more detail below:

• On the one hand, it is possible for the device to have said image acquisition unit and said evaluation unit. In this case, the evaluation unit is set up, for example, such that the evaluation result provided by it is indicative of the picking mechanism to be selected, that is to say indicative of the first and / or second means of the sheet material picker to be selected. The evaluation result indicates, for example, that the sheet piece is to be picked up by exerting a suction force and / or by exerting a van der Waals force. However, the determination of the picking mechanism to be selected can also be based on a different evaluation logic as well as an evaluation of image data.

On the other hand, the selection of the first means and / or the second means can also be logically done, which should be explained with reference to a further embodiment: If the first means said suction sleeve and suction piston, so the adhesive film is, for example, on an end face of the suction piston and / or arranged an end surface of the suction sleeve, wherein the end face of the suction piston and the end face of the suction sleeve each have to the surface of the male individual Blattgutstücks. If the device positions the sheet material pickup on the surface of the sheet piece, for example at the determined picking position, then the surface of the individual piece of sheet material first contacts the adhesive sheet which is arranged on the end face of the suction sleeve and / or on the end face of the suction piston, so that the van der der -Waals force is trained. The actuator then sets the Blattgutaufnehmer to receive the Blattgutstück from the sheet stack and remove it, so the recorded Blattgutstück adheres to Blattgutaufnehmer, provided that the trained van der Waals force is sufficient in amount to provide this liability. If this is not the case, that is, the trained van der Waals force is not sufficient to receive the single piece of sheet from the sheet stack, so due to the movement of the Blattgutaufnehmers in the suction sleeve movably arranged suction piston is axially displaced within the suction sleeve and thereby generated in the by the offset of the Vacuum space created by the surface of the individual Blattgutstücks, an inner wall of the suction sleeve and the end face of the suction piston, a negative pressure, and thus a suction force, which is anyway sufficient to ensure that the recorded individual Blattgutstück on Blattgutaufnehmer sticks.

By this mechanism, possible weaknesses of the first means and possible weaknesses of the second means are compensated: For example, the sheet material to be picked up has a comparatively rough surface at the point where the sheet material picker engages, so that the van der Waals forces are insufficient can be formed, but the sheet material piece to be received can still be absorbed by the Blattgutaufnehmer due to the suction force then entering and can be removed from the stack of sheets. If the piece of sheet material to be picked up has, for example, one or more small holes at the point where the sheet material picker engages, it is not unlikely that the piece of sheet material to be picked up will be absorbed by suction because the hole or holes will limit the limit of the sheet material Picking up empty space and it might not be possible to form the vacuum and thus the suction force. In this case, the single sheet piece can still be picked up, because the hole or holes do not necessarily prevent the formation of the van der Waals force.

As already explained above in some places, the actuator is designed, for example, to move the Blattgutaufnehmer. For example, the actuator is configured to translate the sheet material picker along a first direction substantially perpendicular to a platen direction to position the sheet material picker at the sheet stack, for example, at the detected pickup position and / or at the picked sheet stock from the sheet stack remove, wherein the first direction, for example, is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal side of the individual Blattgutstücks.

In a further embodiment, the actuator is additionally or alternatively configured to place the sheet material pickup in a translatory movement along a second direction lying substantially perpendicular to the perpendicular direction, in order to position the sheet material pickup on the sheet material stack, for example at the determined pickup position, and / or around the sheet pickup recorded Einzelblattgutstück Remove from the sheet stack, the second direction, for example, is substantially parallel to a longitudinal side of the individual Blattgutstücks.

In other words, it is preferred that the actuator is configured to displace the sheet material picker along one or more directions substantially parallel to the surface of the picked sheet piece. Further, in another embodiment, the actuator is configured to translate the sheet material pickup along the plumbing direction to position the sheet material pickup on the sheet stock stack and to receive the individual sheet stock on the surface of the sheet stock item and / or the picked sheet stock item to remove from the sheet stack.

Thus, it is preferred that the sheet receiver be movably supported within the apparatus in a plurality of axes to be positioned on the stack of sheets for receiving the single piece of sheet and removed from the stack of sheets to otherwise deposit the single sheet stock picked up or to another Transfer processing component.

A third aspect of the present invention is the method of independent claim 15. The method shares the advantages of the device of the present invention and has preferred embodiments corresponding to the preferred embodiments of the devices described above, in particular as defined in the dependent claims , In that regard, reference is made to the above.

The articles of the present invention are suitable for separating sheet material of any type and can be used for example in a sheet material processing plant. In particular, the articles of the present invention can be used for the separation of banknotes, such as banknotes or banknotes. The articles of the present invention may be used, for example, advantageously in a self-service terminal, for example an ATM.

In the above explanation of the subjects of the present invention, there has always been talk of a sheet material stack. For example, the sheet material stack is a stack of banknotes in which the banknotes are in the vertical direction layered are arranged one above the other. For example, the sheet material stack is a value note stack which is arranged in a value note cassette. On the other hand, however, the sheet material stack can also be a disordered accumulation of sheet goods of the most varied types. The sheet goods need not necessarily be arranged substantially parallel and layered one above the other; but the objects of the present invention also allow in particular a separation of Blattgutstücken, which are present in a substantially disordered and unsorted.

Further, in the above explanation of the subjects of the present invention, there has always been talked about a first picking mechanism and a second picking mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to only two different receiving mechanisms. Rather, other recording mechanisms can be implemented in the Blattgutaufnehmer. In addition to exerting a suction force and / or exerting a van der Waals force, it is for example possible to cause adhesion of the individual Blattgutstücks on Blattgutaufnehmer by generating electrostatic forces.

Fig. 1

eine schematische Querschnittsansicht einer beispielhaften Ausführungsform einer Vorrichtung zum Vereinzeln von Blattgut;

Fig. 2

eine perspektivische und schematische Ansicht eines beispielhaften Blattgutaufnehmers;

Fig. 3

eine schematische Querschnittsansicht des in der Fig. 2 gezeigten Blattgutaufnehmers;

Fig. 4

eine schematische Ansicht eines beispielhaften Blattgutstücks; und

Fig. 5

eine schematische Darstellung von Hafteigenschaften des in der Fig. 4 dargestellten Blattgutstücks.

The idea underlying the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the figures. Show it:

Fig. 1

a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus for separating sheet material;

Fig. 2

a perspective and schematic view of an exemplary Blattgutaufnehmers;

Fig. 3

a schematic cross-sectional view of the in the Fig. 2 shown Blattgutaufnehmers;

Fig. 4

a schematic view of an exemplary Blattgutstücks; and

Fig. 5

a schematic representation of adhesive properties of the in Fig. 4 illustrated Blattgutstücks.

The Fig. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus 1 for separating sheet material. The device 1 is in the Fig. 1 shown only schematically to explain the function of the device 1. The arrangement of the individual components of the device 1, as shown in the Fig. 1 are not necessarily to be understood as specifications for a practical implementation.

The device 1 for separating sheet material has a Blattgutaufnehmer 12, which is adapted for receiving a single piece of sheet 5-1 from a sheet stack 5. The sheet stack 5 comprises a plurality of Blattgutstücke 5-1 to 5-n. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the individual sheets of stock 5-1 to 5-n are arranged in layer-like fashion along a vertical direction y. However, the individual sheets 5-1 to 5-n could also be in the form of a substantially disordered accumulation. The sheet stack 5 is located on a sheet stock 3.

For displacing the Blattgutaufnehmers 12, an actuator 11 is provided, which is coupled to a base 111 via a first coupling element 112-1 and a second coupling element 112-2. The actuator 11 also has a guide element 113, which is connected to the Blattgutaufnehmer 12. About the guide member 113 is a displacement of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 along the vertical direction y is. For example, the actuator 11 sets the sheet receiver 12 without applying a pressing force on a surface 51 of the uppermost sheet piece 5-1 to receive the uppermost piece of sheet 5-1 from the stack of sheets 5. Furthermore, the actuator 11 can translate the sheet material receiver 12 into a translatory movement along a first direction x, which is substantially perpendicular to the y direction, in order to position the sheet material receiver 12 on the sheet material stack 5 and / or to remove a picked individual piece of sheet material from the sheet stack 5. In the example shown, the first direction x is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal side L (see FIG. Fig. 2 ) of the single piece of sheet 5-1. In addition, the actuator 11 can translate the sheet material picker 12 into a translational motion along a second direction z substantially perpendicular to the y direction, again to position the sheet picker 12 on the sheet stack 5, and / or to remove a picked sheet stock from the stack of sheets 5 the second direction is substantially parallel to the longitudinal side L of the individual sheet item 5-1.

As a result, the sheet stock picker 12 of the apparatus 1 is movably supported along the three directions x, y, and z so as to be positioned on the sheet stock pile 5 on the one hand, and to remove a picked sheet stock from the sheet stock pile 5, on the other hand. For moving the Blattgutaufnehmers 12, the device 1 (in the Fig. 1 not shown) corresponding linear motors. Alternatively and / or additionally, the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 may be movably mounted in other directions, as in the directions x, y and z. For example, the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 is also movably mounted along one or more directions of rotation to be positioned on the sheet stack 5 and / or to be offset in order to remove a recorded Blattgutstück from sheet stack 5.

To assist the displacement and / or the positioning of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 by means of the actuator 11, the device 1 may be equipped with a sensor device 114 which determines one or more measured values in terms of value to control the process of Blattgutzellzelung. This sensor device 114 is in the Fig. 1 shown only schematically.

• Die Fig. 4 zeigt eine schematische Ansicht eines beispielhaften Blattgutstücks und für das folgende Beispiel sei angenommen, dass es sich bei dem Blattgutstück der Fig. 4 um das oberste Blattgutstück 5-1 handelt. Bei dem gezeigten Beispiel handelt es sich bei dem Blattgutstück 5-1 um eine 5-Euro-Note. Das Blattgutstück 5-1 weist eine Länge L und eine Breite B auf. Auf der Abszissenachse ist die Länge I in Millimetern angegeben und auf der Ordinatenachse die Breite b, ebenfalls in Millimetern. Zur optischen Analyse der Oberfläche 51 des Blattgutstücks 5-1 wird ein Raster 2 verwendet, das eine Vielzahl gleicher Rasterelemente 2-1 bis 2-n aufweist. Die Rasterelemente 2-1 bis 2-n weisen jeweils eine selbe Rasterelementbreite RB und eine selbe Rasterelementlänge RE auf. Bei dem gezeigten Beispiel beträgt die Rasterelementbreite RB 5 mm und die Rasterelementlänge RL ebenfalls 5 mm.

The apparatus 1 further comprises an image acquisition unit 13 which is adapted to acquire an image of the surface 51 of the single piece of sheet 5-1 and to provide corresponding image data 13-1. An evaluation unit 14 of the device 1 connected downstream of the image acquisition unit 13 receives the image data 13-1 and provides an evaluation result 14-1 as a function of an evaluation of the image data 13-1. An exemplary function of the image acquisition unit 13 and the evaluation unit 14 is based on the 4 and FIG. 5 be explained:

• The Fig. 4 shows a schematic view of an exemplary sheet item and for the following example, it is assumed that the sheet piece of the Fig. 4 is the uppermost piece of sheet 5-1. In the example shown, the sheet item 5-1 is a 5-euro note. The sheet piece 5-1 has a length L and a width B. On the abscissa axis the length I is given in millimeters and on the ordinate axis the width b, also in millimeters. For optical analysis of the surface 51 of the piece of sheet 5-1, a grid 2 is used, which has a plurality of identical raster elements 2-1 to 2-n. The raster elements 2-1 to 2-n each have a same raster element width RB and a same raster element length RE. In the example shown, the grid element width RB is 5 mm and the grid element length RL is also 5 mm.

For example, the evaluation unit 14 is designed to determine adhesion properties of the surface 51 of the sheet item 5-1 on the basis of the image data 13-1. The Fig. 5 shows a schematic representation of adhesive properties of the in the Figure 4 illustrated sheet items 5-1. There, the width b in millimeters is again plotted on the left axis of the ordinate and the length I on the abscissa axis, also in millimeters. The right axis of ordinate indicates an adhesive force HK in any unit ([arb.un.]), with a dark shade representing a strong adhesive force and a light shade for a low adhesive force. Thus, in the Fig. 5 an adhesive force distribution 41 is shown, which in effect reflects at which points the surface 51 of the sheet piece 5-1 has advantageous adhesive properties. According to the adhesion force distribution 41, advantageous locations are located, for example, in a first area 512 or in a second area 513.

The determination of the adhesive properties by the evaluation unit 14 can take place in various ways. For example, a variant provides that the evaluation unit 14 independently determines the adhesive properties based on an evaluation algorithm on the basis of the image data 13-1. Another variant provides that the evaluation unit 14 based on the image data 13-1 determines a type of Blattgutstücks 5-1 and then accesses a (not shown in the figures) memory in which for a number of types of sheet each predetermined default properties are stored , Based on the example shown concretely in the figures, the evaluation unit 14 thus determines on the basis of the image data 13-1 that the sheet item 5-1 is a 5-euro note and then determines, using the memory, that the item 5 Euro note, for example, in the Fig. 5 Has schematically shown adhesive properties.

In one variant, the device 1 is designed to determine a pickup position 511 based on the evaluation result 14-1 and to position the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 by means of the actuator 11 at the determined pickup position 511 on Blattgutstück 5-1 to the Blattgutstück 5-1 at the receiving position 511 record by means of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 and then remove from the sheet stack 5. Based on the optical evaluation of the sheet material stack 5 by means of the image acquisition unit 13 and the evaluation unit 14, a determination of a suitable Pick-up position 511 at which the sheet piece 5-1 can be accommodated by means of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 in an advantageous manner. For example, the pickup position 511 is in said first area 512 or in the second area 513. Thus, it is possible to pick up the sheet stock of the sheet stack 5 to be picked up, depending on the nature of the sheet stock to be picked up, at a suitable suitable pickup position and, in this way, the reliability of the apparatus 1 to increase the separation of sheet material.

In a further variant, which does not necessarily require the presence of the image acquisition unit 13 and the evaluation unit 14, the device 1 is adapted to receive the sheet item 5-1 optionally by means of a first pick mechanism of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 and / or by means of a second picking mechanism of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12, to remove the piece of sheet 5-1 from the stack of sheets 5. The Blattgutaufnehmer 12 is configured in this variant, for receiving the Blattgutstücks 5-1 either a first pick-up mechanism to operate and / or a second pick-up mechanism. For these purposes, the Blattgutaufnehmer has a first means that is adapted to carry out the first pick-up mechanism, and a second means, which is designed for carrying out the second pick-up mechanism.

The selection of the receiving mechanism, that is, the selection of the first means or the second means of Blattgutaufnehmers 12, for example, also takes place depending on the nature of the male Blattgutstücks 5-1. The selection on the one hand logically (without a software-based evaluation) done by the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 is constructed so that the selection is done automatically, which with respect to the Fig. 2 will be explained in more detail later, and / or the selection of the picking mechanism is based on a software-controlled evaluation of the nature of the surface 51 of the male Blattgutstücks 5-1, for example by means of said image acquisition unit 13 and said evaluation unit 14. For example, determines the evaluation unit 14 based on Image data 13-1 selects a type of the sheet piece 5-1 to be picked up, and selects the first and / or the second picking mechanism, depending on the particular type of the sheet piece 5-1, to the sheet stock 5-1 with the picked picking mechanism and the two picking mechanisms, respectively pick up from the sheet stack 5 and remove from it.

With reference to the Fig. 2 and the Fig. 3 Now, the variant will be explained, in which the selection of the receiving mechanism logically and solely based on the mechanical construction of the Blattgutaufnehmers 12 takes place. For illustrative purposes, in the Fig. 2 only the single piece of sheet 5-1 shown. This piece of sheet material is received by the Blattgutaufnehmer 12, which has been positioned by the actuator 11 on the sheet stack 5 for this purpose and has been set on the surface 51 of the Blattgutstücks 5-1. In the example shown, the sheet stock picker 12 is configured to selectively execute the first picking mechanism or the second picking mechanism.

The sheet stock picker 12 is configured to pick up the sheet piece 5-1 selectively by generating a suction force (first picking mechanism) or by generating a van der Waals force (second picking mechanism). For this purpose, the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 has a suction sleeve 122 which is coupled to a coupling cap 122-1 via a coupling piece 121 to the guide member 113 of the actuator. In the suction sleeve 122, a suction piston 123 is movably arranged along the vertical direction y, for example via a spring element 123-1. The suction piston is formed by its movement against the vertical direction y in a through the suction sleeve 122, the surface 51 of the individual Blattgutstücks 5-1 and an end face 123-2 of the suction piston 123 limited space 124 to create a negative pressure.

On the other hand, on an end face of the suction sleeve 122-2 and on the end face of the suction piston 123-2, an adhesive sheet 123-3 is applied, which is formed to contact a van der Waals force upon contact with the surface 51 of the sheet piece 5-1 produce. For example, the adhesive film 123-3 is a so-called gecko film, for example a Gecke® Nanoplast® film of the company Gottlieb Binder.

Now, if the Blattgutaufnehmer 12 positioned by the actuator 11 on the sheet stack 5 and attached to the surface 51 of the Blattgutstücks 5-1, then arise between the surface 51 and the end faces 122-2 and 123-2 due to the adhesive film 123-3 said van -The Waals forces. If the actuator 11 now places the sheet material pickup 12 in a translatory movement counter to the direction of the yolk, the piece of sheet material 5-1 remains adhered to the sheet material pickup 12, provided that the van der Waals force produced is sufficiently large. If this is not the case, then the suction piston 123 due to the tensile force of the guide member 113 against the vertical direction y within the suction piston 122 is offset, whereby in the said empty space 124, a negative pressure is created and thus a suction force.

The selection of a suitable picking mechanism is convenient because the surface 51 of the sheet stock 5-1 to be picked up may be different at the pickup position 511; For example, the surface 51 at the pickup position 511 has a number of holes, so that the sheet stock picker 12 can not pick up the sheet piece 5-1 by forming a suction because the suction force due to the holes is idle. In this case, however, the recording of the Blattgutstücks 5-1 succeeds by means of the adhesive film 123-3. However, if the surface 51 of the piece of sheet 5-1 has a comparatively rough surface at the receiving position 511, then the van der Waals force produced may not be sufficient, but this does not preclude separation since the sheet material receiver 12 in this case Generating the suction the sheet piece 5-1 can still record from the sheet stack 5.

Based on the above explanation of concrete embodiments, a basic idea of the present invention should be expressed, namely that the separation of sheet material is not static, but that for each piece of sheet 5-1 to 5-n a suitable picking position 511 and a suitable picking mechanism is selected, for example, depending on the nature of the piece of sheet material 5-1 to be picked up, in order to pick up the piece of sheet material from the sheet material stack and to remove it from it. Both possibilities can be combined with each other. It is thus possible to detect the appropriate pickup position 511, to position the sheet pickup 12 at the detected pickup position, and then to select the appropriate pick mechanism or means for picking up the sheet stock 5-1 from the sheet stack 5 and removing it therefrom.

With reference to the above figures, not only the exemplary apparatus 1 for separating sheet material has been explained, but also a method for separating sheet material, in particular, a method for separating sheet material by means of the above-described apparatus 1.

List of Reference Signs / Abbreviations used

1

Device for separating sheet material

11

actuator

111

Base

112-1

First coupling element

112-2

Second coupling element

113

guide element

114

sensor device

12

Blattgutaufnehmer

121

coupling piece

122

suction sleeve

122-1

coupling cap

122-2

Face of the suction sleeve

123

suction piston

123-1

spring element

123-2

Face of the suction piston

123-3

cling film

124

whitespace

13

Image capture unit

13-1

image data

14

evaluation

14-1

evaluation result

2

grid

2-1, ..., 2-n

raster elements

3

Blattgutlager

4

scale

41

Adhesive force distribution

5

stack of sheets

5-1, ..., 5-n

Blattgutstücke

51

Surface of the top sheet piece 5-1

511

pickup position

512

First area

513

Second area

B

Width of a single piece of sheet

L

Length of a single piece of sheet

RB

Grid element width

RL

Raster element length

x

x-axis / first direction

y

y-axis / perpendicular direction

z

z-axis / second direction

Claims (15)

1. Device (1) for separating sheet material, with a sheet material pick-up (12), which is designed for picking up a single sheet material piece (5-1) from a sheet material stack (5), which comprises multiple sheet material pieces (5-1,...5-n), and with an actuator (11), which is designed for shifting the sheet material pick-up (12),
   characterized in that

   - the device (1) is designed to pick up the single sheet material piece (5-1) optionally by means of a first pick-up mechanism of the sheet material pick-up (12) and/or by means of a second pick-up mechanism of the sheet material pick-up (12) in order to remove the single sheet material piece (5-1) from the sheet material stack (5).
2. Device (1) according to Claim 2, characterized in that the device (1) also comprises:

   - an image acquisition unit (13), which is designed for capturing an image of a surface (51) of the single sheet material piece (5-1) and for providing image data (13-1); and

   - an evaluation unit (14), which is downstream of the image acquisition unit (13) and is designed for receiving the image data (13-1) and for providing an evaluation result (14-1) in dependence on an evaluation of the image data (13-1); wherein

   - the device (1) is designed for selecting the first and/or second pick-up mechanism in dependence on the evaluation result (14-1).
3. Device (1) according to Claim 2, characterized in that the evaluation unit (14) is designed to determine adhesion properties (41) of a surface (51) of the single sheet material piece (5-1) on the basis of the image data (13-1) and to provide the evaluation result (14-1) in dependence on the adhesion properties (41).
4. Device (1) according to either of the preceding Claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the evaluation result (14-1) is indicative of the pick-up position (511) and/or of the pick-up mechanism to be chosen.
5. Device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheet material pick-up (12) comprises first means for executing the first pick-up mechanism, which are designed for picking up the sheet material piece (5-1) by generating a first force of attraction, for example a suction force.
6. Device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheet material pick-up (12) comprises second means for executing the second pick-up mechanism, which are designed for picking up the sheet material piece (5-1) by generating a second force of attraction, for example a van der Waals force.
7. Device (1) according to Claims 5 and 6, characterized in that the device (1) is designed for picking up the single sheet material piece (5-1) by optionally operating the first means and/or the second means.
8. Device (1) according to Claim 5 or 7, characterized in that the first means comprises a suction sleeve (122) and a suction piston (123) movably arranged in the suction sleeve, wherein the suction piston is designed to generate a negative pressure by its movement in an empty space (124) of the suction sleeve (122) that is confined by the suction sleeve (122) and the surface (51) of the single sheet material piece (5-1).
9. Device (1) according to Claim 8, characterized in that the suction sleeve (122) is coupled to a guide element (113) of the actuator (11) via a coupling piece (121).
10. Device (1) according to one of Claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the second means comprises an adhesive film (123-3), which is designed for forming a van der Waals force upon contact with the surface (51) of the single sheet material piece (5-1).
11. Device (1) according to Claims 8 and 10, characterized in that the adhesive film (123-3) is arranged on an end face (123-2) of the suction piston (123) and/or on an end face (122-2) of the suction sleeve (122).
12. Device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuator (11) is designed to set the sheet material pick-up (12) in a translational movement along a first direction (x) substantially perpendicular to a vertical direction (y), in order to position the sheet material pick-up at the single sheet material piece (5-1) and/or in order to remove the picked-up single sheet material piece (5-1) from the sheet material stack (5), wherein the first direction (x) is for example substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal side (L) of the single sheet material piece (5-1).
13. Device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuator (11) is designed to set the sheet material pick-up (12) in a translational movement along a second direction (z) substantially perpendicular to the vertical direction (y), in order to position the sheet material pick-up at the single sheet material piece (5-1) and/or in order to remove the picked-up single sheet material piece (5-1) from the sheet material stack (5), wherein the second direction (z) is for example substantially parallel to a longitudinal side (L) of the single sheet material piece (5-1).
14. Device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the actuator (11) is designed to set the sheet material pick-up (12) in a translational movement along the vertical direction (y), in order to position the sheet material pick-up at the single sheet material piece (5-1), for example in order to attach the sheet material pick-up (12) to the surface (51) of the single sheet material piece (5-1) for picking up the single sheet material piece (5-1), and/or in order to remove the picked-up single sheet material piece (5-1) from the sheet material stack (5).
15. Method for separating sheet material by means of a device (1), which comprises a sheet material pick-up (12), which is designed for picking up a single sheet material piece (5-1) from a sheet material stack (5), which comprises multiple sheet material pieces (5-1,...5-n), and comprises an actuator (11) for shifting the sheet material pick-up (12),
    characterized by

    - selecting a first pick-up mechanism of the sheet material pick-up (12) and/or a second pick-up mechanism of the sheet material pick-up (12) in order to pick up the single sheet material piece (5-1) by means of the selected pick-up mechanism and remove it from the sheet material stack (5).

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