WO2004071919A1

WO2004071919A1 - Device for turning flat mailing items through 90°

Info

Publication number: WO2004071919A1
Application number: PCT/EP2003/009064
Authority: WO
Inventors: Willhelm Maier; Manfred Boller; Beat Fritsche; Thomas Zimmermann
Original assignee: Siemens Schweiz Ag
Priority date: 2003-02-13
Filing date: 2003-08-15
Publication date: 2004-08-26
Also published as: US20050200074A1; JP2006519739A; EP1447363A1; AU2003258616A1; EP1592632A1

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to turn rectangular mailing items of differing thicknesses and sizes and containing different page ratios through 90°. To achieve this, said mailing items are transported away in at least one direction (D2, D2') at right angles to the feed direction (D1) by means of eccentric rollers (11). In order to pick up the mailing items without damaging the latter, the eccentric rollers are configured from an elastic material and comprise struts arranged in a non-radial manner.

Description

Device for 90 ° downward steering of flat packages

The invention relates to a device for 90 ° deflection of flat packages according to the preamble of claim 1.

The present invention relates to the field of post automation. For automated sorting and distribution of flat packages such as letters or brochures, they are transported within a postal distribution center to their destinations - also called destinations - by means of conveyor tracks and / or conveyor belts. For this transport, it is necessary that the conveying direction is changed relative to the package, for example from a vertical conveying direction to a horizontal conveying direction or vice versa.

The transportation of flat packages is demanding because the dimensions and handling of flat goods to be sorted vary widely. On the one hand, there is almost an unlimited variety of different dimensions in terms of width, height and thickness, solely in terms of format. Furthermore, the packaging and stiffness of flat sorting items can be found in very different configurations, which are represented in opposite ways, for example, by rather hard, rigid cardboard envelopes and by rather soft brochures and magazines packed in foil. Unpacked, loose brochures can also be found as sorting items. Due to the different dimensions of rectangular mailpieces, it is not trivial to divert them from a relatively vertical conveying direction into a horizontal conveying direction at a high conveying speed. The relationship between length and width fluctuates on the one hand in a larger area and on the other hand is the absolute size of length and width in a wide area, as can be seen directly from formats B6 landscape or portrait up to format C3 portrait or landscape , The non-trivial redirection at high conveyor speeds This is the case when, for example, pronouncedly elongated packages have to be guided away in the elongated direction at 90 ° much faster than they are fed to this deflection point. For the sake of this document, only shipping items are now to be simplified

Speech, under this term "shipping items" flat shipping items such as letters, brochures, samples are subsumed in preferably rectangular shape.

US Pat. No. 6,234,468 B1 "Dual Pocket right angle turn for an envelope transport system" proposes a device which conveys envelopes fed in two rows into a single row. The single row is rotated by 90 ° with respect to the two rows. This device is however only suitable for packages that are homogeneous in terms of size, proportions and mass.

The present invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a device for deflecting the conveyance of flat packages, so that a high throughput is made possible regardless of the masses and proportions of the packages.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the device specified in patent claim 1.

The routing of the packages with eccentric rollers ensures that packages of various dimensions are reliably detected from the first direction to a second direction orthogonal to them. The throughput is directly proportional to the rotational speed of the eccentric rollers and is therefore easy to set. Characterized in that eccentric rollers can be actuated in two directions of rotation in accordance with the second direction, in order to lead the packages to two different locations accordingly; either the shipping items can generally be further processed on two additional paths or there can be outliers such as Double deductions from further transport can be easily removed.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in further claims.

i) Because the eccentric rollers and the cross belt are each mechanically coupled via a freewheel, so that with a higher conveying speed of the eccentric rollers, the cross belt is also accelerated to the higher conveying speed and that the second motor driving the cross belt therefore does not switch to the higher one Conveyor speed is taken; the packages are guided away safely and without affecting the throughput from the deflection point without complex synchronization and without the second drive motor being driven to the higher speed (claim 8).

ii) In that a knob tape containing supports is provided in order to feed the packages in the first direction to the deflection point; Can the packages in a defined manner

Deflection point are fed and thereby a precise further transport takes place with the eccentric rollers (claim 10).

iii) In that a feeder (2) is rotationally coupled to the knobbed belt (4) in order to ensure a defined position of the packages when they are guided away by the eccentric rollers (11); the coupling can be provided in such a way that a package is placed slightly above, for example 2 cm, the support from the feeder over the conveyor belt onto the knobbed belt. is given, so that the shipping item with a small drop height falls on the support during further transport with the dimpled belt and does not spring back. This results in a defined, that is to say horizontal position for guiding the eccentric roller means in the transverse direction (claim 11).

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to a drawing, for example. Show:

Figure 1 view of a transport route for feeding

Packages to a deflection point; Figure 2 supervision of a deflection point with three eccentric rollers; Figure 3 oblique view from below of a deflection point showing the drive motors and freewheels; Figure 4 view of an eccentric roller;

Figure 5 v-t - diagram for a peripheral radial part of an eccentric roller.

FIG. 1 shows a view of a conveyor device 1. This contains a feeder 2, by means of which packages are transported in individual form with a conveyor belt 3 to a deflection point 10. The feeder 2 contains a take-off drum 6 with two actuable grippers 7 for gripping a shipping item. The take-off drum 6, the knob belt 4 and the conveyor belt 3 are driven synchronously by a motor M. The packages are taken over by a knobbed belt 4 in the direction of conveyance D1. This contains supports 5 for a defined feed to the deflection point 10. As will be explained in more detail below, the mailpieces are transferred to a transverse belt 21 by at least one eccentric roller 11 and orthogonally to the direction D1. The deflection of the packages according to the invention takes place by means of at least one eccentric roller 11. FIG. 2 shows a detailed top view of a deflection point 10. In this exemplary embodiment, three eccentric rollers 11 are provided, the two outer ones being arranged on the same horizontal level. Depending on the embodiment, a different level arrangement of the eccentric rollers 11 is also conceivable, for example offset in a step-like manner. The teaching according to the invention also allows only a single eccentric roller 11. The deflected direction of the packages is indicated in FIG. 2 by the reference symbol D2. In this conveying direction D2, following the eccentric roller 11, a cross belt 21 is provided for the further transport of the packages. According to FIG. 2, a fixedly arranged roller 19 is provided for each of the eccentric rollers 11 for the grasping of the mailpieces, which is only hinted at in FIG. 2, but the associated axis of rotation is clearly recognizable and is shown without reference numerals. As an alternative to these rollers, it is also possible to provide only one guide plate. As will be explained further below, it is also possible to carry out the further transport of the packages in two directions D2 and D2 'orthogonal to the feed direction. The two directions D2 and D2 'are preferably collinear.

The translation for the rotationally synchronously coupled conveyor belt 3, the take-off drum 6 and the knobbed belt 4 and the arrangement of the supports 5 on the knobbed belt 4 is to be selected such that a shipping item is about 20 mm above a support 5 when transferring from the conveyor belt 3 to the knobbed belt 4 comes in the area of the knob tape 4. The package then falls onto the support 5 in the conveying direction. This narrowly limited drop height ensures that the package does not spring back on impact or when it reaches the support 5. This ensures a defined position of the package at the moment of detection by the eccentric roller 11. It is particularly advantageous that the actuation of the eccentric roller 11 takes effect for the shipping item at exactly the moment in which the shipping piece has reached the position for horizontal onward transport. This means that the drive motor 14 must be actuated shortly before this position is reached. Thanks to the fixed translation, the actuation of the drive motor 14 can be derived directly from the position of a support 5 and the previous detection of a shipping item by a gripper 7. A control operates the grippers. 7; Without this actuation, the packages remain on a stack of the feeder 2. With the conditions it can also be achieved that a package, for example with two offset eccentric rollers, is not gripped by a single eccentric roller and, if necessary, "pushes" away.

FIG. 3 shows an oblique view from below onto a deflection point 10. A first drive motor 14 and a second drive motor 15 are mounted behind flanges 14 and 15, respectively. The eccentric roller 11 or cross belt 21 is driven by means of belts via toothed belt pulleys 18. A freewheel is shown behind flanges with reference numerals 16 and 17. The function of these freewheels is explained below in connection with FIG. 5. From Figure 3 it can be seen that the cross belt 21 mechanically, i.e. is rotationally coupled to the eccentric rollers 11.

FIG. 5 shows the speed curve v in over time t for a direction of rotation of the eccentric rollers 11. For the other direction of rotation, the course is given by a reflection on the t-axis. The specified values are only to be understood as examples and reflect the requirements for the drive technology, i.e. motors and the associated control system. The course shown relates to one revolution of the eccentric roller 11 measured on the peripheral, radial part 12. It is taken as a basis that the transverse belt in the stationary state is driven at a speed v = 2 m / s for the transport of the packages , A package to be redirected with the device according to the invention is ter roller 11 up to the slip the speed curve according to the curve up to the specified time of 130 ms. The freewheel 16 also applies the speed according to the diagram to the cross belt 21 from point F16. Thus, the package is transiently continued at the same speed during the transfer from the eccentric roller 11 from the cross belt 21. For the transport away of a subsequent conveyor belt, the eccentric roller 11 must in turn be brought into a defined starting position. This means that the eccentric roller 11 has to be brought down to the speed 0 in a very short time in order to complete a single revolution. In the end position to be reached, the flattening 13 is predefined approximately parallel to the surface of the packages or parallel to the surface of the knobbed tape. The time available for this can be seen from the diagram in FIG. 5 and is in this example

(147-130) ms = 17 ms. The kinetic energy stored in the movement of the cross belt causes the cross belt to run down to the aforementioned 2 m / s. A second freewheel 17 is provided so that the second drive motor 15 is not driven to the higher speed. The coupling between eccentric roller 11 and freewheel 17 takes place in point F17, cf. FIG. 5 is particularly advantageous to provide a stepping motor for the first drive motor 14 of the eccentric roller (s).

The structural design of an eccentric roller 11 is shown in FIG. The very high accelerations to be seen in FIG. 5 require that as little mass as possible be accelerated and that the rotary means 11 should therefore have the lowest possible moment of inertia. This is achieved on the one hand by a relatively thin-walled cylinder 22, on the other end of which a toothed belt pulley is attached. The peripheral part 12 is preferably made of a hard rubber such as Vulkollan or adipren. With webs 20 - also called spokes - one- on the one hand, a considerable reduction in the moment of inertia is achieved and, on the other hand, there is an additional elasticity between the fixed opposite side and the eccentric roller when the packages are gripped. This elasticity is achieved in particular in that the webs are arranged in a non-radial direction, according to FIG. 4 in a spiral arrangement. This ensures that the packages are not excessively pressed. This elasticity is also necessary because the packages usually have different thicknesses. This is not so serious for advertising brochures, it should be borne in mind that the packages can also contain small samples that can no longer withstand pressures above a limit. The direction of rotation of the eccentric roller 11 shown in Figure 4 is clockwise.

With the two directions of rotation of the eccentric rollers, the following advantages can be realized: i) This can be used, for example, to eject a double take-off in the other direction and then, if necessary, to manually remove the ejected shipping item at a suitable point in the normal direction Inject sorting or distribution process in the sense of re-supply. ii) However, it is also possible to generally rotate the eccentric rollers in both directions, e.g. to operate alternately and, if necessary, to provide a transverse belt 21 in both directions D2 and D2 '. The design of the eccentric roller 11 is to be provided so that the web arrangement ensures the aforementioned elasticity in both directions of rotation, e.g. through an S-shaped arrangement of the webs.

The aforementioned synchronization of the conveyor belt 3, knobbed belt 4 and take-off drum 6 can be freely combined with the aforementioned special embodiments with regard to the bidirectional actuation of the eccentric rollers 11 and the removal Forms of education of these eccentric rollers 11 and with the arrangement of a cross belt 21 for guiding away the packages.

List of reference numerals used 1 conveyor

2 feeders, feeders

3 conveyor belt

4 dimpled tape

5 support on pimpled belt 6 take-off drum

7 grippers, actuable

10 deflection point

11 eccentric roller

12 peripheral, eccentric part 13 flattening

13.1 first flattening, flattened part

13.2 second flattening, flattened part

14 first drive motor, stepper motor

15 second drive motor 16 first freewheel

17 second freewheel

18 toothed belt pulleys

19 roller, opposite eccentric roller

20 bridge, spoke 21 cross belt

22 cylinders

23 bearings

Dl conveying direction of the knobbed belt to the deflection point

D2, D2 'conveying direction from the deflection point, orthogonal to the feeding direction Dl.

F16 point of engagement of the freewheel 16

F17 point of engagement of the freewheel 17

Claims

claims

1. Device for deflecting flat packages, wherein the packages are occasionally guided in a first direction (Dl) to a deflection point (10) and are also occasionally guided away from the deflection point (10) in at least a second direction (D2, D2 ') , wherein the second direction (D2, D2 ') is substantially orthogonal to the feed direction (Dl); characterized in that the mailpieces fed to the deflection point (10) contain at least one eccentric roller (11) which has a peripheral part (12) with at least one flattened point (13) and that the eccentric roller (11) accordingly in the second direction (D2, D2 ') can be actuated in two directions of rotation in order to lead the packages away to two different locations accordingly.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the peripheral part (12) consists of an elastic material.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the non-flattened part of webs (20) is carried in the non-radial direction.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that the webs (20) are arranged in an S-shape.

5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a cross belt (21) is then arranged in the second direction (D2) to the eccentric rollers (11) in order to carry the packages further away.

6. The device according to claim 5, characterized _. that in the opposite second direction (D2 ') to the eccentric rollers (11) a further cross belt (21) is arranged in order to carry the mail items further away.

7. The device according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the eccentric rollers (11) by a first motor (14) and the cross belt (21) are driven by a second motor (15).

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that the eccentric rollers (11) and the cross belt (21) are mechanically coupled via a freewheel (16, 17), so that at a higher conveying speed of the eccentric rollers (11) Cross belt (21) is also accelerated to the higher conveyor speed and that the second motor (15) driving the cross belt (21) is thereby not taken to the higher conveyor speed.

9. The device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the first motor (14) is a stepper motor.

10, Device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a nub strip (4) containing supports (5) is provided in order to feed the packages in the first direction to the deflection point (10).

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that a feeder (2) is rotationally coupled to the knobbed band (4) in order to ensure a defined position of the packages when they are guided away by the eccentric rollers (11).

12. The device according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the eccentric rollers (11) can be actuated at the moment of reaching a shipping item of the route.