KR20240001600A - Chute Lubricant Automatic Injection System of Sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device is disclosed. The automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to the present invention is to spray liquid lubricant in the form of fine particles on the surface of the chute of the sorter (automatic article sorting device). A mist nozzle placed at a designated position to spray, a lubricant supply pump that sucks in lubricant from a lubricant tank filled with a certain amount of lubricant and discharges it at a certain pressure toward the mist nozzle, and a lubricant supply hose connecting the mist nozzle and the lubricant supply pump. The main idea is to include a solenoid valve installed to control the supply of lubricant to the mist nozzle, and a controller to control the injection of lubricant to the chute by controlling the lubricant supply pump and solenoid valve according to an external input or internal program. According to the automatic chute lubricant spraying system of this automatic sorting device, lubricant is automatically sprayed at a set time period on the chute surface of the automatic sorting device (sorter), or the lubricant is sprayed according to manual operation by a manager or worker to reduce friction, thereby reducing the chute lubricant. It is possible to reliably prevent items from getting caught or stagnating on the chute. In order to eliminate the problem of items getting caught or stagnant on the chute, the number of times workers or managers climb up the inclined chute is significantly reduced, preventing falling accidents that can occur while working on the inclined chute. can be prevented or minimized.

Description

Chute Lubricant Automatic Injection System of Sorter}

The present invention relates to an automatic chute lubricant injection system. In particular, the lubricant is automatically sprayed on the chute surface of an automatic sorter at a set time period or the lubricant is sprayed according to the manual operation of a manager or worker to prevent items from becoming jammed on the chute. This relates to an automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device that prevents stagnation.

As the use of e-commerce, such as internet shopping, increases, the amount of goods that need to be transported increases rapidly, and the need for a method to deliver goods quickly and accurately and the problem of manpower shortage have emerged. Accordingly, delivery companies have developed automated equipment. began to take interest in the introduced automatic product classification system.

An automatic goods sorting system is a facility that automatically classifies goods (postal items, parcels, etc.) by destination or business partner at large logistics centers at high speed and accurately delivers them to customers. It consists of a plurality of conveyor belts and goods transported along the conveyor belts. It includes a sorting device (Sorter) that changes the transfer direction of the goods and sorts them in the direction of a chute branched from the conveyor belt.

As for the product sorting device, the Cross Belt Sorter (100), which is designed to discharge products from both sides as shown in Figure 1 in order to increase productivity in line with the recently increased quantity of products, has recently been widely adopted, and the chute (200) ) is a facility that quickly lowers the products discharged from the product sorting device to the desired location using a non-driven, power-free slide method.

The chute 200 is divided into a spiral chute (210) with a spiral structure with high space utilization and a slope chute (220) with a straight slide structure connected to the discharge end of the spiral chute (210). There may be differences depending on the size of the delivery terminal, but usually more than 40 spiral chutes (210) and slope chutes (220) are installed in one automatic product sorting system.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 300 indicates a telescopic conveyor connected to the discharge end of the slope chute for product delivery (loading on a delivery vehicle).

As mentioned earlier, the chute serves to lower the item in a non-driven, non-powered slide manner. Therefore, when a large amount of goods slide and move down the surface of the chute at once, the goods may get caught in the middle or stagnate as shown in (a) of Figure 2 due to friction, and in this case, as shown in (b) of Figure 2, workers or managers You will climb the chute yourself to resolve any product jams or congestion.

However, there is a risk of safety accidents such as slipping, falling, or falling due to the slope of the chute during the process of climbing up the chute to relieve product jams or congestion or moving upward. In other words, there has been a problem in the past where workers or managers are greatly exposed to the risk of industrial accidents in the process of resolving product jams or congestion.

Dedicated lubricant is applied to the surface of the chute periodically (usually once a day) to minimize product jams. However, the periodic application of lubricant is also done manually, so it takes a lot of time, and as it takes a lot of time, the work is difficult. There is a problem that productivity is reduced due to delays, and in particular, such one-time application has the disadvantage that the effect of improving the problem is not significant.

Korean Patent No. 10-2247934 (announcement date 2021. 05.04.) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2020-02577 (publication date 2020.09.01.)

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an automatic chute lubricant injection system of an automatic article sorting device that can prevent or minimize jamming or stagnation of articles on the chute by automatically spraying lubricant on the chute surface at a set cycle.

Another problem that the present invention aims to solve is an automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device that can prevent safety accidents by significantly reducing the number of times workers or managers climb into the chute to eliminate jamming or stagnation of articles in the chute. It is intended to provide.

As a means to solve the problem, the present invention,

A mist nozzle disposed at a designated position to spray liquid lubricant in the form of fine particles on the surface of a chute of a sorter (automatic product sorting device);

a lubricant supply pump that sucks the lubricant from a lubricant tank filled with a certain amount of the lubricant and discharges it at a certain pressure toward the mist nozzle;

A solenoid valve installed in the middle of a lubricant supply hose connecting the mist nozzle and the lubricant supply pump to control the supply of lubricant to the mist nozzle;

A controller for controlling the injection of lubricant to the chute by controlling the operation of the lubricant supply pump and solenoid valve according to an external input or an internal program; provides an automatic chute lubricant injection system of an automatic article sorting device including a.

In the present invention, preferably, at least one mist nozzle is disposed for each of the plurality of chutes, and the solenoid valve is configured one for each mist nozzle, so that individual lubricant injection can be performed for each chute. there is.

Here, several mist nozzles may be arranged in one chute to spray lubricant toward different target points set at different positions.

In addition, according to the present invention, the controller includes a display panel having a touch-based user interface, and the system according to the present invention can be driven in automatic mode or manual mode according to external input through the display panel.

Preferably, in the automatic mode, the internal program may be set to spray lubricant once for all chutes when the sorter is first started, and then spray the lubricant for a set period of time during the sorter start.

At this time, an internal program may be set to stop lubricant injection when the sorter stops while the system is operating in automatic mode.

And in the manual mode, an internal program can be set to individually perform lubricant injection to the chute at the selected location according to the external input.

The automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to the present invention may further include a jam sensor that detects jamming or stagnation of articles moving along the chute.

In this case, when a jam or stagnation of an article is detected by the jam sensor, an internal program may be set to stop spraying lubricant to the chute in which the jam or stagnation of the article is detected until the jam or stagnation of the article is resolved.

The automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to the present invention may further include a warning means that operates in conjunction with the output of the jam sensor.

At this time, when jamming or stagnation of the article is detected by the jam sensor, the warning means operates and at the same time, one additional injection of lubricant is performed to the corresponding chute in which the jamming or stagnation of the article was detected, and the jamming or stagnation of the article is performed. The system can be set to stop dispensing lubricant to the chute until resolved.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the system is configured to automatically spray lubricant on the surface of the chute at a set cycle, thereby greatly reducing the number of times items get caught or stagnated in the chute due to periodic automatic application of lubricant, which means that the operator or manager can step on the chute. By reducing the number of accidents, we can expect the effect of preventing or minimizing safety accidents.

In addition, as lubricant application to the surface of the chute is performed automatically, work delay factors are greatly reduced compared to the conventional method of applying lubricant manually, increasing the operation performance of the sorter, and as a result, throughput and productivity can be greatly increased. .

1 is a system schematic diagram schematically showing a conventional automatic product classification system.
Figure 2 is a drawing substitute photo ((a) of Figure 2) showing an item being caught in a spiral chute applied to the automatic item sorting system of Figure 1 and a worker or manager entering the chute when an item is jammed. A photo instead of the drawing shown ((b) in FIG. 2).
Figure 3 is a system schematic view from the side of the chute lubricant automatic injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a plan view of the automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a block diagram of a chute lubricant injection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 6 is a main configuration diagram of a chute lubricant injection system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a preferred screen configuration of a settings screen displayed on a display panel constituting a controller.

Hereinafter, the automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In describing the present invention, terms used in the following specification are only used to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

In addition, in this specification, terms such as "comprise" or "have" are intended to designate the presence of features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, but are intended to indicate the presence of one or more other It should be understood that this does not exclude in advance the presence or addition of features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Additionally, terms such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

In the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, identical components will be assigned the same drawing reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions thereof will be omitted. Also, in describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known technologies may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted.

Figure 3 is a system schematic diagram of the automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention viewed from the side, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the chute lubricant automatic injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This is the configuration diagram. And Figure 5 is a block diagram of a chute lubricant injection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 to 5, the automatic chute lubricant injection system 1 of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a mist nozzle 10 and a lubricant supply pump 30. The mist nozzle 10 sprays liquid lubricant in the form of fine particles on the surface of the chute 80 of the sorter 8, and the lubricant supply pump 30 sprays it into the mist nozzle 10. Supply lubricant.

The mist nozzles 10 may be arranged one at a time at each designated position to spray liquid lubricant in the form of fine particles on the surface of the chute 80 of the sorter 8, and the lubricant supply pump 30 is connected to the controller 50, which will be described later. Operating under the control of , the lubricant is sucked from the lubricant tank 40 filled with a certain amount of lubricant and discharged at a certain pressure toward the mist nozzle 10.

The mist nozzle 10 and the lubricant supply pump 30 may be connected to a lubricant supply hose (notation omitted), and a solenoid valve 20 may be installed in the middle of the lubricant supply hose. The solenoid valve 20 opens according to the opening signal applied from the controller 50, and when the signal is blocked, the solenoid valve 20 closes the valve due to its own spring restoring force, thereby intermittently controlling the supply of lubricant to the mist nozzle 10. .

The chute 80 may be composed of a plurality of spiral chutes (82) having a spiral structure and a slope chute (84) having a straight slide structure connected to the discharge end of each spiral chute (82). , at least one mist nozzle 10 may be disposed for each of the multiple chutes (spiral chute and slope chute).

Preferably, a plurality of mist nozzles 10 may be arranged to spray the lubricant toward different target points set at different positions for one chute 80. In addition, the solenoid valve 20 may be configured one by one for each mist nozzle 10 so that individual lubricant can be sprayed for each chute 80 or for each position in one chute 80.

For example, when the spiral chutes 82 are composed of 40, two mist nozzles 10 may be arranged to spray the lubricant at different positions for each of the 40 spiral chutes 82, and in this case, the 40 spiral chutes 82 A solenoid valve 20 is configured for each of a total of 80 mist nozzles 10, two of which are arranged for each chute 82, so that lubricant can be sprayed for each chute 80 and each location.

One lubricant supply pump 30 may be arranged to simultaneously supply lubricant to a plurality of solenoid valves 20. The operation of the lubricant supply pump 30 and the plurality of solenoid valves 20 is controlled by the controller 50, which outputs a start command according to an external input or internal program, and as a result, individual lubricant for each chute 80 Participation can be implemented.

As mentioned above, the controller 50 controls the lubricant injection to each of the chutes 80 by controlling the operation of the lubricant supply pump 30 and the solenoid valve 20. This controller 50 may include a display panel with a touch-based user interface, and the system of the present invention can be driven in automatic mode or manual mode according to external input through the display panel.

That is, the automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention supplies the lubricant under the control of the controller 50 according to external input (touch input by an operator or manager) through the touch-based display panel. The pump 30 and solenoid valve 20 may be operated in automatic mode or manual mode.

For this purpose, when the worker or manager selects one of the automatic mode and manual mode through the touch-based display panel, the controller 50 selects the selected operating mode (automatic mode or manual mode). ) may include one or more processors that operate according to a pre-programmed program.

In order to control a series of lubricant injections, the internal program programmed in the processor of the controller 50 preferably sprays lubricant once for all chutes 80 when the sorter is first started in the automatic mode, and then sprays the lubricant once during the sorter start. It may be a program programmed to execute lubricant injection for a period of time set as a time period.

For example, if the set time period is 1 hour and the injection time is set to 2 seconds, the internal program programmed in the processor of the controller 50 causes 2 seconds at 1 hour intervals for all chutes 80 during sorter operation. The operation of the lubricant supply pump 30 and the solenoid valve 20 may be controlled so that the lubricant is sprayed during the operation.

If the sorter automatically stops due to a problem while operating the system in automatic mode (during automatic lubricant injection) or is forcibly stopped by an administrator or worker, an internal program can be set to stop lubricant injection accordingly. In this mode, lubricant injection can be set to be individually executed for the chute 80 at a selected location according to the external input.

For example, in manual mode, when an operator or manager who determines that chute 5 among a plurality of chutes needs to spray lubricant, selects chute 5 through the display panel, the controller 50 sprays lubricant into the mist nozzle of chute 5. The solenoid valve that regulates supply can be opened and an operation command can be applied to the lubricant supply pump connected to the corresponding solenoid valve.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 60 denotes a jam sensor, and the automatic chute lubricant injection system according to the present invention also prevents jamming or stagnation of goods on the chute 80 while the goods are moving along the chute 80. It may include a jam sensor 60 that detects. Here, the jam sensor 60 may be, for example, an optical sensing method using light or an ultrasonic sensing method using ultrasonic waves, but is not limited thereto.

When jamming or stagnation of an article is detected on a specific chute 80 by the jam sensor 60, the controller 50 recognizes that the article is jammed or stagnant based on the output of the jam sensor 60, and executes the corresponding chute ( 80) An internal program may be set to stop spraying lubricant to the specific chute 80 in which a jam or stagnation of an article is detected until the jam or stagnation of an article on it is resolved.

In some cases, the system may be configured in such a way that the jam sensor 60 and the warning means 70 are linked to each other so that the warning means 70 operates in connection with the output of the jam sensor 60. At this time, the warning means 70 may be of a known type that outputs a warning message or generates a warning sound through the display panel when an item is jammed or stagnant in the chute 80 is detected by the jam sensor 60.

When the jam sensor 60 and the warning means 70 are linked to each other, when jamming or stagnation of an item in a specific chute is detected, the warning means 70 operates to notify the worker or manager, and together with the controller 50 Can execute control for one-time additional injection of lubricant to the relevant chute and stop the injection of lubricant to the relevant chute until the jam or stagnation of the article is resolved.

Additionally, information collection means 90, such as a camera 92 or a load cell 94, may be placed at the starting point of the chute 80, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this case, the controller 50 determines the lubricant injection cycle or injection for the chute based on the information acquired through the information collection means 90 (image information acquired through the camera or weight information of the article sensed by the load cell). Time can be adjusted automatically.

For example, if the volume of the article entering the chute 80 is larger than the pre-entered reference volume as a result of camera image analysis, the lubricant injection cycle is shortened or the injection time is increased from the current setting value, and the weight of the article sensed by the load cell is adjusted. Even if is greater than the set standard weight, the system may be configured to shorten the lubricant injection cycle or extend the injection time.

In this case, the amount of lubricant sprayed toward the surface of the chute is automatically adjusted in proportion to the volume or weight of the article, so efficient spraying of the lubricant can be achieved, and as a result, jamming or stagnation of the article can be prevented or minimized more effectively. .

Meanwhile, Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a preferred screen configuration of a settings screen displayed on a display panel constituting the controller.

As shown in Figure 7, the display panel based on touch input includes a mode setting button and a suit selection button that allows selecting lubricant injection for each suit when selecting manual mode, as well as the lubricant injection cycle and injection time in automatic mode. A time peak button that can be set (indicated in the drawing as a wax spray cycle and wax spray time) may be displayed.

In addition, there is a status display window that displays the status of the sorter (displays the track speed of the sorter and whether the track is running at normal speed), a button for switching to a screen that displays the overall status of the system (status display button), and a sorter alarm and Various function buttons may be displayed, such as a button that can set an alarm function that notifies the arrival of goods through the arrival line.

Of course, the screen configuration as shown in FIG. 7 is a preferred embodiment for explaining the present invention and does not necessarily mean that it is limited to the screen configuration. Depending on the specifications of the system, other functions other than the function buttons or information display shown in FIG. 5 may be used. Buttons or information displays may be added, or some of the reversed function buttons or information displays may be omitted.

The sorter's chute serves to lower items using a non-driven, power-free slide method. Therefore, when a large amount of goods slide across the surface of the chute and descend, the goods may get stuck or get stuck in the middle due to friction. In this case, the worker or manager must go up to the chute and resolve the product jam or stagnation.

However, during such a work process (a process in which a worker or manager directly climbs the chute to resolve product jams or congestion), there is a risk of safety accidents such as slipping, falling, or falling due to the slope of the chute. In other words, workers or managers may be exposed to the risk of industrial accidents in the process of clearing product jams or stagnation by climbing directly into the chute.

Accordingly, conventionally, lubricant is applied to the surface of the chute periodically (usually once a day) to minimize product jams, but periodic lubricant application is also done manually, so it takes a lot of time and requires a lot of time. There is a problem that the work is delayed and productivity is reduced, and in particular, such a one-time application has the disadvantage that the effect of improving the problem is not significant.

On the other hand, in the embodiment of the present invention, the system is configured to automatically spray lubricant on the chute surface at a set cycle, thereby greatly reducing the number of times items get caught or stagnated in the chute due to periodic automatic application of lubricant, and the operator or manager must climb the chute to that extent. The effect of preventing or minimizing safety accidents can be expected by reducing the number of accidents.

In addition, as lubricant application to the surface of the chute is performed automatically, work delay factors are greatly reduced compared to the conventional method of applying lubricant manually, increasing the operation performance of the sorter, and as a result, throughput and productivity can be greatly increased. .

In the above detailed description of the present invention, only special embodiments thereof have been described. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the particular form mentioned in the detailed description, but rather is understood to include all modifications, equivalents and substitutes within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. It has to be.

1: Chute lubricant automatic injection system
10: Mist nozzle
20: Solenoid valve
30: Lubricant supply pump
40: Lubricant tank
50: controller
60: JAM sensor
70: Warning means
80: Chute
82: Spiral Chute
84: Slope Chute
90: Information collection means

Claims (10)

A mist nozzle disposed at a designated position to spray liquid lubricant in the form of fine particles on the surface of the sorter's chute;
a lubricant supply pump that sucks the lubricant from a lubricant tank filled with a certain amount of the lubricant and discharges it at a certain pressure toward the mist nozzle;
A solenoid valve installed in the middle of a lubricant supply hose connecting the mist nozzle and the lubricant supply pump to control the supply of lubricant to the mist nozzle;
A controller for controlling the injection of lubricant into the chute by controlling the operation of the lubricant supply pump and solenoid valve according to an external input or an internal program. An automatic chute lubricant injection system of an automatic article sorting device.
According to claim 1,
At least one mist nozzle is disposed for each of the plurality of chutes,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device, wherein the solenoid valve is configured one for each mist nozzle.
According to claim 2,
The automatic chute lubricant injection system of the automatic article sorting device, wherein a plurality of mist nozzles per chute are arranged to spray lubricant toward different target points set at different positions.
According to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The controller includes a display panel with a touch-based user interface,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device, characterized in that the system is driven in automatic mode or manual mode according to external input through the display panel.
According to claim 4,
In the automatic mode,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device that sprays lubricant once for all chutes when the sorter is first started, and then sprays the lubricant for a set period of time during the sorter start.
According to claim 5,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device that stops spraying lubricant when the sorter is stopped while the system is operating in the automatic mode.
According to claim 4,
In the manual mode,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device that individually sprays lubricant to chutes at selected positions according to the external input.
According to claim 1,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system for an automatic article sorting device further comprising a jam sensor that detects jamming or stagnation of articles moving along the chute.
According to claim 8,
When jamming or stagnation of an item is detected by the jam sensor,
An automatic chute lubricant injection system of an automatic article sorting device that stops spraying lubricant to the chute in which a jam or stagnation of the article is detected until the jam or stagnation of the article is resolved.
According to claim 8,
Further comprising a warning means operating in conjunction with the output of the jam sensor,
When jamming or stagnation of an article is detected by the jam sensor, the warning means operates, and at the same time, lubricant is additionally sprayed once to the chute in which the jamming or stagnation of the article was detected, and the jamming or stagnation of the article is resolved. An automatic chute lubricant injection system of an automatic article sorting device that stops spraying lubricant for the chute until the end.

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