JPH05721A - Automatically sorting conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sort goods at high inspection ratio by arranging a control means to close gate means where the number of inspected goods and the number of passed goods have already coincided with each other until the number of inspected goods and the number of passed goods can coincide with each other about the same goods at all sorters. CONSTITUTION:An operation device 1 manages information on the number of goods, and manages on how many goods are sent out to the same delivery box on a sorter table 6, and sends also information on the number of goods transported to the sorter table 6 to a sorter controller 3. The goods transported to the sorter table 6 are inputted to a carrier 10 one by one when a gate 8 is opened with every prescribed timing according to an indication of the sorter controller 3, and every time when the goods are conveyed to the carrier 10, a counter 7 counts the number of goods. The sorter controller 3 calculates the number of goods staying on the sorter table 6 to which the next batch goods are inputted, and opens the gate 8 by the same number of times as the calculated number of goods, and closes the gate after the goods are inputted to the carrier 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic sorting device for continuously transporting and sorting various products in a distribution system such as various production lines and transport systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Automatic sorting devices for inspecting products and sorting them for each shipping destination include a picking system for each store and a batch picking system as described in JP-A-2-70602. In the batch picking method, secondary picking is performed in which the products that have been primary picked for individual products are sorted for each store. In order to efficiently carry out the secondary picking, the products are flown on the conveyor for each product batch, and a plurality of workers arranged beside the conveyor picks up the products conveyed on the conveyor, and the products are described by the barcode reader on the product. The inspection is performed by reading the bar code, and the finished inspection products are sequentially loaded onto the second conveyor. A shipping box for each store is arranged on the second conveyor, and the products transported on the second conveyor are taken into the shipping box of the store to which the product of the product batch is to be shipped. For example, the product A is put into the conveyor, and the worker
Products are inspected one after another, and A products are lined up on the second conveyor.
A product of a shipping box for a store that requires the A product is loaded from the shooter. When the processing of the A product is completed, the B product of the next batch is loaded.

The second one in such a picking system
In order to prevent products of different product batches from being mixed on the conveyor, the next batch of products cannot be input until all the workers who perform the inspection have finished the inspection of the same product, and the worker's work In the current situation where there are individual differences in ability, work was inefficient.

[0004]

Conventionally, since the sorting of products is performed for each shipping box unit, it is necessary to stop the shipping conveyor each time. Therefore, it takes time from inspection to shipping, and it depends on the working ability of the worker. Due to the difference in the inspection time, the worker who finishes early has a play time, and the inspection efficiency is poor. Further, since the conveyor is stopped and the inspection is performed for each batch, the shipping efficiency is low.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic sorting and conveying apparatus having high shipping efficiency and high inspection efficiency.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] As described above, the above object is to provide a product loading unit for loading products in batch units, and a first transport line for transporting the products loaded from the product loading unit,
A plurality of inspection means for picking and inspecting products on the first conveyor line, a sorter provided for each inspection means, and a sorter for introducing the goods inspected by the inspection means to the second conveyor line, and a sorter Gate means for selectively loading products from the sorter to the second transfer line, the number of products inspected for each product by each inspection device and the number of products passed through each gate device are monitored, and all of the batches introduced are monitored. Achieved by providing control means to close the gate means where the number of inspected products and the number of passed products are the same until the number of inspected products and the number of passed products are the same for all sorters for the same product after the inspection of To be done.

[0007]

In the physical distribution transportation of the goods, the goods are put into the first carrying line in batch units by the goods putting means.
The product carried on the first carrying line is picked by the worker, and the product is inspected by reading the individual information with a barcode reader. The inspection is performed by the arithmetic unit collating the individual item information stored in the storage device and the information read by the bar code, and the operator confirming the collation result by the terminal. After confirming the collation result, the operator puts the item on the sorter. The goods flow through the sorter and are input to the second transfer line. The sorter is provided with gate means, and the number of products put into the sorter and the number of products that have passed through the gate and put into the second transport line are counted by the control means. In addition, the total number of products in each batch is notified to the control means, and when the number of inspections (for each prize) notified from each inspection means reaches the total number of prizes in the batch, the number of products inspected by each sorter and the passage through the gate. When the number of products matches, the gate is closed and the passage of the next product is restricted. When all the gates are in this closed state, it is determined that the inspection of the product of the batch is completed, the operation of the gate is restarted, and the input of the product of the next batch to the second transfer line is started. Even if the gate is closed, the inspector can continue the inspection as long as the sorter is not full, and two or more types of batch products can be mixed on the sort, so the inspection work becomes efficient.

[0008]

The present invention will be described below with reference to examples. Figure 1,
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a sorting device of an automatic sorting / transporting device of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a diagram mainly illustrating a signal system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram mainly illustrating the configuration. . FIG. 2 is an overall view of a transfer system using the automatic sorting transfer device of FIG.

The construction of the automatic sorting apparatus of this embodiment is as follows: a shipping conveyor 9 through which products flow, a computing device 1 for managing product information, a storage device 2 for storing individual product information, Bar code readers 4a to 4e for reading the bar code attached to the product and the bar code reader 4
Display devices 5a to 5e that display the result of collating the information read by a to 4e with the information on the product, sorter tables 6a to 6e to which the sent product is carried, and a conveyor on which the inspected product is placed. A certain carrier 10, gates 8a to 8e for selectively loading products into the carrier 10 from the sorter tables 6a to 6e, and a counter 7a for detecting the number of products loaded into the carrier 10 from the sorter tables 6a to 6e. .. to 7e, the gates are controlled from the product transportation state on the carrier 10 and the product state on the sorter table, and the carrier 10 is controlled from the sorter tables 6a to 6e.
It is composed of a sorter controller 3 for controlling the timing of loading products into the store.

Next, the operation of sorting the articles on the shipping conveyor using the automatic sorting and conveying apparatus of this embodiment will be described. In the distribution center of this embodiment, picking, inspection, and sorting of the same product batch are performed every 10 minutes. Host computer from automated warehouse 13 (not shown)
The product is taken out based on the instruction of, and the product loading machine 12 loads the shipping conveyor 9 with the product of the same product batch in units of 10 minutes. The commodities loaded into the shipping conveyor 9 and conveyed are distributed to the inspection space of each sorter.
A bar code in which information about the product, that is, a product name, a shipping destination, a shipping destination chute 11 and the like is stored is attached to the product carried to the inspection space. In the inspection work, the inspector picks the product on the shipping conveyor 9,
The bar code readers 4a to 4e read the bar codes attached to the products to send the product information of each product to the arithmetic unit 1. The storage device 2 stores shipping information of each product. Arithmetic unit 1
Refers to the shipping database relating to the sorting of products from the storage device 2, and stores the barcode information of the products and the storage device 2
To match the information stored in. The operator confirms the matching result with the product on the screens of the display devices 5a to 5e,
Products are placed on the sorter tables 6a to 6e.

The arithmetic unit 1 manages information on the number of products, and manages how many products are sent to the same shipping box in all sorter tables 6a to 6e. The arithmetic unit 1 sends information about the number of products transported to all sorter tables 6a to 6e to the sorter controller 3. The products carried to the sorter tables 6a to 6e are loaded into the carrier 10 one by one by opening the gate 8 at a predetermined timing according to an instruction from the sorter controller 3. Counter 7
Counts the number of products in the same shipping destination box every time the products are transported to the carrier 10. The sorter controller 3 is a sorter table 6 in which the products of the next batch are loaded.
For a to 6e, the number of products retained in the sorter tables 6a to 6e at the time when the product is changed is calculated,
The gates 8 are opened the same number of times and the gates 8 are closed when the products are put into the carrier 10. This operation is performed for all sorter tables 6a to 6e. When the products in the previous batch are no longer retained in all the sorter tables 6a to 6e, the gate 8 is opened again and the same operation is performed for the products in the next batch. Note that the inspector continues to inspect using the barcode reader 4 even while the gate 8 is closed, and the inspector's sorter table (in FIG. 2, the sorter table in FIG. 2) that has completed the inspection of the previous batch earlier In 6D), the product A of the previous batch and the product B of the next batch are mixed. Sorter table 6a
Since ~ 6e plays a role of a kind of buffer, the length of the sorter tables 6a to 6e (proportional to the number of products to be loaded) when the inspector has a large variation in processing capacity.
Lengthen.

The products placed on the carrier 10 are conveyed on the carrier 10 and selectively put into a carrier box of a shipping destination by a chute 11. The operation of the chute 11 is the same as that of the conventional sorting machine, and the description thereof is omitted.

[0013]

As described above, with the automatic sorting and conveying apparatus of the present invention, even if the sorter in which different batch products are mixed is operated, the stopper is actuated without stopping the conveyor and the operator can enjoy the play. Since it does not take time, it is possible to sort with a high inspection rate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic sorting and conveying device of the present invention, and is a diagram mainly showing a signal system.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of a carrying system using the automatic sorting and carrying device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the automatic sorting and conveying device of the present invention, and is a diagram mainly illustrating the configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 arithmetic unit 2 storage devices 3 Sorter controller 4 barcode reader 5 Display device 6 sorter table 7 counter 8 gates 9 shipping conveyor 10 careers 12 Product input machine

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A product loading unit for loading products in batch units, a first transport line for transporting the products loaded from the product loading unit, and a product on the first transport line for picking and inspection. A plurality of inspection means for carrying out the above, a sorter which is provided for each of the inspection means, and which puts the products inspected by the inspection means into the second conveying line, and a sorter which is provided in the sorter and from the sorter to the second conveyer Gate means that selectively inserts products into the line, the number of inspections for each product of each inspection means and the number of passing products of each gate means are monitored, and inspection of all the products of the input batch is completed After that, the control means for closing the gate means for which the number of inspections and the number of product passages already match until the number of inspections and the number of product passages match for all sorters for the same product. When Automatic sorting and transporting device. 2. The automatic sorting and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection means includes a bar code reader for reading a bar code written on the product. 3. A product loading unit for loading products in batch units, a first transport line for transporting the products loaded from the product loading unit, and a product on the first transport line for picking and inspection. A plurality of inspection means for carrying out the above, a sorter which is provided for each of the inspection means, and which puts the products inspected by the inspection means into the second conveying line, and a sorter which is provided in the sorter and from the sorter to the second conveyer Gate means for selectively inserting products into the line, and control means for monitoring the number of products inspected for each product of each inspection means and the number of products passed through each gate means, and controlling the opening / closing of the gate means. Provided, the gate means, once the product to be output is switched to the product of the next batch, the gate is temporarily closed, and after the total of the number of products passing through the same batch of each gate and the total of the number of inspections match, the next batch Product The automatic sorting and conveying device is characterized by starting the output of.