JPS6256045B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention is an apparatus for automatically sorting a large number of parcels collected and delivered at a distribution center, truck terminal, etc. by delivery destination. Specifically, the sorting destinations of the parcels to be sorted are stored in advance in a setting device, and the conveyor Detects that the sorted baggage transported by the conveyor has arrived at the sorting destination whose settings have been stored, and based on this detection result, it is possible to detect whether the diverter installed at each sorting destination is located on one side of the conveyor. The present invention relates to an automatic sorting device configured to automatically sort cargo to be sorted by protruding from one side to the other. In conventional automatic sorting devices of this type, the diverter operates in a constant state regardless of changes in the widthwise position of the cargo to be sorted relative to the conveyor, which can lead to sorting mistakes (leakage).
The drawbacks were that problems such as baggage clogging at the entrance of the sorting chute were likely to occur. In other words, when the cargo to be sorted is being transported toward the side where the diverder is placed, the cargo will be immediately discharged when the diverder is activated, whereas if the cargo to be sorted is being transported toward the side away from the diverder, When the baggage is being transported, there will be a slight delay after the diverter is activated, and then the baggage will be discharged. Since the cargo to be sorted continues to be conveyed on the conveyor, as the timing of discharging changes, the position of discharging the cargo changes in the conveyance direction of the conveyor, resulting in the above-mentioned situation. There was a risk of inviting trouble. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to optimize the delivery position of the baggage even if the position of the baggage to be sorted in the width direction with respect to the conveyor changes. be. A characteristic configuration of the automatic sorting device according to the present invention is that an operating state adjusting means adjusts the operating state of the diverter for the cargo at each sorting destination based on position information of the cargo to be sorted in the width direction with respect to the conveyor. The operating state adjusting means causes the start timing of the diverter to be earlier when the cargo to be sorted is away from the diverter than in other cases. Alternatively, the diverder is configured to increase the operating speed, and its functions and effects are as follows. That is, when the cargo to be sorted is far from the diverder, the start timing of the diverder is made earlier than in other cases, or the operating speed of the diverder is made faster than in other cases.
Regardless of the change in the position of the sorted baggage relative to the conveyor in the width direction, the delivery position of the sorted baggage in the conveyor transport direction can be maintained as appropriately as possible. Therefore, regardless of the change in the position of the sorted baggage relative to the conveyor in the width direction, the delivery position of the sorted baggage in the conveyor conveyance direction can be maintained appropriately. However, it has become possible to avoid the previously mentioned problems such as sorting errors (leakage) and clogging, and to perform the sorting work smoothly and efficiently. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. First, the configuration of the automatic sorting device will be schematically explained based on FIG. Here, 2 is a feeder conveyor arranged between the loading conveyor 1 and the sorting conveyor 3, and feeds the baggage a conveyed at random intervals by the loading conveyor 1 to the sorting conveyor 3 at appropriate intervals. It has an effect. 4...ha...
A large number of chute are connected to the sorting conveyor 3 and are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the sorting conveyor 3. 5
. . . is a diverter provided on the other side of the sorting conveyor 3 in one-to-one correspondence with each chute 4 . 6 is a setting device provided on the side of the terminal end of the loading conveyor 1;
The worker reads the sorting destination number (shoot number or diverder number) written on the label attached to baggage a in front of him and uses this as reference data by typing the corresponding number on the keyboard. input. 7 is a pulse encoder that detects the displacement distance of the sorting conveyor 3 and transmits a number of pulses corresponding to the detected distance. The value input by pressing the key on the setting device 6 corresponds to the number of pulses described above. For example, a value suitable for the number of pulses that are measured and accumulated until the baggage that has started to be conveyed on the sorting conveyor 3 reaches the selected chute is input in advance into the setting device 6. 8 connects the setting device 6, pulse encoder 7, and baggage passage detector 9 using a light emitting/receiving device provided near the starting end of the sorting conveyor 3 to its input terminals, and connects each diverter 5 . The controller connected to the output terminal automatically selects the diverder to be activated in advance based on the set value by the setting device 6, and when the pulse encoder 7 detects the passage of the baggage, the set value changes every moment. when the number of pulses from the pre-selected diverter matches, i.e. when the package arrives at the selected chute;
It has the function of operating this diverter. The present invention is characterized in that the following functions are added to the controller 8 in the above device. That is, an operating state adjustment means is configured that uses the controller 8 to adjust the operating state of the diverter 5 for cargo at each sorting destination based on position information of the cargo to be sorted in the width direction with respect to the conveyor 3. That will happen. The operating state adjustment means is configured to operate more when the cargo to be sorted is farther away from the diverder 5 than in other cases.
It is configured to speed up the startup timing of the diverder 5 or to speed up the operation speed of the diverder 5. This will be explained based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows pulse counting processing (left column) and conversion processing of the displacement distance of the sorting conveyor 3 into the number of pulses (center column and right column). The pulse counting process is started 11 by the operation of the baggage passage detector 9, and in judgment 12 it is determined whether or not there is a change in the pulse. If there is a change, the number of stored pulses (pic) is increased by 1 in process 13. After increasing the number of pulses and storing this as a new number of pulses, the process is terminated (14). The distance conversion process starts in the same manner as described above, and in judgment 16 it is determined whether or not the cargo is placed on the sorting conveyor 3. If it is placed on the sorting conveyor 3, in judgment 18, the information from the sorting destination setting register 17 is determined. Continuing the sorting destination chute number (according to setting device 6), judgment 2
0, the shoot number is converted into a distance value by reading the distance corresponding to the shoot number read from the distance table 19, and this is the greatest feature of the present invention. , the correction value selected in advance in this table 21 (by the setting device 6) is read, the correction value is added or subtracted from the converted value, the final calculation is performed in judgment 23, and the result is stored in the tracking table 24. Input and exit 25. FIG. 3 shows the output processing to the diverder 5. After the tracking table counter is set to zero in process 27, the count number is increased by 1 in process 28 and this is set as a new count number, and in judgment 29 it is determined whether the converted pulse value is zero or not. However, if it is not zero, it is determined in step 30 whether or not the converted pulse value matches the number of pulses changing at the time. If it is, it is further determined whether or not the flag in the tracking table is zero. , if it is zero, in process 32, an output signal is output to the diverter of the corresponding chute, the flag is set to 1, and a pulse value (P ₀ ) comparable to the required time for diverter operation is added to the pulse value to create a new pulse value. On the other hand, if it is not zero, process 3
In step 3, no signal is output to the diverter, the slug is set to zero, and the pulse value is converted to zero. An example of the data of the correction value table 21 is shown in the table below.

【table】

[Table] In the table, ○ indicates a preferable case, and △ indicates a case where it is acceptable.
The baggage conditions are actually made up of combinations of categories, and correction values are determined for each of the various combinations. In this table, in order to adjust the operating state of the diverter according to the cargo conditions, the start timing of the diverter is changed relative to the cargo position. In other words, the operating speed of the diverter is always assumed to be constant, but this is the opposite. Alternatively, the activation timing may be kept constant and the operating speed may be varied. The latter method is particularly effective for fragile and non-fragile loads. The present invention can also be implemented in the following embodiments. That is, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 1, a laser beam is used to automatically read the sorting destination number and other correction data written on the label of the cargo on the side of the terminal end of the loading conveyor 1. An automatic label reading device 6' shall be provided. Further, as shown in Fig. 4, near the starting end of the sorting conveyor 3 (steel belt in this case), a multi-bit degaussing head 34 and a magnetizing head 35 are arranged on the underside (fixed to the machine frame side). , a multi-bit reading head 36 is installed at a position corresponding to each chute 4 (fixed to the machine frame side).
Then, through the controller 8, the magnetizing head 35 is energized to a state corresponding to the selected shoot number from the setting device 6 (or 6') (for example, 0101), and a signal is sent to the corresponding location on the conveyor 3 (steel belt). magnetization in the form of a magnetic spot, which activates the diverter when the spot energizes the read head of the selected chute (other heads are not energized); In this method, the timing of the magnetizing head 35 is automatically adjusted according to changes in load conditions. In other words, as the relative positional relationship between the baggage and the spot changes, the timing of the diverter also changes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the automatic sorting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of pulse counting processing and displacement distance → pulse number conversion processing, and FIG. 3 is an output to the diverter. The process flowchart, FIG. 4, is a schematic plan view of another method. 3... Conveyor, 5... Diverter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Automatically or artificially preset and memorize the sorting destination of the cargo to be sorted, and conveyor 3
Based on the detection result that the cargo to be sorted, which is conveyed by In an automatic sorting device configured to operate a crocodile protrusion to automatically sort cargo to be sorted,
An operating state adjusting means is provided for adjusting the operating state of the diverter 5 with respect to the cargo at each sorting destination based on positional information of the cargo to be sorted in the width direction with respect to the conveyor 3. , the baggage to be sorted is transferred to the diverder 5.
An automatic sorting device that is configured to start the diverder 5 earlier when the diverder 5 is far away than in other cases, or to make the operating speed of the diverder 5 faster than in other cases.