US20160107782A1 - Apparatus and method for handling articles - Google Patents

Apparatus and method for handling articles Download PDF

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Publication number
US20160107782A1
US20160107782A1 US14/886,311 US201514886311A US2016107782A1 US 20160107782 A1 US20160107782 A1 US 20160107782A1 US 201514886311 A US201514886311 A US 201514886311A US 2016107782 A1 US2016107782 A1 US 2016107782A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
articles
packagings
conveyor
cardboard
conveyer
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US14/886,311
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English (en)
Inventor
Alban Hutter
Wolfgang Fechter
Roland Hofstetter
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Krones AG
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Krones AG
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Filing date
Publication date
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Assigned to KRONES AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT reassignment KRONES AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: HOFSTETTER, ROLAND, FECHTER, WOLFGANG, HUTTER, ALBAN
Publication of US20160107782A1 publication Critical patent/US20160107782A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B21/00—Packaging or unpacking of bottles
    • B65B21/02—Packaging or unpacking of bottles in or from preformed containers, e.g. crates
    • B65B21/14—Introducing or removing groups of bottles, for filling or emptying containers in one operation
    • B65B21/18—Introducing or removing groups of bottles, for filling or emptying containers in one operation using grippers engaging bottles, e.g. bottle necks
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B21/00—Packaging or unpacking of bottles
    • B65B21/02—Packaging or unpacking of bottles in or from preformed containers, e.g. crates
    • B65B21/04—Arranging, assembling, feeding, or orientating the bottles prior to introduction into, or after removal from, containers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B65/00—Details peculiar to packaging machines and not otherwise provided for; Arrangements of such details
    • B65B65/003—Packaging lines, e.g. general layout
    • B65B65/006—Multiple parallel packaging lines
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/10—Feeding, e.g. conveying, single articles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups
    • B65B35/36—Arranging and feeding articles in groups by grippers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B43/00—Forming, feeding, opening or setting-up containers or receptacles in association with packaging
    • B65B43/42—Feeding or positioning bags, boxes, or cartons in the distended, opened, or set-up state; Feeding preformed rigid containers, e.g. tins, capsules, glass tubes, glasses, to the packaging position; Locating containers or receptacles at the filling position; Supporting containers or receptacles during the filling operation
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B43/00—Forming, feeding, opening or setting-up containers or receptacles in association with packaging
    • B65B43/42—Feeding or positioning bags, boxes, or cartons in the distended, opened, or set-up state; Feeding preformed rigid containers, e.g. tins, capsules, glass tubes, glasses, to the packaging position; Locating containers or receptacles at the filling position; Supporting containers or receptacles during the filling operation
    • B65B43/48—Feeding or positioning bags, boxes, or cartons in the distended, opened, or set-up state; Feeding preformed rigid containers, e.g. tins, capsules, glass tubes, glasses, to the packaging position; Locating containers or receptacles at the filling position; Supporting containers or receptacles during the filling operation using reciprocating or oscillating pushers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B43/00—Forming, feeding, opening or setting-up containers or receptacles in association with packaging
    • B65B43/42—Feeding or positioning bags, boxes, or cartons in the distended, opened, or set-up state; Feeding preformed rigid containers, e.g. tins, capsules, glass tubes, glasses, to the packaging position; Locating containers or receptacles at the filling position; Supporting containers or receptacles during the filling operation
    • B65B43/54—Means for supporting containers or receptacles during the filling operation
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B5/00—Packaging individual articles in containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, jars
    • B65B5/06—Packaging groups of articles, the groups being treated as single articles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B5/00—Packaging individual articles in containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, jars
    • B65B5/06—Packaging groups of articles, the groups being treated as single articles
    • B65B5/068—Packaging groups of articles, the groups being treated as single articles in trays
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B5/00—Packaging individual articles in containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, jars
    • B65B5/08—Packaging groups of articles, the articles being individually gripped or guided for transfer to the containers or receptacles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B61/00—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages
    • B65B61/20—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages for adding cards, coupons or other inserts to package contents
    • B65B61/207—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages for adding cards, coupons or other inserts to package contents for inserting partitions between package contents
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B65/00—Details peculiar to packaging machines and not otherwise provided for; Arrangements of such details
    • B65B65/003—Packaging lines, e.g. general layout
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G47/00—Article or material-handling devices associated with conveyors; Methods employing such devices
    • B65G47/74—Feeding, transfer, or discharging devices of particular kinds or types
    • B65G47/90—Devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an apparatus for handling articles and to a method for handling articles.
  • the handling of articles frequently involves providing individual or a plurality of articles with an outer packaging, for instance, a cardboard packaging.
  • a bundle of a plurality of articles is additionally achieved by the outer packaging.
  • Bundles represent an effective way of enabling simultaneous handling of a plurality of articles, for instance, for facilitating the transport of a plurality of articles at the same time.
  • articles such as beverage containers, for example, bundles of a plurality of articles held together thus represent the most frequent type of sales units.
  • the articles can be objects, for instance, such as packaged or unpackaged objects, cardboard packagings, containers, such as beverage bottles or cans, or in themselves bundles, in turn, of a plurality of objects, in which the objects of a bundle can be held together, for instance, by means of an embracing around the periphery of a group of objects, such as, for instance, a strapping, an outer packaging, such as a wrapping, a shrink tube, or a cardboard packaging or a carrying rack, such as a beverage crate, to name but a few conceivable embodiments.
  • objects for instance, such as packaged or unpackaged objects, cardboard packagings, containers, such as beverage bottles or cans, or in themselves bundles, in turn, of a plurality of objects, in which the objects of a bundle can be held together, for instance, by means of an embracing around the periphery of a group of objects, such as, for instance, a strapping, an outer packaging, such as a wrapping, a shrink tube, or a cardboard packaging
  • these articles can be placed into the outer packaging individually, one after the other, or groupwise, for instance, already according to their arrangement or according to a part of their arrangement in said outer packaging.
  • pacing In handling articles, for instance, in food technology and/or beverage technology and/or packaging technology and/or in the food industry and/or beverage industry and/or packaging industry, pacing, i.e. being able to handle as many articles as possible within an as short as possible time span, represents a significant cost factor. The faster the pacing, the higher is the article throughput, and the better is thus the utilization of the machines, facilities, and devices intended for this purpose. Pacing can thus be described as the ratio of the number of articles to the period of time within which this number of articles is handled.
  • transplacing machines also called transplacing machines or, termed for short transplacers
  • transplacers in connection with the staging of outer packagings, continuously or discontinuously remove the article or the articles respectively to be transferred into an outer packaging from an infeed of articles being transported by means of a first conveyer in, for instance, one or more of article flows of continuous, immediately consecutive articles or articles that are already grouped according to their number and/or already spaced apart from one another according to their later arrangement in the outer packaging, and transfer them into the outer packaging supplied by means of a second conveyer and being staged on it.
  • the outer packaging thus provided with articles is discharged by means of the second conveyer.
  • closing of the outer packagings can be carried out simultaneously with or subsequently to placing the complete number of articles to be transferred into the outer packaging, for instance during the further transport by means of the second conveyer.
  • the apparatus comprises a transplacing machine with a plurality of gripper heads for respectively one group of articles to be transferred into an outer packaging having the form of a beverage crate.
  • Each gripper head is arranged at a lever mechanism consisting of respectively four levers articulatedly connected with each other about parallel horizontal lever axes, two of which levers are pivotably arranged about likewise horizontal lever axes at a pivotal central carrier, which is rotatably driven about a central axis running in parallel to the lever axes.
  • the apparatus Arranged in parallel to the central carrier is a disk with control cams, into which disk pins engage, which are arranged at a part of the levers of each lever mechanism, and thus control a motion sequence of the gripper heads during a revolution of the central carrier about the central axis.
  • the apparatus in addition comprises a first conveyer in the form of a horizontal conveyor belt, which feeds articles to the transplacing machine in a transport direction normal to the central axis and to the lever axes running in parallel thereto, and also, running below the first conveyer, a second conveyer, which transports the beverage crates in transport direction, too.
  • the articles being transported by means of the conveyor belt are arranged in rows, are brought to a halt by a stop means at the end of the conveyor belt, and are received by one of the gripper heads after another.
  • the gripper head moves along in the transport direction of the conveyor belt, lifts up the received articles above the end of the conveyor belt while the stop means at the end of the conveyor belt is lowered, and subsequently lowers the articles to a subjacent level into a beverage crate being transported by means of the second conveyer, which continuously transports beverage crates in a horizontal direction.
  • the gripper head first carries out a movement in parallel to the transport direction, while the articles, which were received by the gripper head and placed into an appropriate beverage crate being transported by means of the second conveyer, are released. Meanwhile, further articles advance at the end of the first conveyer.
  • the transfer of the articles being received by a gripper head is completed by the gripper head being raised again, even while it is still moving in transport direction, and the filled beverage crate is transported away following the second conveyer.
  • the further articles, which have advanced in the meantime, can be received by a further gripper head and disposed in a further, following beverage crate.
  • a similar apparatus is known from DE 43 29 179 A1, with the difference that the gripper heads are not arranged at a central carrier rotating about a horizontal central axis, but rather at a circulating traction means running in a vertical plane.
  • a similar apparatus is known from DE 33 39 045 A1, with the difference that the gripper heads are circulatingly guided in a horizontal direction at a chain, and are lowered and raised again as well as closed and opened by means of slides, which are guided along horizontally circulating rails.
  • a disadvantage of such apparatuses for handling articles is their large space requirement in the direction of transport as well as the limited pacing, as only one group of articles after the other is respectively transferred into a beverage crate.
  • a device for transferring articles is known from DE 102 10 353 A1, which device has a gripper head of a plurality of tulip-shaped grippers arranged at a six-axis robot arm, which tulip-shaped grippers are driven individually or groupwise movably in relation to each other within a plane formed by the tulip-shaped grippers during the transferring of the articles.
  • One task of the invention is to specify an apparatus and a method for handling articles that allow a higher pacing when providing individual or a plurality of articles, for example articles grouped into an article group and/or into a bundle of assembled articles, with an outer packaging.
  • a first object of the invention accordingly relates to an apparatus for handling articles, comprising a first conveyer for the supply of articles, a second conveyer for the supply of outer packagings, and also a third conveyer for the discharge of outer packagings with articles placed therein.
  • the apparatus comprises a placing surface formed by a section, preferably by a start section, of the third conveyer and arranged between the first and the second conveyer, as well as a transfer device for transferring supplied outer packagings from the second conveyer, preferably from an end section of the second conveyer limited, for instance, by a stop means, to a placing surface formed by a section, preferably a start section, of the third conveyer.
  • the apparatus comprises a device, which transplaces articles from the first conveyer into outer packagings having been transferred onto the placing surface.
  • the transplacing device first seizes the articles staged by means of the first conveyer, then transplaces the seized articles from the first conveyer to the placing surface and, in the process of transferring the articles having been seized by the device and having been transferred from the first conveyer to the placing surface, places them into the outer packagings having been transferred onto the placing surface.
  • the transfer device is formed and operatable independently of the transplacing device.
  • the placing surface in connection with the transfer device that is independent of the transplacing device results in an increase in performance with regard to the pacing that is achievable based on an apparatus without placing surface formed by a third conveyer.
  • the higher pacing is achieved, because, by means of the placing surface in connection with the transfer device that is independent of the transplacing device, articles supplied by means of the first conveyer can be seized by the transplacing device in a first cycle, and the transplacing device can begin with transferring the seized articles by starting a movement of the seized articles from the first conveyer to the placing surface while outer packagings that are still empty are simultaneously transferred, for instance, pushed over, from a section of the second conveyer, preferably from an end section limited in transport direction of the second conveyer by, for instance, an end stop, to the placing surface formed by a section, preferably by a start section of the third conveyer and arranged between the first and the second conveyer, and in a second cycle new, empty outer packagings can be supplied to the end section of the second conveyer while the transferring of the articles having been seized in the first cycle is simultaneously completed in the second cycle by placing articles into the outer packagings staged on the placing surface.
  • the transferring of the articles seized in the first cycle is ended by articles seized by the transplacing device being placed into empty outer packagings having been transferred, for instance, pushed over, onto the placing surface in the first cycle, and by a return of the transplacing device from the placing surface to the first conveyer at least being started in order to again seize and transfer articles supplied by the first conveyer.
  • a third cycle the return of the transplacing device from the placing surface to the first conveyer is finally completed. Furthermore, after the transplacing device has left the collision area with the at least one outer packaging standing, now provided with articles placed therein, on the placing surface, the discharge from the placing surface of the at least one outer packaging provided with articles is carried out in the third cycle by operating the third conveyer for at least as long until the at least one outer packaging having previously been provided with articles on the placing surface is removed from the placing surface.
  • the first conveyer and the second conveyer are arranged in parallel to each other along the placing surface, at least in the area of their portions abutting on the placing surface, and in parallel to the section of the third conveyer, which section forms the placing surface.
  • the transport directions of the conveyer run in parallel to each other at least in the area of their portions abutting on the placing surface and in parallel to the section of the third conveyer, which section forms the placing surface.
  • the portions of the conveyers arranged in parallel to each other overlap one another and the section of the third conveyer, which section forms the placing surface, by the length of at least two outer packagings.
  • two or more outer packagings can be staged simultaneously on the placing surface, and articles can be simultaneously placed into the plurality of staged outer packagings. The pacing can thus be further increased.
  • the direction of the transfer of outer packagings from the second conveyer to the placing surface termed for short transfer direction and being carried out by the transfer device, runs, in a horizontal direction, preferably transversely, preferentially orthogonal to the transport direction of the second conveyer.
  • the transfer direction carried out by the transfer device thus runs, in a horizontal direction, preferably transversely, preferentially orthogonal to the transport directions of both the second conveyer and, also particularly preferentially, the third conveyer.
  • a plurality of empty outer packagings can be respectively simultaneously transferred from the second conveyer to the placing surface, whereby articles can be simultaneously placed into a plurality of outer packagings that have been put down on the placing surface.
  • the pacing can thus be significantly increased.
  • the transfer device can comprise at least one slider.
  • the second conveyer and the placing surface formed by a section, preferably a start section, of the third conveyer are preferentially located on a common, first level, whereas the first conveyer is preferably located on a higher, second level.
  • a vertical stroke of the transplacing device, which vertical stroke is necessary for placing articles into outer packagings, can thus be reduced to the essential, whereby the pacing can be further increased.
  • the second level is located above the first level by at least the height of an outer packaging, which is initially open and to be closed after placing the articles therein, as the case may be.
  • an outer packaging which is initially open and to be closed after placing the articles therein, as the case may be.
  • the second level is preferentially located accordingly higher, by the height of the flaps protruding above the first level, than in the instance of the outer packaging being closed, for instance, with a separately provided lid.
  • the closing of the outer packagings with articles placed therein can be carried out while still on the placing surface, for instance, together with or subsequent to placing the articles, or in a separate treatment step, for instance, subsequent to or in the further course of the third conveyer of the apparatus for handling articles.
  • the outer packagings with articles placed therein can be closed with lids in the further course of the third conveyer.
  • compartments Prior to placing the articles into outer packagings having been transferred onto the placing surface, compartments, also termed so-called baskets, can be inserted into the outer packagings, which compartments assign fixed positions to the articles within the outer packagings and thus protect them, during the further transport of the outer packagings with articles placed therein until the articles are withdrawn and consumed, from colliding with each other and rubbing against each other, which otherwise would lead to a negative impression of the quality by scuffing, for instance, of information applied onto the articles in the form of labels, for example, and/or by the articles damaging each other.
  • compartments can already have been or be inserted into the outer packagings prior to the transfer of the outer packagings to the placing surface, or the compartments can be inserted into the outer packagings prior to or together with or after the articles being placed into the outer packagings.
  • the subsequent introduction of compartments, in particular with lightweight articles that are shiftable with little effort within the outer packagings has the advantage of a simpler placing of the articles in the outer packagings, along with a reduced effort for controlling, because articles with a shape, for example, tapering conically or in a similar manner toward their oppositely located contact surfaces, such as beverage bottles with a bottle neck widening at least sectionwise from the top downward, can be horizontally shifted within the outer packagings by the compartments when these are inserted.
  • the compartments can be introduced into the outer packagings, for instance, while still on the second conveyer, preferentially in the area of an end section of the second conveyer particularly preferentially forming a portion of the second conveyer running in parallel to the placing surface, or the compartments can be introduced into the outer packagings, for instance, already together with or subsequent to erecting these, or they can already be integrated into an according cardboard packaging, wherein the compartments unfold within the outer packaging when the cardboard packaging is erected.
  • a separate introduction surface can be provided between the second conveyer and the placing surface. Accordingly, an additional device for transfer, which can also be part of a transfer device or comprised by it, can be provided.
  • a stacking station can be provided, where, for instance, closed outer packagings with articles placed therein are grouped into stack layers and stacked onto a stack, which is then discharged in order to make room for stacking up a new stack after reaching a specified stacking height according to a specified number of stack layers stacked on top of each other at the stacking station.
  • the articles supplied by means of the first conveyer are preferentially already sorted into article groups to be respectively placed into an outer packaging.
  • the articles supplied by means of the first conveyer can abut on each other or they can be supplied lined up one after the other with gaps between them.
  • the articles supplied by means of the first conveyer can be supplied in one row or in a plurality of rows running in parallel.
  • the articles can be transferred to the first conveyer via a suitable infeed, and be guided in one or in a plurality of lanes oriented in parallel to each other after the transfer to the first conveyer.
  • the articles supplied by means of the first conveyer accordingly form a single- or multiple-row article flow of articles lined up one after the other uninterruptedly and/or with gaps between them.
  • the said articles can have been previously treated along an infeed to the first conveyer, for instance, by producing a container and/or cleaning an outer and/or inner surface and/or cooling and/or filling and/or closing, in order to name only a few examples of treating articles without claim to completeness of the list, and/or the articles can have been previously handled along an infeed to the first conveyer, for instance, by separating a number of articles from one or more of article flows of articles being transported immediately following each other and/or grouping a number of articles into article groups and/or compiling and assembling a number of articles into bundles, in order to name only a few examples of handling articles without claim to completeness.
  • the conveyer preferentially comprise at least one horizontal conveyor device, such as, for instance, a belt conveyor and/or a roller conveyor.
  • the outer packagings can preferentially be cardboard packagings, for instance, in the form of cardboard boxes with or without compartments arranged or arrangeable therein for separating and/or keeping apart individual articles from each other.
  • a second conveyer supplying outer packagings in a second transport direction preferentially directed in parallel to and running in the same direction as or opposite to the first transport direction
  • a third conveyer discharging outer packagings with articles placed therein in a third transport direction preferentially directed in parallel to and running in the same direction as or opposite to the first and second transport direction,
  • a placing surface formed by a section, preferably by a start section, of the third conveyer and arranged between the first and the second conveyers,
  • transplacing device for transferring articles from the first conveyer into outer packagings having been transferred onto the placing surface.
  • a second object of the invention relates to a method for handling articles, which method provides that articles are placed into outer packagings staged on a placing surface, which articles are supplied in one or in a plurality of article flows of articles lined up one after the other uninterruptedly and/or with gaps between them and/or grouped, which outer packagings themselves in turn are supplied independently of the articles in a transport direction and are transferred onto the placing surface individually or groupwise transversely to the transport direction and, after the articles have been placed therein, they are discharged in parallel to the transport direction—now provided with articles placed therein—in the direction of the transport direction or opposite to it, independently of the supply of articles and independently of the supply of outer packagings.
  • Both the apparatus and the method can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features initially described in connection with the prior art and/or in one or more of documents mentioned regarding the prior art.
  • the apparatus can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the method, as well as the method can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the apparatus.
  • outer packagings which have been supplied to the described apparatus for handling articles and/or to the described method for handling articles, can be staged by means of a facility being described in the following for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, which facility carries out a method described subsequently to the facility for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the access openings through which articles can be introduced into the compartments and/or outer packagings are in a horizontal plane.
  • the facility has a cardboard packaging supply comprising at least one stack of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other.
  • the cardboard packagings consist of a plurality of cardboard packaging walls interconnected with each other, for instance, by bending edges and/or adhesive joints and/or slot-in connections, which cardboard packaging walls can be cut out and/or punched out from sheet-formed material, for example.
  • a collapsed state at least two cardboard packaging walls connected with each other form a top and a bottom flat side, respectively, of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging.
  • the facility further has an erecting device arranged next to the cardboard packaging supply.
  • the facility moreover has a gripping device for simultaneously seizing one respective top cardboard packaging after the other from each stack of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged on top of each other.
  • the number of stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying one on top of each other preferentially corresponds to the number of cardboard packagings respectively simultaneously seizable or seized, as the case may be, by the gripping device.
  • the gripping device Per each cardboard packaging simultaneously seized by the gripping device, the gripping device has at least one tool with which a cardboard packaging lying topmost on a stack of the cardboard packaging supply can be seized and lifted at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side.
  • the gripping device In order to be able to move the at least one tool of the gripping device horizontally between the cardboard packaging supply and the erecting device, and preferentially, for bridging height differences and/or for expanding cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings, also vertically in space, the gripping device moreover has at least one manipulator with a manipulator head that is at least horizontally movable along a horizontal axis and preferentially also vertically movable along a vertical axis, at which manipulator head the at least one tool of the gripping device is arranged.
  • the erecting device and the cardboard packaging supply are arranged next to each other in the direction of the horizontal axis.
  • the erecting device as well as the surface of the cardboard packaging supply formed by the topmost cardboard packaging of the at least one stack of cardboard packagings are located at the same level, at least in a starting position.
  • the surface of the cardboard packaging supply formed by the topmost cardboard packaging of the at least one stack of cardboard packagings is located at a level that is higher by at least the height of a lying, expanded set of compartments and/or of a lying, expanded outer packaging than a level of the erecting device formed by the at least one tool of the erecting device in the horizontal position of its at least one carrier.
  • a vertical stroke of the manipulator head in a return movement from the erecting device to the cardboard packaging supply which is required for seizing the next cardboard packagings after expanding a cardboard packaging to a lying set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, is not needed, thus increasing the achievable pacing.
  • the at least one tool of the gripping device arranged at the at least one manipulator head is thus horizontally movable back and forth between the cardboard packaging supply and the erecting device, which is arranged next to the cardboard packaging supply as seen in the direction of a horizontal axis, as well as being, preferentially, liftable and lowerable.
  • the at least one manipulator can be, for instance, a multi-axis robot arm, for example with six axes, or a gantry or a tripod or quadropod, which is laterally movable back and forth along a horizontal axis as well as, preferably, also being liftable and lowerable along a vertical axis, to name but a few conceivable manipulators.
  • the erecting device has at least one carrier, which is pivotable back and forth, for instance, by swinging down and back up again, for instance, about a pivoting axis running orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis, from a horizontal position into a vertical position and vice versa.
  • the erecting device has at least one tool arranged at its at least one carrier per each cardboard packaging that is simultaneously seizable or seized, as the case may be, by means of the gripping device, with which tool, in its or, as the case may be, in their horizontal position, at least one cardboard packaging having been brought onto the erecting device by means of the gripping device can be seized and held at a cardboard packaging wall of its bottom flat side, and, after expanding the cardboard packagings by increasing the distance between the tools of the gripping device and the erecting device along the vertical axis, for instance, by vertically lifting the tool of the gripper device arranged at the manipulator head, which is in any event preferentially vertically movable, the lying, expanded compartments and/or outer packagings, which are still being held by the at least one tool of the erecting device, are erected to a standing position along with the subsequent disengaging of only the at least one tool of the gripper device by swinging down the carrier.
  • the erecting device can have a device designed as a folding flap, for example, which holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as the case may be, prevents them from slipping off the carrier when the at least one tool of the erecting device releases a set of compartments and/or an outer packaging held by it until the end of the expanding.
  • a folding flap for example, which holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as
  • the erecting device is designed to be vertically movable, it is possible to omit a vertically movable manipulator head, by it only horizontally transferring cardboard packagings from the cardboard packaging supply to the erecting device, and the erecting device increasing the distance between its tools and the tools of the gripping device for expanding the cardboard packagings to lying compartments and/or outer packagings by moving downward.
  • the erecting device together with the gripping device forms an expanding device, which, by increasing the distance between a cardboard packaging wall of a top flat side of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging being held by at least one tool of the gripping device and a cardboard packaging wall of a bottom flat side of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging being held by at least one tool of the erecting device, expands these to a lying set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging.
  • the access openings through which articles can be introduced into the compartments and/or outer packagings are, other than those of compartments and/or outer packagings that are arranged in a standing position, not in a horizontal, but rather in a vertical plane.
  • the facility can furthermore comprise a control device, which at least:
  • the manipulator controls the at least one manipulator of the gripping device such that it carries out a cyclical movement path, in the course of which the manipulator lowers the at least one tool onto a cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging lying topmost on at least one stack of the cardboard packaging supply, lifts it up again, traverses to the erecting device, lowers it onto the erecting device and lifts it back up again and finally traverses over the cardboard packaging supply again,
  • the gripping device controls the at least one tool of the gripping device such that it, after being lowered, seizes and holds a cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging lying topmost on at least one stack of the cardboard packaging supply until the tool of the gripping device, in the course of the cyclical movement path, has been lifted back up again from the erecting device for at least so far that the cardboard packaging is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging,
  • the carrier controls the at least one carrier of the erecting device such that it carries out a cyclical pivoting movement path, in the course of which it is pivoted about its pivoting axis by 90 degrees from the horizontal to the vertical and back again, wherein the carrier takes up a horizontal position at the latest when the at least one manipulator, during its course of movement, lowers or has lowered the at least one tool of the gripping device onto the erecting device and maintains the horizontal position for as long as until the tool of the gripping device, in the course of the cyclical movement path of the manipulator, has been lifted back up again from the erecting device for at least so far that the cardboard packaging is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, in order to hereafter take up a vertical position by swinging down and/or pivoting about its pivoting axis, and
  • the tool controls the at least one tool of the erecting device such that, after lowering the at least one manipulator, the tool seizes a cardboard packaging wall of the bottom flat side of the at least one cardboard packaging being held by the at least one tool of the gripping device and holds it at least for as long as until the cardboard packaging, which is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, has been erected and is available for its further use by swinging down and/or pivoting the at least one carrier of the erecting device by 90 degrees about its pivoting axis from its horizontal position to its vertical position.
  • the erecting device is equipped with a device designed as folding flap at its at least one carrier, which folding flap holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as the case may be, prevents them from slipping off the carrier when the at least one tool of the erecting device releases a set of compartments and/or an outer packaging held by it until the end of the expanding, then the control device can additionally control this folding flap in such a manner that it is flipped open, at the latest, at the end of the expanding process and in the beginning of the pivoting of the carrier from its horizontal into the vertical position such that, in end of the erecting process, the folding flap holds in form expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings and, supports them, as the case may
  • the control device can subsequently cause the folding flap to return to its starting position in a folded-in state.
  • the folding out or folding in of at least the part of the folding flap preventing a slipping off can be carried out gravity-supported and/or gravity-controlled, as the case may be.
  • the control device can cause the manipulator to carry out a horizontal movement running in parallel and/or orthogonal to the horizontal axis at the same time while the tool of the gripping device is lifted, at the end of which horizontal movement the cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging having been seized by a tool of the gripping device and the cardboard packaging wall of the bottom flat side of a cardboard packaging having been seized by a tool of the erecting device are arranged superposed upon each other as seen from a top view in a horizontal direction, corresponding to two opposite walls of an expanded set of compartments and/or an outer packaging.
  • the cardboard packagings are configured such that they can be expanded by a mere increase of distance between the tools of the gripping device and the erecting device.
  • This is possible, for instance, by way of an accordion-like structure with an even number of cardboard packaging walls connecting the cardboard packaging walls being held by the tools at respectively one of their narrow sides with each other.
  • the lifting following the lowering onto the erecting device can thus be carried out exclusively in a vertical direction.
  • control device can cause combined movements of the manipulator in a horizontal and a vertical direction before and after the erecting of cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the gripping device has at least one downwardly directed suction cup, which, by impingement with a vacuum, is able to hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack of the cardboard packaging supply at one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • a suction cup has a downwardly open sleeve of an elastic, airtight material as well as a connection leading upward and away from the sleeve for a vacuum source, such as, for instance, a vacuum pump or a negative pressure pump, or a vacuum accumulator connected with a vacuum pump or a negative pressure pump.
  • a control opening and closing valve is arranged between each suction cup assigned to a cardboard packaging and the vacuum source.
  • the vacuum source communicates with the suction cup when the valve is opened.
  • air flows through the suction cup to the vacuum source which, strictly speaking, thus represents a drain for the air that is under ambient pressure.
  • a vacuum forms in the suction cup, and the cardboard packaging wall together with the associated cardboard packaging are held.
  • the gripping device has at least four downwardly directed suction cups as tool per each simultaneously seized cardboard packaging, which suction cups can hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack in the area of the corners of one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • suction cups can hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack in the area of the corners of one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • this has the advantage of greater redundancy and, at the same time, a greater holding force, which, as explained above, is required for expanding the folded cardboard packagings.
  • the at least one suction cup of the gripping device per stack of the cardboard packaging supply is arranged at the manipulator, whereby the suction cup can be lowered onto the cardboard packaging supply, lifted back up again with a suction-held cardboard packaging, be laterally traversed to the erecting device and lowered onto it and lifted back up again as well as traversed back to the cardboard packaging supply after the release of the cardboard packaging, which has then been expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging.
  • this at least one tool of the erecting device is also one or more of suction cups, for instance.
  • the cardboard packaging supply can comprise an uprightly standing magazine accommodating one or more of stacks, which magazine is accessible from its top side for removing cardboard packagings. If a plurality of stacks are accommodated in the magazine, they are preferentially at least partly separated by magazine partition walls and/or accommodated in the magazine spaced apart such as will exclude any contact of the individual cardboard packagings of adjacent stacks in the magazine. In this way, the topmost cardboard packagings simultaneously removed from a plurality of stacks of the cardboard packaging supply are prevented from getting caught, thus increasing the operating safety of the facility.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has two or more stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device.
  • Two or more stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, can be arranged offset from one another in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, or they can be aligned with each other as seen in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device.
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device can be twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees or 180 degrees or 270 degrees or they can be arranged mirror-invertedly corresponding to a mirroring at a mirror axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device between two adjacent stacks or at a mirror point located between the adjacent stacks.
  • the erecting device has at least two carriers, which are pivotable from a horizontal position to a vertical position and vice versa respectively about an own pivoting axis.
  • the pivoting axes of the carriers in this instance run in parallel.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has a number of adjacent stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other, their number corresponding to the number of carriers that are respectively pivotable about their own pivoting axes.
  • the erecting device has two carriers, which are pivotable in opposite pivoting directions from a horizontal position to a vertical position and vice versa respectively about an own pivoting axis.
  • the pivoting axes of the carriers run in parallel in this instance, too.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has two adjacent stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other.
  • the lying, stacked cardboard packagings of a first stack of the two stacks, which are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes are preferably stacked, as seen in relation to a mirror axis running in parallel to the pivoting axes between the two stacks, mirror-invertedly with respect to cardboard packagings, which are also stacked lying, of a second stack of the two stacks, which are adjacent as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • Both for the same and for opposite pivoting directions of two or a plurality of carriers of the erecting device about their respectively own pivoting axes can the stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings, which are adjacent as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes, be arranged to be aligned with each other or offset from each other in relation to a horizontal axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • the arrangement of the stacks in the cardboard packaging supply can be adapted to the folding of the cardboard packagings such that, after the expanding and erecting of cardboard packagings from stacks correspondingly adjacent to each other in the cardboard packaging supply to compartments and/or outer packagings, the cardboard packagings are arranged, for instance, aligned with each other or offset from each other in relation to a horizontal axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply arranged adjacent next to each other as seen along the pivoting axes
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other and can be twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees or 180 degrees or 270 degrees or can be arranged mirror-invertedly corresponding to a mirroring at a mirror axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device between two adjacent stacks or at a mirror point located between the adjacent stacks.
  • the carriers of the erecting device movably in parallel to their pivoting axes relative to each other, in order to transfer expanded compartments and/or outer packagings that were erected by means of different carriers of the erecting device into an arrangement aligned with each other.
  • Each or only one of the carriers of the erecting device can be movably arranged in a horizontal direction relative to each other and/or together with each other such that they can be moved apart from each other during their preferably simultaneous pivoting about their pivoting axes in order to prevent a clashing of expanded compartments and/or outer packagings during the pivoting and/or such that they can be moved toward each other and/or in parallel to each other after reaching the vertical position in order to achieve a grouping of the expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • An adaptation to compartments and/or outer packagings with different external dimensions is thus moreover possible.
  • the facility can comprise a transfer device, which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device, preferentially from the vertical position of the carrier of the erecting device, and supplies them to their further use, for instance, by subsequent inserting of expanded and erected compartments into outer packagings staged elsewhere and/or by the placing of articles into compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • a transfer device which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device, preferentially from the vertical position of the carrier of the erecting device, and supplies them to their further use, for instance, by subsequent inserting of expanded and erected compartments into outer packagings staged elsewhere and/or by the placing of articles into compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the transfer device can comprise a tool, which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device and discharges them by way of a vertical and/or horizontal movement of the manipulator and transfers them to, for instance, a second conveyer of a previously described apparatus for handling articles.
  • the compartments and/or outer packagings which are erected to a standing position after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, can also be released by simply disengaging the at least one tool of the erecting device and thus be transferred, for instance, to a horizontal conveyor passing immediately below the erecting device, the horizontal conveyor being formed, for instance, by a second conveyer of a previously described apparatus for handling articles.
  • the vertical distance between such a horizontal conveyor and the erecting device can be adjusted such that the compartments and/or outer packagings, which are erected to a standing position after the pivoting of the at least one carrier from its horizontal position to its vertical position, take up an as small as possible distance to the surface of the horizontal conveyor, for instance, grazing the surface.
  • a set down movement of the erecting device in a vertical direction prior to the release is conceivable.
  • the at least one tool of the transfer device can comprise at least one suction cup.
  • a method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings which method can be carried out by a previously described facility, provides to hold the topmost cardboard packaging, coming from above, at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side from a stack of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged on top of each other of a supply of cardboard packagings, and to remove it from the stack.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings subsequently provides to also hold the cardboard packaging, which is being held at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side, at a cardboard packaging wall of its bottom flat side from below, as well, and to increase the vertical distance between the cardboard packaging wall, at which the cardboard packaging is being held at its top flat side, and the cardboard packaging wall, at which the cardboard packaging is being held at its bottom flat side, by oppositely pulling so far until the cardboard packaging has been expanded to a lying set of compartments and/or to a lying outer packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings then provides to release the expanded set of compartments and/or the outer packaging at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the top flat side of the cardboard packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings provides to tilt the lying, expanded set of compartments and/or the outer packaging still being held at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the bottom flat side of the cardboard packaging about a horizontal pivoting axis and to subsequently also release the expanded and now erected set of compartments and/or the outer packaging at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the bottom flat side of the cardboard packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings provides to simultaneously expand and erect a plurality of cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings in the described manner.
  • respectively two cardboard packagings can form a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings, which, after having been expanded to lying compartments and/or outer packagings, are erected to standing compartments and/or outer packagings in the same or the opposite pivoting direction about respectively own horizontal pivoting axes running in parallel.
  • the cardboard packagings of a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings can be arranged aligned or offset to each other prior to the expanding.
  • the cardboard packagings of a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings can be arranged twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, for example, and/or mirror-invertedly to a mirror axis or a mirror point prior to the expanding.
  • compartments and/or outer packagings simultaneously expanded and erected from a pair of cardboard packagings can be arranged aligned or offset to each other after the expanding.
  • the compartments and/or outer packagings simultaneously expanded and erected from a pair of cardboard packagings can be arranged twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, for example, and/or mirror-invertedly to a mirror axis or a mirror point after the expanding.
  • a plurality of cardboard packagings or pairs of cardboard packagings can be simultaneously expanded next to each other, as seen in a direction in parallel to the pivoting axis or axes, to lying compartments and/or outer packagings and subsequently be erected to standing compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the facility and/or the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings can be realized by an erecting of compartments and/or outer packagings expanded from previously lying cardboard packagings, by continuing, even after releasing their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the top flat sides of the cardboard packagings, to hold the expanded compartments and/or outer packagings at their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the bottom flat sides of the cardboard packagings, and subsequently pivoting them by 90 degrees about a horizontal pivoting axis of an erecting device still holding the compartments and/or outer packagings at their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the bottom flat sides of the cardboard packagings.
  • the facility can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, as well as the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the facility.
  • FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of: a top view of an apparatus according to the invention for handling articles.
  • An apparatus 01 for handling articles 02 as illustrated completely or in parts in FIG. 1 , comprises:
  • a placing surface 08 illustrated by a dashed line, formed by a section 62 , preferably by a start section 60 , of the third conveyer 06 , and arranged between the first conveyer 03 and the second conveyer 04 , as well as
  • a transfer device 09 illustrated by a dashed line, for the transfer indicated by arrows 91 of supplied outer packagings 05 from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 , and
  • a transplacing device 10 illustrated by a dashed line, for the transferring indicated by arrows 101 of articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 into outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 .
  • the transplacing device 10 for the transferring indicated by arrows 101 of articles 02 first seizes the articles 02 staged by means of the first conveyer 03 , then transplaces the seized articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 to the placing surface 08 and, in the process, places the articles 02 having been seized and having been transferred from the first conveyer 03 to the placing surface 08 by it into the outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 .
  • the transfer device 09 for transferring supplied outer packagings 05 from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 is formed and operatable independently of the transplacing device 10 for transferring articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 into outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 .
  • the placing surface 08 in connection with the transfer device 09 that is independent of the transplacing device 10 for transferring articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 into outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 results in an increase in performance with regard to the pacing that is achievable based on an apparatus without placing surface 08 formed by a section 62 , preferably by a start section 60 , of the third conveyer 06 .
  • the higher pacing is achieved, because, by means of the placing surface 08 in connection with the transfer device 09 that is independent of the transplacing device 10 , articles 02 supplied by means of the first conveyer 03 can be seized by the transplacing device 10 in a first cycle, and the transplacing device 10 can begin with transferring the seized articles 02 by starting a movement of the seized articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 to the placing surface 08 while outer packagings 05 that are still empty are simultaneously transferred, for instance, pushed over, from a section of the second conveyer 04 , preferably from an end section 33 limited in transport direction as indicated by arrows 41 of the second conveyer 04 by, for instance, an end stop, to the placing surface 08 formed by a section, preferably by a start section 60 of the third conveyer 06 and arranged between the first conveyer 03 and the second conveyer 04 , and in a second cycle new, empty outer packagings 05 can be supplied to the end section 33 of the second conveyer 04 while the transferring of the articles 02 having been seized
  • the transferring of the articles 02 seized in the first cycle is ended by articles 02 seized by the transplacing device 10 being placed into empty outer packagings 05 having been transferred, for instance, pushed over, onto the placing surface 08 in the first cycle, and by a return of the transplacing device 10 from the placing surface 08 to the first conveyer 03 at least being started in order to again seize and transfer articles 02 supplied by the first conveyer 03 .
  • a third cycle the return of the transplacing device 10 from the placing surface 08 to the first conveyer 03 is finally completed. Furthermore, after the transplacing device 10 has left the collision area with the at least one outer packaging item 07 standing on the placing surface 08 , the outer packaging item 07 consisting of at least one outer packaging 05 , with articles 02 placed therein, standing on the placing surface 08 , the discharge from the placing surface 08 of the at least one outer packaging item 07 is carried out in the third cycle by operating the third conveyer 06 for at least as long until the at least one outer packaging item 07 located on the placing surface 08 and consisting of at least one outer packaging 05 having previously been provided with articles 02 on the placing surface 08 has left the placing surface 08 .
  • the apparatus 01 allows carrying out a method for handling articles 02 , which method preferentially provides that articles 02 are placed into outer packagings 05 staged on a placing surface 08 , which articles 02 are supplied in a transport direction indicated by arrows 31 in one or in a plurality of article flows of articles 02 lined up one after the other uninterruptedly and/or with gaps between them and/or grouped, which outer packagings 05 themselves in turn are supplied independently of the articles 02 by means of the second conveyer 04 in a transport direction indicated by arrows 41 and are transferred, as indicated by arrows 91 , onto the placing surface 08 individually or groupwise transversely to the transport direction indicated by arrows 41 and, after the articles 02 have been placed therein as indicated by arrows 101 , they are discharged transversely to the transport direction indicated by arrows 31 —now as outer packaging items 07 of outer packagings 05 provided with articles 02 placed therein—, independently of the supply of articles 02 and independently of the supply of outer packagings 05 , by means of the third conveyer 06 in
  • At least the second conveyer 04 and the third conveyer 06 are arranged in parallel to each other at least in the area of the portion 42 of the second conveyer 04 , which portion 42 abuts on the placing surface 08 , and of the section 62 of the third conveyer 06 , which section 62 forms the placing surface 08 , or at least the second conveyer 04 and the third conveyer 06 run in parallel to each other at least in the area of the portion 42 of the second conveyer 04 , which portion 42 abuts on the placing surface 08 , and of the section 62 of the third conveyer 06 , which section 62 forms the placing surface 08 .
  • first conveyer 03 and the second conveyer 04 as well as the third conveyer 06 can be arranged in parallel to each other or run in parallel to each other at least in the area of the portion 32 of the first conveyer 03 , which portion 32 abuts on the placing surface 08 , and of the portion 42 of the second conveyer 04 , which portion 42 abuts on the placing surface 08 as well as of the section 62 of the third conveyer 06 , which section 62 forms the placing surface 08 .
  • the first conveyer 03 and the second conveyer 04 are arranged in parallel to each other along the placing surface 08 , at least in the area of their portions 32 , 42 abutting on the placing surface 08 , and in parallel to the section 62 of the third conveyer 06 , which section 62 forms the placing surface 08 .
  • the transport directions indicated by arrows 31 , 41 , 61 of the conveyers 03 , 04 , 06 run in parallel to each other at least in the area of their portions 32 , 42 abutting on the placing surface 08 and in parallel to the section 62 of the third conveyer 06 , which section 62 forms the placing surface 08 .
  • the transport directions indicated by arrows 31 , 41 , 61 of the conveyers 03 , 04 , 06 run in parallel to each other at least in the area 82 located between the arrows 81 of their portions 32 , 42 abutting on the placing surface 08 , or, as the case may be, in the area of the section 62 forming the placing surface 08 .
  • the portions 32 , 42 and the section 62 overlap each other in the area located between the arrows 81 .
  • the parallely arranged portions 32 , 42 of the conveyers 03 , 04 and the section 62 of the conveyer 06 can overlap one another by a distance indicated by the double arrow 83 of the length of at least two, preferably at least three outer packagings 05 staged on the placing surface 08 .
  • two or more outer packagings 05 can be simultaneously transferred from the second conveyer 04 onto the placing surface 08 and two or more outer packaging items 07 can be simultaneously transferred from the placing surface 08 to the third conveyer 06 , and likewise articles 02 can be simultaneously placed into the plurality of outer packagings 05 that are thus staged on the placing surface 08 .
  • the pacing can thus be further increased.
  • the transfer indicated by arrows 91 from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 can be carried out by pushing over supplied outer packagings 05 .
  • the transferring as indicated by arrows 101 can be carried out by gripping the articles 02 , or by pushing the gripped articles 02 over the edge of the first conveyer 03 , or by slightly lifting the gripped articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 as well as lowering them into the outer packagings 05 staged on the placing surface 08 .
  • the direction of the transfer of outer packagings 05 termed for short transfer direction, indicated by arrows 91 , and being carried out by the transfer device 09 for transferring empty outer packagings 05 from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 , runs, in a horizontal direction, preferably transversely, preferentially orthogonal to the transport direction indicated by arrows 41 of the second conveyer 04 .
  • the transfer direction indicated by arrows 91 of the transfer device 09 for transferring empty packagings 05 thus runs, in a horizontal direction, preferably transversely, preferentially orthogonal to the transport directions indicated by arrows 41 and 61 of both the second conveyer 04 and the third conveyer 06 in the transfer from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 formed by a section 62 , preferably by a start section 60 , of the third conveyer 06 .
  • one or more of empty outer packagings 05 can be respectively simultaneously transferred from the second conveyer 41 to the placing surface 08 , whereby articles 02 can be simultaneously placed into a plurality of outer packagings 05 that have been put down on the placing surface 08 .
  • the pacing can thus be significantly increased.
  • the transfer device 09 for transferring empty outer packagings 05 from the second conveyer 04 onto the placing surface 08 can comprise at least one slider.
  • the second conveyer 04 and the placing surface 08 formed by a section 62 , preferably a start section 60 , of the third conveyer 06 are preferentially located on a common, first level.
  • the first conveyer 03 is preferably located on a higher, second level.
  • a vertical stroke of the transplacing device 10 which vertical stroke is necessary for placing articles 02 into outer packagings 05 , can thus be reduced to the essential, whereby the pacing can be further increased.
  • the second level can be located above the first level by at least the height of an outer packaging 05 , which is initially open and to be closed after placing the articles 02 therein, as the case may be.
  • the second level is preferentially located accordingly higher, by the height of the flaps protruding above the first level, than in the instance of the outer packagings 05 being closed, for instance, with a separately provided lid.
  • the closing of the outer packaging items 07 can be carried out while still on the placing surface 08 , for instance, together with or subsequent to placing the articles 02 into the outer packagings 05 , or in a separate treatment step, for instance, subsequent to or in the further course of the third conveyer 06 of the apparatus 01 for handling articles 02 .
  • the outer packaging items 07 can be closed with lids in the further course of the third conveyer 06 .
  • compartments 13 Prior to placing the articles 02 into outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 , compartments 13 , also termed so-called baskets, can be inserted into the outer packagings 05 , which compartments 13 assign fixed positions to the articles 02 within the outer packagings 05 and thus protect them, during the further transport of the outer packagings 05 with articles 02 placed therein until the articles 02 are withdrawn and consumed, from colliding with each other and rubbing against each other, which otherwise would lead to a negative impression of the quality by scuffing, for instance, of information applied onto the articles 02 in the form of labels, for example, and/or by the articles 02 damaging each other.
  • the compartments 13 can already have been or be inserted into the outer packagings 05 prior to the transfer of the outer packagings 05 to the placing surface 08 , or the compartments 13 can be inserted into the outer packagings 05 prior to or together with or after the articles 02 being placed into the outer packagings 05 .
  • the compartments 13 can be staged, for instance, by a separate device 14 , for instance, a facility as described in the following text for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, which facility can simultaneously expand and erect a plurality of compartments 13 , for instance.
  • a separate device 14 for instance, a facility as described in the following text for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, which facility can simultaneously expand and erect a plurality of compartments 13 , for instance.
  • compartments 13 in particular with lightweight articles 02 that are shiftable with little effort within the outer packagings 05 , has the advantage of a simplified placing of the articles 02 in the outer packagings 05 , along with a reduced controlling effort for the transplacing device 10 , because articles 02 with a shape, for example, tapering conically or in a similar manner toward their oppositely located contact surfaces, such as beverage bottles with a bottle neck widening at least sectionwise from the top downward, can be horizontally shifted within the outer packagings 05 by the compartments 13 when these are inserted.
  • the compartments 13 can be introduced into the outer packagings 05 , for instance, while still on the second conveyer 04 , for instance, within an end section 33 of the second conveyer 03 , which end section 33 is situated in an area 82 located between the arrows 91 , or they can be introduced into the outer packagings 05 , for instance, already together with or subsequent to erecting these, or they can already be integrated into an according cardboard packaging, wherein the compartments 13 unfold within the outer packaging 05 with the cardboard packaging being erected.
  • a separate introduction surface can alternatively be provided between the second conveyer 04 and the placing surface 08 in the instance of the introduction of compartments 13 prior to placing the articles 02 .
  • an additional device can be provided for the transfer of outer packagings 05 provided with compartments 13 from the introduction surface to the placing surface 08 , which additional device can be part of a transfer device 09 or be comprised by it.
  • a stacking station can be provided, where, for instance, outer packaging items 07 taking the form of closed outer packagings 05 with articles 02 placed therein are grouped into stack layers and stacked onto a stack, which is then discharged in order to make room for stacking up a new stack after reaching a specified stacking height according to a specified number of stack layers stacked on top of each other at the stacking station.
  • the articles 02 supplied by means of the first conveyer 03 are preferentially already sorted into article groups 21 to be respectively placed into an outer packaging 05 .
  • the articles 02 supplied by means of the first conveyer 03 can abut on each other or they can be supplied lined up one after the other with gaps between them.
  • the articles 02 supplied by means of the first conveyer 03 can be supplied in one row or in a plurality of rows running in parallel.
  • the articles 02 can be transferred to the first conveyer 03 via a suitable infeed, and be guided in one or in a plurality of lanes oriented in parallel to each other after the transfer to the first conveyer 03 .
  • the articles 02 supplied by means of the first conveyer 03 accordingly form a single- or multiple-row article flow of articles 02 lined up one after the other uninterruptedly and/or with gaps between them.
  • the said articles 02 can have been previously treated along an infeed to the first conveyer 03 , for instance, by producing a container and/or cleaning an outer and/or inner surface and/or cooling and/or filling and/or closing, in order to name only a few examples of treating articles 02 without claim to completeness of the list, and/or the articles 02 can have been previously handled along an infeed to the first conveyer 03 , for instance, by separating a number of articles 02 from one or more of article flows of articles 02 being transported immediately following each other and/or grouping a number of articles 02 into article groups 21 and/or compiling and assembling a number of articles 02 into bundles, in order to name only a few examples of handling articles 02 without claim to completeness.
  • the conveyers 03 , 04 , 06 preferentially comprise at least one horizontal conveyor device, such as, for instance, a belt conveyor and/or a roller conveyor.
  • the outer packagings 05 can preferentially be cardboard packagings, for instance, in the form of cardboard boxes with or without compartments 13 arranged or arrangeable therein for separating and/or keeping apart individual articles 02 from each other.
  • a second conveyer 04 supplying outer packagings 05 in a second transport direction indicated by arrows 41 and preferentially directed in parallel to and running in the same direction as or opposite to the first transport direction indicated by arrows 31 ,
  • a third conveyer 06 discharging outer packaging items 07 , in a third transport direction indicated by an arrow 61 and preferentially directed in parallel to and running in the same direction as or opposite to the first transport direction indicated by arrows 31 and to the second transport direction indicated by arrows 41 ,
  • a placing surface 08 formed by a section 62 , preferably by a start section 60 , of the third conveyer 06 and arranged between the first conveyer 03 and the second conveyer 04 ,
  • a transfer device 09 for the transfer indicated by arrows 91 of supplied outer packagings 05 from the second conveyer 04 to the placing surface 08 , and
  • transplacing device 10 for the transferring indicated by arrows 101 of articles 02 from the first conveyer 03 into outer packagings 05 having been transferred onto the placing surface 08 .
  • the apparatus 01 according to the invention and the method according to the invention for handling articles 02 allow a higher pacing by a placing surface formed by a section of a third conveyer, which placing surface serves for the discharge of outer packaging items, in contrast to a parallel arrangement of an article infeed formed by a first conveyer and staging articles, and an outer packaging infeed and outer packaging outfeed formed by a second conveyer and staging outer packagings and simultaneously discharging outer packaging items formed by outer packagings having been provided with articles. Wear and effort for controlling are moreover considerably reduced, because the apparatus 01 according to the invention and the method according to the invention for handling articles 02 allow a significantly more constant article infeed and outer packaging infeed as compared to the prior art.
  • a placing surface arranged intermediately according to the invention provides a precise position of the outer packagings, into which the articles can them be placed with a reduced effort for controlling.
  • the transplacing device 10 can already again seize articles 02 of the infeed formed by the first conveyer 03 while the third conveyer 06 is removing the outer packaging items 07 from the placing surface 08 .
  • the second conveyer 04 can already introduce further outer packagings 05 into the area 82 located between the arrows 81 while outer packagings 05 having been previously transferred onto the placing surface 08 are provided with articles 02 having been removed from the infeed.
  • the first conveyer 03 can also already introduce further articles 02 into the area 82 located between the arrows 81 while outer packagings 05 having been previously transferred onto the placing surface 08 are provided with articles 02 having been removed from the infeed and outer packaging items 07 are being removed by operation of the third conveyer 06 from the placing surface located in the area 82 .
  • a significantly increased pacing is thus possible in comparison to a previously described device with only two parallely arranged conveyer, one of them for the article infeed and one of them both for staging outer packagings and for discharging outer packaging items.
  • the outer packagings 05 and/or compartments 13 which have been supplied to the described apparatus for handling articles and/or to the described method for handling articles, can be staged by means of a facility being described in the following for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, which facility carries out a method described subsequently to the facility for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the access openings through which articles can be introduced into the compartments and/or outer packagings are in a horizontal plane.
  • the facility has a cardboard packaging supply comprising at least one stack of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other.
  • the cardboard packagings consist of a plurality of cardboard packaging walls interconnected with each other, for instance, by bending edges and/or adhesive joints and/or slot-in connections, which cardboard packaging walls can be cut out and/or punched out from sheet-formed material, for example.
  • a collapsed state at least two cardboard packaging walls connected with each other form a top and a bottom flat side, respectively, of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging.
  • the facility further has an erecting device arranged next to the cardboard packaging supply.
  • the facility moreover has a gripping device for simultaneously seizing one respective top cardboard packaging after the other from each stack of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged on top of each other.
  • the number of stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying one on top of each other preferentially corresponds to the number of cardboard packagings respectively simultaneously seizable or seized, as the case may be, by the gripping device.
  • the gripping device Per each cardboard packaging simultaneously seized by the gripping device, the gripping device has at least one tool with which a cardboard packaging lying topmost on a stack of the cardboard packaging supply can be seized and lifted at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side.
  • the gripping device In order to be able to move the at least one tool of the gripping device horizontally between the cardboard packaging supply and the erecting device, and preferentially, for bridging height differences and/or for expanding cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings, also vertically in space, the gripping device moreover has at least one manipulator with a manipulator head that is at least horizontally movable along a horizontal axis and preferentially also vertically movable along a vertical axis, at which manipulator head the at least one tool of the gripping device is arranged.
  • the erecting device and the cardboard packaging supply are arranged next to each other in the direction of the horizontal axis.
  • the erecting device as well as the surface of the cardboard packaging supply formed by the topmost cardboard packaging of the at least one stack of cardboard packagings are located at the same level, at least in a starting position.
  • the surface of the cardboard packaging supply formed by the topmost cardboard packaging of the at least one stack of cardboard packagings is located at a level that is higher by at least the height of a lying, expanded set of compartments and/or of a lying, expanded outer packaging than a level of the erecting device formed by the at least one tool of the erecting device in the horizontal position of its at least one carrier.
  • a vertical stroke of the manipulator head in a return movement from the erecting device to the cardboard packaging supply which is required for seizing the next cardboard packagings after expanding a cardboard packaging to a lying set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, is not needed, thus increasing the achievable pacing.
  • the at least one tool of the gripping device arranged at the at least one manipulator head is thus horizontally movable back and forth between the cardboard packaging supply and the erecting device, which is arranged next to the cardboard packaging supply as seen in the direction of a horizontal axis, as well as being, preferentially, liftable and lowerable.
  • the at least one manipulator can be, for instance, a multi-axis robot arm, for example with six axes, or a gantry or a tripod or quadropod, which is laterally movable back and forth along a horizontal axis as well as, preferably, also being liftable and lowerable along a vertical axis, to name but a few conceivable manipulators.
  • the erecting device has at least one carrier, which is pivotable back and forth, for instance, by swinging down and back up again, for instance, about a pivoting axis running orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis, from a horizontal position into a vertical position and vice versa.
  • the erecting device has at least one tool arranged at its at least one carrier per each cardboard packaging that is simultaneously seizable or seized, as the case may be, by means of the gripping device, with which tool, in its or, as the case may be, in their horizontal position, at least one cardboard packaging having been brought onto the erecting device by means of the gripping device can be seized and held at a cardboard packaging wall of its bottom flat side, and, after expanding the cardboard packagings by increasing the distance between the tools of the gripping device and the erecting device along the vertical axis, for instance, by vertically lifting the tool of the gripper device arranged at the manipulator head, which is in any event preferentially vertically movable, the lying, expanded compartments and/or outer packagings, which are still being held by the at least one tool of the erecting device, are erected to a standing position along with the subsequent disengaging of only the at least one tool of the gripper device by swinging down the carrier.
  • the erecting device can have a device designed as a folding flap, for example, which holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as the case may be, prevents them from slipping off the carrier when the at least one tool of the erecting device releases a set of compartments and/or an outer packaging held by it until the end of the expanding.
  • a folding flap for example, which holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as
  • the erecting device is designed to be vertically movable, it is possible to omit a vertically movable manipulator head, by it only horizontally transferring cardboard packagings from the cardboard packaging supply to the erecting device, and the erecting device increasing the distance between its tools and the tools of the gripping device for expanding the cardboard packagings to lying compartments and/or outer packagings by moving downward.
  • the erecting device together with the gripping device forms an expanding device, which, by increasing the distance between a cardboard packaging wall of a top flat side of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging being held by at least one tool of the gripping device and a cardboard packaging wall of a bottom flat side of a flatly collapsed cardboard packaging being held by at least one tool of the erecting device, expands these to a lying set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging.
  • the access openings through which articles can be introduced into the compartments and/or outer packagings are, other than those of compartments and/or outer packagings that are arranged in a standing position, not in a horizontal, but rather in a vertical plane.
  • the facility can furthermore comprise a control device, which at least:
  • the manipulator controls the at least one manipulator of the gripping device such that it carries out a cyclical movement path, in the course of which the manipulator lowers the at least one tool onto a cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging lying topmost on at least one stack of the cardboard packaging supply, lifts it up again, traverses to the erecting device, lowers it onto the erecting device and lifts it back up again and finally traverses over the cardboard packaging supply again,
  • the gripping device controls the at least one tool of the gripping device such that it, after being lowered, seizes and holds a cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging lying topmost on at least one stack of the cardboard packaging supply until the tool of the gripping device, in the course of the cyclical movement path, has been lifted back up again from the erecting device for at least so far that the cardboard packaging is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging,
  • the carrier controls the at least one carrier of the erecting device such that it carries out a cyclical pivoting movement path, in the course of which it is pivoted about its pivoting axis by 90 degrees from the horizontal to the vertical and back again, wherein the carrier takes up a horizontal position at the latest when the at least one manipulator, during its course of movement, lowers or has lowered the at least one tool of the gripping device onto the erecting device and maintains the horizontal position for as long as until the tool of the gripping device, in the course of the cyclical movement path of the manipulator, has been lifted back up again from the erecting device for at least so far that the cardboard packaging is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, in order to hereafter take up a vertical position by swinging down and/or pivoting about its pivoting axis, and
  • the tool controls the at least one tool of the erecting device such that, after lowering the at least one manipulator, the tool seizes a cardboard packaging wall of the bottom flat side of the at least one cardboard packaging being held by the at least one tool of the gripping device and holds it at least for as long as until the cardboard packaging, which is expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging, has been erected and is available for its further use by swinging down and/or pivoting the at least one carrier of the erecting device by 90 degrees about its pivoting axis from its horizontal position to its vertical position.
  • the erecting device is equipped with a device designed as folding flap at its at least one carrier, which folding flap holds in form compartments and/or outer packagings, which are expanded and erected, at least until after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device about its horizontal pivoting axis running, for instance, orthogonal to the horizontal axis and orthogonal to the vertical axis from a horizontal position into a vertical position, and, as the case may be, prevents them from slipping off the carrier when the at least one tool of the erecting device releases a set of compartments and/or an outer packaging held by it until the end of the expanding, then the control device can additionally control this folding flap in such a manner that it is flipped open, at the latest, at the end of the expanding process and in the beginning of the pivoting of the carrier from its horizontal into the vertical position such that, in end of the erecting process, the folding flap holds in form expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings and, supports them, as the case may
  • the control device can subsequently cause the folding flap to return to its starting position in a folded-in state.
  • the folding out or folding in of at least the part of the folding flap preventing a slipping off can be carried out gravity-supported and/or gravity-controlled, as the case may be.
  • the control device can cause the manipulator to carry out a horizontal movement running in parallel and/or orthogonal to the horizontal axis at the same time while the tool of the gripping device is lifted, at the end of which horizontal movement the cardboard packaging wall of the top flat side of a cardboard packaging having been seized by a tool of the gripping device and the cardboard packaging wall of the bottom flat side of a cardboard packaging having been seized by a tool of the erecting device are arranged superposed upon each other as seen from a top view in a horizontal direction, corresponding to two opposite walls of an expanded set of compartments and/or an outer packaging.
  • the cardboard packagings are configured such that they can be expanded by a mere increase of distance between the tools of the gripping device and the erecting device.
  • This is possible, for instance, by way of an accordion-like structure with an even number of cardboard packaging walls connecting the cardboard packaging walls being held by the tools at respectively one of their narrow sides with each other.
  • the lifting following the lowering onto the erecting device can thus be carried out exclusively in a vertical direction.
  • control device can cause combined movements of the manipulator in a horizontal and a vertical direction before and after the erecting of cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the gripping device has at least one downwardly directed suction cup, which, by impingement with a vacuum, is able to hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack of the cardboard packaging supply at one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • a suction cup has a downwardly open sleeve of an elastic, airtight material as well as a connection leading upward and away from the sleeve for a vacuum source, such as, for instance, a vacuum pump or a negative pressure pump, or a vacuum accumulator connected with a vacuum pump or a negative pressure pump.
  • a control opening and closing valve is arranged between each suction cup assigned to a cardboard packaging and the vacuum source.
  • the vacuum source communicates with the suction cup when the valve is opened.
  • air flows through the suction cup to the vacuum source which, strictly speaking, thus represents a drain for the air that is under ambient pressure.
  • a vacuum forms in the suction cup, and the cardboard packaging wall together with the associated cardboard packaging are held.
  • the gripping device has at least four downwardly directed suction cups as tool per each simultaneously seized cardboard packaging, which suction cups can hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack in the area of the corners of one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • suction cups can hold a cardboard packaging lying respectively topmost on a stack in the area of the corners of one of the cardboard packaging walls of its top flat side by means of the vacuum.
  • this has the advantage of greater redundancy and, at the same time, a greater holding force, which, as explained above, is required for expanding the folded cardboard packagings.
  • the at least one suction cup of the gripping device per stack of the cardboard packaging supply is arranged at the manipulator, whereby the suction cup can be lowered onto the cardboard packaging supply, lifted back up again with a suction-held cardboard packaging, be laterally traversed to the erecting device and lowered onto it and lifted back up again as well as traversed back to the cardboard packaging supply after the release of the cardboard packaging, which has then been expanded to a set of compartments and/or to an outer packaging.
  • this at least one tool of the erecting device is also one or more of suction cups, for instance.
  • the cardboard packaging supply can comprise an uprightly standing magazine accommodating one or more of stacks, which magazine is accessible from its top side for removing cardboard packagings. If a plurality of stacks are accommodated in the magazine, they are preferentially at least partly separated by magazine partition walls and/or accommodated in the magazine spaced apart such as will exclude any contact of the individual cardboard packagings of adjacent stacks in the magazine. In this way, the topmost cardboard packagings simultaneously removed from a plurality of stacks of the cardboard packaging supply are prevented from getting caught, thus increasing the operating safety of the facility.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has two or more stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device.
  • Two or more stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, can be arranged offset from one another in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, or they can be aligned with each other as seen in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device.
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction in parallel to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device can be twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees or 180 degrees or 270 degrees or they can be arranged mirror-invertedly corresponding to a mirroring at a mirror axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device between two adjacent stacks or at a mirror point located between the adjacent stacks.
  • the erecting device has at least two carriers, which are pivotable from a horizontal position to a vertical position and vice versa respectively about an own pivoting axis.
  • the pivoting axes of the carriers in this instance run in parallel.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has a number of adjacent stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other, their number corresponding to the number of carriers that are respectively pivotable about their own pivoting axes.
  • the erecting device has two carriers, which are pivotable in opposite pivoting directions from a horizontal position to a vertical position and vice versa respectively about an own pivoting axis.
  • the pivoting axes of the carriers run in parallel in this instance, too.
  • the cardboard packaging supply has two adjacent stacks of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying on top of each other.
  • the lying, stacked cardboard packagings of a first stack of the two stacks, which are adjacent next to each other as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes are preferably stacked, as seen in relation to a mirror axis running in parallel to the pivoting axes between the two stacks, mirror-invertedly with respect to cardboard packagings, which are also stacked lying, of a second stack of the two stacks, which are adjacent as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • Both for the same and for opposite pivoting directions of two or a plurality of carriers of the erecting device about their respectively own pivoting axes can the stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings, which are adjacent as seen in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the pivoting axes, be arranged to be aligned with each other or offset from each other in relation to a horizontal axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • the arrangement of the stacks in the cardboard packaging supply can be adapted to the folding of the cardboard packagings such that, after the expanding and erecting of cardboard packagings from stacks correspondingly adjacent to each other in the cardboard packaging supply to compartments and/or outer packagings, the cardboard packagings are arranged, for instance, aligned with each other or offset from each other in relation to a horizontal axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axes.
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply arranged adjacent next to each other as seen along the pivoting axes
  • stacks of the cardboard packaging supply of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged lying stacked on top of each other, which stacks are adjacent next to each other and can be twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees or 180 degrees or 270 degrees or can be arranged mirror-invertedly corresponding to a mirroring at a mirror axis running orthogonal to the pivoting axis of the at least one carrier of the erecting device between two adjacent stacks or at a mirror point located between the adjacent stacks.
  • the carriers of the erecting device movably in parallel to their pivoting axes relative to each other, in order to transfer expanded compartments and/or outer packagings that were erected by means of different carriers of the erecting device into an arrangement aligned with each other.
  • Each or only one of the carriers of the erecting device can be movably arranged in a horizontal direction relative to each other and/or together with each other such that they can be moved apart from each other during their preferably simultaneous pivoting about their pivoting axes in order to prevent a clashing of expanded compartments and/or outer packagings during the pivoting and/or such that they can be moved toward each other and/or in parallel to each other after reaching the vertical position in order to achieve a grouping of the expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • An adaptation to compartments and/or outer packagings with different external dimensions is thus moreover possible.
  • the facility can comprise a transfer device, which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device, preferentially from the vertical position of the carrier of the erecting device, and supplies them to their further use, for instance, by subsequent inserting of expanded and erected compartments into outer packagings staged elsewhere and/or by the placing of articles into compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • a transfer device which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device, preferentially from the vertical position of the carrier of the erecting device, and supplies them to their further use, for instance, by subsequent inserting of expanded and erected compartments into outer packagings staged elsewhere and/or by the placing of articles into compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the transfer device can comprise a tool, which receives expanded and erected compartments and/or outer packagings from the erecting device and discharges them by way of a vertical and/or horizontal movement of the manipulator and transfers them to, for instance, a second conveyer of a previously described apparatus for handling articles.
  • the compartments and/or outer packagings which are erected to a standing position after the pivoting of the at least one carrier of the erecting device, can also be released by simply disengaging the at least one tool of the erecting device and thus be transferred, for instance, to a horizontal conveyor passing immediately below the erecting device, the horizontal conveyor being formed, for instance, by a second conveyer of a previously described apparatus for handling articles.
  • the vertical distance between such a horizontal conveyor and the erecting device can be adjusted such that the compartments and/or outer packagings, which are erected to a standing position after the pivoting of the at least one carrier from its horizontal position to its vertical position, take up an as small as possible distance to the surface of the horizontal conveyor, for instance, grazing the surface.
  • a set down movement of the erecting device in a vertical direction prior to the release is conceivable.
  • the at least one tool of the transfer device can comprise at least one suction cup.
  • a method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings which method can be carried out by a previously described facility, provides to hold the topmost cardboard packaging, coming from above, at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side from a stack of flatly collapsed cardboard packagings arranged on top of each other of a supply of cardboard packagings, and to remove it from the stack.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings subsequently provides to also hold the cardboard packaging, which is being held at a cardboard packaging wall of its top flat side, at a cardboard packaging wall of its bottom flat side from below, as well, and to increase the vertical distance between the cardboard packaging wall, at which the cardboard packaging is being held at its top flat side, and the cardboard packaging wall, at which the cardboard packaging is being held at its bottom flat side, by oppositely pulling so far until the cardboard packaging has been expanded to a lying set of compartments and/or to a lying outer packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings then provides to release the expanded set of compartments and/or the outer packaging at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the top flat side of the cardboard packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings provides to tilt the lying, expanded set of compartments and/or the outer packaging still being held at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the bottom flat side of the cardboard packaging about a horizontal pivoting axis and to subsequently also release the expanded and now erected set of compartments and/or the outer packaging at its cardboard packaging wall that was previously assigned to the bottom flat side of the cardboard packaging.
  • the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings provides to simultaneously expand and erect a plurality of cardboard packagings to compartments and/or outer packagings in the described manner.
  • respectively two cardboard packagings can form a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings, which, after having been expanded to lying compartments and/or outer packagings, are erected to standing compartments and/or outer packagings in the same or the opposite pivoting direction about respectively own horizontal pivoting axes running in parallel.
  • the cardboard packagings of a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings can be arranged aligned or offset to each other prior to the expanding.
  • the cardboard packagings of a pair of cardboard packagings to be simultaneously expanded and erected to compartments and/or outer packagings can be arranged twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, for example, and/or mirror-invertedly to a mirror axis or a mirror point prior to the expanding.
  • compartments and/or outer packagings simultaneously expanded and erected from a pair of cardboard packagings can be arranged aligned or offset to each other after the expanding.
  • the compartments and/or outer packagings simultaneously expanded and erected from a pair of cardboard packagings can be arranged twisted relative to each other by 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, for example, and/or mirror-invertedly to a mirror axis or a mirror point after the expanding.
  • a plurality of cardboard packagings or pairs of cardboard packagings can be simultaneously expanded next to each other, as seen in a direction in parallel to the pivoting axis or axes, to lying compartments and/or outer packagings and subsequently be erected to standing compartments and/or outer packagings.
  • the facility and/or the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings can be realized by an erecting of compartments and/or outer packagings expanded from previously lying cardboard packagings, by continuing, even after releasing their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the top flat sides of the cardboard packagings, to hold the expanded compartments and/or outer packagings at their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the bottom flat sides of the cardboard packagings, and subsequently pivoting them by 90 degrees about a horizontal pivoting axis of an erecting device still holding the compartments and/or outer packagings at their cardboard packaging walls previously assigned to the bottom flat sides of the cardboard packagings.
  • the facility can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings, as well as the method for expanding and erecting collapsed or folded cardboard packagings to standing compartments and/or outer packagings can alternatively or additionally have individual or a combination of a plurality of features previously described in connection with the facility.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Container Filling Or Packaging Operations (AREA)
US14/886,311 2014-10-20 2015-10-19 Apparatus and method for handling articles Abandoned US20160107782A1 (en)

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DE102014221232.4A DE102014221232A1 (de) 2014-10-20 2014-10-20 Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Umgang mit Artikeln
DE102014221232.4 2014-10-20

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CN112607142A (zh) * 2020-12-29 2021-04-06 杭州千岛湖瑞淳机器人研究院有限公司 一种咖啡杯装入隔板设备
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US10661930B2 (en) * 2016-04-29 2020-05-26 Combi Packaging Systems, Llc Pack filling machine with offset paths
WO2018088971A1 (en) * 2016-11-08 2018-05-17 Adel Kalemcilik Ticaret Ve Sanayi A. Ş A pencil boxing apparatus and method
IT201600121394A1 (it) * 2016-11-30 2018-05-30 Cavanna Spa Apparecchiatura per il caricamento di prodotti in contenitori
US11485586B2 (en) 2016-12-13 2022-11-01 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Apparatus and method for handling piece goods moved one after another
CN106697390A (zh) * 2017-02-23 2017-05-24 佛山市顺德区天同纸品实业有限公司 一种包装产品自动生产线设备
US11117749B2 (en) 2017-03-06 2021-09-14 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Apparatus for handling articles as well as method for exchanging at least one transport module and at least one work module of the apparatus
US11198528B2 (en) * 2018-02-13 2021-12-14 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Packaging device and method for fitting an external package with a dividing element
EP3674235A1 (de) 2018-12-31 2020-07-01 Neopost Technologies System und verfahren zum transportieren von artikeln zu einer verpackungsstation
US11130641B2 (en) 2018-12-31 2021-09-28 Quadient Technologies France System and method for transporting items to a packaging station
US11713147B2 (en) 2019-07-30 2023-08-01 Anheuser-Busch Inbev S.A. Article picking and treating apparatus
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CN112607142A (zh) * 2020-12-29 2021-04-06 杭州千岛湖瑞淳机器人研究院有限公司 一种咖啡杯装入隔板设备

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DE102014221232A1 (de) 2016-04-21
CN105599965B (zh) 2018-03-27
EP3012199B1 (de) 2018-01-31
EP3012199A2 (de) 2016-04-27
CN105599965A (zh) 2016-05-25

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