WO2005119152A1

WO2005119152A1 - A method of transporting items

Info

Publication number: WO2005119152A1
Application number: PCT/IS2005/000015
Authority: WO
Inventors: Asgeir Elvarsson
Original assignee: Marel Hf.
Priority date: 2004-06-04
Filing date: 2005-06-03
Publication date: 2005-12-15

Abstract

The method comprises the steps of delivering items to be transported through at least one closable inlet for accepting items on at least one container (1) mounted on a conveyor (2), closing the at inlet of the container (1) and subsequently moving the container (1) along the conveyor (2) to a release position, and removing the items from the container (1) by opening an outlet on the container (1) such that items are released from the container (1) through the outlet essentially solely due to gravitational forces. The invention further relates to a system for transporting items by the method of the invention.

Description

A METHOD OF TRANSPORTING ITEMS

Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for transporting items. The method comprises the steps of delivering items to be transported through at least one closable inlet for accepting items on at least one container mounted on a conveyor, closing the at inlet of the one container and subsequently moving the container along the conveyor to a release position, and removing the items from the container by opening an outlet on the container such that items are released from the container through the outlet essentially solely due to gravitational forces. The invention further relates to a system for transporting items by the method of the invention.

Background of the Invention

In the food and manufacturing industries, many applications have been developed for the transport and/or sorting of manufactured items. Applications using standard conveying and transport means are utilized for moving items from one point along a production line to the next. Additional applications, such as weighing of individual items or bulks of items, are sometimes also used during the transport and/or manufacturing process, and data recorded by such applications can be used to trace or quality-control the various items or batches of items produced.

Standard applications include one or several conveyors for transporting items along a production line. The items can be moved on a conveyor belt, or they can be placed into a container which is located on the conveyor, and is used to transport the items to their destination point, where the container is emptied or its contents otherwise processed. One example of such a use is the transport of luggage at e.g. airports.

It is well established that items being transported on a conveyor can be weighed on the conveyor by means of a dynamic scale, and displacement means such as plastic or metal arms can be used for displacing or moving selected items, based on features such as the type of item or its weight, from the conveyor into a receiving bin. In some applications, the items are dynamically weighed, and allowed to fall off the end of the conveyor, as the conveyor belt turns by approximately 180°. In various industries, including the food industry, there is a need to transport small or intermediate sized items in a secure manner, i.e. without the risk of the items getting lost or contaminated during transport. Methods for performing such reliable transport in an high-throughput manner are lacking. In general, the transport of individual items, rather than bulk items, is often performed at the cost of items getting potentially lost or contaminated or otherwise polluted, either by other items in the production line or from the environment.

In the food processing industry, an additional problem that arises is that transported items may be of various physical properties, i.e. fresh, frozen, semi- frozen or thawed. Meat products tend in particular to become sticky and thus tend to adhere to the surfaces of the items in which they are transported.

In US 5,249,513, an apparatus is described in which fine-textured soybean curd is placed in buckets. The buckets are subsequently heated and covered by placing an inverted container over each bucket. By turning the covered buckets and subsequently moving the inverted container down, the thus produced soybean curd curd can be accommodated in the container from the bucket.

US 4,917,227 discloses a conveyance system for automatically transporting various items such as card, chit or medicine from one position to another within a hospital or the like. Items are conveyed in a linear fashion along the conveyance system, utilizing horizontal conveyors within each floor and vertical conveyors between floors. A flexible lid, which slides along the side wall surfaces of the housing of the container, is also disclosed, along with an associated locking mechanism, assuring that the lid is kept in a closed state when so desired.

The present invention provides a method and a system for transporting items, which has the advantage that transported items can be maintained in a closed container while being routed from one position to another along a conveyor. In this way, the transport and/or sorting mechanism used is less dependent on the physical nature of the product being transported, i.e. whether the product is frozen, fresh, wet or dry. Further, the risk of losing or polluting items is minimized as the containers are kept in a closed position during transport, and the overall throughput of the transporting means is increased.

Description of the Invention

It is an object of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide a method for transporting items. Accordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of transporting items, the method comprising the steps of a. delivering items to be transported through at least one closable inlet for accepting items on at least one container mounted on a conveyor; b. closing the at least one inlet of the at least one container and subsequently moving the at least one container along the conveyor to a release position, wherein the container in its release position has been rotated by more than 90°, with respect to its loading position, around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction; c. removing the items from the at least one container by opening at least one outlet on the at least one container such that items are released from the at least one container through the at least one outlet essentially solely due to gravitational forces.

Thus, the container is maintained in a closed position during the transport, and remains in that position until the release position is reached. Only at that point is the container opened, and the items therein are displaced from the container.

The method of the invention can be used for the transport of any items, provided the items are of dimensions compatible with the dimensions of the containers. In one embodiment, the items are food items. The food items can be, but are not limited to, chicken, including whole, bone-in or deboned chicken pieces, or various other meat products such as beef, veal, pork and lamb, wherein the meat items can be any deboned or bone-in cut.

The containers may be of any suitable dimensions, and can be adjusted accordingly, for the transport of individual items, or batches of items. In the food industry, a common problem is that of keeping track of individual pieces of food while the pieces are transported through the manufacturing process. Thus, in one preferred embodiment, the containers contain one food item each during transport. By such an embodiment, it is possible to securely and reliably transport individual food items. Thus, the risk of losing items, or losing track of items, within the transporting system, is minimized. Furthermore, by moving the items individually in closed containers, the risk of contamination by other food items or by other means, including microorganisms such as bacteria, is minimized. Yet another advantage is that by this method, the physical properties of the transported items are of little concern; the transported items may be frozen, fresh or semifrozen food products.

In one embodiment, the at least one container remains in approximately fixed position with respect to the conveyor during the rotation by more than 90°. This means that as the conveyor rotates, so does the attached container, such that when a rotation of more than 90° is achieved, the items in the containers can be released by gravitational forces by opening the at least one outlet on the container.

The method of the invention has several distinct advantages over previous methods. (1) The physical characteristics of the product being transported is not of importance. The items can be wet, dry, frozen or dry. Even items that are known to be problematic during transport, such as sticky items (chicken meat being one example), can be safely and securely transported and released from the containers by the method of the invention; (2) The fact that the containers are closed during transport until the release position is reached leads to minimal or no loss due to misplaced items, or items that have fallen from the container. Transport using open containers or on conveyor belts can lead to product loss, since slippery items and items that can for example roll by themselves, can fall from the container and/or conveyor, or items can be lost due to overloading. However, by maintaining the container in a closed position until items are to be released from the container, such product loss can be effectively minimized; (3) In an embodiment in which single items are transported in each container, it becomes feasible to transport and deliver single items in a reliable and secure manner, minimizing the risk of contamination of the items or their loss within the system. Furthermore, in such an embodiment it is straightforward to deliver single items of a desirable type, or a mixture of types, into a receiving container; (4) Depending on the specific application, significant increases in throughput can be reached by the present invention, since containers that maximize transport efficiency and throughput can be selected for each application, and the fact that the containers remain closed during transport puts a less demanding requirement on the transport conveyor system being used.

In one embodiment, the at least one closable inlet is positioned on the top surface of the container, when the at least one container is in a position for accepting items. Various shapes and dimensions are possible for the containers and are compatible with the method of the invention, and these are all within the scope of the invention. Thus, the top surface of the container may in one embodiment be flat. Alternatively, the top surface may be tilted, or it may be of a convex or concave shape. Furthermore, the container may have overall an irregular shape, such that its top surface may in fact be represented by a combination of adjacent surfaces that together form the top segment of the container. These and other embodiment of containers compatible with the present invention are known to those skilled in the art.

In another embodiment of the invention, the at least one closeable inlet and the at least one outlet are represented by a single closable opening. In such an embodiment, items are delivered into the container, and the cover or lid is moved to a closed position. The container is subsequently moved to its release position, at which point the cover or lid is moved to an open position. The items within the container are at this point released from the container by gravitational forces, which ensure that essentially all items within the container are released from the container.

The method of the invention can be utilized in various contexts, and can include various upstream and/or downstream applications. Thus, in one aspect of the invention, the method further comprises at least one conveyor for delivering items into the at least one container, and at least one receiving means for accepting items removed from the at least one container. The conveyor delivering items into the container may be replaced by other means for delivering items, such as a robot arm. Items can also be delivered into the container by manual means.

The receiving means can be a conveyor or other compatible conveying means that are capable of accepting the released items, either directly or by means of a container placed on the conveyor. The receiving means can also be comprised of one or several containers, which are either manually or automatically removed from their position for accepting items when a desired, possibly predetermined, amount of items has been delivered into the container.

In one embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises the determination of at least one characteristics of the items being transported. The characteristics may be selected from the group consisting of weight, shape, length, type, colour and condition of the transported items, or any other characteristics that are of importance for the particular application of the invention. The determination of the characteristics of the items may be performed before the items are placed in the at least one container, or it may be performed by means associated with each container.

In a preferred embodiment, the characteristics are performed before items are delivered into each containers. For example, the weight of each item to be transported can be recorded by a dynamic balance associated with a conveyor delivering items into the at least containers. Alternatively, the weight of each items is recorded by a static balance and the individual items are subsequently transported into the containers.

The characteristics of the items is in one embodiment used to determine the position along the conveyor, from which items are to be released from the at least one container. Thus, the location and characteristics of the items in each container can be monitored, so that items with selected characteristics are transported and delivered into preselected containers or onto preselected positions on a transport conveyor. This way, the method is compatible with systems for determining and tracking the charcteristics of items, including their weight, which are frequently used as a selection criteria in e.g. the food production industry. In one alternative embodiment of the invention, the weight of items is monitored during the delivery of items into the at least one container, and the weight of delivered items is used to determine when to stop delivery of items into the at least one container. Such an embodiment can be realized by weighing means being associated with each at least one container, so that the total weight in the container can be tracked. Alternatively, the weight of items is determined continuously, for example by means of a dynamic weight that is positioned along a conveyor, and the sum of weight of items being delivered into each at least one container is monitored continuously.

In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of containers is arranged in a linear fashion along a conveyor, such as an endless conveyor. The endless conveyor may be a conveyor that is largely in a horizontal plane. Alternatively, the conveyor includes sloping sections, so as to move items positioned on the conveyor from one horizontal plane to the next.

In another preferred embodiment, a plurality of containers is arranged in a linear fashion on an endless conveyor, which forms a loop by turning back on itself. This may be realized by two turns of approximately 180° each, although it is also possible that additional turns are present on the conveyor. Furthermore, the turns can vary in their degree of rotation, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, as long as the overall features of an endless conveyor are realized.

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to a system for transporting items, the system comprising:

• a conveyor; • a plurality of containers, each container comprising at least one opening for accepting and delivering items, and covering means for closing the at least one opening; and • a controller, for controlling the position of the covering means on each container;

wherein the containers are mounted on the conveyor and attached thereto, such that when the conveyor is turned around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction, the containers are turned to substantially the same degree.

Thus, the orientation of the containers will vary with the orientation of the conveyor, and the combined action of the orientation of the conveyor and the position of the covering means on each container will determine when items are delivered into and removed from the containers.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one opening for accepting and delivering item is represented by a single opening positioned such that when the covering means is in an open position and the containers are rotated by more than 90° around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction to a release position, items are released from the containers essentially solely by gravitational forces.

Thus, items may be delivered into the containers through the opening. The opening is subsequently closed by moving the covering means to a closed position, and the container moved to its destination position along the conveyor. Movement into this position includes a rotation by at least 90° with respect to the original position of the container. When the container has reached its appropriate destination over a receiving means, the covering means are moved to an open position, the result of which are that the items placed in the container are released from the container by gravitational forces.

The covering means can be comprised by a variety of means, which in general are known to those skilled in the art. The covering means preferably form a tight seal with the container, such that items do not fall through the opening by gravitional forces when the container is rotated and the covering means remain I a closed position. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the covering means comprises a lid that effectively closes the at least one opening such that when the covering means is in a closed position and the container is turned by an angle greater than 90° around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction, the items remain within the container.

It should be appreciated that due to the fact that many alternative variations in the overall shape of the containers are possible, as well as variations in the particular type of items placed in the containers, many alternative embodiments of the covering means are possible. Thus, if solid, dry, non-fragile items are placed in the container, the seal does not have to be as tight as in the case when wet or even semi-liquid items are placed in the containers. Additionally, small items place an increased burden on an efficient seal between the covering means and the container, whereas large items in general do not.

Furthermore, due to the fact that many possible shapes and orientations of the containers and the covering means are possible, there are also many possibilities for the movement of the covering means from a closed to an open position. In one embodiment, the covering means move from a closed to an open position by movement in a plane approximately parallel to the conveyor. In an alternative embodiment, the movement of the covering means from a closed position to an open position is represented by a lateral movement approximately normal to the conveying direction. However, many variations of mechanisms for moving the covering means from a closed to an open position are possible, and are all within the scope of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the side walls of the containers are slanted outwardly from the center of the container, and the top surface of the containers, when the covering means is in a closed position, is substantially flat. In such an embodiment, the covering means can be adapted to move from a closed to an open position by a sliding movement in a plane parallel to the plane of the conveyor. The movement may be perpendicular to the conveying direction, or it can alternatively be in the conveying direction. It should however be appreciated that a combined movement partially perpendicular to the conveying direction and partially parallel to the conveying direction is also possible.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each container comprises a plurality of approximately parallel elongated ridges on the inner surface of the walls of the container, extending from the top edge to the bottom of the container, approximately perpendicular to the top edge. In another preferred embodiment, the containers furthermore comprise a plurality of approximately parallel elongated ridges extending transversely across the inner bottom surface of the container.

The covering means may be controlled by a controller, such that their position can be controlled remotely, by manual, semiautomatic or fully automated means. Thus, the controller may process information about the position of each container along the conveyor, as well as information about the items placed in the container, including but not limited to, information related to the type of items, their number and their individual and/or total weight. Processing of such information can be used to make decisions about the position of the covering means, and subsequent movement of the containers along the conveyor.

Detailed description of the invention

In the following, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail, referring to the figures, in which

Figure 1 represents a view of a conveyor, along which a plurality of containers have been attached; Figure 2 represents a closeup view of a conveyor, showing in greater detail one embodiment in which the covering means are represented by a flat lid, which moves from an open to a closed position by a sliding movement parallel to the conveyor.

Items to be transported are positioned by manual or automatic means into containers 1 in a receiving position, in which a lid 4 is in an open position. A plurality of items with similar or identical properties may be placed in each container. Alternatively, only one item is placed in each container.

After the item or items is placed in the container, the lid 4 is moved to a closed position. The container 1 is subsequently moved along the conveyor 2 to a release position, during which the container is rotated by at least 90° along an horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction. By means of this rotation, the items can be displaced by simply moving the lid 4 to an open position, so as to allow the items to be displaced from the container 1 by gravitational forces.

By suitably connecting additional conveyors, which may be traditional belt conveyors, or conveyors comprising containers for receiving the items, the items can be transported in a secure and reliable manner. The risk of contamination or loss of items is minimized by keeping the containers closed during transport.

A plurality of containers 1 can be coupled together and attached to the conveyor 2. The position of each containers, as well as the closed/open position of each lid 4 can be controlled separately, and conveniently also remotely. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, various embodiments of the conveyor 2 and the containers 1 are possible, so as to suit the particular transport system requirements in question. This will include, but is not limited to, extending the conveyor 2 as needed, including allowing lateral transport whenever necessary, as well as the combination of conveyors of identical or different types. This way, the method and system of the invention can be adapted so as to suit any particular manufacturing and/or delivery system environment.

Claims

1. A method of transporting items, the method comprising the steps of a. delivering items to be transported through at least one closable inlet for accepting items on at least one container mounted on a conveyor; b. closing the at least one inlet of the at least one container and subsequently moving the at least one container along the conveyor to a release position, wherein the container in its release position has been rotated by more than 90°, with respect to its loading position, around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction;

c. removing the items from the at least one container by opening at least one outlet on the at least one container such that items are released from the at least one container through the at least one outlet essentially solely due to gravitational forces.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the items are food items.

3. The method according to claims 1 or 2, wherein one item is transported in each container.

4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein during the rotation by more than 90°, the at least one container remains in approximately fixed position with respect to the conveyor.

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one closable inlet is positioned on the top surface of the container, when the at least one container is in a position for accepting items.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one closeable inlet and the at least one outlet are represented by a single closable opening.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one conveyor for delivering items into the container, and at least one receiving means for accepting items removed from the at least one container.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein items to be transported are delivered by manual means through the at least one closable inlet for accepting items.

9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising determining at least one characteristics of the items placed in the at least one container.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the determination of the at least one characteristics is performed before delivering items into the at least one container.

11. The method according to claims 9 or 10, wherein the at least one characteristics is selected from the group consisting of weight, shape, length, type, colour and condition.

12. The method according to any of the claims 8-11, wherein the at least one characteristics of the items is used to determine the position of the at least one container from which items are to be released from.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one container comprises a plurality of containers arranged in a linear fashion on an endless conveyor.

14. A system for transporting items comprising:

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one opening for accepting and delivering item is represented by a single opening positioned such that when the covering means is in an open position and the containers are rotated by more than 90° around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction to a release position, items are released from the containers essentially solely by gravitational forces.