KR101929927B1 - Automatic apparatus for treating returned postal matters - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic processing device for returned mail and, more specifically, to an automatic processing device for returned mail, comprising: a mail envelope feeding section for sequentially feeding returned mail envelopes one by one; first to third conveyor belts for conveying the envelopes; first and second reject gates for restricting the movement of the mail envelopes between the conveyor belts; first and second reject boxes for collecting the mail envelopes rejected by the reject gates; first and second detection sensors for detecting the size of the mail envelopes and whether the envelopes pass; a code recognition camera for collecting identification codes of the mail envelopes that have passed through the first reject gate; a mail envelope collection box for collecting the mail envelopes, of which identification codes are collected; and a computer unit for controlling the reject gates, the detection sensors and the code recognition camera.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001]

More specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic bag processing apparatus for automatically delivering a mail, comprising: a mail envelope supply section for sequentially feeding the mail envelopes conveyed one by one; first to third conveyor belts for conveying the mail envelopes; First and second reject gates for restricting movement of the mail envelope between the conveyor belts, first and second reject boxes for retrieving the mail envelopes missing from the reject gate, A code recognition camera for collecting a unique code of a mail envelope that has passed through the first reject gate, an envelope collecting box for collecting a mail envelope having a unique code collected therein, And a computer unit for controlling the reject gate, the detection sensor and the code recognition camera. to be.

Recently, with the development of electronic communication industry, computer e - mail and mobile phone text communication have become common, and interpersonal letters using traditional postal system are gradually decreasing. However, bills and notices from government agencies and various financial institutions are still being sent to each recipient through most post offices. Most of these mail items are managed by computer and address is automatically output.

As a result, it is estimated that about 15% to 20% of the mail items that are managed by computer are usually sent back to the addressee or the addressee, and these mail items cause a great social loss have. Recently, in order to lower the return rate of mail, a mail item processing operation is being carried out to prevent the mail item from being re-sent back to the wrong address.

The returned mail item processing operation reads out a unique code printed on the mail item to be mailed and forms a database, and can be classified into a manual method and an automatic method. First, the manual processing method is to manually sort the return mail envelopes by the operator, collect the unique code by hand using the bar code reader, and store it in the computer.

The automatic processing method uses a return mail processing system as disclosed in, for example, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0531974 (November 23, 2005) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-300287 (November 2, 1999). FIG. 4 is a view showing a mail processing system of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Registration No. 10-0531974, which comprises a mail envelope supply unit 10 for sequentially feeding the conveyed mail envelopes one by one; Conveyor means (20) for conveying said envelope; Reading means (30) for reading a unique code printed on said mail envelope; A bypass member (40) for selectively bypassing a mail envelope that has passed through said reading means (30); Control means for receiving the output signal of the reading means (30) and selectively driving the bypass member (40); .

5 is a detailed illustration of the mail envelope supply unit 10, which comprises a conveyor belt 12 rotatably installed to supply a mail envelope to the conveyor means 20, A guide member 11 whose edge is spaced apart from the upper surface of the conveyance belt 12 by a predetermined gap and a guide member 11 extending in the direction of the conveyance belt 12 from the guide member 11, First and second elastic members 13a and 13b and an elastic member 15 for reinforcing the elasticity of the second elastic member 13b.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0531974 (November 23, 2005) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-300287 (November 2, 1999)

However, the conventional conveying and mail processing system as shown in FIG. 4 does not have a function of sorting the mail envelopes according to the standard, so that a mail envelope with a missing or incorrectly marked barcode is displayed, There is a problem that the inherent code can not be read and is recovered through the bypass member 40.

5, when a plurality of postal envelopes are fed at once, an excessive load is applied to the conveyor belt 12, so that the pulley for driving the conveyor belt 12 slides .

In addition, since the frictional force generated when the elastic member 13 is closely contacted to the conveyor belt 12 is uniform, when the thickness of the envelope is not uniform, such as when a small booklet is contained in an envelope having a large size, There has been a problem in that an operation error is likely to occur, for example, a plurality of envelopes are discharged together with other envelopes stacked on a thin portion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automatic processing apparatus for a postal mail item which can more effectively process a postal mail item by separately separating a mail envelope with a missing or incorrectly marked bar code and a mail envelope not conforming to a predetermined standard .

It is another object of the present invention to provide a conveyor belt feeding apparatus capable of preventing a sliding phenomenon in which a drive pulley is idly rotated even when an excessive load is applied to the conveyor belt in the mail envelope feeding section and further an operation error such as feeding and feeding a plurality of postal envelopes at a time And an automatic processing apparatus for a mail item to be conveyed.

Hereinafter, in the present invention, independent names and unique reference numerals are used, even if they have the same function irrespective of the conventional conveying and postal processing system introduced in FIG. 4 and FIG.

An automatic processing apparatus for a postal mail according to the present invention comprises: a mail envelope supply unit for sequentially supplying postal envelopes (P) one by one; A first conveyor belt, a second conveyor belt and a third conveyor belt which are successively arranged on one movement path by sequentially conveying the postal bags P supplied from the postal envelope supply unit; And a second conveyor belt disposed between the second conveyor belt and the third conveyor belt to restrict movement of the mail bag (P), wherein a first reject gate disposed between the first conveyor belt and the second conveyor belt, A gate; A first reject box and a second reject box for collecting the postal bags (P) that do not pass through the first reject gate and the second reject gate; A second sensing sensor for sensing whether a mail envelope (P) traveling along the second conveyor belt has passed or not, a first sensing sensor sensing a standard of the mail envelope (P) moving along the first conveyor belt; A code recognition camera for collecting a unique code of the mail envelope P moving along the second conveyor belt according to a detection signal of the second sensor; A postal bag collection box for collecting the postal bags P having passed through the third conveyor belt; A computer code for controlling the first and second reject gates, the first and second detection sensors, and the code recognition camera, respectively, and storing a unique code of the mail envelope (P) ; And a control unit.

In the apparatus for automatic postal mail processing according to the present invention, a postal envelope (P) whose envelope size detected by the first detection sensor is out of a preset range is conveyed by the first reject gate to the first reject box (P) whose code is not recognized by the code recognition camera is recovered to the second reject box by the second reject gate, and the code recognition camera detects a code envelope (P) passes through the second reject gate and the third conveyor belt and is recovered to the postal bag collection box.

The postal envelope supply unit may include a postal envelope loading box having a postal envelope in which the postal envelopes P are stacked; A drive shaft and a driven shaft for supporting a plurality of pulleys for a time belt; A plurality of time belts mounted side by side between a pulley provided on the drive shaft and a pulley provided on the driven shaft; First to third support rods supporting the plurality of ring belt wheels in a fixed state at positions corresponding to each other; A plurality of rubber ring belts mounted between the ring belt wheels respectively provided to the first to third support rods and closely attached to the upper surface of the time belt on a one-to-one basis; And a control unit.

The apparatus for automatic postal mail processing according to the present invention is characterized in that the first and second reject gates and the first and second detection sensors are used to distinguish between a mail envelope different in specification and a mail envelope missing or incorrectly marked So that it is possible to more efficiently process the return mail envelope.

In addition, since the means for forcibly discharging the mail envelope from the mail envelope supply portion is constituted by a plurality of time belts, there is no fear that the pulley provided on the drive shaft is slipped, and the post envelopes are stacked at a time It is possible to prevent an operation error such as a malfunction.

1 is a view showing a configuration of an automatic conveying and postal mail processing apparatus according to the present invention,
Fig. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the mail envelope supply unit 10 in Fig. 1,
3 is a plan view showing a configuration of the mail envelope supply unit 10,
4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a conventional postal matter processing system,
Fig. 5 is a side view showing the configuration of the mail envelope supply unit 10 in Fig.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. In addition, even if it is indispensable to implement the present invention, the detailed description of the matters which have been introduced in the prior art or which can be readily carried out by the ordinary artisan will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for automatically processing a conveyed postal matter according to the present invention includes a mail envelope supply unit 10, first to third conveyor belts 20a, 20b, 20c, first and second rejects The gates 30a and 30b, the first and second reject boxes 40a and 40b, the first and second detection sensors 50a and 50b, the code recognition camera 60, the mail envelope collection box 70, (80). In the present invention, the forward direction and the rear direction are distinguished from each other according to the traveling direction of the mail envelope P for the sake of convenience.

First, the mail envelope supply unit 10 functions to sequentially supply the postal bags P stacked on the postal envelope storage box 11 one by one from the bottom.

Next, the conveyor belts 20a, 20b and 20c sequentially convey the postal bags P supplied from the postal envelope supply unit 10, and sequentially convey the first and second conveyor belts 20a, The second conveyor belt 20b and the third conveyor belt 20c are successively arranged on one moving path. The postal envelope starts from the first conveyor belt 20a and travels to the third conveyor belt 20c via the second conveyor belt 20b.

An upper surface of the mail envelope P moving along the conveyor belts 20a, 20b and 20c is provided on the upper side of the first conveyor belt 20a, the second conveyor belt 20b and the third conveyor belt 20c, An idle roller 21 for pressing the roller at an angle can be installed. The idler roller 21 is supported at an angle by a roller bracket 22 and the roller bracket 22 is supported by a frame F. [ The idler roller 21 serves to hold the mail envelope P so that it does not come off even if the conveyor belts 20a, 20b, 20c rotate at a high speed. The conveyor belts 20a, 20b and 20c are driven by a drive roller 23. [

The reject gates 30a and 30b restrict the movement of the mail envelope P so that the first reject gate 30a is disposed between the first conveyor belt 20a and the second conveyor belt 20b And a second reject gate 30b is disposed between the second conveyor belt 20b and the third conveyor belt 20c.

A first reject box 40a and a second reject box 40b are provided below the reject gates 30a and 30b, respectively. When the reject gates 30a and 30b are closed, the postal envelope P advances as it is to the conveyor belt 20b or 20c in front thereof, and when the reject gates 30a and 30b are opened, And falls to the jug boxes 40a and 40b.

The postal bag P that can not pass through the first reject gate 30a is collected by the first reject box 40a and the postal bag P which can not pass through the second reject gate 30b, Is collected in the second reject box 40b. The structure and operation of the reject gates 30a and 30b and the reject boxes 40a and 40b are similar to those of the bypass member 40 of FIG.

A driving roller 31 and a driving roller 31 are rotatably engaged with the first conveyor belt 20a and the first reject gate 30a and between the second conveyor belt 20b and the second reject gate 30b, An idler roller 32 may be provided. The drive roller 31 and the idle roller 32 can quickly advance the mail envelope P to quickly pass the reject gates 30a and 30b or to quickly move the reject bags 40a and 40b .

 The first sensing sensor 50a senses the size of the mail envelope P moving along the first conveyor belt 20a on the first conveyor belt 20a and the second sensing sensor 50b Detects the passage of the mail envelope P moving along the second conveyor belt 20b on the second conveyor belt 20b. Thus, the envelope P whose envelope size detected by the first detection sensor 50a is out of the predetermined range is collected by the first reject gate 30a into the first reject box 40a. As the sensing sensors 50a and 50b, a conventional optical sensor may be used.

The code recognition camera 60 collects a unique code of the mail envelope P moving along the second conveyor belt 20b according to a detection signal of the second sensing sensor 50b. That is, when the second detection sensor 50b detects the mail envelope P moving along the second conveyor belt 20b, the code recognition camera 60 photographs the corresponding mail envelope P, As shown in FIG.

At this time, the mail envelope P in which the code recognition camera 60 does not recognize the unique code is recovered to the second reject box 40b by the second reject gate 30b. The mail envelope in which the code recognition camera 60 has collected the unique code passes through the second reject gate 30b and is collected into the mail envelope collecting box 70 via the third conveyor belt 20c .

Finally, the computer unit 80 controls the first and second reject gates 30a and 30b, the first and second detection sensors 50a and 50b, and the code recognition camera 60, respectively , And stores the unique code of the mail envelope (P) collected by the code recognition camera (60), that is, the name and address of the recipient. The recipient information stored in the computer unit 80 is processed so that the mail item is not sent again to the recipient whose address is unknown or the mail is returned by moving.

In the present invention, the envelope P retrieved to the first reject box 40a is reset to the size of the envelope that the code recognition camera 60 can recognize, and then is returned to the envelope feeder 10 . The postal bag P collected by the second reject box 40b is sent to the postal envelope P supplied with the bar code reversed with the bar code pointing toward the bottom of the envelope P) are also included. Therefore, the postal envelopes P are reversed and put into the postal envelope feeding section 10, processed again, and the postal envelopes P to be returned to the second reject box 40b again are processed separately.

2 and 3 illustrate a structure of a mail envelope supply unit 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The mail envelope loading unit 11 includes a drive shaft 12a and a driven shaft 12b, A plurality of time belts 13, first to third support rods 14a, 14b, 14c, and a plurality of rubber ring belts 15 provided thereon.

First, the postal envelope loading box 11 has a hollow shape in which the postal envelopes P are stacked, and has a bottom open at its lower end and an envelope outlet 111 at its lower end.

The driving shaft 12a and the driven shaft 12b support a plurality of pulleys 121 for the time belt. The driving shaft 12a is installed adjacent to the starting point of the first conveyor belt 20a, The driven shaft 12b is installed on the lower side of the postal envelope loading box 11. The pulley 121 for the time belt is installed at intervals corresponding to the drive shaft 12a and the driven shaft 12b and corresponding numbers. The drive shaft 12a is driven by a drive motor 12c.

The time belt 13 is installed one by one between a pulley 121 provided on the driving shaft 12a and a pulley 121 provided on the driven shaft 12b. The time belt 13 has a function of forcibly discharging the envelopes P, which are loaded on the envelopes 11, while being rotated by the driving shaft 12a, out of the envelopes. 3, four time belts 13 are arranged side by side. However, the number of the time belts 13 can be appropriately adjusted as needed.

The support rods 14a, 14b, and 14c are provided with a plurality of ring belt wheels 141 at positions corresponding to each other. The ring belt wheel 141 is fixed so as not to rotate, and a U-shaped groove is formed in the circumferential direction. The first support bar 14a is disposed adjacent to the envelope outlet 111 and the second support bar 14b is disposed adjacent to the top surface of the time belt 13 lower than the first support bar 14a. The third support rod 14c is disposed obliquely so as to protrude downward between the first support rod 14a and the second support rod 14b. The number of ring belt wheels 141 provided on each of the support rods 14a, 14b, 14c is equal to the number of the time belts 13.

The rubber ring belts 15 are tightly adhered to the upper surface of the time belt 13 in a one-to-one manner to prevent movement of the mail envelope P moving along the time belt 13. [ The rubber ring belt 15 is mounted between the ring belt wheels 141 provided on the first to third support rods 14a, 14b and 14c. As shown in FIG. 2, the first support rods 14a, So that the interval between the second support bar 14b and the time belt 13 gradually decreases from the first support bar 14b to the second support bar 14b. The number of the stacked envelopes P is reduced as the number of stacked envelopes P progresses from the first support rods 14a to the second support rods 14b so that when passing through the second support rods 14b, .

Both end portions of the first to third support rods 14a, 14b and 14c are connected to each other by a support rod bracket 142. On the upper side of the first support rods 14a and the second support rods 14b, And elastic supports 16a and 16b capable of adjusting the height thereof are provided. The upper ends of the elastic supports 16a and 16b are supported by a frame F, respectively.

A rubber ring 171 for providing a frictional force to the upper surface of the mail envelope P moving along the time belt 13 and a weight wheel 17 supporting the same can be installed above the drive shaft 12a have. The weight wheel 17 is rotatably supported on the third support rod 14c by a wheel bracket 172 in a vertical direction. The wheel bracket 172 may be provided with a torsion spring (not shown) for increasing the frictional force of the rubber ring 171 if necessary.

The weight wheel 17 and the rubber ring 171 function to prevent the postal envelopes P on the upper layer from overlapping when two postal envelopes P are stacked and to sequentially feed them one by one. 3, the weight wheel 17 and the wheel bracket 172 are arranged in parallel with each other for each time belt 13, May be installed.

10; A mail envelope supply unit 11; Mail Envelope Loading Box
111; A mail envelope outlet 12a; driving axle
12b; A driven shaft 12c; Drive motor
121; Full 13; Time belt
14a, 14b, 14c; A support rod 141; Ring belt wheel
142; A support bar bracket 15; Rubber ring belt
16a, 16b; An elastic support 17; Weight wheel
171; Rubber ring 172; Wheel bracket
20a, 20b, 20c; Conveyor belt 21; Idler roller
22; Roller bracket 23; Drive motor
30a, 30b; Reject gate 31; Drive roller
32; Idle rollers 40a, 40b; Reject box
50a, 50b; Detection sensor 60; Code recognition camera
70; Letter Envelope Collector 80; Computer unit
P; Mail envelope F; frame

Claims (6)

A mail envelope feeding section (10) for sequentially feeding the mail envelopes (P) one by one;
The first conveyor belt 20a, the second conveyor belt 20b and the third conveyor belt 20b which are continuously arranged on one moving path by sequentially conveying the postal envelopes P supplied from the postal envelope supply unit 10, A conveyor belt 20c;
The first reject gate 30a disposed between the first conveyor belt 20a and the second conveyor belt 20b and the second conveyor belt 20b disposed between the first conveyor belt 20a and the second conveyor belt 20b, A second reject gate 30b disposed between the third conveyor belt 20c and the second conveyor belt 20c;
A first reject box 40a and a second reject box 40b for collecting the postal bags P that do not pass through the first reject gate 30a and the second reject gate 30b, ;
A first detection sensor 50a for detecting the size of the mail envelope P moving along the first conveyor belt 20a and a second detection sensor 50b for detecting whether the mail envelope P moves along the second conveyor belt 20b A second sensing sensor 50b that senses a current flowing through the sensor;
A code recognition camera (60) for collecting a unique code of a mail envelope (P) moving along the second conveyor belt (20b) according to a detection signal of the second detection sensor (50b);
A mail bag collecting box (70) for collecting the postal bags (P) passed through the third conveyor belt (20c);
And controls the first and second reject gates 30a and 30b and the first and second detection sensors 50a and 50b and the code recognition camera 60, A computer unit (80) for storing a unique code of the mail envelope (P) collected by the mail envelope (P); And,
The postal envelope supply unit (10)
A postal envelope 11 in which a bottom surface is open and a lower end of which is provided with an envelope outlet 111;
A drive shaft 12a provided adjacent to the starting point of the first conveyor belt 20a and a driven shaft 12b provided below the mail envelope loading box 11 ;
A pulley 121 provided on the drive shaft 12a and a pulley 121 provided on the driven shaft 12b are mounted side by side and are stacked on the postal envelope loading box 11 while rotating along the drive shaft 12a A plurality of time belts (13) for forcibly discharging the envelopes (P) having the envelopes out of the envelope outlet (111);
A first support bar 14a disposed adjacent to the envelope outlet 111 and a second support bar 14b disposed below the first support bar 14a, A second support bar 14b disposed adjacent to an upper surface of the time belt 13 and a third support bar 14c disposed between the first support bar 14a and the second support bar 14b;
The first support rods 14a are mounted one by one between the ring belts 141 provided on the first to third support rods 14a, 14b and 14c and are in close contact with the upper surface of the time belt 13, A plurality of rubber ring belts (15) arranged side by side so as to be gradually narrowed from the time belt (13) to the second support rods (14b); And,
The postal envelope P whose envelope size detected by the first sensing sensor 50a is out of a predetermined range is collected by the first reject gate 30a into the first reject box 40a, The mail envelope P in which the code recognition camera 60 does not recognize the unique code is recovered to the second reject box 40b by the second reject gate 30b, Wherein the postal envelope (P) having recognized the inherent code is configured to be returned to the postal bag collection box (70) through the second reject gate (30b) and the third conveyor belt (20c) Automatic processing device.
delete 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein both ends of the first to third support rods (14a, 14b, 14c) are connected to each other by a support rod bracket (142), and the first and second support rods (14a, Characterized in that elastic supports (16a, 16b) are provided on the upper side of the conveying means to support them and to adjust the height thereof.
The method according to claim 1, wherein a rubber ring (171) is provided above the drive shaft (12a) to provide a frictional force in close contact with the upper surface of the mail envelope (P) moving along the time belt (13) And the weight wheel 17 is supported by the wheel bracket 172 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction on the third support bar 14c.
The conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the first to third conveyor belts (20a, 20b, 20c) are provided on the first conveyor belt (20a), the second conveyor belt (20b) and the third conveyor belt Characterized in that an idle roller (21) for pressing the upper surface of the postal envelope (P) to move along an oblique direction is provided.

The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of forming a postal envelope (P) between the first conveyor belt (20a) and the first reject gate (30a) and between the second conveyor belt (20b) and the second reject gate And an idler roller (32) rotating in engagement with the driving roller (31).

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