EP4377239A2

EP4377239A2 - Improvements in conveying, orienting, grouping and packaging of products

Info

Publication number: EP4377239A2
Application number: EP22757911.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Richard Cornelis Theodorus WAGENAAR; Ton Antonius Ambrosius Jozef SJERPS
Original assignee: Automotion Venhuizen Holding BV
Current assignee: Automotion Venhuizen Holding BV
Priority date: 2021-07-26
Filing date: 2022-07-26
Publication date: 2024-06-05
Also published as: WO2023006784A2; WO2023006785A3; WO2023006784A3; NL2028840B1; WO2023006785A2; EP4377238A2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a product placing device for simultaneously placing or dropping one or more products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and food products, in a container or crate or on a tray. The product placing device comprises a left lower conveyor belt, and a right lower conveyor belt, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt are movable away from one another and toward one another between a product conveying position and a product placing position, wherein in the product conveying position the left and right lower conveyor belt are configured to convey products, and wherein in the product placing position the left and right lower conveyor belt are further apart than in the product conveying position and a gap is provided between the left and right lower conveyor belt, wherein the gap allows the one or more products to be dropped or placed downward through the gap in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray below the gap.

Description

Title: Improvements in conveying, orienting, grouping and packaging of products

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to conveying, orienting, grouping, labelling, packaging and other processing operations on products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and rounded products such as rounded food products. In the prior art, systems for carrying out such operations are known.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention it was recognized that existing systems for processing and packaging fruit and vegetables have certain limitations and drawbacks. It was recognized that along packaging lines, manual labour is still required for basic operations.

Fruit is typically packed at the many perpendicular side stations along a long grader line. The fruits at the side stations are sorted by size, colour, shape and rejection. One of the reason that still many growers do manual packing is because the existing situation has limited space in which a robot or pick and place unit often does not fit. Especially the width of such an automatic loader can be a problem because a grower company wants to maintain the number of side stations perpendicular to the grader line. More side stations allow more flexibility in grading.

The pitch between side stations can be as small as 1200 mm. Between two side stations, an operator typically operates two opposite automatic loaders. The total available width is then 2 x 1200 = 2400 for two side stations and an operator corridor should be at least 800 mm to access the machines. Automatic loaders can be placed and mirrored to each other so that the operator has access to both machines from the corridor. This means that a maximum width of such a machine should be about (2400-800)/2 = 800 mm. One operator usually places between 30 and 50 products in a tray, box or crate.

Another issue is that existing fruit loaders only place the products on a tray whereas the placing of the labels and the stacking the tray in a box or crate is often still done manually. Another issue is that customers like to have a label on top of the oriented products. In existing concepts, the placing of labels on oriented products is often done after the trays with oriented product leave the casepacker. Labeling is often either manually or with an expensive multilane label unit which needs more space, which is often not available in existing situations made for manual packing. It seems that labeling is an afterthought in many situations. Also, a multilane label unit often cannot place labels on products which are deep in a box. Generally these machine can only label on top of a single layer. Further, the price of a multilane label unit and an automatic placement unit of labeled oriented products on trays in a box or crate can be high.

Another problem associated with labelling of oriented products is that labels tend to fall from the products every now and then. These labels then tend to stick to the driving components of conventional orienting devices. . Because the orienting device is either stationary or part of a chain in which rollers in the chain orientate , the labels will eventually reach the orienting device. Over time, these labels accumulate on the driving parts of the conventional orienting devices. The labels may cause a malfunction of the orienting device because they tend to have the same colours as the products, which disturbs the background colour of the vision systems and prevents the cameras from properly distinguishing the product. This is one of the reasons why labelling is often carried out manually.

Machines that orient fruit and place fruit in a container exist for decades. Machines of the prior art are typically based on a fixed distance between successive orientation devices in a packaging line. See for instance NL1012258C2, US2843251, WO2021111421A1 and W02006062401A1. These systems have a same limitation, namely that the fixed distance between the orientation devices in the packaging line is generally greater than the distance between the products in the package. These orientation systems typically cannot deliver the products in the in the pitch of the package or tray. Hence, placing the products in the desired pitch in a desired pattern on the packaging is often done with a separate single pick robot such as a single delta robot. However, these robots have several disadvantages, one of which is that large horizontal accelerations and therefore greater force are created which may damage fragile products. Furthermore, such robots often have relatively long travel paths per product, resulting in a limited throughput. The skilled person will understand that the long travel path and the large horizontal accelerations are interrelated. Also, single pick robots may require a deeper cavity in a product tray, which increases costs.

In some older concepts, products were gripped with an array head having multiple rows and multiple columns of grippers. Such arrays heads had complex mechanisms for changing the pitch in X and Y direction. It was found that such array heads are overly complex, heavy and have long changeover times when the pattern in the packaging is changed.

Another limitation in the prior art is that there is no existing system which can package multiple layers of oriented and labelled products in containers, both with and without a product tray between each layer. A system exists which can package stacked trays with products, but this system is complex and cannot be reconfigured to work without product trays. Furthermore, in order to save packaging material, the trend is that trays become thinner and weaker which makes it more difficult to handle a tray filled with products and to stack these trays in a container.

Another problem of the prior art is that products may have rigid stems. If such products are labelled and subsequently grouped, the stem of one product may contact an adjoining product in the same group. As a result the rigid stem may disorient the product. This is undesirable, in particular if a label was already on the product, because the label then also becomes disoriented which is visually unappealing.

Further, it was recognized in the present invention that the process of orienting products is relatively slow in existing systems and requires complex machinery.

EP3423201 B1 discloses a standard delta robot with 4th or 5th axis. A relatively simple orientation unit is combined with the additional rotation of the 4th or 5th axis the delta robot. The product is oriented between diabolo rollers in a chain around a horizontal axis. The product is oriented around a horizontal axis in such a way that the robot can do the second orientation. In systems where two separate orientations are carried out one after another, it can save time to do one of the orientations in the time that a product moves from a pickup location to a target location. But because the robot carries out an orientation after picking up a product, a prelabelled product cannot be placed with the label that faces upwards which is preferred.

This also has been disclosed in EP0644120A1 in which orienting about a vertical axis can be either achieved by a vertical rotating unit in between the diabolo roller orientation unit or by turning the suction member around a vertical axis in the vacuum head. The description of EP3423201B1 mentions that the robot could apply a label on the product. However, that would mean that less time is available for the robot to place and orient the products. The description also mentions that the system could pickup the products with a gripper containing multiple suction members. This would require a more complex gripper that changes the distance in the orientation units to the distance in the tray. The machine of EP3423201B1 is relatively wide and has limited functionality. The sideways forces and vacuum forces on the products are relatively large because the products are moved over a considerable horizontal distance and undergo substantial accelerations in a horizontal direction. This requires a significant suction force which may cause damage to fragile products.

US20210276751 A1 discloses a XYZ manipulator which has stationary orienting systems based on rollers and a 2 step way of orienting. First the rollers perform a first orientation, and subsequently the product is lifted by a rotating support and a second orienting is done around a vertical axis. These sequential conventional orienting devices are often slow.. Several orienting units are provided which are arranged in parallel and operate simultaneously. This makes the machine relatively wide. There is no possibility to place the labels on top of an oriented product with a standard label unit before picking up the product, because this would impede the access of the robot and the vision system. The machine is probably limited to placing one layer of oriented products on a tray. Labelling on top of the oriented product and placing more layers of trays in a box would probably require an extra, separate machine. The robot is a single pick robot, which makes the machine quite slow. The machine has limited functionality. In US20210276751 A1 the horizontal forces and the vacuum forces on the products are quite large because the product is moved sideways over larger distances.

WO2021111421A1 discloses multiple XYZ manipulators with additional rotation around a vertical axis which improves the speed by placing multiple products at the same time. Orientation around a vertical axis is both possible with the orientation system and with the manipulators. There is no possibility to place labels on top of an oriented product with a standard label unit before picking up because this would impede the access of the robot and the vision system. Labelling on top of the oriented product and placing more layers of trays in a box needs a separate machine or may be done on the grading line, but that will not result in a label on top of the oriented product, which is often desired by clients. The machine is restricted to placing four oriented products in a pick and place operation. The machine of WO2021111421 A1 is quite wide and needs a significant number of complex mechanical parts and has limited capabilities. Because the robots are placed parallel next to each other, smaller products than the distance between the robots can cause some inefficient paths where not all the 4 robots can place together.

EP0644120A1 discloses a pattern layer placing machine. At the pickup side the pattern is moved to a smaller sideways pitch by moving the product supports closer to each other, see Fig 5. The lengthwise position of the rows is done with stoppers in EP0644120A1 and because of that a controlled pitch between the products in the row cannot be achieved.

US6401434B1 discloses a gripper with hooks which picks up a tray of products and lowers the tray in a box. This system is sensitive to malfunction.

Document ES2130035B1 discloses a system in which a transfer tray is used. The machine is configured for manual loading and has no automatic loading of oriented products in a container or on a transfer tray. It uses an endless transport belt to supply the empty transfer trays from the loading location to the packaging location. It uses many transfer trays.

It uses an elevator to move the transfer trays from the return side of the transport to the top side. The layer of products is moved horizontally after picking up from the transfer tray to the packaging area.

Another limitation in the prior art is that there is no existing system which can package multiple layers of oriented and labelled products in containers, both with and without a product tray between each layer. A system exist which can stack trays with prelabelled products in containers, but this system is complex and cannot be reconfigured to work without product trays or with weak trays. Furthermore, in order to save packaging material, the trend is that trays become thinner and weaker which makes it more difficult to handle a tray filled with products.

In the present invention it was further recognized that existing systems are in particular not very good at automatically conveying, orienting, grouping, labelling, and packaging oblong products having a bulbous and a more narrow end, such as pears. In particular arranging such products in more complex formations in a packaging, such as a rooftile formation, is difficult to achieve without manual labour.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements which take away at least one of the drawbacks and limitations discussed above and in general to provide systems and methods resulting in a faster and more automated way of conveying, orienting, grouping, labelling and/or packaging products. The products are in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and rounded products such as rounded food products. It is another object of the present invention to provide systems which are relatively compact, in particular narrow.

It is another object of the present invention to provide systems which can package products in a container or crate in stacked layers with and without product intermediate product trays and with and without labels.

It is another object of the present invention to provide systems which are relatively simple and versatile. A versatile system can be used in different ways which allows the companies operating these systems to change the functionality relatively easy. A versatile system is also relatively easy to produce. Instead of producing several different systems, only a single system can be produced.

It is another object of the present invention to provide systems which avoid large suction forces on the products and avoid significant horizontal accelerations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

1. Product placing device

In order to achieve at least one object, the invention provides a product placing device for simultaneously placing or dropping one or more products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and food products, in a container or crate or on a tray, the product placing device comprising:

- a left lower conveyor belt,

- a right lower conveyor belt,

- one or more drives for driving the left and right lower conveyor belt for moving the products to a target location on the left and right conveyor belt, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt extend in a transport direction (T), wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt are movable away from one another and toward one another between a product conveying position and a product placing position, wherein in the product conveying position the left and right lower conveyor belt are configured to convey products, and wherein in the product placing position the left and right lower conveyor belt are further apart than in the product conveying position and a gap is provided between the left and right lower conveyor belt, wherein the gap allows the one or more products to be dropped or placed downward through the gap in the container or crate or on the

(transfer)tray below the gap.

The product placing device allows fast and reliable placing of oriented and labelled products with relatively little horizontal travel distances.

2. Packaging system

In order to achieve at least one object, in an independent aspect, the invention provides a packaging system configured for simultaneously placing or dropping a plurality of products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables and rounded products such as rounded food products, into a container or crate or on a tray, via a transfer tray or formation device, the packaging system comprising:

- one or more transfer conveyors defining a placing location and a packaging location , wherein the one or more transfer conveyors is configured for moving the transfer tray or formation device between the placing location and packaging location,

- a product placing device positioned above the placing location and configured to place or drop one or more products on the transfer tray or formation device when the transfer tray or formation device is in the placing location,

- a movable array head comprising an array of pickup members, the array comprising a plurality of pickup members in an X-direction and a plurality of pickup members in a Y-direction, the movable array head being configured for picking a group of products from a transfer tray or formation device and placing or dropping the group products into a container, crate or tray,

- a control unit configured to perform the following steps: o move a transfer tray or formation device to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o place or drop products on the transfer tray or formation device with the product placing device, o move the transfer tray or formation device with the products from the placing location to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o pick the group of products from the transfer tray or formation device with the movable array head at the packaging location, o move the transfer tray or formation device away from the packaging location, and in particular back to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o move a container, crate or tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, and o place or drop the group of products into the container, crate or tray with the movable array head at the packaging location.

The packaging system allows a versatile way of packaging the products.

3. Conveyor belt system

In order to achieve at least one object, in an independent aspect, the invention provides a conveyor belt system configured for conveying a product, in particular a horticultural or agricultural product such as a fruit, a vegetable and a flower bulb and other rounded products such as a rounded food product, the conveyor belt system comprising:

- a frame,

- one or more lower conveyor belts which is/are configured to support a lower side of a product,

- an upper conveyor belt assembly configured to engage an upper side of the product, the upper conveyor belt assembly comprising a plurality of upper conveyor belts placed in series, each upper conveyor belt comprising: o at least one driven pulley, o an entry lower pulley positioned on an arrival side of the conveyor belt system where the products arrive, o an exit lower pulley positioned at an exit side of the upper conveyor belt where the products leave the conveyor belt system, o an upper belt which extends at least around the driven pulley, the entry and exit lower pulley, wherein a lower section of the upper belt extends between the entry pulley and the exit pulley, the upper conveyor belt assembly further comprising a plurality of entry suspension mechanisms and a plurality of exit suspension mechanisms, wherein each entry suspension mechanism is connected to the frame and to a respective entry lower pulley, wherein each entry suspension mechanism supports the entry lower pulley and allows the entry lower pulley to move up and down between a lower entry position and an upper entry position, wherein each exit suspension mechanism is connected to the frame and to a respective exit lower pulley, wherein each exit suspension mechanism supports the exit lower pulley and allows the exit lower pulley to move up and down between a lower exit position and an upper exit position, wherein when a product engages a lower section of one of the upper belts of the upper conveyor belt assembly, the lower section of the upper belt, the lower entry pulley and the lower exit pulley are moved upwards, wherein the entry and exit suspension mechanism provide a downward pre-tension force on the lower section, causing the lower section to press downward on the product.

The conveyor belt system allows both continuous and start-stop orienting of multiple products simultaneously.

4. Product handling system

In order to achieve at least one object, in an independent aspect, the invention provides a product handling system comprising multiple product conveyor devices placed in series, wherein each product conveyor device is configured for conveying products , in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, flower bulbs and rounded food products, each product conveyor device comprising:

- a first conveyor belt comprising a first drive,

- a second conveyor belt comprising a second drive,

- at least a third conveyor belt or roller mechanism comprising a third drive, wherein the first, second and third conveyor belt of each product conveyor device extend in a transport direction (T) and are configured to convey products in the transport direction, wherein the first and second conveyor belt and the third conveyor belt or roller mechanism provide a product space between them, and are configured to support the products on at least three sides thereof, wherein the product handling system further comprises:

- at least one sensor, in particular at least one camera, configured for recording data, in particular images, of a product which is conveyed by the product handling system,

- a control unit configured for processing the recorded data and controlling the first drive, second drive and third drive on the basis of the processed data.

5. Pick and place system

In order to achieve at least one object, in an independent aspect, the invention provides a pick and place system comprising a plurality of pick and place assemblies configured for picking and placing products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs and other rounded products such as rounded food products, each pick and place assembly comprising:

- a gripping head configured for gripping the product, - one or more pick and place actuators for moving and rotating the gripping head,

- one or more pick and place sensors, in particular a camera, for recording images of a product in the gripping head and recording images of a target area where the product is to be placed,

- a pick and place control unit for controlling the one or more actuators on the basis of the recorded images. the system further comprising a container conveyor for moving containers, crates or product trays in a transport direction (M), wherein multiple filling positions are located along the conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly is positioned at a respective filling position along said conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly is configured for partially filling a container, crate or product tray, wherein during or after the partial filling of each container, crate or tray, the container conveyor moves the container, crate or product tray to the next pick and place assembly.

The pick and place assembly allows fast and parallel placing of products in containers.

6. Product formation device

In order to achieve at least one object, in an independent aspect, the invention provides a product formation device for positioning a group of products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and other rounded products such as rounded food products, in a formation, the product formation device comprising:

- a frame,

- a plurality of movable product supports, wherein the product supports are arranged in a plurality of rows, each row comprising multiple product supports, wherein the product supports in a same row are distanced from one another by a support pitch distance, and

- a plurality of row bars extending in the direction of the rows and

- a plurality of cross-bars extending transverse to the row bars,

- a plurality of guiding bases, each guiding base connected to a respective product support, and wherein each guiding base is slidably connected to a row bar and slidably connected to a cross-bar, and

- a cross-bar moving mechanism for displacing the cross-bars in the Y-direction, thereby changing the support pitch distance (DY1) in the Y-direction between at least a number of product supports.

With the product formation device, products which are otherwise difficult to package in a container or crate or on a product tray can be arranged in a formation which allows packaging in container or crate. Products can be placed partly over each other in a nested pattern with this formation device.

These and other aspects of the invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description and considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference symbols designate like parts.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figures 1 - 3 show a packaging line comprising a product placing device according to the invention and comprising a product handling system according to the present invention. The product handling system comprises a conveyor belt system according to the present invention.

Figures 4A - 9B show different embodiments of a product placing device according to the invention, with figures 6A-6E showing details and figure 8C showing a pattern of products. Figures 10 - 15 show a packaging system comprising a product placing device and a product handling system according to the present invention in different stages of operation.

Figures 16 - 23 show an embodiment of a packaging system according to the present invention in different stages of operation via a transfer tray mode of operation.

Figure 24 shows another embodiment of a packaging system according to the present invention.

Figure 25 shows another embodiment of a packaging system according to the present invention.

Figure 26 shows a movable array head of a packaging system according to the present invention.

Figures 27A-B, 27D-E and 27G-H shows formations of product that can be created with the present invention.

Figures 27C-27F shows a layout of a transfer tray according to the present invention.

Figure 28 shows a comparison of horizontal travel paths between a prior art system and the present invention.

Figures 29A - 30C show a further embodiment of a product placing device according to the invention.

Figure 31 shows a packaging system with a pick and place device and a product handling system according to the present invention.

Figures 32A-34D show another embodiment of a product placing device of the present invention and patterns of products that can be made. Figures 35 - 39 show embodiments of a conveyor belt system according to the present invention.

Figures 40 - 47 show embodiments of a product handling system and a product placing device according to the present invention.

Figures 48 - 50 show embodiments of a pick and place system according to the present invention.

Figures 51 - 54 show embodiments of a product formation device according to the present invention.

Figures 55A-55D show another embodiment of the product handling assembly and the belt conveyor system.

Figure 56 shows another embodiment of the packaging system according to the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 1. PRODUCT PLACING DEVICE

Turning to figures 1 - 3, a packaging system 1000 is shown. The packaging system 1000 system comprises a product supply chute 383 on a right side thereof. Directly downstream from the chute 383, a product handling system 313 is provided. The product handling system is configured to orient the products, label the products and group the products as will be described further below. Downstream from the product handling system 313, a product placing system 382 is provided which places the products on product trays 360. The product placing system comprises a frame 381 and a product placing device 314.

Alternatively, the tray on which the product placing device places the products may be a transfer tray. This is described in connection with other embodiments further below.

A packaging supply conveyor 386 is provided to supply the product trays 360 to a packaging location 1002 directly underneath the product placing device 314. The packaging conveyor comprises a support surface 1024 for supporting the container, crate, product tray or transfer tray.

A packaging discharge conveyor 385 is provided to discharge the filled product trays 360. The packaging discharge conveyor 385 is located vertically above the packaging discharge conveyor 385. The product placing system comprises an elevator 361 (also referred to as elevator belt) having a conveyor belt. The elevator belt moves empty product trays from a lower level to an upper level, to the packaging location 1002. The elevator is operated by drive 368 via belt 367. The elevator is connected to elevator frame 363 which slides along shafts 364.

A lateral actuator 353 is provided for moving the product placing device 314 in a lateral direction (Y-direction, 388) relative to the packaging location 1002 in order to allow the product placing device to place or drop products on the product tray (or container, crate or transfer tray) in different lateral positions, and in particular to allow the product placing device to place or drop rows of products in the container or crate or on the product tray or transfer tray. 351 denotes guiding shaft of lateral movement of product placing device 314 and 352 refers to a timing belt driven by motor 353 for the lateral movement. The empty rows may be offset relative to one another in the lateral direction.

Adjacent rows in the tray may be offset relative to one another in the direction of the rows (X-direction). The product placing device can adjust the target position of the products on the conveyor belts in order to position the group of products vertically above the empty row.

The product trays 360 have multiple rows 1005 of product positions 1006, in this case five rows. Each product position is an indentation (or cavity). The shown product tray has five rows. Each row comprises six product positions but obviously a different number is possible. Each row is staggered (offset) relative to an adjacent row.

In use, the products 330 (here: apples) roll down the chute 383. The product handling system 313 is configured to receive the products, orient each product, provide a label on each product and to subsequently group a number of products. Alternatively the product handling system 313 may be configured to perform the labelling after the grouping of the products. The number of products in a group corresponds to the number of products which are subsequently placed with the product placing device. After the grouping and the labelling are carried out, the group is then transferred to the product placing device 314. The skilled person will understand that sometimes, products are not labelled.

An empty product tray 360 is moved upwards with the elevator 361 to the upper level. The elevator comprises a conveyor belt to position the empty tray in the X-direction relative to the product placing device 314. A sensor, e.g. a camera or a simpler sensor, is used to record the position of the empty tray on the elevator and to control the conveyor belt of the elevator. Because the rows of the product tray are staggered, the positioning in the X-direction is carried for each row of the product tray. The product placing device 314 moves laterally (in the Y-direction) to a position vertically above a target row of the product tray. The product placing device 314 can be displaced sideways (in the Y-direction) with a servomotor 353 controlled by the control unit 100 which may be a PLC. Lateral guide bars 351 are provided in the frame 381 and the product placing device 314 comprises sliders 1022 which slide along the lateral guide bars. The product placing device 314 subsequently drops the group of products in a row of the product tray 360, see fig. 2.

This process is repeated. Each time a number of products 330 are oriented, labelled, grouped into a group of six products, and then transferred as a group to the product placing device 314, which then positions itself above an empty row of the product tray and drops the group of products in the empty row of the product tray 360. When a product tray is filled, it is discharged by the belt conveyor of the elevator onto the discharge conveyor 385, see fig. 3. The elevator is then moved downwards to the lower level to receive a new empty product tray from the packaging supply conveyor.

Turning to figures 4A - 4E, the product placing device 314 is shown in more detail. The product placing device 314 is configured for simultaneously placing or dropping one or more products 330, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and food products, in a container or crate or on a tray (transfer tray or product tray; here a product tray). Obviously a single product may also be dropped or placed. The product placing device comprises a left lower conveyor belt 303A, a right lower conveyor belt 303B which engage a lower left side respectively a lower right side of the product. The product placing device comprises a left side conveyor belt 304A and a right side conveyor belt 304B configured to engage respectively a left side and right side of the one or more products. The left side and right side conveyor belts 304A, 304B face inward and (slightly) downward and are configured to press inward and (slightly) downward on the product(s). The left and right side conveyor belts are narrower than the left and right lower conveyor belts.

The left side conveyor belt and the right side conveyor belt may be configured to engage respectively a left upper and a right upper side of the one or more products. In other words, they may be placed quite high.

Instead of the left and right side conveyor belt, a single upper conveyor belt may be provided which is configured to engage an upper side of the one or more products. “Upper side” in this respect should be interpreted broadly and is not just the central upper side. The product placing device comprises one or more drives 328, 329 for driving the left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt for moving the products to a target location 1010 on the product placing device. The target position will often be a halfway position but other target positions are possible. The left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt extend in a transport direction T.

The left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt provide a product space 24 between them, and are configured to support the one or more products on at least three sides thereof, and in the shown embodiment on four sides thereof.

In order to drop the products onto the product tray, the left and right lower conveyor belt are movable away from one another and toward one another between a product conveying position 399 and a product placing position 400. The left and right conveyor belt pivot about pivot points 339. In the product conveying position, the left and right lower conveyor belt are configured to convey products, and will be close together. They may engage one another so that no gap is present or define a narrow gap between them. If present, the narrow gap is narrow enough to prevent products from falling through. In the product placing position 400 the left and right lower conveyor belt are further apart than in the product conveying position 399 and a gap 1016 is provided between the left and right lower conveyor belt. The gap is wide enough to allow the one or more products to drop or be placed downward through the gap in the container or crate or on the transfer tray or product tray below the gap.

The left and right lower conveyor belt 303A, 303B diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation. However, the left and right lower conveyor belt 303A, 303B may also be oriented horizontally.

The left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt have a controllable speed. The product placing device may comprise a control unit 100 configured to control the one or more drives to maintain or control the orientation of the products while moving the products to the target location, and/or to maintain respective distances between the products while moving the products to the target location, and/or to maintain the distance(s) between a plurality of groups. Typically, all conveyor belts will be driven at an equal speed to maintain the orientation of the products 330 because the products have previously been oriented in the product handling system. The product placing device comprises at least one opening actuator 331 which is configured for moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another from the product conveying position 399 to the product placing position 400, thereby opening or enlarging the gap 1016 between the left and right lower conveyor belt.

The left and right lower conveyor belts 303A, 303B are pivotable but may also be displaceable in a linear direction. The opening actuator 331 is configured for pivoting or linearly displacing the left and right lower conveyor belt in order to move the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another for opening or enlarging the gap. The left side conveyor belt 304A and the right side conveyor belt 304B are positioned above respectively the left lower conveyor belt and the right lower conveyor belt. The at least one opening actuator is configured for moving the left and right side conveyor belt 304A, 304B away from one another together with moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another. In an alternative embodiment, the left and right lower conveyor belt move away from one another before the left and right side conveyor belt move away from one another. In some embodiments, a separate actuator may move the left and right side conveyor belt 304A, 304B away from one another.

With reference to figures 6A-6E, the left side conveyor belt 304A and right side conveyor belt 304b are configured for pressing against the one or more products, and in particular:

- comprise(s) a series of rollers 1018 supported by springs 332 or biasing members, wherein the rollers supported by the springs or biasing members are configured to press respective conveyor belt(s) 1020A, 1020B of the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt against the products, and/or

- comprise(s) respective conveyor belt(s) which are compressible in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the conveyor belt(s), wherein the conveyor belts are in particular spongy. Alternatively, the single upper conveyor belt is configured for pressing downwards on the one or more products and have a similar configuration.

Returning to figures 4A - 4E, the arms 327 of the product placing device 314 support four conveyor belts which support and clamp a product. The belts 303A, 303B, 304A and 304B are connected to a swivelling support arm 327 that is driven by a servo motor 331 with a crank 325 and a linkage 326. The products 330 are clamped by the side belts 304A and 304B. The arm 327 is adjustable in an arm angle in order to set the clamping force for different products between side conveyor belts 304A and 304B. The belt surface of side conveyor belts 304A and 304B is flexibly supported by rollers 1018 supported by a spring suspension 332 which push the rollers against the belt. The distance between the support rollers 1018 in the transport direction is at least the size of the smallest product.

The distance between the side belts can be adjusted by the servo motor 331 and crank 325 in order to adjust the clamping force between the side conveyor belts 304A and 304B, wherein the rod 326 adjusts the angle of arms 327. Differences in diameter of the products 330 will not result in a large change of the clamping force because of the spring suspension in rollers 332.

In this way the product is clamped with little risk of damage. The product placing device 314 can maintain a group of round products and/or a group of non-round oriented products in the position and orientation in which they arrive at the entry 315 of the product placing device 314. When the products 330 arrive in the product placing device, the spring loaded rollers 1018 in the side conveyor belts 304 are displaced over a distance D7-D6. The stroke of the springs 332 is typically between 5-30 mm. The clamping force can be adjusted by the control unit 100 which controls the servomotor 331 with the crank 325 and 326 to adjust the angle of the supporting arm 327 that support the lower conveyor belts 303A.303B and the side belts 304A, 304B. A smaller value of D6 causes a larger clamping force on the product. The control unit 100 allows the user to specify and control distances D6 and D7.

The products are clamped between the conveyor belts and positioned to either a stationary target position or to a moving target position of an underlying tray, box or crate.

This is achieved by controlling the position and speed of the products with servomotors 328 and 329 that drive the lower conveyor belts and side conveyor belts in the product placing device. After positioning the products in a transport direction of the product placement device exactly on the same (moving) horizontal position of the underlying tray, the products are dropped.

The settings of the placements of products are controlled by the control unit 100. When the lower conveyor belts 303A and 303B are opened to drop the product, the product could reorientate if it opens slowly by rolling on the descending opened belt sideways. This may be prevented by accelerating the crank 325 whereby the vertical acceleration component at the normal contact area to the product 330 is higher than the gravity. In FIG 5B it is shown that the contact face of the belts 303A and 303B with the product is moving almost horizontally and that the angle of the lower conveyor belts is about 35 degrees and may be adjustable. Since the tangent of 35 degrees is 0.7, an acceleration of the opening belt in the curve with Radius R may be about 9.8/0.7 = 14. Tests have shown that the product does not reorient at an acceleration of 14 when opening the belts 303A, 303B, 304A and 304B. Many different round and oblong fruit products allow this way of placing because the falling height is often only slightly higher than the product’s own height. Additionally the product tray or transfer tray can often be soft or have a soft support surface. The fall can be further softened by applying a cushioning with soft foam under the conveyor belt that supports the tray. This foam under the belt may then be covered with a wear-resistant thin layer of, for example, plastic or spring steel.

Turning to figures 7A-7C, 8A-8C and 9A-B, in some embodiments, the product placing device 314 comprises a pick and place device 314 comprising a pick and place head 323 having multiple pickup members 324 (which will generally by vacuum members but may also be grippers). Each pickup member is configured for picking up a product 330. In this embodiment, the multiple pickup members 324 are arranged in a straight row.

When products are not allowed to fall, like fragile products, and for products that are placed in more than 1 layer in a container, the pick and place head 323 is quite useful. When the pick and place head 323 is used in the product placing device 314, the group of products can be picked up by the pick and place head 323 after the group is positioned in the lower belts 303A, 303B and side belts 304A.304B of the product placing device 314. After the group of products is picked up by the pick and place head 323, the belts 303A, 304A, 303B and 304B are opened and the products are moved downwards by the pick and place head 323, optionally with a little offset D3, see drawing 9B, to prevent collision.

The pick and place head 323 is connected to a rotatable tube 322 driven by rotary actuator 320 and timing belt 337. This allows the pick and place head 323 to rotate the group of products around a Z-axis 1032 see Figs. 7A-7C. This rotating function is an option and may not always be necessary. The rotatable tube 322 is supported by a vertical moving subframe that is guided by linear ball bearings 334 and hardened shafts 335. The frame supporting the rotatable pick and place head 323 is driven by a pick and place actuator 336 in vertical Z direction. By using the rotation function of pick and place head 323, the direction of the row can be rotated for example + or - 90 or + or -180 degrees. To achieve a high throughput of products speed it is advantageous to place as many products 330 as possible at once. For this reason the trays, boxes or crates are oriented parallel in a length direction to the product placing device transport direction. This achieves a high throughput speed, especially if the products can dropped. Returning to figures 1-3, when the products are dropped or placed, the vertically movable elevator belt 361 is positioned close under the lower conveyor belts 303A, 303B of the product placing device in order to minimize the fall height or vertical displacement. This elevator belt 361 has several other functions. A second function is that it allows the supply and discharge conveyors of the trays/box/crate to be placed vertically above each other which allows to construct a relatively narrow machine. This is advantageous, because these production lines typically do not have much more than 800 mm existing width available. This is due to the fact that currently, products are packed manually and a machine which replaces manual labour should preferably fit in the existing area.

As will be explained in connection wite the embodiment of figures 16-23, a third function of the elevator belt 361 may be to transport the transfer tray, box or crate from a placing location to a packaging location and back. A fourth function, also relevant for figs. 16-23, may be to transport transfer trays 366 to and from the storage belts 365 to allow automatic changing of transfer trays as will be discussed further below. The third and fourth function are not relevant for figures 1-3 but will be explained in connection with figures 16-23.

Returning to figures 6F, 7A-7C, 8A-8C and 9A-B, when there is a pick and place head 323, it may synchronize the horizontal position with actuator 343 and synchronize its speed and position with the belt(s) 361 that support the tray, box or crate. The actuator 343 drives a horizontal movement support frame over shaft 340 in a guiding bush 341 with a timing belt 342 for the horizontal movement.

In use, the product placing device 314 picks one or more products 330 from the left and right lower conveyor belts 303A, 303B with the pick and place head, moves the left and right lower conveyor belts away from one another to the product placing position, and, after the left and right lower conveyor belt have been moved away from each other, lowers the pick and place head 323 with the products 330 downward through the gap between the left and right lower conveyor belts to place the products in the container or crate or on the product tray or transfer positioned below the gap.

Turning to in particular to figures 6F and 9A, the product placing device may further comprise a pick and place horizontal drive 343 configured for moving the pick and place head 323 forward in the transport direction (T) and/or backward against the transport direction (T), in particular before or while lowering the pick and place head with the pick and place actuator 335. Turning in particular to figures 6A-6D, 8A-8C and 9A, 9B, the control unit 100 allows the user to specify and control distances D1, D2, D3, D14 and D15 and also allows the user to input the number of layers in a container or crate, the number of rows per layer, the number of products per row, orientation settings and rejection settings. Typically, there is a horizontal staggering distance D1 lengthwise between adjacent rows in a product tray to allow for a better filling of the product tray. In fig 8C there is a dimension D2 which shows the lateral distance between rows of product positions on a product tray and when filled, rows of products (here: apples). D3 is a lateral offset between a center of a product position (a cavity) in a product tray and a lateral target position of the pick and place device. D14 is the pitch distance between product positions in a row. D15 is the distance between adjacent products in a row. Positioning a staggered row on a product tray can be achieved in two ways. The first method is by transporting the group of (oriented) products closer or further from the entry 315 of the product placing device 314. The second method is by a horizontal displacement of the elevator belt 361. A combination is also possible. In order to prevent collision with already placed products, a new row is placed with a small lateral offset of D3, see figure 9B. Fig. 8 shows that the stems of the products are oriented laterally.

Turning to figures 10 - 15, the product placing device 314 can be incorporated in a packaging system 1000 having a different configuration. The packaging system comprises a product tray station 600 having a product tray storage for holding product trays and a movable array head 609 for each time picking a tray from the product tray and placing the tray in the container. The product tray station works as a denester.

The movable array head 609 comprises an array of pickup members 619, the array comprising a plurality of pickup members 619 in an X-direction and a plurality of pickup members 619 in a Y-direction. The packaging system 1000 comprises an array head moving mechanism 630 configured to: o move the movable array head 609 from a head packaging position 640 to a head tray position 641 at the product tray storage in order to take a product tray from the product tray storage, and o to subsequently move the movable array head back to the head packaging position to place the product tray in a container or crate at a packaging location (1002) or directly on the packaging location (1002).

The movable array head 609 is pivotable about a horizontal axis by actuator 618 between a packaging orientation for placing products in the container, crate or product tray, and a tray storage orientation for taking a product tray from the product tray. The product tray storage is located vertically above the packaging supply conveyor and the packaging discharge conveyor which are also vertically above one another. This creates a relatively narrow packaging system.

With this embodiment it is possible to load products into a container or crate while placing a product tray between each layer of products.

Turning to fig. 10, a filling cycle starts when an empty container is supplied on the packaging supply conveyor. The pick and place head 314 holds a group of apples which are ready to be placed. The apples have previously been oriented and grouped in the product handling system upstream of the product placing system 382. The movable array head has pivoted to the head tray position and is taking a product tray from the product tray storage. Turning to fig. 11, the movable array head has pivoted back to the head packaging position and is ready with a product tray. The empty container has been moved to the upper level with the elevator (or elevator belt) and is being moved to a position in the product tray station and underneath the movable array head.

In fig. 12, the (empty) product tray is placed in the (empty) container. In fig. 13, the container has been moved back to the placing location and the elevator belt moves upwardly over a small distance to above the upper level to position the upper side of the container just underneath the product placing device 314. The container is shown in see through fashion to show the inside.

The product placing system 382 comprises the product placing device 314 which comprises the pick and place head 323 with pickup members 324 in the form of vacuum members. The pick and place head 323 can move up and down. The pick and place head moves downward to engage the pickup members with the apples (or other products) and applies vacuum to pick up the apples. Subsequently the product placing device 314 is opened and the pick and place head lowers the apples into the container. The apples are placed as a row in a row of product positions of the product tray. This process is repeated for each row of the product tray. Each time a row of products is conveyed to a target position directly above the container with the belt conveyors of the product placing device 314. A lateral movement is made by the product placing device 314 to each time move the pick and place head 323 above the next row of the product tray in the container.

Turning to fig. 14, after the bottom layer of products has been placed on the bottom product tray, the elevator belt moves the container back downward to the upper level and subsequently back to the product tray station. A new, empty product tray is taken from the product tray storage by the movable array head and placed in the container on top of the first layer of apples. Meanwhile, a new group of apples has been oriented and formed into a group by the product handling system.

Turning to fig. 15, after a new product tray has been placed on the first layer of apples, the container is moved back to the pick and place unit. Because this back and forth movement is made a number of times (for each product tray), it is advantageous to have the product tray station directly adjacent the pick and place unit. The container is again slightly raised to above the upper level to bring the container close to the pick and place head, although this raising operation may not always be necessary. Next, a new layer of apples is placed in the container by each time placing a group of oriented apples as a row in an empty row of the product tray. The apples are all labelled and the labels in general should have the same orientation for each apple independent of the orientation of the apple. Also the apples themselves may have a uniform orientation in the container. When the next layer of apples is finished, the container is moved back to the product tray station for a new tray and again back to the pick and place unit.

For the uppermost layer of apples, the pick and place may not be necessary because the fall height is small enough to simply open the product placing device 314 and drop the apples onto the product tray. After filling the uppermost product tray, the filling cycle is completed and the completely filled container is discharged with the discharge conveyor. A new empty container is supplied at the lower level and moved to the elevator belt to be lifted to the upper level for a new cycle.

This system has a considerable smaller average horizontal travel path for the products than some systems of the prior art. Moreover, horizontal forces need not be applied with the suction members, reducing a risk of damage to fragile products. Throughput can be high. The system can work with thin and therefore weak product trays. The current concept does not need a pick and place movement to get the product out of the orientation device and the orientation device can create a row of oriented products with the right pitch at least in one direction of the package. This way of orientation and grouping does not cause lateral suction forces on the products like conventional solutions. Only a relativey small sideways movement is left to place the rows and the force to move the products sideways is a pushing force with the belt conveyors. The system of figures 10-15 allows stacking of layers of products in a container or crate with and without a product tray.

2. PACKAGING SYSTEM WITH TRANSFER TRAY

Turning to figures 16 - 23, a packaging system 1000 with a different configuration is shown. This configuration makes use of a so-called transfer tray. This allows entire layers of products to be placed in a container or create. The packaging system comprises one or more transfer conveyors which defining a placing location and a packaging location. The placing location is located at the product placing system 382 and the packaging location is located under the movable array head which is also present in the embodiment of figures 10-15. The one or more transfer conveyors correspond to the elevator belt and the conveyor under the movable array head. The one or more transfer conveyors and the conveyor under the movable array head are configured for moving the transfer tray back and forth between the placing location and packaging location.

The packaging system 1000 comprises a product placing device 314 of 457 positioned above the placing location and configured to place or drop one or more products on the transfer tray when the transfer tray is in the placing location. The packaging system further comprises the movable array head 609 which comprises an array of pickup member, the array comprising a plurality of pickup members 323 in an X-direction and a plurality of pickup members 323 in a Y-direction. The movable array head is configured for picking a group of products from a transfer tray and placing or dropping the group of products into a container, crate or product tray.

The packaging system further comprise a control unit 100 configured to perform a cycle as follows: o move a transfer tray to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o place or drop products on the transfer tray with the product placing device, o move the transfer tray with the products from the placing location to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o pick the group of products from the transfer tray with the movable array head at the packaging location, o move the transfer tray away from the packaging location, and in particular back to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o move a container, crate or tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, and o place or drop the group of products into the container, crate or tray with the movable array head at the packaging location.

This cycle is a cycle without product tray in the container. The product layers are placed directly on top of each other without intermediate product tray.

The placing location and the packaging location are situated adjacent to one another. The movable array head is configured to move the products only in a vertical direction and not in a horizontal direction. This reduces the risk of damage to the products. The product placing device 314 comprises a pick and place head 323 comprising a row 319 of pickup members 324 for each time placing a row of products on the transfer tray. Alternatively the product placing device does not comprise a pick and place head and is configured to only drop products. The product placing device is the product placing device according to any of claims 1 - 18.

The packaging system further comprises a lateral actuator 353 for moving the placing location and/or the product placing device in a lateral direction Y relative to one another in order to allow the product placing device to place or drop products on the transfer tray in different lateral positions, and in particular to allow the product placing device to place or drop a row of on the transfer tray, wherein the rows are offset relative to one another in the lateral direction. The tray could also be displaced lateral by 2 pushers 370 see fig 25. In this case there is no lateral movement of the product placing device which can be faster.

The packaging system further comprises a product handling system, similar to the embodiment of figures 10-15. The product handling system is configured for supplying products to the product placing device.

When seen in top view the placing location and the packaging location are aligned with the product handling system. The placing location is located between the product handling system and the packaging location, and the first elevator is in particular located at the placing location.

The packaging system comprises the movable array head and the product tray storage which are the same as or similar to the embodiment of figs 10-15.

In case a product layer should be placed on a product tray, the control unit 100 is configured to perform the following cycle: control the one or more transfer conveyors to move the container or crate with the product tray inside it or a product tray by itself away from the packaging location after placing a product tray in the container or crate or placing a product tray directly on the packaging location, move the transfer tray with products to the packaging location, pick the products from the transfer tray with the movable array head, move the transfer tray away from the packaging location and in particular back to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, move the product tray or container or crate with the product tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, and place the products on the product tray which is located on the transfer conveyor or in the container or crate with the movable array head.

An advantage of the transfer tray when loading multiple layers of products in a container is that the pick and place head does not need to make a large stroke. The layers of products are placed in the container with the movable array head, not with the pick and place head.

This may result in a shorter cycle time. Because the transfer tray can be positioned close to the product placing device 314, the products may be dropped. This is relatively fast.

Another advantage is that this embodiment is efficient, has a small footprint, and can stack layers of labelled products with or without trays and with little or no risk that the labels are removed from the products by the suction members because a low vacuum can be used as there are no lateral forces between the product and the suction member. This is an advantage of the sidebelts that clamp the products while being placed laterally. This may avoid lateral suction forces completely and only requires a vertical downward movement with the product by the suction members which allows a lower vacuum and less risk of labels being sucked up by the suction members. If suction members are used in the product placing device, the moving direction is mainly vertical with no or very few lateral forces allowing a low vacuum for the suction members.

The movable array head is rotatable about a vertical axis 389 and the control unit is configured to rotate the movable array head over an angle of 180 degrees after a product tray is picked from the product tray storage in order to alternate the orientation of the product trays in the container or crate. The product placing device is configured to alternate the formation of the products in the transfer tray when a transfer tray is loaded with products in order to match the formation of the products in the transfer tray to a formation of product positions in the rotated product tray. The transfer tray is shown in top view in figs. 27C and 27F and has product positions 390 which form position rows 1010, wherein the product positions are indentations which are covered with a soft material. A pitch distance between at least some of the product positions may be smaller than the pitch distance of the products in the container or crate. This makes it easier to place products in the container or crate.

The packaging system 1000 comprises the transfer tray, wherein adjacent product positions in a same position row of the transfer tray are spaced from one another by a pitch distance D14. Adjacent position rows in the transfer tray are offset relative to one another over an offset distance D1 in a direction parallel to the direction of the position rows. The offset distance is in particular half of a pitch distance. The product placing device is configured to place rows of products on the transfer tray. The pick and place head 323 and the placing location 1004 are movable relative to one another in the direction of the rows of the transfer tray on the placing location in order to offset adjacent rows of products in the transfer tray over the offset distance relative to one another.

The packaging system may comprise multiple storage positions 365 for storing different transfer trays 366. The storage positions 365 may in particular be placed vertically above one another and adjacent the elevator, and under the product handling system.

Alternatively, the product placing device may comprise one or more (standard) robots equipped with a single pick or array place member, in particular a gripper or a suction head.

In fig 56 , the packaging system may comprise a labelling position and one or more labeling devices 260 for labelling products on the transfer tray in the labelling position, wherein when seen in top view the labelling position is located between the placing location and the packaging location. In this embodiment, the labeling device labels an entire layer of products on the transfer tray.

The packaging system 1000 of figures 16-23 can operate in the following modes:

- in a product tray mode in which a product tray is placed between each layer of products in the container or crate, and

- in a non-tray mode in which no product tray is placed between each layer of products and optional also not under the first layer in the container or crate, wherein the products are directly placed on top of one another, and

- in a non-container mode in which the product trays are placed directly on the packaging location.

The control unit 100 can switch the packaging system between the three modes. It is also possible to have an intermediate tray only in layer, 2, 4 etc

The filling cycle is shown in figures 16-23 and is carried out as follows. Turning to figure 16, the empty container is supplied via the lower level and moved upwards to the upper level. Next, the transfer tray is moved from the storage to the upper level and is positioned at the placing location under the product placing device 314.

Turning to fig. 17, a product tray is picked from the product tray storage and placed in the empty container. The product placing device 314 loads the transfer tray row by row. This can be carried out by dropping or by placing with the pick and place head.

Turning to fig 18, the container with the product tray is moved to the left, away from the packaging location. The filled transfer tray is moved from the placing location to the packaging location, vertically underneath the movable array head. Next, the movable array head picks the products from the transfer tray and moves upward.

Turning to fig. 19, the transfer tray is moved back from the packaging location to the placing location and the container with the product tray is moved back to the packaging location. Turning to fig. 20, the movable array head now places the layer of products on the product tray in the container. The transfer tray is raised close to the product placing device 314. This movement may be optional. Turning to fig. 21, next, a new product tray is taken from the product tray storage. The product placing device 314 may start to reload the transfer tray. Turning to fig. 22 the new product tray is placed on the layer of products in the container by the movable array head. The product placing device 314 continues to reload the transfer tray with products row by row. Turning to fig. 23, the container is again moved away from the packaging location and the filled transfer tray is moved from the placing location to the packaging location. The products can again be lifted from the transfer tray by the movable array head. The process is repeated and the new layer is placed in the container by the movable array head after the transfer tray is moved back to the placing location and the container is again moved to the packaging location.

It is noted that the system of figures 16-23 also has the capability of working without the transfer tray, in the same way as the system of figures 10-15.

Turning to figure 24, in an alternative embodiment, the packaging system comprises a second elevator 361 B comprising a second conveyor belt, wherein the second elevator is configured for moving containers, crates or trays between the lower level 393 and the upper level 394. When seen in top view the first and second elevator are in particular located on opposite sides of the packaging location 1002. The second elevator is also referred to as elevator belt. The second elevator allows a faster cycle because the containers can be lifted from the lower level to the upper level by the second elevator. The first elevator at the placing location is relieved of this task.

It is noted that the intermediate product trays are optional. The layers of products can also be placed directly on top of one another with this embodiment.

Turning to figure 25, in an alternative embodiment, the packaging supply conveyor and packaging discharge conveyor are positioned adjacent one another at a same level and extend parallel. This machine is wider but needs less elevator operations. This embodiment comprises pusher 369 and/or 370 configured for pushing an empty tray, box or crate from the supply conveyor to the packaging location.

This embodiment may also be used without a transfer tray, in the configuration of figures 10-15. To this end this embodiment may comprises a second pusher 370 configured for pushing an empty tray, box or crate from a supply conveyor to the loading position when no transfer tray is being used. The product trays are optional. The machine can be mirrored in the sense that the packaging supply and discharge are reversed.

The embodiment of fig. 25 also allows another way of moving the tray sideways with respect to the product placing device. The tray, box or crate can be moved sideways under the product placing device. This can be done with 2 servo controlled pushers 370 of figure 25. By placing a 2 pusher 370 on both sides of the container, this operation can be repeated for multiple layers. The pushers can push a tray, box or crate a distance as large as the sideways distance D2 between rows after a row has been placed by the product placing device. When a new row arrives, the pushers 370 move the container sideways. Feeding a new row of products to the product placing device then does not have to wait for the lateral movement of the product placing device and is faster. Thus, a row loaded by simply dropping it into the product placing device could be ready in about 1 second. With rows of 8 products speeds up to 480/min could be achieved. The construction width of this setup is larger.

Turning to figures 26A-26D, details of the movable array head and the array head movgin mechanism 630 are shown. The movable array head can be oriented in two orientations, an inclined orientation as shown in Fig 26C and 26D for taking the product tray 360 out of the product tray 601 , and a horizontal orientation as shown in fig. 26A for placing empty product trays in a container and/or for picking up a layer of products 330 from a transfer tray 366 and placing the layer on a tray 360, box or crate. The pivoting movement between these orientations is created by a linkage 606 and 615 and a pneumatic or servo cylinder 618 which moves the cylinder arm 617. A linear movement is used for placing the product trays and the layers of products in the container or crate and also for picking the product trays from the product tray storage. The linear movement is driven by a timing belt 608 and a servomotor 616.

The array head moving mechanism 630 can move the movable array head 609 from a head packaging position 640 to a head tray position 641 at the product tray storage in order to take a product tray from the product tray storage, and to subsequently move the movable array head back to the head packaging position to subsequently place the product tray in a container or crate at the packaging location or directly on the packaging location 1002.

The array head moving mechanism 630 further comprises a lower rotating arm 612 which has four linear bearings 605 that guide the two shafts 607. The array head moving mechanism 630 further comprises timing belt 603 and servo motor 604 which rotates the movable array head with the suction members about axis 624. When the movable array head is in the head packaging position 640, the axis 624 is vertical. When the movable array head is in the head tray position 641 , the axis 624 is inclined.

Turning to figures 27A - 27F, it is generally desirable to have products in a same orientation on a container or on a crate, and with the labels also in a same orientation. However, the formation of the products may alternate per layer, which poses an extra challenge. In figs. 27A and 27B, the layers on each product tray have a same formation.

In figs. 27D and 27E, the layers on each product tray have a different formation. 404A denotes an array pattern in “0 degrees” and 404B denotes an array pattern in “180 degrees”.

In figs. 27G and 27H, the layers of products have a different formation and are placed directly on top of each other without product trays. In both these situations, the volume in the container is used more efficiently and the products are stacked more firmly. It can be seen that the vertical distances D8, D9 and D10 between the centres of gravity of the products is smaller in Fig. 27E and even smaller in Fig. 27H: D10 < D9 < D8. The control unit 100 allows the user to specify and control distances D1 and D2.

The movable array head is rotatable about a vertical axis over 180 degrees and could be used to rotate a layer of products over 180 degrees to create the formation of figures 27D and 27G. However this is not preferred because it requires horizontal movements of products gripped by a suction member. Also the labels would be reversed for the rotated layer.

Therefore, a same result may be achieved without this 180 degree rotation, at least for the products. Figures 27C and 27F show how a transfer tray can be loaded in two alternate ways. In fig. 27C the five rows are loaded in a I eft- right- 1 eft- right- 1 eft formation. In fig. 27F the five rows are loaded in a right-left-right-left-right formation. Distance D1 can be created by conveying the products to a different target position on the product placing device 314. Alternatively D1 can be created by displacing belt 361. Distance D2 can be created by displacing the product placing device 314 laterally. The transfer tray needs some extra positions to make this possible, but this is not a problem. It is noted that the product trays, if used, still need to be rotated over 180 degrees for each alternate layer. This can be done by the movable array head which is rotatable about a vertical axis.

If no transfer tray is used, the same result can be obtained by rotating each alternate product tray over 180 degrees with the movable array head and placing the product rows in the container with the product placing device 314 in a shifted manner in the transport direction T, relative to the product rows of a lower layer. In other words, the product placing device 314 alternately places the products in the container according to the formation of fig. 27C and fig. 27F. In both embodiments, the products and the labels can be oriented in a uniform manner.

If desired, this method may also be used with a transfer tray. The products are then loaded on the transfer tray in a same formation for each layer and rotated over 180 degrees with the movable array head. This requires more horizontal displacements of products gripped by a suction member and may not be desirable.

Turning to fig. 28, a comparison is made between the present invention in which the products when seen in top view are supplied over the center of the container or transfer tray and a conventional pick an place robot system in which the products are supplied adjacent the container, when seen in top view. In the present invention the average lateral displacement of a product is D12 , which is less than one third of the average lateral displacement for the system with a product supply which is located adjacent the container or transfer tray. With a pick and place robot it is generally not viable to place a product supply belt centrally above the container because it would obstruct the robot's path to the packaging. This is one of the reasons why the present invention is efficient and results in a high throughput and short cycle time. Product placing device - further embodiment

Turning to figures 29A, 29B, 30A, 30B and 30C, another embodiment of a product placing device, here denoted with numeral 457, is shown which comprises a pick and place head 460 having multiple pickup members 324. This embodiment is more complex but also quite versatile and called a multi-functional pick and place head 460. The pickup members 324 are positioned at a pickup distance D30 from one another and are connected to one another via a linkage mechanism formed by elements 444, 445, see further below, allowing the pickup members to move away from one another and toward one another, as will be explained. The pick and place unit further comprises a pickup distance actuator 462 in the form of a pneumatic or servo cylinder or servomotor for adjusting the pickup distance between the pickup members 324. The pickup distance between the pickup members may in particular be uniform and maintained uniform when adjusting the pickup distance. However, it is conceivable that in some situations the pickup distance would be non-uniform.

The pick and place head comprises a pickup member actuator 461 in the form of a pneumatic or servo cylinder or servomotor which is configured for adjusting the angle of all suction members. The pickup member actuator 461 is configured for rotating the individual pickup members about respective vertical axes 1060, wherein the respective axes extend in particular centrally through each pickup member.

An actuator 458 is provided for the vertical movement of the suction members 324.

The multifunctional pick and place head 460 has a frame 451 with a central part 459. The frame 451 is vertically movable and slides in a vertical linear shaft 454 which guides the multifunctional pick and place head 460. A crankrod 456 drives the vertical movement and a bearing 455 allows the vertical movement.

The pick and place head 460 has 8 suction members 324 but can also place fewer products such as 6 products as shown. The pick and place head has crank rods 440 for horizontal displacements of sliders 449. In this way the distance between the suction members can be varied. Numeral 463 indicates a slider 449 together with a rotating suction member 324.

Each slider 449 accommodates an outer tube 448 which in turn accommodates an innertube 453 which can rotate. A central crank 445, a crank 452 and separate crank rods 441 are provided for rotating the suction members 324 about their respective vertical axes. A central vertical rotation axis 444 of cranks 445 and 446 is provided. A central crank 446 is provided for equally displacing the sliders 449. A linear bearing 447 allows sliding of the sliders 449 on the horizontal hardened shafts 450.

The suction on the suction members is applied via innertubes 453 which also acts as rotatable shafts and are mounted on bearings 443.

The suction members 324 are also movable in the transport direction T. A linear guide shaft 464 is provided for the horizontal movement of suction member holders. A linear guide moving part 465 is connected to 444 for horizontal movement of suction member holders. A servomotor 466 is provided for the horizontal movement of suction member holders, and a timing belt 467 is provided for the horizontal movement of suction member holders driven by servomotor 466.

The product placing devices of figs 29A and 30A do not have side belt conveyors and may work with self centering products like pears. However, in case of round products, the product placing devices of figs 29A and 30A will have a left and right side conveyor belt, similar to the embodiments of figures 4A-9B.

Turning to fig. 30C, the product placing device 457 is similar to the the product placing device 457 of fig. 30A, but has side conveyor belts 304A, 304B, which provide an advantage that spherical products can be conveyed while maintainig the orientation.

Turning to fig. 31, the product placing device 457 is shown as part of a packaging system 1000. Many of the parts of this embodiment are similar to the embodiment shown in figures 16-23, with a main difference that a different product placing device 457 is used. A transfer tray 366 is also used. With the product placing device 457, products 330 can be placed on the transfer tray at a controllable pitch distance and at a controllable orientation about their respective vertical axes.

In the process, a soft transfer tray 366 with raised edges is loaded with products. The raised edges have a centring function so that the products remains within the dimensions of the box or crate. The combination of first loading the products on the transfer tray 366 with the pick and place head 460 is effective because the transfer tray does not have high edges which could hinder the pick and place head 460, unlike a container or crate. This means that no mechanical adjustments are required when placing layers of products row by row on the transfer tray with the pick and place head 460. Different formations such as 5x4, 6x5, 7x5, 8x5 may be automatically set by the control unit. Some products such as pears are preferably placed together in rows because these products may otherwise roll away. By first placing the products in a soft deep transfer tray with orienting cavities, the packaging (container, crate) can remain simple and even without cavities. This saves packaging material. The products can also be placed slightly nested over each other in this way. The layers with labelled product can be picked up by the de-nester/pick and place unit from the transfer tray and stacked in the box or crate with or without intermediate product tray.

Turning to figures 32A-32E, with the product placing device 457, different formations of products can be created. This makes the product placing device 457 quite versatile. Figs. 32B and 32C show a formation of pears wherein four rows are provided. The outer rows are staggered relative to the inner rows. The four rows form two pairs of rows wherein the rows which form a pair have pears which are oriented with their stems toward one another. The rows are also placed such that the pears when seen in top view form a tessellated pattern. The pears are also inclined upward with their stems so that the narrow end and the stems of each pear partly overlies the rounded ends of two pears of the adjacent row and partly lies in between the rounded ends of these two pears. It is quite a complex formation and can be made automatically. Fig 32B shows a single layer, bit the skilled person will understand that multiple of such layers can be formed in a container or crate, each layer on a respective product tray with the use of movable array head 609.

Fig. 32D and 32E shows another formation, wherein the products form a rooftile pattern. The products may be pears or other products having a rounded and a tapering end. When seen in top view, the products are rotated relative to the direction row in which they are placed. This rotation is carried out by rotating the pickup member 324 of the pick and place head 460 about their respective vertical axes, see fig. 32D.

Turning to figures 33A- 33F, a procedure is shown to place products having stems close together. Figures 33A and 33B show an initial position. The stems are aligned. The products 330 are held by the pickup members 324 which are not visible because the views are taken from below. The distance D16 between the products is still relatively large. Figures 33C and 33C show that the products are rotated over an angle a11 about their respective vertical axes. Subsequently the distance D17 is decreased. As a result the stem of each product extends to the side of the next product held by the next pickup member 324. Next, the products are rotated back to their original position. As a result the stem of each product engages the next product held by the next pickup member 324 and becomes bent. The distance D18 between the products can now be further reduced until the products are positioned very close to one another. Angle a12 indicates the curvature of the stems. The product placing device 457 subsequently places the products in this formation on the product tray or on a transfer tray, or directly in a container or crate.

Turning to figures 34A-34D, the pick and place head 460 has 8 gripper members, but can also place fewer products such as 5 products as shown in fig 34A for a short row and 6 products as shown in fig 34B for a long row in tray 330. This can be done automatically and is controlled by the control unit based on the pattern of the package. A soft transfer tray 366 with raised edges is loaded.

3. CONVEYOR BELT SYSTEM

Turning to figures 35A-39F, a conveyor belt assembly system is shown. The conveyor belt system is configured for conveying a product 330, in particular a horticultural or agricultural product such as a fruit, a vegetable and a flower bulb and other rounded products such as a rounded food product. The word rounded is intended to be interpreted broadly. A pear is also considered a rounded product. In fig. 35A, three upper conveyor belts 20C are placed in series. The conveyor belts are not interconnected but have gaps between them.

Turning specifically to fig. 37A, the conveyor belt system 700 comprises a frame 1708, one or more lower conveyor belts 20A, 20B which face(s) upwardly and which is/are configured to support a lower side of a product and an upper conveyor belt assembly 707 configured to engage an upper side of the product. The upper conveyor belt assembly 707 comprises a plurality of upper conveyor belts 20C placed in series. The words ‘face upwardly’ are intended to be interpreted broadly and is not restricted to vertically upwards as demonstrated by the inclined orientations of the lower conveyor belts 20A, 20B in fig. 37. The words “lower side" and “upper side” are also intended to be interpreted broadly. An upper hemisphere of a sphere is considered the upper side.

Turning to fig. 35A, each upper conveyor belt 20C of the upper conveyor belt assembly 707 comprises at least one driven pulley 659, an entry lower pulley 653A positioned on an arrival side of the conveyor belt system where the products arrive, and an exit lower pulley 653B positioned at an exit side of the upper conveyor belt where the products leave the conveyor belt system. Each upper conveyor belt 20C further comprises the upper belt 709 itself which extends at least around the driven pulley, the entry and exit lower pulley. A lower section 656 of the upper belt 709 extends between the entry pulley and the exit pulley. The driven pulley may be the central pulley.

The upper conveyor belt assembly further comprises a plurality of entry suspension mechanisms 712 and a plurality of exit suspension mechanisms 713. Each entry suspension mechanism 712 is connected to the frame 1708 and to a respective entry lower pulley. Each entry suspension mechanism supports the entry lower pulley 653A and allows the entry lower pulley to move up and down between a lower entry position and an upper entry position. Each exit suspension mechanism 713 is connected to the frame and to a respective exit lower pulley 653B. Each exit suspension mechanism 713 supports the exit lower pulley 653B and allows the exit lower pulley to move up and down between a lower exit position and an upper exit position.

Each upper conveyor belt 20C has a separate drive 721 allowing each upper conveyor belt to be driven at an individual and controllable speed. In another embodiment, a drive may be shared by the upper conveyor belts 20C.

Each of the entry suspension mechanism comprises a first pivotable arm 651 pivotably connected to the frame at a first pivot point 654A. The entry lower pulley 653A is connected to a free end of the first pivotable arm. Each exit suspension mechanism comprises a second pivotable arm 652 pivotably connected to the frame at a second pivot point 654B, wherein the exit lower pulley is connected to a free end of the second pivotable arm 652. The entry and exit lower pulley and the lower section are movable up and down by pivoting the first and/or second pivotable arms.

Each upper conveyor belt further comprises a first auxiliary pulley 669A and a second auxiliary pulley 669B. The upper belt of the associated upper conveyor belt extends around the pulleys in this anti-clockwise order: the driven pulley, the first auxiliary pulley, the entry lower pulley, the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley,

Each upper belt may comprise: an entry intermediate belt section 655 which extends between the entry lower pulley 653A and the first auxiliary pulley (see fig. 39A on the left side), and an exit intermediate belt section 660 which extends between the exit lower pulley 653B and the second auxiliary pulley, One or more upper conveyor belts may be symmetrical about a vertical plane 750 extending through a midpoint 751 of the lower section and extending at right angles to the lower section.

The first pivot point is located relatively close to the exit lower pulley, and wherein the second pivot point is located relatively close to the entry lower pulley.

A length (D28) of the first and second pivotable arms is in a range of 0,5 -3, more in particular in a range of 0,7 - 1,3 times a distance (D25) between the pivot axes of the pivotable arms.

Fig. 35A shows 3 single upper conveyor belts with different angles a1 and a2. Here, the pivotable arms with pulley 651 and 652 are straight. The arms of the left upper belt have a small angle, the middle one a larger angle and the right upper band the largest angle. The angles a1 and a2 are equal to each other for the different positions of a normal working area within 1 degree. This makes the upper belt pressure force almost constant.

A first arm axis 651 A extends between the center of the entry lower pulley and the first pivot point and a second arm axis 652A extends between the center of the exit lower pulley and the second pivot point, and wherein: o a first angle (a1) enclosed between the first arm axis and the lower belt section is equal or substantially equal to a second angle (a2) enclosed between the first arm axis and the entry intermediate belt section, and/or o a third angle (a3) enclosed between the second arm axis and the lower belt section is equal or substantially equal to a fourth angle (a4) enclosed between the second arm axis and the exit intermediate belt section.

The pivotable arms provide pre-tension on the lower entry and lower exit pulley by their own weight and/or respective first and second springs 668A, 668B and/or by respective first and second arm actuators.

The upper conveyor belts in Fig. 35A are placed in series but are not contiguous, which implies that a product may lose its orientation between the different upper belts, in particular when the product is spherical. For pear-shaped products this can be a solution that can work, because pear-shaped products often stay in place after orienting. With this system, for example, three products could be positioned in the respective orientation devices and then the orientation devices could start orienting. After the orienting of the three products is finished, the products are transported further and new products arrive. This is a non- continuous method of orienting.

Partial orienting is also possible with products that remain in place after orienting. With this method, a pear-shaped product could enter on the left orientation device in a random orientation and be rotated on the first orientation device perpendicular to the transport direction. Then, the product can be transported to the 2nd orientation device and rolled around an axis perpendicular to the direction of transport. Afterwards, on the rightmost orientation device, the product can be oriented with the tip in the right direction and then packed. Any combination of orientation movements is possible.

Conveyor belt system with interconnected upper conveyor belts

It was recognized that interconnecting multiple upper conveyor belts brings a number of advantages, as will be explained below. A first example is shown on the right side of Fig 35B, wherein three upper conveyor belts are interconnected. Further examples are shown in figs.36, 37A and 37B, 38 and 39A. In fig. 39, five upper conveyor belts 20C are interconnected but a different number is also possible. The five upper conveyor belts 20C are numbered 902, 902, 903, 904 and 905.

Turning to fig. 35B and fig. 39A, the lower exit pulley 653B of a first upper conveyor belt is connected to the lower entry pulley 653A of a second upper conveyor belt which is positioned directly downstream from the first upper conveyor belt.

The upper conveyor belts placed in series alternately have a first configuration and a second configuration. In figures 36, 38 and 39A, the uneven numbers 901, 903, 905 indicate the upper belt conveyors having a first configuration. The even numbers 902, 904 indicate the upper belt conveyors having a second configuration. A different number of upper belt conveyors is obviously also possible.

Fig. 39 shows the construction in isometric view. It can be seen in fig. 39A that the entry lower pulley 653A of the conveyor belt 902 having a second configuration is positioned in front of the exit lower pulley 653B and a conveyor belt 901 having a first configuration. The exit lower pulley 653B of the conveyor belt 902 having the second configuration is positioned in front an entry lower pulley 653A of a conveyor belt 903 having a first configuration. Consecutive upper conveyor belts 20C have respective upper belts 709 which are offset from one another in a lateral direction over a belt offset distance D33 see figs 39A and 39G, wherein said lateral direction is horizontal and orthogonal to the transport direction (T).

The exit lower pulley 653B of the upper conveyor belt 901 and the interconnected entry lower pulley 653A from the upper conveyor belt 902 are rotatable relative to one another to allow speed differences between the first and second upper conveyor belts. The exit lower pulley 653B of that upper conveyor belt 901 is coaxial with the entry lower pulley 653A of the upper conveyor belt 902 positioned directly downstream from it.

Each pivotable arm 651, 652 in the embodiment of fig. 38, 39 is curved and has a central section which is higher than an axis extending between the free end and the pivot point. The pivotable arm has more or less an arch shape.

The upper conveyor belts having a first configuration comprise an entry suspension mechanism 712 and an exit suspension mechanism 713. The upper conveyor belts having a second configuration do not comprise an own entry suspension mechanism or exit suspension mechanism, but cooperate with the exit suspension mechanism 713 and entry suspension mechanism 712 of the upper conveyor belts positioned upstream respectively downstream from it.

The one or more upper conveyor belt(s) having a second configuration comprise a first 662A, a second 662B, a third 669A and a fourth 669B auxiliary pulley. The upper belt of the one or more upper conveyor belt(s) having a second configuration comprises a first, second, third and fourth intermediate belt section 663, 664, 665, 666, the first intermediate belt section 663 extending between the entry lower pulley 653A and the first auxiliary pulley 662A, the second intermediate belt section 664 extending between the exit lower pulley 653B and the second auxiliary pulley 662B, the third intermediate belt section 665 extending between the first auxiliary pulley 662A and the third auxiliary pulley 669A, the fourth intermediate belt section 666 extending between the second auxiliary pulley 662B and the fourth auxiliary pulley 669B.

The first and second auxiliary pulley of the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration are connected to the second pivotable arm of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly upstream, respectively the first pivotable arm of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly downstream. The third and fourth auxiliary pulley 669A, 669B of the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration are connected to the frame. The upper belt of the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration comprises a first, second, third and fourth intermediate belt section, the first intermediate belt section extending between the entry lower pulley and the first auxiliary pulley, the second intermediate belt section extending between the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley, the third intermediate belt section extending between the first auxiliary pulley and the third auxiliary pulley, the fourth intermediate belt section extending between the second auxiliary pulley and the fourth auxiliary pulley,

A pressure spring 1663 or pressure cylinder is mounted between the second pivotable arm 652 of a first upper conveyor belt of the first configuration and a first pivotable arm 651 of a second upper conveyor belt of the first configuration which is positioned downstream from the first upper conveyor belt of the first configuration and positioned downstream of the upper conveyor belt of the second configuration which is located between the first and second upper conveyor belt of the first configuration. The pressure spring 663 pushes against both pivotable arms 652, 651.

There is a belt force F4 in belt section 665 and a belt force F4 in belt section 670. The resultant of this force is force F5 and this force does not pass through the respective pivot points 654A, 654B (see fig. 36) of the pivotable arms 651 and 652 and thus causes a moment on the pivotable arms. Furthermore, this force F5 produces a varying moment on the arms depending on the angle in the arms. This may be undesirable. For this reason, the pressure spring 1663 is positioned in the centre of the upper conveyor belt of the second configuration. The push spring exerts a push force F6 on the pivotable arms 651 and 652, which is about as large as the resultant of the belt tension force F5. Thus, this unwanted force is effectively neutralized. The result is a conveyor belt assembly having a series of upper conveyor belts which achieves a same vertical contact force for all the belts, independent of the angle of the pivotable arms 651 and 652. Hence, the downward force may be independent of the product diameter. The belt tension is expressed in % elongation and is between approx. 1-5%. The additional elongation of the belt due to the extreme positions of the arms 651 and 652 is only approx. 0.1% and therefore largely independent of the diameter variation of the product.

The pivotable arms 651 and 652 may be limited from moving downward by a stop. An actuator or manual adjustment 671, see fig. 38, can adjust the angle of the upper belt arms.

In addition, the entire upper belt assembly can be adjusted up and down with actuator 710 see fig. 47A. An adjustment range for products from 20 to at least 250 mm is possible, allowing a wide variety of products to be oriented, grouped and buffered by the same machine. The function of the machine is not limited to vegetables, fruits, flower bulbs and round cheeses. Any product which is mainly round or pear-shaped can be oriented, grouped and buffered.

Camera view

Fig 35B shows on the left side an upper belt system with straight pivotable arms which has a space D31 between the lower section of the upper belt and the pivotable arms. This space D31 is used by the camera to look at the product from above. The middle and rightmost upper belt systems in Fig 35B have curved pivotable arms which shows a significantly larger viewing area D32 for the cameras. The function and mechanical forces on the product are identical for the straight and curved arms 651 and 652. However, the curved arm is preferred because of a better view of the product by the vision cameras.

In fig 35B, the three upper belts on the right side are contiguous. This makes it possible for products to be oriented wherein each orientation device partially orients and whereby a subsequent orientation device starts to orient where the previous one left off. This has the advantage that the products can move through the orientation belts continuously and in particular at a constant speed, while the orienting is carried out gradually and in a smooth motion by the various orientation units. This results in a higher capacity of orienting. Because there is no acceleration of the product at a constant line speed, all of the available grip can be used for orienting and this can be done faster than in a start-stop mode.

A start-stop mode is defined as having one or more products come in each on its own orientation device, then stopping the forward motion, followed by performing the orientation for all products at once. When the orientation is complete, the forward motion is restarted and the oriented products are transported downstream. This is slower than partial orientation and causes an intermittent flow of products. Both methods are possible and can be set in the software of the orientation/grouping machine.

Thus, a pear-shaped product that remains in position after orientation can be oriented with either the upper belts of Fig 35A or the right-hand section of Fig 35B. However, for high speed orientation or in the case of round products that must remain in contact, the implementation of the 3 or more connected orientation conveyor belts in series in Fig 35B is used.

The upper conveyor belt assembly is configured to exert a constant vertical thrust force on the product by the mechanical drive components that are preferably low weight. Low inertia in the mechanics of the upper belt reduces the forces on the product when a product is transported under the upper belts at a high speed. To reduce inertia of the mechanics and to maintain good contact of the product with the upper belt, the upper belt is guided by independently pivoting arms with pulleys.

Because the resultant of the forces F1 = F2 in the belts sections 655 and 656 passes through the pivot point 654A of arm 651, see Fig 35A, the belt tension does not lead to a vertical force on the arm 651 at the pulley and thus on belt section 656. Moreover, this is true for a relatively wide range of the angle a1 and a2. The same is also true for arm 652 and a3 and a4.

This means that a low product and a high product have a same pressure force and stiffness of the upper belt. The vertical compression force of the upper belt is independent of the belt tension and is determined by the weight of the arm 651 and 652 and the preload of the spring 668A and 668B or pneumatic cylinder. The force of the spring or pneumatic cylinder 668A or 668B can be either pushing or pulling. The actuator 668A or 668B may also be used for lifting the arms 651 and 652 few tenths of a second to recentre the product in the lower belts in case it is detected that one of the lower belts loses contact. This rarely happens, but could happen with very irregularly shaped products. The curved arms 651 and 652 have an additional pulley 662A, 662B and 711B, 711 A mounted when there are intermediate upper belts according to the second configuration . This eliminates the need for additional arms for the intermediate upper belt for a continuous upper belt system which makes sense to keep the inertia of the mechanics low. The lightest possible upper belt arm in combination with an additional force by spring or pneumatic cylinder or actuator 668 makes the upper belt system follow the product optimally at high speed so that the products remain in contact with the upper belt and grouping/orientation can take place at high speed.

Turning to fig 36, a similar conveyor belt system as in fig 35B is shown. Five upper conveyor belts 20C are placed in series, also indicated with numeral 901, 902, 903, 904 and 905. The upper conveyor belts 20C are placed end-to-end, A difference is that the arms, with the exception of the arm at the entry 651 of the conveyor belt system and the arm at the exit 652 of the conveyor belt system have a different belt run. On arm 704 there are 2 forces F8 which have an equilibrium with the 2 forces F7 in belt sections 656 and 705 . Therefore, in an operating position there is an equilibrium.

The upper conveyor belts 902, 904 of the second configuration have a first and second auxiliary pulley but not a third and fourth auxiliary pulley. In order to have the upper belt pressure somewhat independent of the diameter of a product, the belt sections 701 , 702 and 705 of the upper conveyor belts 902, 904 of the second configuration are preferably horizontal or at a slight angle to the horizontal.

This alternative configuration has a smaller height stroke than in the configuration of Fig. 35A and 35B. In addition, the pressing force from the upper belt is less constant with height variations of products than in the configuration according to fig 36. The arm 651 at the input and the arm 652 at the output behave similarly as in fig 35B, and a height variation of the product will lead to little difference in the upper pulleys' compressive force in arm 651 and 652. An advantage of this construction is that the pivotable arms 703 and 704 do not contain an additional pulley 662, so the belt can be changed a little faster and the spring 1663 is not needed here.

Returning in particular to figures 37A and 37B, the conveyor belt system 700 is configured to orient products. Each left lower belt conveyor 20A, right lower belt conveyor and upper belt conveyor form a product conveyor device 800. There are five product conveyor devices 800, denoted as 800.1, 800.2, 800.3, 800.4 and 800.5. which is controlled by the control unit to work as an orienting device. A plurality (here: five) of product conveyor devices 800 are placed in series. Because the product conveyor devices 800 are configured to orient products, the are also referred to as orienting devices. Each orienting device 800 comprises a left lower conveyor belt 20A having a controllable speed and configured to engage the product on a lower left side, and a right lower conveyor belt 20B having a controllable speed and configured to engage the product on a lower right side. The left and right lower conveyor belt of each orienting device diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation.

Each orienting device 800 further comprises one of the upper conveyor belts 20C (indicated as 20C.1, 20C.2, 20C.3, 20C.4 and 20C.5, of the conveyor belt assembly, which has a controllable speed and is configured to engage the product on an upper side thereof.

The left and right lower conveyor belt 20A, 20B and the upper conveyor belt 20C extend in a transport direction (T) and are configured to convey products in the transport direction. The left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt provide a product space 24 between them and are configured to engage the product on at least three sides thereof.

The conveyor belt system 700 further comprises one or more cameras 25C, 25R, 25D configured for recording images of the product conveyed by the orienting devices, and a control unit 100 configured for processing the recorded images and applying speed differences to the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt of each orienting device for orienting the product. The conveyor belt system 700 in this configuration forms part of a product handling system 313. The product handling system may comprise further components such as a labelling device.

In fig. 37A, the entry lower pulley 653A of the most upstream upper conveyor belt 20C is positioned higher than the exit lower pulley of the most upstream upper conveyor belt, wherein the control unit is configured for holding an incoming product with the most upstream upper conveyor belt for regulating a flow of products through the conveyor belt system.

Operation of the belt conveyor system

In operation, a method of conveying a product with the conveyor belt system of the present invention comprises consecutively engaging a product with each upper belt, wherein the product moves the lower section 656, 670 of each consecutive upper belt upwards, and pressing downwards on the product with the lower section 656, 670 of each consecutive upper belt.

Products may be consecutively fed to the conveyor belt system and speed differences are applied on the conveyor belts of the orienting devices 800 to orient each product.

Each orienting device 800 may partially orient the product so that consecutive orienting devices fully orient the product in a joint operation. Alternatively each orienting device may fully orient the product. Consecutive orienting devices simultaneously fully orient a plurality of products. The orienting devices may convey the products slowly or hold the products stationary.

Turning to fig. 38, an orientation/grouping unit is shown. For the purpose of simplicity, the lower conveyor belts are not shown. In this embodiment the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration comprise an extra arm 687 with pulley 686 pressing downward on the lower section 656, 670.

When a product engages a lower section 656, 670 of one of the upper belts of the upper conveyor belt assembly, the lower section of the upper belt, the lower entry pulley 653A and the lower exit pulley 653B are moved upwards. The entry and exit suspension mechanism provide a downward pre-tension force on the lower section, causing the lower section to press downward on the product. In fig. 38, the products 330 move from left to right. The following numerals have the following meaning: a5 is a contact arc when the lower section has a low belt tension. a6 is the contact arc when the lower section has a high belt tension. D19 is a upwards deflection of the upper belt with low belt tension. D20 is an upward deflection of upper belt with high belt tension. D21 is the deflection of the upper belt in an opposite direction caused by force of grouping pulley arm 687 and pulley 686.

The tension in the upper belt can be lower or higher. With a higher belt tension a contact arc of a6 of the upper belt 709.2 will be achieved. This causes a deflection of the upper belt D20. A higher belt tension will cause less movement of the upper pulley arms 651 and 652. For higher speeds or a serial way of orienting (where every belt orients a product partially) it may be better to use a higher belt tension to avoid a larger amplitude of the pivotable pulley arms 651 and 652 following the product. The orientation unit can also work in more a parallel mode wherein each product 330 is transported to an orientation position and moves upstream once the orientation is complete. In this case, less belt tension could be used in upper belt 709.1 resulting in a larger contact arc a5, and in a greater deflection D19 which can be beneficial in some cases.

The transport direction T is from left to right. The grouping starts at the right side of the centerline in the direction of arrow 688. When grouping products, it can occur that smaller products are positioned in between larger products when one grouping device contains more than one product. In this case a smaller product 680 is in between two larger products 681. It is important that any product always has good contact with the upper belt to maintain the pitch and orientation of each product in the group. For this reason there can be one or more pivotable pulley arms 687 with pulleys 686 that push down against the upper belt 685 eventually helped by a spring 668 or actuator.

In the orienting section of the machine, i.e. , on the left side of the dashed line from which arrow 688 points to the right, there is only one product per orientation belt. Here the pulley arms 687 with pulleys 686 are generally not necessary, but for very large and heavy products it could still be useful.

4. Product handling system

Turning to figures 40A - 47B, a packaging system 1000 is shown which comprises a product handling system 313 and a product placing system 382. The product placing system is positioned downstream from the product handling system. The product handling system comprises multiple product conveyor devices 800 placed in series. In total seven product conveyor devices (800.1 - 800.7) are provided. Each product conveyor device is configured for conveying products 330, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, flower bulbs and rounded food products. Each product conveyor device comprises:

- a left lower conveyor belt 20A comprising a left drive 21A,

- a right lower conveyor belt 20B comprising a right drive 21 B, and

- at least one upper conveyor belt 20C comprising an upper drive 21 C or roller mechanism 20D comprising an upper drive 21 D and configured to contact an upper side of the product.

The product handling system further comprises: at least one sensor, in particular one or more cameras (25), configured for recording data, in particular images, of a product which is conveyed by the product handling system, and a control unit (100) configured for processing the recorded data and controlling the left drive, right drive and upper drive on the basis of the processed data

The left and right lower conveyor belt of each product conveyor device extend in a transport direction (T) and are configured to convey products in the transport direction. The left and right lower conveyor belt diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation. The left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt 20C or roller mechanism 20D provide a product space 24 between them, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt 20C or roller mechanism 20D are configured to support the products on at least three sides thereof.

The control unit 100 is configured to carry out one or more of the following basic processing actions:

- group the products into groups 717 by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices,

- orient the products to a target orientation by applying speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or roller mechanism of a product conveyor device,

- convert an incoming stream of products having a variable pitch distance into an outgoing stream of products having a more uniform pitch distance, in particular for feeding the products to a downstream conveyor or packaging machine such as a flowpack device, topseal device, shrink wrapping device or a thermoformer machine, - buffer the products by positioning multiple products close together by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices,

- discharge products from the product handling device by moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of one or more of the product conveyor devices away from one another, thereby creating a gap 1016 (also referred to as D34) through which the product is discharged,

- grade products on the basis of one or more product parameters, such as size, colour, shape, rot or another product parameter, by: o recording images of the products with the at least one camera and/or detecting a product parameter with the at least one sensor, and processing the scanned images or recorded product parameter(s) with the control unit to determine whether a product complies with a first qualifying criterion or a second qualifying criterion, o moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of a first product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the first qualifying criterion, and o moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of a second product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the second qualifying criterion,

- divide an incoming stream of products into two or more outgoing streams of products by moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of one product conveyor device away from one another for a subset of the incoming products and discharging said the products of said subset to a lower conveyor and conveying the other products of the incoming stream entirely through the product handling system.

Each group 717 comprises products 717A, 717B, 717C having different orientations. The stems of the first 717A and last product 717C are oriented inward.

The product packaging system of fig. 40A and B therefore is quite versatile, which is an advantage.

In the product packaging system of fig. 40A, the control unit 100 is configured for orienting the products, followed by labelling the products and subsequently grouping the products. But labelling after grouping is also possible which could result in a better orientation of the labels. To this end the product handling system comprises a labelling device 260 positioned downstream of one or more of the product conveyor devices which are used for orienting. The product handling system is configured for orienting the products with the one or more product conveyor devices which are positioned upstream of the labelling device and subsequently labelling the products. The labelling device is positioned along a conveyor device which is downstream and separate from the conveyor devices which are used for orienting. In this way, labels which fall off the products and get stuck to the conveyor device along which the labelling device is positioned, cannot reach the orienting device and distort the background colour of the orienting device which the cameras of the orienting device need to function properly.

In case of partial orientation, which is preferred, the control unit 100 is configured for orienting the product to a target orientation based on the images recorded with the cameras, by controlling each product conveyor device of a group of product conveyor devices to carry out a partial orientation, wherein the subsequent partial orientations form a complete orientation,

The control unit individually controls the left drive, right drive and upper drive of the product conveyor devices used for orienting and applies speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or upper roller mechanism for the partial orientation in the respective product conveyor devices.

Alternatively, the control unit 100 may be configured for simultaneously orienting a group of products to a target orientation by placing each product of the group on a respective product conveyor device. The control unit individually controls the left drive, right drive and upper drive of each product conveyor device used for the orienting and applies speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or upper roller mechanism of each product conveyor device for simultaneously orienting the products of the group. This is less preferred because more accelerations and decelerations are required.

The upper conveyor belt or roller mechanism of each product conveyor device is narrower than the left and right lower conveyor belt of the same product conveyor device. This allows better vision with the cameras.

A number of the upper conveyor belts 20C of the product handling system are constructed as the conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 71 and described in connection with figures 35-39.

At least one product conveyor device is configured for orienting the products. The product handling system is combined with a product placing device. The product placing device is configured for placing the groups of products in a container or crate or on a (transfer)tray, wherein the labelling device is positioned downstream from the at least one product conveyor device which is configured for orienting the products. The at least one product conveyor device which is configured for grouping the products is positioned downstream from the product conveyor device configured for orienting the products and downstream or upstream from the labelling device. The product placing device is positioned downstream from the at least one product conveyor device configured for grouping the products.

The product packaging system may comprise the product placing device according to any of claims 1 - 18 and described in figures 4-9, 29 and 30.

In contrast to the machines shown in figures 10 - 25 where the loading is done stationary, the system shown in figures 40A, 40B, 41 A and 41 B loads the product on a moving product tray (or container, crate), and ensures that the speed and position of the trays is equal to the speed and position of the arriving product and is synchronized in position. This is a useful application for the drop down function of the product placing device. This type of loading is usually at a constant speed, allowing lower lateral forces on the product, but it can also work in start stop operation mode.

Figure 40A and 40B show a single lane "in the flight" product packaging system comprising a product handling system that is able to orientate and group and label products with the conveyor belts 20A, 20B and 20C, scan a product with the orientation units, eject a rejected product 269 with belt 20A and 20B, apply a label with label unit 260 after orienting or grouping the products, group the products and transport the oriented group over belt 262 where it is clamped with upper belts in the oriented position to the product placing device 314. Upper belt conveyor 20C in fig. 40B is slightly angled to provide room for the labelling device.

The belt conveyors 256 and 257 transport the empty trays 268 to belt 258 where the oriented group of products is by the product placing device while the position of the group of products is synchronized both in speed and position between the product placing device and belt 258. A sensor 402 is provided for detecting the position of the container.

There are different packaging machines. A flow packer is an often used machine that can run at about 80 packages/min. By loading in the flight, products do not stop and speeds of 80 loadings/min can be achieved. Loading trays at 80/min with 3 products each is 240/min which would typically need about 4-6 separate fast delta single pick manipulators with suction members.

The products can be either dropped or placed with the pick and place head, if present. In both cases the position of the group of products is synchronized with the position of the moving product tray (or container or crate).

The advantage of a dropping with the product packing device is that the loading happens in the flight and there are no sideways forces on the product. It does not have the disadvantage of suction member manipulators that need to travel the same distance twice and often travel much larger distance, resulting in larger forces on the products. Another advantage of the product placement device 314 shown in fig. 40A is that it loads the container in a central position so no lateral movement of the product is necessary.

At the place where the products fall in the tray, fall absorbing material may be placed under the belt surface to further avoid damage to the product. In this way, products can be oriented, scanned for errors, grouped, labelled and packaged at high speed in a small footprint. The in the flight tray loader 263 has an entry 255 for unoriented products and an exit 261 where trays with oriented and labelled products leave the machine.

Figure 41 A shows a product packaging system comprising two sets 1050, each set 1050 comprising a product handling system and a product placing system placed after each other. This setup allows to place two rows of oriented, scanned, labelled and grouped products in the flight in a two row tray 268. This system may run at 480 products/min when 80 packages are packed. The products that are placed by the first in the flight tray loader 263 roll to one side of the tray so the second loader has space for placing the second row in the tray. This is achieved by placing the belts that support the tray under an angle with a horizontal plane, so the new oriented labelled group of products falls into an empty area of the tray. Because of the angle in the belt which supports the tray, the already placed product are at the other side of the empty places in the tray. This can be repeated to create a 3-4-5 etc row tray loader at high speeds for placing oriented and labelled product in trays.

The product handling system shown in figures 40A, 40B, 41 A and 41 B will generally orient a stem of a round fruit product horizontally and a red spot upwards, because this is a representative orientation. Some products have several red spots which can be positioned upwards. Some types of apples such as grannies have hardly any red spots and some apples are almost completely red. If there is a choice of multiple possible orientations, the orientation device can also be configured in such a way that the control works to orient the product so that it has a smaller size in the package when viewed from above or has a more favourable orientation compared to the previously placed products. Especially since the orientation devices presented here have high speeds and accelerations and are scalable, capacity is available for these additional features. When a fruit product rotates around a stem axis, sometimes clear differences in diameter can be observed in a top view. The control unit has a memory and knows how the previous row was placed in the crate. As a result, the control unit can orient the current product in the current row to make the row fit better, reducing the risk of damage. If a stem or curved stem could touch with a previously placed apple, the stem can also be positioned slightly at an angle in the correct direction to prevent damage to an adjacent product.

Turning to figures 42A and 42B, a product handling system for bell peppers is shown with orienting, buffering, grouping and pitching. The product handling system comprises an entry 16 and an exit 18. The products arrive at a random orientation and pitch. In the area between arrows 695, orientation is performed. In the area between arrows 696, buffering takes place. Buffering is important to keep the downstream packaging machine running at a constant speed without starts and stops when the feed rate varies. A packaging machine 699 such as a flow packer works best at a constant speed so that the output is higher. In the area between the arrows 697 the products are grouped and the groups are then synchronized with the correct pitch of the pusher member chain so that the group of three products are at the same distance from each other as the distance between two pusher members 698 . In this case 3 products are packed but it could also be 1 or 2 or more products.

The serial orientation/grouping/buffer product handling system with upper belt can perform approximately 2.5 times faster angular accelerations about each axis in a plane perpendicular to the direction of transport and can perform more than 3.5 times faster linear accelerations if an upper belt is used. This offers new possibilities, less complexity and higher speeds than with conventional solutions. The machine can perform several different functions which are commonly found in the packaging of round or pear-shaped products and can perform these functions relatively quickly due to the relatively large accelerations which are possible. When orienting is required, the product handling system may also be used for non round products and then still has several advantages, e.g. fast and reliable labelling, buffering and grouping. The product handling system of figures 42A and 42B has 5 product conveyor devices. For a higher capacity, such as for example 150 products per minute, more units would be chosen, for example about 10.

Turning to fig. 43, an isometric view of another embodiment of a product handling system is shown. Here, the upper conveyor belts are replaced by upper rollers. Each product conveyor device comprises a left and right lower conveyor belt 20A, 20B and an upper roller. The product handling system is capable of orientation, scanning, labeling and grouping with the upper rollers 20D performing the orientation together with conveyor belts 20A and 20B.

The upper roller 20D is driven by a servomotor 21 D that drives pulley 283 which drives wheel 20D with 2 auxiliary rollers 281. The drive belt can be an O belt or V belt. For driving the wheel 20D it has an O or V-belt groove on the side of it for driving the wheel. The O or V belt could also have a groove on the outer diameter, in this case the V belt or O belt is in contact with the product. An advantage of the O or V-belt on the side of wheel 20D is that there is more flexibility in choosing an appropriate material and shape of the contact face of 20D that is in contact with the product. The upper roller 20D can have a high friction coating like soft silicone, soft PU or soft PVC.

Turning to figure 44A, another embodiment is shown which may be used for orienting non-spherical products such as pears. The upper belt of the first product conveyor device slopes downward to clamp the product gradually. The first upper belt can also be used to dose the products so that the pitch between the products is at least as large as the pitch between 2 orientation belts. The first product conveyor device can temporarily slow down the product flow to achieve this.

On the first product conveyor device a product may arrive in any orientation, both the neck and the bulbous part rest on the lower V belts and the product lies in the 1st belt as shown in a longitudinal direction with the stem pointing backwards. A pear product in a V belt is difficult to rotate about a Z axis because of the centering effect of the neck of the pear product.

On the second product conveyor device, the neck and stem of the product are lifted by a difference in speed of the upper belt with the V-belts resulting in the neck of the product to be a distance of D30 above the lower belts see fig 44a. This has two effects, firstly the stem and neck are lifted so that the centering effect of the neck disappears, but there is also a greater force on the product. Normally a product having a weight of 1G would be carried with about 0,5 G on the left band and about 0,5 G on the right band. But if an additional weight of 1.5G is pressing on the product via the top conveyor belt, then that force exerted by the left and right conveyor belt on the product is more than doubled. This more than doubles the friction force which can be exerted via the lower left and right conveyor belts and therefore increases the maximum rotational acceleration that may be achieved. Hence, pressing down with the upper conveyor belt allows faster orientation. A fruit product can easily carry an additional weight of about 1.5G because in a bag there are layers of several products on top of each other.

On the third product conveyor device, the product is oriented in a transverse direction, in this position the pear-shaped product can roll in a controlled manner about its primary axis or longitudinal axis while the shape of the stem and product is scanned through the vision system. The stem and neck curvature is turned up or down here depending on the length of the stem and the customer's preference. After this, the pear-shaped product is oriented with the point forward or backward depending on what is needed in the packaging at that time while maintaining the orientation of the stem. In this case, the tip is oriented forward. If a product has rotten spots or other defects during rolling and scanning, the product can be ejected in belt 85A.

On the 4^th product conveyor device, the tip of the pear is oriented forward. The 5^th product conveyor device performs the grouping of the oriented products.

Turning to figure 44B, a fruit product with weight G is shown. An additional upper belt applies an additional downward force of 1.5G to the product. The angle of the lower belt is about 45 degrees with the horizontal plane. The angle a10 could range from 0-60 degrees for different products. Successive product conveyor devices may have different angles a10.

The horizontal moment depends on the upper belt force. Without an upper belt force, there is no moment so it makes little sense to calculate how much more acceleration would be possible. It can be calculated that the moment around the horizontal and vertical axis are almost the same with an V belt angle of 45 degrees and a upper belt force of 1.5 times the weight of the product. This allows the angular acceleration of a round product to be the same around any virtual axis in a plane perpendicular to the transport direction which is preferable. In this case the orientation acceleration is 2.5 times higher than without the upper belt around any axis in a plane normal to the transport direction. It can also be calculated that with an upper belt force of 1.5 times the weight of the product, the linear acceleration is 3.6 times higher than a same flat product on a flat belt with the same friction coefficient. Even with this higher capacity there is little or no risk of damage to the product, because the engaging belts are made of a soft material like silicone 30-40 shore or polyurethane 40-60 shore and the contact surface of the upper belt has a rounded surface with a to avoid damage to the product.

The possible angular accelerations are higher than in conventional orientation units where fruit lays on roller or belts without an upper belt. Another issue with unround products and no upper belt at higher orientation speeds is that the unround products loose contact with the support belt or rollers. This occurs to a much lesser extend with an upper belt force pushing the product down to the lower belts. Additionally, the support face of the lower belts can be made of soft damping material to prevent bouncing behaviour at high orientation speeds.

Turning to fig. 45, a product handling system for handling bell peppers is shown.

Three colour stations are provided, wherein three different colours are supplied to the three separate orientation/scanning units. The three orientation/scanning units each are supplied with a same colour bell pepper. After scanning for irregularities in shape, colour and size, the three orientation/scanning units feed the supply belt 714 with three bell peppers with a same sequence of colours for every group. The bell peppers in a group are individually oriented wherein the stems are either pointing to each other or away from each other away, but in general not pointing upwards because that can crash the foil in the packaging machine. Custom orientations might be preferred which can be adjusted.

After each same coloured bell pepper has oriented in a preferred way, a group is formed in the grouping part at the end of the orienting/grouping unit. This group can be transported into the flow packer by allowing a chain with pusher members in between the space of the lower conveyor belts of the orientation/grouping units, see Fig 42B. In this way, the products do not roll away and keep their orientation when transporting to the seal area of the packaging machine. Different types of attachments and chains can be used. Different types of packaging machines can be used like flowpack, topseal, Shrink Wrapping or a thermoformer.

Turning to figure 46, a product handling system configured as a grader is shown. The transport direction is from left to right. The grader is configured for grading fruit products, both round and pear shaped products can be processed. On a conventional grader, fruit is often rotated on chains with rotating diabolo rollers or brushes. As the products rotate, a camera scans and sorting can be done on different characteristics such as shape, size, colour and bad products can be ejected. A problem with a conventional grader according to this principle is that with pear-shaped products the point or stem can get stuck between the rollers, blocking the rotation. These rollers are approx. 100 mm in diameter. Often, the curvature of a pear-shaped product is a reason to eject it, but because the point and/or stem of a curved, pear-shaped product disappears between the brushes or rollers, the product can get stuck, causing rotation and scanning to stop and detection errors to occur. Also, other defects on the outer side such as rot may no longer be detected if the product does not rotate while being scanned by the camera. In this way, products that should be rejected may remain in the stream of good products.

The product handling system of fig. 46 is configured as an orientation/scanning unit and works according to a different principle, with the result that there is no or less risk of a stem or point becoming jammed between rollers. For scanning, the stem is turned in a direction perpendicular to the direction of transport as shown on the third belt of the orientation unit, see also Fig. 44A. In this position the product is rolled around a horizontal axis and scanned for defects. This can be done either in a stationary position or at a constant linear speed and can be performed by several orientation belts simultaneously in series. The nose rollers of the orientation belts are only 16 mm instead of 100 mm so that there is less risk that a stem will jam. In addition, the point or stem of a pear-shaped product can be oriented slightly upwards at the point of the belt transition so that the stem hovers above the belt transitions. This is a standard feature of this orientation device.

Returning to figure 46, multiple product handling systems 313 arranged in parallel for grading products are shown. Each product handling system 313 comprises five product conveyor devices 800 (800.1-800.5) Two eject conveyor belts (referred to as eject belts) 85A are shown. For example, a first belt 85A could serve for bad spots on the product or other defects. A second belt 85A could be used for a shape deviation, such as a strongly curved product. Belt 85B, 85C and 85D are used to eject different sizes of product sideways from the grader. The last product conveyor device 800.5 is shown in an opened state. For example, belt 85B for a small product and belt 85D for a large product. When the size of a product is recorded with the cameras by the product handling system 313, the recorded size is remembered while transporters 253A, 253 convey the product to the correct belts 85B, 85C and 85D, at which moment the two ejection belts 252A, 252B open. A small product will leave the machine on belt 85B and a large product on belt 85D. In unit 313 there is a gap shown in the last orienting device with gap D34. Turning to figs. 47A-B a section view and a front view of a serial product handling system configured as an orientation/grouping/buffering system are shown. In this drawing, flower bulbs are processed. Flower bulbs may have different sizes. By adjusting the actuator 710, any size between 20 mm and 250 mm can be adjusted.

The product handling system according to the present invention is versatile and can be used for different handling (or processing) operations and for different products.

Several variations are possible. For instance, a first product conveyor device may have a V-formation having a first bottom angle and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, may have a V-formation having a second, bottom angle which is different from and in partiular greater than, the first bottom angle. Another variation may be that a first product conveyor device has a first friction coefficient and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, has a second friction coefficient for the lower conveyor belts. Another variation may be that a first product conveyor device has lower conveyor belts at a first horizontal level and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, has lower conveyor belts a second, lower horizontal level.

Operation

In use, a method of handling products with the present product handling system, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, flower bulbs and rounded food products, comprises conveying products with the product handling system and performing one or more of the following actions: orienting the products to a target orientation by applying speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or roller mechanism of a product conveyor device, grouping the products into groups by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices, converting an incoming stream of products having a variable pitch distance into an outgoing stream of products having a more uniform pitch distance, in particular for feeding the products to a downstream conveyor or packaging machine such as a flowpack device, topseal device, shrink wrapping device or a thermoformer machine, buffering the products by positioning multiple products close together by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices, discharging products from the product handling device by moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of one or more of the product conveyor devices away from one another, thereby creating a gap 1024 through which the product is discharged, grading products on the basis of one or more product parameters, such as size, colour, shape, rot or another product parameter, by: o recording images of the products with the at least one camera and/or detecting a product parameter with the at least one sensor, and processing the scanned images or recorded product parameter(s) with the control unit to determine whether a product complies with a first qualifying criterion or a second qualifying criterion, o moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of a first product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the first qualifying criterion, and o moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of a second product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the second qualifying criterion, dividing an incoming stream of products into two or more outgoing streams of products by moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of one product conveyor device away from one another for a subset of the incoming products and discharging said the products of said subset to a lower conveyor and conveying the other products of the incoming stream entirely through the product handling system.

The control unit 100 may be configured for orienting the products, followed by buffering the products and subsequently controlling the pitch distance between the products and/or grouping the products.

5 Pick and place system

Turning to figures 48-50, a pick and place system is shown which comprises a plurality of pick and place assemblies 60 configured for picking and placing products 14, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs and other rounded products such as rounded food products, each pick and place assembly comprising:

- a gripping head 64 configured for gripping the product,

- one or more pick and place actuators 66A, 66B, 79, 63 for moving and rotating the gripping head 64, - one or more pick and place sensors, in particular a camera 25, 25R,25C,25D, for recording images of a product in the gripping head and recording images of a target area 83 where the product is to be placed,

- a pick and place control unit 100 for controlling the one or more actuators on the basis of the recorded images.

The system further comprises a container conveyor 172 for moving containers, crates or product trays in a transport direction (M). Multiple filling positions 171 are located along the conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly is positioned at a respective filling position along said conveyor. Each pick and place assembly is configured for partially filling a container, crate or product tray, wherein during or after the partial filling of each container, crate or tray, the container conveyor moves the container, crate or product tray to the next pick and place assembly.

The container conveyor 170A comprises pusher members 170B and/or carriers positioned at a container pitch distance D35 from one another. The container conveyor is configured to move continuously, in particular at a constant speed.

Each pick and place assembly 60 comprises:

- a frame 11 ,

- a movable arm 62 supported by the frame, the gripping head 64 being connected to said movable arm,

The movable arm is slidably mounted on a horizontal shaft 74 via a slider 88, wherein the movable arm is pivotable about a horizontal pivot axis 75, wherein each pick and place assembly comprises a pivot actuator 66A for controllably pivoting the arm about the horizontal pivot axis.

The pick and place assemblies are arranged side by side. The pick and place system is configured to position a container, crate or tray at each pick and place assembly and to simultaneously partially fill multiple containers, crates or product trays.

The gripping head of each pick and place assembly is a suction head and in particular configured to grip a single product.

The pick and place camera of each pick and place assembly is configured to record images of a target area, in particular a target area in the container, crate or tray which is to be filled and wherein the pick and place control unit is configured to determine a target position within the target area for each product which is gripped by the gripping head, wherein the pick and place control unit in particular takes into account the available places in the target area, and wherein the gripping head is movable between a pickup location and the target position in the target area, wherein the pick and place assembly is configured to pick up the product at the pickup location with the gripping head and to place the product in the target position.

At least one pick and place camera is directed at the gripping head. The control unit is configured to take into account: o the size of the product, o the shape of the product, in particular including any irregularities such as a daughter bulb, and/or o the lateral and depth position and orientation of the product relative to the gripping head which holds the product, for determining the target position and/or target orientation of the product in the target area and in particular for determining how deep the product should be placed in the crate, in particular over pins in the crate in order to prevent damage to the product in case the product would be placed to deep on the pins.

Each arm is extendable, in particular telescoping, and wherein the pick and place assembly comprises an extension actuator for extending or shortening the arm, the extension actuator being controlled by the pick and place control unit.

Each gripping head is rotatable relative to the movable arm about a gripping head axis (110) thereof, which is in particular parallel to the movable arm, wherein each pick and place assembly comprises a rotary actuator for rotating the gripping head about the central gripping head axis.

Each pick and place system comprises a Y-actuator (66B) for moving the slider and the movable arm in the Y-direction parallel to the horizontal shaft to a target Y-position.

The pick and place system 172 comprises one or more orienting devices 722 described in figures 40A- 47B, each orienting device being associated with a pick and place assembly and positioned upstream of the associated pick and place assembly, wherein each pick and place assembly is configured to place a product which was previously oriented.

The pick and place system comprises multiple product handling systems 313 according to any of claims 75 - 84, each product handling system being associated with a pick and place assembly and positioned upstream of the associated pick and place assembly, wherein each pick and place assembly is configured to place a product which was previously oriented by the associated product handling system in a container or crate or on a tray.

When seen in top view, the conveyor is oriented at an angle a 16 of 1-30 degrees to the horizontal shafts and is in particular located within a footprint of each pick and place assembly.

Operation

A method of picking products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs and other rounded products such as rounded food products, and placing products the products in a container, crate or product tray, with the pick and place system, comprises:

- gripping the product with the gripping head 64,

- recording images of the product in the gripping head and recording images of a target area 83 where the product is to be placed with the one or more pick and place sensors, in particular a camera 25, 25R,25C,25D,

- moving and rotating the gripping head 64 with the one or more pick and place actuators 66A, 66B, 79, 63, controlled by the pick and place control unit (100) on the basis of the recorded images,

The method further comprises: moving containers, crates or product trays in a transport direction (M) with the container conveyor, wherein multiple filling positions are located along the conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly partially fills a container, crate or product tray, wherein during or after the partial filling of each container, crate or tray, the container conveyor moves the container, crate or product tray to the next pick and place assembly.

6 Formation device

With reference to figures 51A-54B, the product formation device 500 is configured for positioning the products 330 in a nested formation, in particular in an inclined position wherein one end 1120 (or neck) of the product is positioned over one or two products 330 in an adjacent row see fig 51f1. Some fruits, like pears, are preferably placed in a manner which forms a kind of rooftile-wise pattern. By placing the products with the neck over the spherical part of an adjacent product, a better filling of the tray, crate or box is achieved. A complicated pattern involves placing the neck of the products over products in an adjacent row, where the neck 1120 of the products in the adjacent row may be oriented either in the same direction or in the opposite direction. See Fig 51 F and 51 F1 , wherein the first 2 rows have an opposite neck direction and the other 3 rows have a same neck direction. A difficulty with this pattern is that the first row should be placed with a neck already oriented upwards but there is no support yet to keep the neck in this orientation, because the support is formed by products 330 which have not yet been placed. Hence, this is a complex pattern to make in a package 360.

Also, it is in itself difficult to place a row 1125 of products or a single product 330 over another row 1125 or single product because the overlying product becomes substantially inclined. The inclination is caused by the bulbous form which causes the overlying products to become strongly inclined, because the stem 410 which lies over the underlying products is quite high while the opposite, more bulbous end is in contact with the tray or crate and is quite low. The strong inclination makes the products 330 unstable and they may slide or roll away, in particular at the ends of a row where the products do not have any support on an outer side. Placing the first row of products with the neck pointing upward is not possible with a standard pick and place principle, but is possible with the present product formation device.

These kind of patterns need to have some kind of supporting functionality for supporting the first row of products while the pattern is being formed. This may be achieved in different ways, from above or from below.

A method from above would be to first pick up a layer of products with suction members that have a larger pitch in both directions X,Y and after that rotate the neck 1120 of the pear shaped product or other product upwards with the suction members and to subsequently move the products together closer to each other with the neck over the spherical parts of an adjacent product in an array suction head, and after that, place the layer on a tray, box or crate. The neck of the product would then always remain above the spherical part. However, picking up irregular products such as pears with suction members and then strongly pivoting the suction members with the pears about a horizontal angle is a challenge.

If the part of a curved neck 1120 would remain between the spherical product instead of above the spherical part, it can get clamped between adjacent products 330 and the product could fall or become damaged. And because of the irregular shape it is difficult to guarantee that certain products will always have their neck above the adjacent product in the suction head gripper when the suction member is pivoted. Further with products like pears with irregular curved shapes the use of suction members may not be reliable enough. In the prior art, pears are generally packaged manually or in a semi-automatic fashion with robots, while still using manual work. However, a formation in which products are slid in and over each other makes a better use of the available space in the box and would be desirable. A commonly grown brand of pears is Conference. This brand has an elongated shape with irregular shapes with significant differences in length and curvature which make it difficult to pack such pears automatically.

Another problem which may occur when packaging pears and other irregular products with suction members is the strongly curved neck and stems which may cause the stem and/or neck to cover the spherical part of an adjacent pear where the suction member picks up the product. This curved stem or neck may cause problems when picking or placing the pears up with suction members, see Figs. 54A and 54B. In Fig 54B, a pear with a bent stem 410 that lays wrongly oriented on the place where the suction member picks up the pear 330. Because a product 410 of the first row was not properly oriented, the product of the first row rolled away, thereby blocking a proper orientation of the overlying product.

This may cause malfunctions and may be prevented by pointing the bent stem and/or neck upward or downward, because in this orientation the pear will be narrower. This can be done with an orienting system with conveyor belts 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D and/or a product handling system 313 . Growers also want the stem to point downward because it shows a nicer part of the pear.

It was found that a pick and place head with suction members picking from above and moving and rotating the products in and over each other does not work reliably enough. It may happen that directly after the suction member picks up a curved pear which is relatively long, the neck of the pear which was picked up points strongly downwards. When the pear is positioned in the package, a collision occurs when the pears are moved from the pickup pitch to the packaging pitch. The neck of the pear is in the way. A solution would be to always place such a pear with the neck and stem overlying the next row of pears, but this is technically difficult, because if this would be carried out with suction members, the suction members would have to make a large pivot angle to orient the neck and the stem of this pear sufficiently upwards to place the pear in an overlying position. But there is not enough construction room for suction members when a large angle is required like in this case. Therefore it is difficult to position the neck over the bulbous part of an adjacent pear if only suction members are used. Moreover, the size of such a pick and place head with such pivoting suction members would probably also not fit in a deep box. A pick and place head with 30-45 suction members which are able to rotate about a horizontal axis and move the suction members closer to each other in X-direction (orthogonal to the rows) and Y-direction (in the direction of the rows) can easily weigh more than 70 kg, which is significantly more than the movable array head 609 of the packaging system described above, which may weighs less than 7 kg.

Another solution which uses picking from above could be to use a gripper member instead of a suction member. The gripper would then lift the neck over the spherical part of an adjacent product. However, because the products are placed very close to and over each other, the gripper member cannot be opened in a way that it would not damage the surrounding products.

Since other methods of making such a roof tile pattern and picking products in such a pattern up from above are not reliable enough, another concept was designed in the present invention, with good results. The product formation device 500 of the present invention works differently and can be combined with the product placing device 314,457 and the product handling system 313 as described above. The product formation device 500 of figs. 51 - 53 is used as a transfer tray 366 and can form overlapping layers of pear shaped products or other oblong products. The product formation device makes the product placing device more versatile because the product placing device can be used not only for round products but also for oblong products with irregular shapes.

The product formation device 500 has a frame 501 with a box shape which when seen in top view is square or rectangular and has side walls. The product formation device has a plurality of movable product supports 529, each product support having a cavity, in particular formed by 3 centering faces 543L, 543R, 543C for spherical or pear shape products in order to force a centered position of the product and to let the products adopt the pivot angle of the product support.

The product supports are arranged in a plurality of rows 503A, 503B, each row comprising multiple product supports. The product supports in a same row are distanced from one another by a support pitch distance (DY1), and

The product formation device 500 has:

- a plurality of row bars 530 extending in the direction of the rows and

- a plurality of cross-bars 514 extending transverse to the row bars, - a plurality of guiding bases 515, 525, each guiding base connected to a respective product support, and wherein each guiding base is slidably connected to a row bar 530 and slidably connected to a cross-bar 514, and

- a cross-bar moving mechanism 1102 for displacing the cross-bars in the Y-direction, thereby changing the support pitch distance (DY1) in the Y-direction between at least a number of product supports.

The rows 503 are divided in two row groups 503A and 503B. The rows are divided in a first row group 503A and a second row group 503B. Even numbered rows belong to the first row group and uneven numbered rows belong to the second row group. The cross bars are divided in a first cross-bar group 514A and a second cross-bar group 514B. The product supports of the first row group 503A are connected via the associated guiding bases to the cross-bars of the first cross-bar group 514A and the product supports of the second row group 503B are connected via the associated guiding bases to the cross-bars of the second cross-bar group 514B.

The product formation device comprises a row moving mechanism 1100 for moving the rows of product supports away from one another and towards one another in a direction transverse to the direction of the rows,

Moving the cross-bars in the Y-direction will also move the product supports in the Y- direction.

The product formation device can move the product supports 529 of different rows relative to each other in an X-direction with the row moving mechanism 1100 and can move product supports 529 relative to another in a Y direction with the cross bar moving mechanism 1102.

The cross bar moving mechanism 1102 comprises the cross-bars 514A, and a first scissor mechanism 516 and a second scissor mechanism 524. The cross-bars of the first cross-bar group 514A are interlinked via the first scissor mechanism 516 and the cross-bars of the second cross-bar group 514B are interlinked via the second scissor mechanism 524. The scissor mechanisms are capable of adjusting the support pitch distance between the cross-bars which are connected to it.

The cross-bar moving mechanism may be used for: - changing the support pitch distance between a number of product supports in a same row, and

- creating a staggering pattern between different rows by moving adjacent rowa relative to one another in Y-direction.

The configuration shown in figs 51-53 has two scissor mechanisms 516, 524 to allow row staggering in two opposite directions. The product formation device can have one scissor mechanism 516 to change the support pitch distance in the Y direction (row direction), namely if row staggering is not needed. In that case all guiding bases would be connected to the same scissor mechanism.

The row moving mechanism 1102 comprises two independently driven scissors mechanisms 516, 524, each scissor mechanism comprising an upper scissor 524 and a lower scissor 516 on each side of the product formation device. Each scissor mechanism is driven by 2 servomotors, wherein each servo motor moves the end of a the scissor mechanism. When the two servo motors move the ends of one scissor in the same direction over the same distance, the entire scissor moves in that direction without extending or shortening. When this is done for the two opposite scissors of a scissor mechanism 516 of first cross-bar group 514A but not for a second cross-bar group 514B, all product supports connected to the cross-bars of the first group 514A can be moved while maintaining a same pitch distance between the product supports. This creates a staggering distance between the first group 514A and the second group 514B and consequently between the product supports of the first row group 503A and the second row group 503B.

The unit has 4 servo motors driving the upper and lower scissor mechanisms. This allows to create the alternated pattern which allows staggering of the rows in both directions, wherein the staggering distance D1 can be both positive and negative (or reversedO. The two scissor mechanisms 516, 524 also allow changing of the pitch between the product supports. This can be done by moving the opposite ends of the each two scissors of one scissor mechanism relative to one another in a synchronized manner.

The product supports are supported by upper guiding base 525 which is driven by the upper scissor mechanism 524 or by a lower guiding base 515 which is driven by the lower scissor mechanism 516. An alternative version with one scissor mechanism comprising two opposite scissors is also possible if row staggering is not required. In such an embodiment, all cross bars are connected to the same scissor mechanism.

The ends of both the lower and the upper scissor are moved by a low friction nut or ball screw nut 510. The nut 510 is displaced by a motor 512 for the lower scissor mechanism 516 or motor 538 for the upper scissor mechanism 524 which rotates a threaded spindle or ball screw with a timing belt 513. By rotating both nuts of a same scissor mechanism in the same direction, the products are displaced over a distance D1, see Fig. The direction of D1 can be positive or negative and in this way an alternating (or staggered) pattern can be made for layers which can lead to a better filling of a tray, box or crate. The support pitch distance of the product supports in the Y-axis direction can be changed by increasing the distance between the nuts 510 on both ends of a scissor.

The opposite scissors of a scissor mechanism are connected to a cross-bar 514. In order to equalize the movement of the opposing lower scissors, a connecting rod 520 with torsion arm 519 is placed at each end of the lower scissors. In order to equalize the movement of the opposing upper scissors, a connecting rod 536 with torsion arm 528 is placed at each end of the upper scissors of the upper scissor mechanism 524.

The upper scissor mechanism 524 can move the guiding bases 525 at an equal pitch between each of them in the Y-direction. The lower scissor mechanism 516 can move the lower guiding bases 515 at an equal pitch between them in the Y-direction. The product supports connected to a row bar of the first row bar group form a first product group. The product supports connected to a row bar of the second row bar group form a second product group. So there are two groups of product supports that can be moved as a group or/and for which the support pitch distance can be changed for the product supports of the group. This allows an alternating pattern and the moving of the products closer to each other sideways.

The lower guiding bases 515 and the upper guiding bases 525 can move (here: slide) over the cross-bars 514A and 514 B and in this way move perpendicular to the scissor movement direction (in the X-direction). This displacement is carried out by the row moving mechanism 1100 for moving the rows of product supports row bars 530 away from one another and towards one another in a direction (Y-direction) transverse to the direction of the rows . The row moving mechanism 1100 comprises arm 531 and the row bars 530 with rods 532, 533, 534 and 535 which form a row bar linkage mechanism 1110. The arm 531 is driven by an actuator 539 controlled by the control unit 100. Alternatively, each row bar 530 could have it’s own actuator 539 so there is an independent adjustment of the distance between row bars possible controlled by the PLC of the machine and based on the tray or package.

The arm 531 and rods 532, 533, 534 and 535 are configured to be easy exchangeable for different patterns. Unlike the scissors which have a typical equal pitch movement for all the guiding bases, the displacement of the rows in the X-direction does not have to be equal with the arm 531 and rods 532, 533, 534 and 535. Depending on the length of the rods 532, 533, 534, 535 and the position of the connection holes in the central arm 531 , unequal movements of the rows can be realized for different patterns of products. In general, these parts do not need to be changed often as the configuration of the mechanics is in such a way that most patterns can be automatically adjusted with the actuator 539 and the 4 servo or stepper motors or actuators 512 and 538. The actuators 512, 538 and 539 may be pneumatic cylinders, servo cylinders, servo motors or linear servomotors.

In the configuration as shown in Fig. 511 there is place for 5x8 = 40 products on the product formation device. Larger products could for example only fit in an array of 4x6 = 24 products. In most cases the same product formation device can be used for larger products and smaller products, and some product supports would be left empty if a larger pitch between the product supports would be set. Different patterns can be saved under their product name in the control unit.

The product formation device 500 can pivot the product supports together or individually with the pivoting mechanism 1106. The pivoting mechanism 1106 comprises a plurality of pivot bars 523 and rollers 537. The product supports 529 are rotatable around shaft 526 and the angle is defined by the height of pivot bars 523. The product supports can be mirrored by taking out shafts 526, rotating the product supports and placing the shafts 526 back.

Pivot bars 523 have rollers 537 at their opposite ends, which are supported by a supporting L-shape 522 which is connected to arm 521. The movement of the supporting L- shape 522 is equalized by a torsion arm 518 and a rod 527. An actuator 517 is connected to torsion arm 518 and in this way the pivot angle of the product supports 529 can be changed together equally. These are all parts of the pivoting mechanism 1106.

In the shown embodiment, all product supports are pivoted together by actuator 517. Pivoting per row would be possible by adding an actuator 517 between each row bar 530 and each pivot bar 523 see fig 51 J. 530 and 524 around a horizontal pivot axis to a more upwards orientation to force or urge the spherical part of the product to move against a stop face 543C in the V-shaped centering faces. An angle a7 enclosed by the centering faces 543L, 543R can be relatively small like 50-100, and as a result the centering effect can be quite strong. Also the V-shape may be relatively long, such that the neck of a curved pear can be placed reliably over the rounded part of an adjacent pear. Angle ad could be 90 degrees +/- 30 degrees.

Each product support 529 comprises a soft, upwardly bendable member 542 which supports the neck of the products. The centering of the products on the product supports may be improved by oscillating the product supports around the horizontal pivot axis.

The centering and the oscillating movements create more room for moving the neck of the products over the adjacent products when the row pitch (the distance between the rows) is reduced, from a loading row pitch in which the products are loaded on the product formation device to a pattern row pitch in which the products are packaged. After the products are moved together and over each other, the product supports are pivoted to a more horizontal orientation, thereby creating the roof tile pattern where products lay over each other.

The product supports have 3 inclined surfaces 543L, 543R and 543C in order to center the product position in all directions C,U,Z and orient the product about all three axes C,U,Z and also support and center the neck of the product. Only very curved products will not be centered and/or oriented but these products will be detected and ejected by the product handling system 313.

Fig. 51a shows that the product formation device may position the product supports in a regular grid of a number of columns and a number of rows. The product supprts are aligned in the X-direction and in the Y-direction.

Other shapes for centering are possible, like concave hollow shapes according to the product shape. A V-shape is preferred, because the size of the product matters less for centering purposes and it aligns the product in all orientations and centres the product in all directions.

Turning to fig. 52, during loading, the product formation device is filled row by row with pear shaped products by the product placing device 314. The product placing device may have a pick and place head 324 with one or multiple pickup members 323. The product handling system 313 feeds the product placing device with products and orients and groups the products in an orientation of 0 or 180 degrees with respect to the transport direction T to form a desired pattern. It may also orient the stems in a general downwards or upwards direction. The product handling system 313 may also place a label after orienting the products and before or after grouping the products. In this way the labels have a same orientation, independent of the eventual orientation of the product in the packaging, which is preferred. Subsequent layers of products often have an alternated 0/180 degrees layer pattern. This can be achieved relatively easily with the product formation device by changing the direction of the distance D1 which is created by the differences of the positions of the servomotor 512 and 538 see Fig. 51 D. This reverses the staggering pattern.

The use of the product formation device has similarities with the use of a transfer tray as is described in connection with figures 16-23. The products are placed row by row on the product formation device. When the product formation device is filled, the formation is changed by changing the stagger, support pitch distance, row distance and/or product orientation. After changing the formation, the formation of products can be picked up at the packaging location 1002 by the movable array head 609. A main difference between the transfer device and the product formation device is that in the product formation device the formation is changed whereas in the transfer tray this will generally not be the case.

The product formation device is controlled by the control unit 100 and it can be a software setting to create different formations. For a formation with a reversed stagger, the movable array head 609 may turn the product tray 180 degrees after picking the product tray from the product tray storage, place the product tray on the packaging location, and subsequently the movable array head 609 may pick up the alternated pattern of products from the product formation device and place it on the product tray or in a box or crate. In this way, the alternating patterns in the layers have labels in the same orientation, independent of the orientation of the products in the packaging. The intermediate product tray between the layers of products can be omitted to save packaging material costs. This is possible because whole layers are placed at once.

The product formation device 500 can also be loaded by the product placing device having a multi-purpose pick and place head with suction members shown in fig 29. This can be done as follows: orient the product formation device over 90 with the row direction parallel to the transport direction and rotate the individual products which are held by the multi purpose pick and place head 460 over 90 degrees about their respective axes so that products in the row of products which is held and placed by the multi-purpose pick and place head 460 are also at right angles to the row direction. The placing is then carried out in a staggered fashion as is also described in figures 27C and 27F. The multi-purpose pick and place head 460 or the elevator belt will need to move forward and/or backward for each row over half a product pitch distance. Also, there needs to be an extra position in each row of the product formation tool, see also the X-es in figures 27C and 27F.

In this case, the multifunctional pick and place head has to be equipped with 8 suction members. In this case, the product formation device is rotated by 90 degrees about a vertical axis relative to the transport direction T when it is moved from the loading position to the packaging location and back.

The product formation device can be loaded by most types of robots or pick and place units. However, the combination of:

1) orienting, grouping and labelling with the here presented product handling system

313,

2) loading the products onto the product formation device with the product placing device 314 or 457, and

3) using the movable array head 609, works with a single product formation device and is a versatile, compact and flexible solution which prevents product damage. A further advantage of the product formation device compared to a complex suction head is that the weight of a complex suction head does not need to be lifted by the manipulator and a complex suction head does not need to be demounted for other products. Another advantage is that the product formation device is automatically loaded in the center of the machine which allows a narrow machine with relatively small sideways travel distances of the product placing device 314 or 457. Reducing sideways travelling with a product held by a suction member is generally preferred because it reduces the chance of damage.

Another advantage is that the product formation device can be replaced by another formation device or transfer tray relatively quickly by using the elevator with belt 361 and the storage belts 365, which may contain different product formation devices or transfer trays. Switching between 2 different products like apples and pears would require only short downtime.

Figure 53A shows a collision 541 by a larger pear shaped product 540 with another, averagely sized, product than an average product 330. The soft V-shaped material 542 of the product supports 529 will bend upward as a result, lifting the product to the right of collision 541 and the flexible V-shaped support 542 along with the neck of the product, thereby preventing damage. If 542 were made of a hard material, then the product 540 may become damaged. For example, the material of 542 may be low friction polyurethane with a thickness of about 0.5 mm - 2mm or another sufficiently flexible material suitable to largely prevent damage to the products.

The pitch distance of the products can be changed in 2 independent directions X, Y and the pivot angles of all product supports 529 can be changed in order to make a roof tile pattern in which the neck of a product can be placed over a spherical part of an adjacent product.

After the row of (labelled) products has been formed by the product handling device, it is transported to the product placing device in a pattern matching the product formation device shown in Fig. 52. Numeral 500A indicates the product formation device in a placing configuration and numeral 500B shows the product formation device in a packaging configuration.

The process of forming the formation has 4 steps. It starts with Fig 51A which shows the centering product supports having the biggest possible pitch to allow the most space for the product and the centering product supports of different rows are aligned to allow the placing the products with the product placing device in a regular grid. The products are placed row by row in the product supports.

After the products are placed, the product supports are pivoted upwards to urge the spherical part of the product to move against a stop face 543C. After that, a short rotating oscillating rotational movement of the centering product supports may improve the centering. After this the scissors alternate the pattern to Fig. 51 B and the pitch made by the scissors is maximized in the Y direction. After this movement has been done, the products move closer to each other in the X direction caused by the rotation of arm 531 and Fig. 51 C is formed while still having the maximum pitch formed by the scissors in the Y direction.

Finally, the scissors move the product supports closer to each other in the Y direction see Fig. 51 D and the layer fits the tray/box or crate and can be picked up by the movable array head 609 at the packaging location as a whole while maintaining the rooftile based pattern where the neck of the products lay over of the spherical part of the adjacent products. Layers of labelled products can be placed with or without an intermediate tray. In this document, the word tray is intended to cover product trays which are used to support a layer of products in a container or crate or by itself, without a container or crate, and also covers a transfer tray used for transferring products from a placing location to a packaging location. The word (transfer)tray is also intended to cover both a product tray and a transfer tray.

Turning to figures 55A-55D, two further embodiments of the product handling system and the belt conveyor system are shown. Figures 55A-B show a variant with two parallel upper conveyor belt assemblies and a single lower conveyor belt for each product conveyor device. This embodiment may be less suitable for discharging products but may be suitable for grouping or buffering and/or rotating about a vertical axis and for other handling operations. Figures 55C-D show an embodiment with two parallel upper conveyor belt assemblies 20C and a left and right lower conveyor belt 20A, 20B for each product conveyor device. This variant may be in particular suitable for buffering and grouping. Independent claims 49 and 75 should be interpreted broadly to cover these embodiments.

Turning to figure 56, a same configuration is shown as in figure 16, but with a label machine 260 positioned between the placing and packaging location. The labels are placed with a multilane label machine when the transfer tray moves from the placing location 1004 to the packaging location 1002. A labelling machine cannot label in a multi-layer box on the first layer. In this way layers of oriented labelled product can be stacked in a box with or without intermediate tray. This option would only be preferred if for some reason long and strong stems lose would change their orientation the product after placing. If pre labelled products change their orientation, the labels are not in straight rows anymore. It is preferred to label in the product handling system 313 after orientation and grouping, because a multilane label machine is expensive and because settings are needed for different row numbers in a multiple row sticker machine which is not necessary for a single row label machine in the product handling system.

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting, but rather, to provide an understandable description of the invention. Not all embodiments may achieve all stated objects.

The terms "a" or "an", as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term plurality, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term another, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms including and/or having, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e. , open language, not excluding other elements or steps). Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims or the invention.

Claims

Subject 1: Product placing device

1. Product placing device (314; 457) for simultaneously placing or dropping one or more products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and food products, in a container (362) or crate or on a tray (360;), the product placing device comprising:

- a left lower conveyor belt (303A),

- a right lower conveyor belt (303B),

- one or more drives (328, 329) for driving the left and right lower conveyor belt for moving the products to a target location (396) on the left and right conveyor belt, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt extend in a transport direction (T), wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt are movable away from one another and toward one another between a product conveying position (399) and a product placing position (400), wherein in the product conveying position the left and right lower conveyor belt are configured to convey products, and wherein in the product placing position the left and right lower conveyor belt are further apart than in the product conveying position and a gap (1016) is provided between the left and right lower conveyor belt, wherein the gap allows the one or more products to be dropped or placed downward through the gap in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray below the gap.

2. Product placing device according to claim 1 , comprising a left side conveyor belt (304A) and a right side conveyor belt (304B) configured to engage respectively a left side and right side of the one or more products, or a single upper conveyor belt configured to engage an upper side of the one or more products, wherein the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt extend in a transport direction (T), wherein the one or more drives (328, 329) are configured for driving the left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt for moving the products to the target location (396), wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt provide a product space (24) between them, and are configured to engage the one or more products on at least three sides thereof, in particular on four sides thereof.

3. Product placing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation, or wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt are oriented horizontally.

4. Product placing device according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one opening actuator (331) configured for moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another from the product conveying position to the product placing position (400), thereby opening or enlarging the gap (1016) between the left and right lower conveyor belt.

5. Product placing device according to the preceding claim, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt are pivotable or are displaceable in a linear direction, wherein the opening actuator is configured for pivoting or linearly displacing the left and right lower conveyor belt in order to move the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another for opening or enlarging the gap.

6. Product placing device according to any of claims 2 - 5, wherein the left side conveyor belt (304A) and the right side conveyor belt (304B) are positioned above the left lower conveyor belt respectively the right lower conveyor belt, wherein in particular the at least one opening actuator (331) is configured for: moving the left and right side conveyor belt away from one another together with moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another, or moving the left and right lower conveyor belt move away from one another before moving the left and right side conveyor belt away from one another.

7. Product placing device according to any of claims 2 - 6, wherein the left side conveyor belt and right side conveyor belt are configured for pressing against the one or more products or wherein the single upper conveyor belt is configured for pressing downwards on the one or more products, and in particular:

- comprise(s) a series of rollers (1018) supported by springs (332) or biasing members, wherein the rollers supported by the springs or biasing members are configured to press respective belt(s) (1020A, 1020B) of the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt against the products, and/or

- comprise(s) respective conveyor belt(s) which are compressible in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the conveyor belt(s), wherein the conveyor belts are in particular spongy.

8. Product placing device according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising:

- a pick and place head (323) comprising multiple pickup members (324), each pickup member configured for picking up a product,

- a pick and place actuator (336), configured for moving the pick and place head up and down, wherein the product placing device is configured to: o pick one or more products (330) from the left and right lower conveyor belt with the pick and place head, o move the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another to the product placing position, o after the left and right lower conveyor belt are moved away from each other, lower the pick and place head with the products downward through the gap between the left and right lower conveyor belt to place the products in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray positioned below the gap.

9. Product placing device according to the preceding claim, wherein the multiple pickup members are arranged in a straight row.

10. Product placing device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the pickup members are suction members.

11. Product placing device according to any of claims 8 - 10, further comprising a pick and place horizontal drive (343) configured for moving the pick and place head (323) forward in the transport direction (T) and/or backward against the transport direction (T), in particular before or while lowering the pick and place head with the pick and place actuator (336).

12. Product placing device (457 according to any of claims 8 - 11, wherein the pickup members (324) are positioned at a pickup distance (D30) from one another and are connected to one another via a linkage mechanism (1040), allowing the pickup members to move away from one another and toward one another, the pick and place unit further comprising a pickup distance actuator (462) for adjusting the pickup distance (D30) between the pickup members, wherein the pickup distance between the pickup members is in particular uniform and maintained uniform when adjusting the pickup distance.

13. Product placing device according to any of claims 8 - 12, wherein the pick and place head is rotatable about a vertical axis (389), the product placing device comprising a rotary actuator (320) for rotating the pick and place head about said vertical axis.

14. Product placing device (457) according to any of claims 8 - 13, wherein the pick and place head comprises a pickup member actuator (461) configured for rotating the individual pickup members about respective vertical axes (1060), wherein the respective axes extend in particular centrally through each pickup member.

15. Product placing device according to any of claims 2 - 15, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the left and right side conveyor belt or the single upper conveyor belt have a controllable speed.

16. Product placing device according to any of claims 2 - 16, wherein the left side and right side conveyor belts face inward and downward and are configured to press inward and downward on the product(s).

17. Product placing device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein an angle at which the left side and right side conveyor belts (304A, 304B) are oriented and engage the products is adjustable.

18. Product placing device according to any of claims 2 - 16, wherein the belts of the left and right side conveyor belts or the single upper conveyor belt are/is narrower than the left and right lower conveyor belts.

19. Product placing system (382) comprising the product placing device (314) according to any of the preceding claims, the product placing system further comprising:

- a support surface (1034) for supporting the container, crate or (transfer)tray,

- a lateral actuator (353) for moving the support surface and/or the product placing device in a lateral direction (Y-direction) relative to one another in order to allow the product placing device to place or drop products in the container or crate or on a (transfer)tray in different lateral positions, and in particular to allow the product placing device to place or drop rows of products in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray, wherein the rows are: o offset relative to one another in the lateral direction, and/or o offset relative to one another in the direction of the rows.

20. Packaging system (1000) comprising a product placing system (382) according to claim 19 or 20, and a product handling system (313) according to any of claims 61-70, the product handling system positioned upstream from the product placing system and configured to supply the product placing device with products, and in particular further comprising:

- a packaging supply conveyor (386),

- a packaging discharge conveyor (385),

- a product tray station (600) positioned downstream from the product placing device, the product tray station comprising: o a movable array head (609) comprising an array of pickup members, o a product tray storage (601) for holding product trays (360), o a tray picking actuator (616) and a linkage mechanism (610,611,612) configured to:

^■ move the movable array head (609) from a head packaging position (640) to a head tray position (641) at the product tray in order to take a product tray from the product tray, and

^■ to subsequently move the movable array head back to the head packaging position to subsequently place the product tray in a container or crate at a packaging location (1002) or directly on the packaging location (1002).

21. Packaging system according to the preceding claim, comprising any of the features of claims 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 42 and/or 46.

In flight

22. Packaging system (1000) comprising the product placing device (314;457) of any of claims 1-18, the packaging system further comprising:

- a package conveyor (258) for conveying the container, crate or product tray in a transport direction (T) and underneath the product placing device,

- a sensor for (402) detecting the position of the container, crate or product tray on the package conveyor,

- a control unit (100) configured for controlling the package conveyor and/or the product placing device on the basis of the detected position of the product, wherein the control unit is configured for: a) controlling the speed of the package conveyor and/or the speed of the conveyor belts of the product placing device to synchronize the position of the group of products in the product placing device with the position of the moving container, moving crate or moving product tray, in order to maintain the position of the group of products vertically above the moving container, crate or tray, followed by moving the left and right lower conveyor belt of the product placing device away from one another, and dropping the moving group of products into the moving container, moving crate or onto the moving tray, or b) picking the products from the left and right lower conveyor belt of the product placing device with the pick and place head (323; 460), moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another, and lowering the pick and place head with the pick and place actuator while controlling a forward speed of the pick and place head with the horizontal drive to synchronize the position of the group of products with the position of the moving container, moving crate or moving product tray in order to maintain the position of the group of products vertically above the moving container, moving crate or moving tray, and placing the moving group of products into the moving container or moving crate or onto the moving product tray with the pick and place head.

23. Method of placing or dropping one or more products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs, and rounded products such as rounded food products, in a container (362) or crate or on a product tray (360), the method comprising:

- conveying one or more products with the conveyor belts of the product placing device of any of claims 1-18 to a target location, and

- moving the left and right lower conveyor belts away from one another, and

- placing or dropping the one or more products downward through the gap and into the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray below the gap.

24. Method according to the preceding claim, comprising: o picking one or more products from the left and right lower conveyor belt with the pick and place head, o moving the left and right lower conveyor belt away from one another to the product placing position, o after the left and right lower conveyor belt are moved away from each other, lowering the pick and place head with the products downward through the gap between the left and right lower conveyor belt to place the products in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray positioned below the gap.

25. Method according to claim 23 or 24, comprising: o adjusting the pickup distance (D30) between the pickup members, and/or o rotating the pick and place head (323) with the products about a vertical axis, and/or o rotating the individual pickup members about respective vertical axes, and/or o moving the pick and place head with the products in the transport direction or against the transport direction, and/or o moving a group of products forward with the conveyor belts while moving the left and right lower conveyor belts away from one another in order to drop moving products on a moving container, crate or tray.

Subject 2: Packaging system

26. Packaging system (1000) configured for simultaneously placing or dropping a plurality of products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables and rounded products such as rounded food products, into a container or crate or on a tray, via a transfer tray (366) or formation device (500), the packaging system comprising:

- one or more transfer conveyors (397,361) defining a placing location (1004) and a packaging location (1002), wherein the one or more transfer conveyors is configured for moving the transfer tray (366) or formation device between the placing location and packaging location,

- a product placing device (314) positioned above the placing location and configured to place or drop one or more products on the transfer tray or formation device (500) when the transfer tray or formation device is in the placing location,

- a movable array head (609) comprising an array of pickup members (619), the array comprising a plurality of pickup members (619) in an X-direction and a plurality of pickup members in a Y-direction, the movable array head being configured for picking a group of products from a transfer tray or formation device and placing or dropping the group products into a container, crate or tray,

- a control unit (100) configured to perform the following steps: o move a transfer tray (366) or formation device (500) to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o place or drop products on the transfer tray or formation device with the product placing device, o move the transfer tray or formation device with the products from the placing location to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o pick the group of products from the transfer tray or formation device with the movable array head at the packaging location, o move the transfer tray or formation device away from the packaging location, and in particular back to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o move a container, crate or tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, and o place or drop the group of products into the container, crate or tray with the movable array head at the packaging location.

27. Packaging system (1000) according to claim 26, wherein the placing location (1004) and the packaging location (1002) are adjacent to one another.

28. Packaging system (1000) according to claim 26 or 27, wherein the movable array head is configured to move the products only in a vertical direction and not in a horizontal direction.

29. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 28, wherein the product placing device comprises a pick and place head (323) comprising a row (1052) of pickup members for each time placing or dropping a row of products on the transfer tray or formation device, or wherein the product placing device does not comprise a pick and place head and is configured to only drop products.

30. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 29, wherein the product placing device (314) is the product placing device according to any of claims 1 - 18.

31. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 30, further comprising a lateral actuator (353) for moving the placing location and/or the product placing device in a lateral direction (Y) relative to one another in order to allow the product placing device (314) to place or drop products (330) on the transfer tray (366) or formation device (500) in different lateral positions, and in particular to allow the product placing device to place or drop rows of products in the container or crate or on the (transfer)tray or formation device, wherein the rows are offset relative to one another in the lateral direction.

32. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 31 , further comprising a product handling system according to any of claims 75-84, the product handling system configured for supplying products to the product placing device.

33. Packaging system according to the preceding claim, further comprising:

- a packaging supply conveyor (386) for supplying empty containers, crates or trays, and

- a packaging discharge conveyor (385) for discharging the filled containers, crates or trays, wherein when seen in top view the product placing position and the packaging location are located between a most downstream product conveyor device (800) of the product handling system on the one hand and the packaging supply container and packaging discharge conveyor on the other hand, wherein the packaging supply container and packaging discharge conveyor are placed: o vertically above one another with either the supply or the discharge conveyor being the upper conveyor, or o adjacent one another and extending parallel, in particular in a horizontal plane.

34. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 33, comprising a first elevator (361; 361A) comprising a conveyor belt, wherein the first elevator is configured for moving a container, crate, transfer tray or product tray between a lower level (393) and an upper level (394), wherein in particular the placing location and the packaging location are at the upper level.

35. Packaging system according to the preceding claim, comprising a second elevator (361 B) comprising a second conveyor belt, wherein the second elevator is configured for moving containers, crates or trays between the lower level (393) and the upper level (394), wherein when seen in top view the first and second elevator are in particular located on opposite sides of the packaging location.

36. Packaging system according to any of claims 32-35, wherein when seen in top view the placing location and the packaging location are aligned with the product handling system, wherein the placing location is located between the product handling system and the packaging location, and wherein the first elevator is in particular located at the placing location.

37. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 36, comprising:

- a product tray storage (601) for holding product trays (360),

- a tray picking actuator (616) and a array head moving mechanism (630) configured to: o move the movable array head (609) from a head packaging position (640) to a head tray position (641) at the product tray storage in order to take a product tray from the product tray storage, and o to subsequently move the movable array head back to the head packaging position to subsequently place the product tray in a container or crate at the packaging location or directly on the packaging location (1002).

38. Packaging system according to the preceding claim, wherein the movable array head (609) is pivotable between a packaging orientation for placing products in the container, crate or product tray and a tray storage orientation for taking a product tray from the product tray.

39. Packaging system according to any of claims 37 - 38, wherein the product tray storage is located vertically above the supply conveyor and the discharge conveyor.

40. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 39, wherein the control unit is configured to:

- control the one or more transfer conveyors to move the container (362) or crate with the product tray (360) inside it or a product tray by itself away from the packaging location (1002) after placing a product tray in the container or crate or directly on the packaging location, i.e. , without a container or crate,

- move the transfer tray or formation device with products to the packaging location,

- pick the products from the transfer tray or formation device with the movable array head (609),

- move the transfer tray or formation device away from the packaging location and in particular back to the placing location (1004) with the one or more transfer conveyors,

- move the product tray or container or crate with the product tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors, and

- place the products on the product tray which is located on the transfer conveyor or in the container or crate with the movable array head.

41. Packaging system according to any of clams 26 - 40, configured to operate:

- in a product tray mode in which a product tray (360) is placed between each layer of products in the container or crate, and/or - in a non-tray mode in which no product tray is placed between each layer of products in the container or crate, wherein the products are directly placed on top of one another, and/or

- in a non-container mode in which the product trays (300) are placed directly on the packaging location (1002).

42. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 41 , wherein the movable array head is rotatable about a vertical axis (624) and wherein the control unit is configured to rotate the movable array head over an angle of 180 degrees after a product tray is picked from the product tray in order to alternate the orientation of the product trays (360) in the container (362) or crate, and wherein the product placing device is configured to alternate the formation of the products in the transfer tray or formation device when a transfer tray or formation device is loaded with products in order to match the formation of the products in the transfer tray to a formation of product positions (1006) in the rotated product tray.

43. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 42, comprising the transfer tray, wherein the transfer tray has product positions (1006) which form position rows (1010), wherein:

- the product positions are indentations which are covered with a soft material such as foam, and/or,

- a distance (D14) between at least some of the product positions is smaller than the distance of the products in the container or crate.

44. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 43, comprising the transfer tray and/or product tray, wherein adjacent product positions in a same position row are spaced from one another by a pitch distance (D14), wherein adjacent position rows are offset relative to one another over an offset distance (D1) in a direction parallel to the direction of the position rows, wherein the offset distance is in particular half of a pitch distance, wherein the product placing device is configured to place rows of products on the transfer tray or product tray, wherein the pick and place head (323) and the placing location (1004) are movable relative to one another in the direction of the rows of the transfer tray or product tray on the placing location in order to offset adjacent rows of products in the transfer tray or product tray over the offset distance relative to one another.

45. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 44, wherein the product placing device (314) comprises one or more robots equipped with a single pick and place member, in particular a gripper or a suction head.

46. Packaging system according to any of claims 26 - 45, comprising a labelling position and a labelling device for labelling products on the transfer tray in the labelling position, wherein when seen in top view the labelling position is in particular located between the placing location and the packaging location.

47. Method of packaging products, the method comprising simultaneously placing or dropping a plurality of products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables and other rounded products such as rounded food products, into a container or crate or on a tray, via a transfer tray (366) or formation device (500), the method comprising: o moving a transfer tray (366) or formation device (500) to the placing location of the packaging system of any of claims 26-46 with the one or more transfer conveyors, o placing or dropping products on the transfer tray or formation device with the product placing device, o moving the transfer tray or formation device with the products from the placing location (1004) to the packaging location (1002) with the one or more transfer conveyors, o picking the group of products from the transfer tray or formation device with the movable array head at the packaging location, o moving the transfer tray or formation device away from the packaging location, and in particular back to the placing location with the one or more transfer conveyors, o moving a container (326), crate or tray to the packaging location with the one or more transfer conveyors (397, 1034), and placing the group of products into the container, crate or tray with the movable array head at the packaging location

48. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein the array head moves the products only in a vertical direction and not in a horizontal direction.

Subject 3: Conveyor belt system

49. Conveyor belt system (700) configured for conveying a product (330; 14), in particular a horticultural or agricultural product such as a fruit, a vegetable and a flower bulb and other rounded products such as a rounded food product, the conveyor belt system comprising:

- a frame (1708),

- one or more lower conveyor belts (20A, 20B) which is/are configured to support a lower side of a product,

- an upper conveyor belt assembly (707) configured to engage an upper side of the product, the upper conveyor belt assembly comprising a plurality of upper conveyor belts (20C) placed in series, each upper conveyor belt comprising: o at least one driven pulley (659), o an entry lower pulley (653A) positioned on an arrival side of the conveyor belt system where the products arrive, o an exit lower pulley (653B) positioned at an exit side of the upper conveyor belt where the products leave the conveyor belt system, o an upper belt (709) which extends at least around the driven pulley, the entry and exit lower pulley, wherein a lower section (656) of the upper belt extends between the entry pulley and the exit pulley, the upper conveyor belt assembly further comprising a plurality of entry suspension mechanisms (712) and a plurality of exit suspension mechanisms (713), wherein each entry suspension mechanism (712) is connected to the frame and to a respective entry lower pulley, wherein each entry suspension mechanism supports the entry lower pulley and allows the entry lower pulley to move up and down between a lower entry position and an upper entry position, wherein each exit suspension mechanism (713) is connected to the frame and to a respective exit lower pulley, wherein each exit suspension mechanism supports the exit lower pulley and allows the exit lower pulley to move up and down between a lower exit position and an upper exit position, wherein when a product engages a lower section of one of the upper belts of the upper conveyor belt assembly, the lower section of the upper belt, the lower entry pulley and the lower exit pulley are moved upwards, wherein the entry and exit suspension mechanism provide a downward pre-tension force on the lower section, causing the lower section to press downward on the product.

50. Conveyor belt system according to the preceding claim, wherein each upper conveyor belt (20C) has a separate drive (721), allowing each upper conveyor belt to be driven at an individual and controllable speed.

51. Conveyor belt system (700) according to claim 49 or 50, configured to orient products, the conveyor belt system comprising a plurality of product conveyor devices (800;

800.1, 800.2, 800.3, 800.4 and 800.5) configured as orienting devices and placed in series, each orienting device comprising:

- a left lower conveyor belt (20A) having a controllable speed and configured to engage the product on a lower left side,

- a right lower conveyor belt (20B) having a controllable speed and configured to engage the product on a lower right side,

- one of the upper conveyor belts (20C), the upper conveyor belt having a controllable speed and configured to engage an upper side of the product, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt extend in a transport direction (T) and are configured to convey products in the transport direction, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt provide a product space (24) between them and are configured to engage the product on at least three sides thereof, the conveyor belt system further comprising:

- one or more cameras (25L, 25R, 25C, 25D) configured for recording images of the product conveyed by the orienting devices,

- a control unit (100) configured for processing the recorded images and applying speed differences to the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt of each orienting device for orienting the product.

52. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49-51 , wherein each entry suspension mechanism comprises a first pivotable arm (651) pivotably connected to the frame at a first pivot point (654A), wherein the entry lower pulley (653A) is connected to a free end of the first pivotable arm, and wherein each exit suspension mechanism comprises a second pivotable arm (652) pivotably connected to the frame at a second pivot point (654B), wherein the exit lower pulley is connected to a free end of the second pivotable arm (652), wherein the entry and exit lower pulley and the lower section are movable up and down by pivoting the first and/or second pivotable arms.

53. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 52, wherein each product conveyor device is configured to rotate a product about a first and a second rotation axis extending in an YZ-plane which is oriented orthogonal to the transport direction (X,T), and in particular to transition from the first to the second rotation axis.

54. Conveyor belt system according to claim 52 or 53, wherein the first pivot point is located relatively close to the exit lower pulley, and wherein the second pivot point is located relatively close to the entry lower pulley.

55. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 52 - 54, wherein a length (D28) of the first and second pivotable arms is in a range of 0,5 -3, more in particular in a range of 0,7 - 1,3 times a distance (D25) between the respective pivot axes of the pivotable arms.

56. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 51 - 55, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt of each orienting device diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation.

57. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 56, comprising a first and a second lower conveyor belt which are oriented horizontally and are positioned adjacent and have a first and second support surface which extend in a same horizontal plane and face vertically upwards.

58. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 57, comprising two upper conveyor belt assemblies, a first upper conveyor belt assembly positioned on a left upper side and a second upper conveyor belt assembly positioned on a right upper side.

59. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 52 - 58, wherein one or more of the upper conveyor belts further comprise a first auxiliary pulley (669A) and a second auxiliary pulley (669B) wherein the upper belt of the associated upper conveyor belt extends around the pulleys in this order: the driven pulley, the first auxiliary pulley, the entry lower pulley, the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley, wherein each upper conveyor belt comprises:

- an entry intermediate belt section (655) which extends between the entry lower pulley and the first auxiliary pulley, and

- an exit intermediate belt section (660) which extends between the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley, wherein a first arm axis (651 A) )extends between the center of the entry lower pulley and the first pivot point and a second arm axis (652A) extends between the center of the exit lower pulley and the second pivot point, and wherein: o a first angle (a1) enclosed between the first arm axis and the lower belt section is equal or substantially equal to a second angle (a2) enclosed between the first arm axis and the entry intermediate belt section, and/or o a third angle (a3) enclosed between the second arm axis and the lower belt section is equal or substantially equal to a fourth angle (a4) enclosed between the second arm axis and the exit intermediate belt section.

60. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 52 - 59, wherein the pivotable arms provide pre-tension on the lower entry and lower exit pulley by their own weight and/or respective first and second springs (668A, 668B) and/or by respective first and second arm actuators, wherein the first and second arm actuators are in particular configured to pivot the pivotable arms upward to a retracted position.

61. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 51 - 60, wherein a plurality of orienting devices are placed end-to-end.

62. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 61 , wherein the lower exit pulley of a first upper conveyor belt is connected to the lower entry pulley of a second upper conveyor belt which is positioned directly downstream from the first upper conveyor belt, wherein said lower exit pulley and the interconnected lower entry pulley are rotatable relative to one another to allow speed differences of between the first and second upper conveyor belts.

63. Conveyor belt system according to the preceding claim, wherein for multiple upper conveyor belts the lower exit pulley of that upper conveyor belt is coaxial with the lower entry pulley of the upper conveyor belt positioned directly downstream from it.

64. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 52 - 61 , wherein the pivotable arms are curved and have a central section which is higher than a line between the pivot axis and the free end.

65. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 59 - 62, wherein the upper conveyor belts placed in series alternately have a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein upper conveyor belts having a first configuration comprise an entry suspension mechanism (712) and an exit suspension mechanism (713) and wherein the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration do not comprise an own entry suspension mechanism or exit suspension mechanism but cooperate with the exit suspension mechanism and entry suspension mechanism of the upper conveyor belts positioned upstream respectively downstream from it.

66. Conveyor belt system according to the preceding claim, wherein the one or more upper conveyor belt(s) having a second configuration (902, 904) comprise a first (662A), a second (662B), a third (669A) and a fourth auxiliary pulley (669B), wherein: the first auxiliary pulleys (662A) of the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration are connected to the second pivotable arm (652) of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly upstream, and the second auxiliary pulleys (662B) of the upper conveyor belts having a second configuration are connected to the first pivotable arm (651) of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly downstream, and the third and fourth auxiliary pulley (669A, 669B) are connected to the frame, and wherein the upper belt comprises a first, second, third and fourth intermediate belt section (663, 664, 665, 666), the first intermediate belt section (663) extending between the entry lower pulley and the first auxiliary pulley, the second intermediate belt section (664) extending between the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley, the third intermediate belt section (665) extending between the first auxiliary pulley and the third auxiliary pulley, the fourth intermediate belt section (666) extending between the second auxiliary pulley and the fourth auxiliary pulley, wherein a resultant force (F5) of a belt force (F4) in the lower belt section (670) and a belt force (F4) in the third intermediate belt section (665) does not pass through the hinge point of the second pivotable arm (652) of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly upstream for a majority of the positions of the lower section, and/or wherein a resultant force (F5) of a belt force (F4) in the lower belt section (670) and a belt force (F4) in the fourth intermediate belt section (666) does not pass through the hinge point of the first pivotable arm (652) of the upper conveyor belt (having a first configuration) positioned directly downstream for a majority of the positions of the lower section, and wherein a pressure spring (1663) or pressure cylinder is mounted between the second pivotable arm of a first upper conveyor belt of the first configuration and a first pivotable arm of a second upper conveyor belt of the first configuration which is positioned downstream from the first upper conveyor belt of the first configuration, wherein the spring provides a counterforce to resultant force (F5).

67. Conveyor belt system according to the preceding claim, wherein the pressure spring (1663) or pressure cylinder is mounted centrally between the entry lower puller and the first auxiliary pulley on one end and centrally between the exit lower pulley and the second auxiliary pulley on the opposite end.

68. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 65 - 67, wherein one or more of the upper conveyor belts comprise an extra pulley (686) pressing downward on the lower section.

69. Conveyor belt system according to any of the preceding claims 49 - 68, wherein the entry lower pulley of the most upstream upper conveyor belt is positioned higher than the exit lower pulley of the most upstream upper conveyor belt, wherein the control unit is configured for holding an incoming product with the most upstream upper conveyor belt for regulating a flow of products through the conveyor belt system.

70. Conveyor belt system according to any of claims 49 - 69, wherein consecutive upper conveyor belts have respective upper belts which are offset from one another in a lateral direction over a belt offset distance (D33), wherein said lateral direction is horizontal and orthogonal to the transport direction (T).

71. Method of conveying a product with the conveyor belt system of any of claims 49 - 70, the method comprising consecutively engaging a product with each upper belt, wherein the product moves the lower section of each consecutive upper belt upwards, and pressing downwards on the product with the lower section of each consecutive upper belt.

72. Method according to the preceding claim, the method comprising consecutively feeding products to the conveyor belt system of any of claims 51 - 65, and applying speed differences on the conveyor belts of the orienting devices to orient each product.

73. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein each orienting device partially orients the product so that consecutive orienting devices fully orient the product in a joint operation to a target orientation, or wherein each orienting device fully orients the product to a target orientation, and wherein in both situations a plurality of orienting devices simultaneously orient a plurality of products.

Subject 4: Product handling system

74. Product handling system (313) comprising multiple product conveyor devices (800) placed in series, wherein each product conveyor device is configured for conveying products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, flower bulbs and rounded food products, each product conveyor device comprising: - a first conveyor belt (20A) comprising a first drive (21A),

- a second conveyor belt (20B) comprising a second drive (21 B),

- at least a third conveyor belt (20C) or roller mechanism (20D) comprising a third drive (21C), wherein the first, second and third conveyor belt of each product conveyor device extend in a transport direction (T) and are configured to convey products in the transport direction, wherein the first and second conveyor belt and the third conveyor belt or roller mechanism provide a product space (24) between them, and are configured to support the products on at least three sides thereof, wherein the product handling system further comprises:

- at least one sensor, in particular at least one camera (25;251), configured for recording data, in particular images, of a product which is conveyed by the product handling system,

- a control unit (100) configured for processing the recorded data and controlling the first drive, second drive and third drive on the basis of the processed data.

75. Product handling system according to the preceding claim, wherein:

- the first conveyor belt is a left lower conveyor belt comprising a left drive,

- the second conveyor belt is a right lower conveyor belt comprising a right drive,

- the third conveyor belt is an upper conveyor belt comprising an upper drive and configured to contact an upper side of the product, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt diverge from one another in an upward direction, and in particular have a V-formation, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt or roller mechanism provide the product space (24) between them, wherein the left and right lower conveyor belt and the upper conveyor belt or roller mechanism are configured to support the products on at least three sides thereof.

76. Product handling system according to claim 74 or 75, wherein the control unit (100) is configured to carry out one or more of the following processing actions:

- orient the products to a target orientation (715) by applying speed differences between the first, second and third conveyor or roller mechanism of a product conveyor device,

- group the products into groups (717) by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices, - convert an incoming stream of products having a variable pitch distance into an outgoing stream of products having a more uniform pitch distance, in particular for feeding the products to a downstream conveyor or packaging machine such as a flowpack device, topseal device, shrink wrapping device or a thermoformer machine,

- buffer the products by positioning multiple products close together by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices (800),

- discharge products from the product handling device, on the basis of a product property recorded with a sensor, in particular a camera, by moving the first and second conveyor belt, in particular the left and right lower conveyor belt, of one or more of the product conveyor devices away from one another, thereby creating a gap (1016) through which the product is discharged,

- grade products on the basis of one or more product parameters, such as size, colour, shape, rot or another product parameter, by: o recording images of the products with the at least one camera and/or detecting a product property with the at least one sensor, and processing the scanned images or recorded product property with the control unit to determine whether a product complies with a first criterion or a second criterion, o moving the first and second conveyor belt, in particular the left and right lower conveyor belt, of a first product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the first criterion, and o moving the first and second conveyor belt, in particular the left and right lower conveyor belt, of a second product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the second qualifying criterion,

- divide an incoming stream of products into two or more outgoing streams of products by moving the moving the first and second conveyor belt, in particular the left and right lower conveyor belt, of one product conveyor device away from one another for a subset of the incoming products and discharging said products of said subset to a lower conveyor and conveying the other products of the incoming stream entirely through the product handling system.

77. Product handling system according to any of claims 74- 76, wherein the control unit (100) is configured for orienting the products, followed by buffering the products and subsequently controlling the pitch distance between the products and/or grouping the products.

78. Product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 77, comprising a labelling device (260) positioned downstream of one or more of the product conveyor devices used for orienting, wherein the labelling device is positioned along a separate product conveyor device as the product conveyor devices used for orienting, wherein the labelling device (260) is positioned upstream or downstream from at least one product conveyor device which is used for grouping..

79. Product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 78, wherein the control unit (100) is configured for orienting the product to a target orientation based on the recorded images, by controlling each product conveyor device (800) of a group of product conveyor devices to carry out a partial orientation, wherein the subsequent partial orientations form a complete orientation, wherein the control unit individually controls the left drive, right drive and upper drive of the product conveyor devices (800) used for orienting and applies speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or upper roller mechanism for the partial orientation in the respective product conveyor devices, wherein the product conveyor device conveys continuously conveys the product during the partial orientation.

80. Product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 79, wherein the control unit (100) is configured for simultaneously completely orienting a plurality of products (330) to a target orientation by placing each product on a respective product conveyor device, wherein the control unit individually controls the left drive, right drive and upper drive of each product conveyor device used for the orienting and applies speed differences between the left lower conveyor belt, right lower conveyor belt and upper conveyor belt or upper roller mechanism of each product conveyor device for simultaneously and completely orienting the products to their respective target orientations.

81. Product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 80, wherein the upper conveyor belt (20C) or roller mechanism (20D) of each product conveyor device is narrower than the left and right lower conveyor belt of the same product conveyor device.

82. Product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 80, comprising the conveyor belt system (700) according to any of claims 49 -71, wherein the upper conveyor belts (20C) of the product handling system are constructed as the upper conveyor belt assembly (707).

83. Product handling system according to any of the preceding claims 74 - 82, wherein:

- a first product conveyor device comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt in a V-formation having a first bottom angle and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt in a V-formation having a second, bottom angle which is different from and in partiular greater than, the first bottom angle, and/or

- a first product conveyor device comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt having a first friction coefficient and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt having a second friction coefficient, and/or

- a first product conveyor device comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt at a first horizontal level and a second product conveyor device, in particular positioned directly downstream form the frst product conveyor device, comprises a left lower conveyor belt and a right lower conveyor belt at a second, lower horizontal level.

84. Combination of a product handling system according to any of claims 74 - 83 and a product placing device (314;457) according to any of claims 1-18, wherein at least one product conveyor device is configured for orienting the products, the product handling system further comprising at least one labelling device (260) configured for placing a label on each oriented product, wherein the labelling device is in particular located at and associated with a product conveyor device (800), wherein at least one product conveyor device is configured for grouping the oriented and labelled products into groups, wherein the product placing device (314;457) is configured for placing the groups of products in a container or crate or on a (transfer)tray, wherein the labelling device is positioned downstream from the at least one product conveyor device which is configured for orienting the products, wherein the at least one product conveyor device which is configured for grouping the products is positioned downstream from the product conveyor device(s) configured for orienting the products and downstream or upstream from the labelling device, wherein the product placing device is positioned downstream from the at least one product conveyor device configured for grouping the products.

85. Method of handling products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, flower bulbs and rounded food products, the method comprising conveying products with the product handling system according to any of claims 75-85, and performing one or more of the following actions:

- orienting the products to a target orientation (715) by applying speed differences between the first conveyor belt, second conveyor belt and third conveyor belt or roller mechanism of a product conveyor device,

- grouping the products into groups (717) by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices,

- converting an incoming stream of products having a variable pitch distance into an outgoing stream of products having a more uniform pitch distance, in particular for feeding the products to a downstream conveyor or packaging machine such as a flowpack device, topseal device, shrink wrapping device or a thermoformer machine,

- buffering the products by positioning multiple products close together by applying speed differences between product conveyor devices,

- discharging products from the product handling device by moving the first and second conveyor belt of one or more of the product conveyor devices away from one another, thereby creating a gap (1016) through which the product is discharged,

- grading products on the basis of one or more product parameters, such as size, colour, shape, rot or another product parameter, by: o recording images of the products with the at least one camera and/or detecting a product parameter with the at least one sensor, and processing the scanned images or recorded product parameter(s) with the control unit to determine whether a product complies with a first qualifying criterion or a second qualifying criterion, o moving the first and second conveyor belt of a first product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the first qualifying criterion, and o moving the first and second lower conveyor belt of a second product conveyor device away from one another in case the product complies with the second qualifying criterion,

- dividing an incoming stream of products into two or more outgoing streams of products by moving the first and second conveyor belt of one product conveyor device away from one another for a subset of the incoming products and discharging said products of said subset to a lower conveyor and conveying the other products of the incoming stream entirely through the product handling system

Subject 5: Pick and place system

86. Pick and place system (172) comprising a plurality of pick and place assemblies (60) configured for picking and placing products (14;330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs and other rounded products such as rounded food products, each pick and place assembly comprising:

- a gripping head (64) configured for gripping the product,

- one or more pick and place actuators (66A, 66B, 79, 63) for moving and rotating the gripping head (64),

- one or more pick and place sensors, in particular a camera (25, 25R,25C,25D), for recording images of a product in the gripping head and recording images of a target area (82) where the product is to be placed,

- a pick and place control unit (100) for controlling the one or more actuators on the basis of the recorded images. the system further comprising a container conveyor (170A) for moving containers, crates or product trays in a transport direction (M), wherein multiple filling positions (171) are located along the conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly is positioned at a respective filling position along said conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly is configured for partially filling a container, crate or product tray, wherein during or after the partial filling of each container, crate or tray, the container conveyor moves the container, crate or product tray to the next pick and place assembly.

87. Pick and place system according to claim 86, wherein the container conveyor comprises pusher members (170B) and/or carriers positioned at a container pitch distance (D35) from one another.

88. Pick and place system according to claim 86 or 87, wherein the container conveyor is configured to move continuously, in particular at a constant speed.

89. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 88, wherein each pick and place assembly (60) comprises:

- a frame (11), - a movable arm (62) supported by the frame, the gripping head (64) being connected to said movable arm, wherein the movable arm is slidably mounted on a horizontal shaft (74) via a slider (88), wherein the movable arm is pivotable about a horizontal pivot axis (75), wherein each pick and place assembly comprises a pivot actuator (66A) for controllably pivoting the arm about the horizontal pivot axis.

90. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 89, wherein the pick and place assemblies (60) are arranged side by side.

91. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 90, configured to position a container, crate or tray at each pick and place assembly and to simultaneously partially fill multiple containers, crates or product trays.

92. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 91, wherein the gripping head of each pick and place assembly is a suction head and in particular configured to grip a single product.

93. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 92, wherein the one or more pick and place cameras of each pick and place assembly are configured to record images of a target area, in particular a target area in the container, crate or tray which is to be filled and wherein the pick and place control unit is configured to determine a target position within the target area for each product which is gripped by the gripping head, wherein the pick and place control unit in particular takes into account the available places in the target area, and wherein the gripping head is movable between a pickup location and the target position in the target area, wherein the pick and place assembly is configured to pick up the product at the pickup location with the gripping head and to place the product in the target position.

94. Pick and place system according to any of the preceding claim 86 - 93, wherein one or more pick and place cameras (25L, 25C, 25R, 25D) are directed at the gripping head, wherein the control unit is configured to take into account: o the size of the product (14; 330), o the shape of the product, in particular including any irregularities such as a daughter bulb, and/or o the size and shape of a shoot of the flower bulb, and/or o the position and orientation of the product relative to the gripping head which holds the product, for determining the target position and/or target orientation of the product in the target area and in particular for determining how deep the product should be placed in the crate, in particular over pins in the crate in order to prevent damage to the product in case the product would be placed to deep on the pins.

95. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 94, wherein each arm is extendable, in particular telescoping, and wherein the pick and place assembly comprises an extension actuator for extending or shortening the arm, the extension actuator being controlled by the pick and place control unit.

96. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 95, wherein each gripping head is rotatable relative to the movable arm about a gripping head axis (110) thereof, which is in particular parallel to the movable arm, wherein each pick and place assembly comprises a rotary actuator for rotating the gripping head about the central gripping head axis.

97. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 96, comprising a Y-actuator (66B) for moving the slider and the movable arm in the Y-direction parallel to the horizontal shaft to a target Y-position.

98. Pick and place system according to any of claims 86 - 97, comprising multiple product handling systems (313) according to any of claims 75 - 82, each product handling system being associated with a pick and place assembly (60) and positioned upstream of the associated pick and place assembly, wherein each pick and place assembly is configured to place a product which was previously oriented by the associated product handling system in a container or crate or on a tray.

99. Pick and place system according to any of claims 89 - 97, wherein when seen in top view the conveyor is oriented at an angle (a16) of 1-30 degrees to the horizontal shafts and is in particular located within a footprint of each pick and place assembly.

100. Method of picking products, in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and flower bulbs and other rounded products such as rounded food products, and placing products the products in a container, crate or product tray, with the pick and place system of any of claims 86-99, the method comprising:

- gripping the product with the gripping head (64),

- recording images of the product in the gripping head and recording images of a target area (82) where the product is to be placed with the one or more pick and place sensors, in particular one or more cameras (25), - moving and rotating the gripping head (64) with the one or more pick and place actuators (66A, 66B, 79, 63), controlled by the pick and place control unit (100) on the basis of the recorded images, the method further comprising: moving containers, crates or product trays in a transport direction (M) with the container conveyor, wherein multiple filling positions (171) are located along the conveyor, wherein each pick and place assembly partially fills a container, crate or product tray, wherein during or after the partial filling of each container, crate or tray, the container conveyor moves the container, crate or product tray to the next pick and place assembly.

Subject 6: Product formation device

101. Product formation device (500) for positioning a group of products (330), in particular horticultural or agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables and other rounded products such as rounded food products, in a formation, the product formation device comprising:

- a frame (501),

- a plurality of movable product supports (529), wherein the product supports are arranged in a plurality of rows (503A, 503B), each row comprising multiple product supports, wherein the product supports in a same row are distanced from one another by a support pitch distance (DY1), and

- a plurality of row bars (530) extending in the direction of the rows and

- a plurality of cross-bars (514) extending transverse to the row bars,

- a plurality of guiding bases, each guiding base connected to a respective product support, and wherein each guiding base is slidably connected to a row bar (530) and slidably connected to a cross-bar (514), and

- a cross-bar moving mechanism (1102) for displacing the cross-bars in the Y- direction, thereby changing the support pitch distance (DY1) in the Y-direction between at least a number of product supports.

102. Product formation device according to claim 101, wherein the cross-bar moving mechanism (1102) is configured for changing the distance in the Y-direction between the row bars.

103. Product formation device according to claim 101 or 102, comprising a row moving mechanism (1100) for moving the rows of product supports away from one another and towards one another in a direction (X-direction) transverse to the direction of the rows.

104. Product formation device according to the preceding claim, wherein the rows are divided in a first row group (503A) and a second row group (503B), even numbered rows belonging to the first row group and uneven numbered rows belonging to the second row group, and wherein the cross bars are divided in a first cross-bar group (514A) and a second cross-bar group (514B), and wherein the product supports of the first row group (503A) are connected via the associated guiding bases to the cross-bars of the first cross-bar group (514A) and the product supports of the second row group (503B) are connected via the associated guiding bases to the cross-bars of the second cross-bar group (514B).

105. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 104, wherein the cross-bar moving mechanism (1102) is configured to move cross bars of the first cross-bar group (514A) in the Y-direction independently from displacing the cross bars of the second cross-bar group (514B) in the Y-direction, allowing a staggering distance between product supports connected to a cross bar of the first cross-bar group and product supports connected to a cross-bar of a second cross-bar group.

106. Product formation device according to any of claims 103 - 105, wherein the cross-bar moving mechanism (1102) is configured to jointly move the cross bars of the first cross bar group (514A) in a first direction and in a second, opposite direction and configured to jointly move the cross bars of the second cross-bar group (514B) in a first direction and in a second, opposite direction.

107. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 106, wherein the cross-bar moving mechanism (1102) comprises the cross-bars and a first and second scissor mechanism, wherein the cross-bars of the first cross-bar group (514A) are connected to the first scissor mechanism and the cross-bars of second cross-bar group (514B) are connected to the second scissor mechanism.

108. Product formation device according to the preceding claim, wherein the cross-bar moving mechanism is configured for maintaining a same pitch distance between product supports which are connected to cross-bars of the first cross-bar group and product supports connected to cross-bars of the second cross-bar group when adjusting the support pitch distance.

109. Product formation device according to any of claims 102 - 109, wherein the row moving mechanism is configured for maintaining the row distance between at least some of the rows uniform when adjusting the row distances.

110. Product formation device according to any of claims 102 - 110, wherein the row moving mechanism (1100) comprises a row bar linkage mechanism (1110) which interconnects the row bars (530).

111. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 111, comprising a pivoting mechanism (1106) for pivoting the product supports, the pivoting mechanism in particular comprising a plurality of pivot bars (523) which extend parallel to the rows, each pivot bar being associated with a row, wherein the product supports of a row are connected to the associated pivot bar, wherein each pivot bar and the product supports connected to the pivot bar are movable in a direction transverse to the row direction for tilting the product supports.

112. Product formation device according to the preceding claim, wherein the pivot bars (523) are connected to - and controlled by - one or more pivot devices (517), which maintain a same pivot angle for all product support or a different pivot angle for product supports of different rows.

113. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 112, wherein the product supports are pivotable about a horizontal pivot axis.

114. Product formation device according to any of claims 104- 113, comprising at least one row bar actuator (539) for moving the row bars (530), and in particular a row bar actuator for each row, and at least one cross-bar actuator (512, 538) for moving the cross-bars (514).

115. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 114, wherein the product supports are configured for holding rounded elongate products, in particular rounded elongate products having a stem at one end, such as pears.

116. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 115, configured for positioning the products in a nested formation, in particular in an inclined position, wherein more in particular one end of the product is positioned over one or two products in an adjacent row.

117. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 116, wherein the product supports are flexible or covered with a flexible material and can bend upwards.

118. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 117, wherein the product formation device has between 4 and 10 parallel rows, and wherein the product formation device has between 5 and 15 product supports per row.

119. Product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 118, wherein the product supports have a central vertical plane (1112) and comprise a left and right support surface (543L, 543R) which diverge from one another in an upward direction, wherein the left and right support surface surfaces are configured to center a product on the central vertical plane and to - when seen top view - substantially align the product with the central vertical plane, and wherein the product supports urge the product to adopt the pivot angle of the product support.

120. Product formation device according to the preceding claim, wherein when seen in side view the left and right support surface (543L, 543R) have an inclined orientation, the product support further comprising a bottom surface (543C) configured to act as a stop face against which a product abuts when sliding down the inclined left and right support surface.

121. Product formation device according to any of claims 106-120, wherein the first scissor mechanism has an upper position and the second scissor mechanism has a lower position, wherein the cross-bars of the first cross-bar group (514A) are connected to the lower scissor mechanism and the cross-bars of second cross-bar group (514B) are connected to the upper scissor mechanism, wherein the scissor mechanisms are displaceable relative to one another in the direction of the rows (Y-direction).

122. Product formation device according to any of claims 101-121, wherein the row bar moving mechanism is configured to position the product supports in a regular grid of a number of columns and a number of rows, wherein the product supprts are aligned in the X-direction and in the Y-direction.

123. Combination of a product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 122 and:

- a product placing device (313 ; 457) according to any of claims 1-18, or

- a product formation device according to any of claims 101 - 122, or

- a pick and place robot having a single pick suction head or an array suction head.

124. Method of placing a group of products in a formation with the product formation device of any of claims 101 - 122, the method comprising:

- placing a number of products on the product supports of the product formation device, - moving the rows towards one another in a direction transverse to the direction of the rows with the row moving mechanism,

- decreasing the support pitch distance between the product supports with the pitch distance adjusting mechanism.

125. Method according to the preceding claim, comprising displacing the rows relative to one another in the direction of the row with the staggering mechanism in order to form a staggered formation, in particular during the moving of the rows toward one another. 126. Method according to the preceding claim, comprising pivoting the product supports with the pivoting mechanism.

127. Method according to the preceding claim, comprising oscillating the product supports for centering the products.