WO2016062390A1

WO2016062390A1 - Device and method for grouping containers

Info

Publication number: WO2016062390A1
Application number: PCT/EP2015/002059
Authority: WO
Inventors: Heiner Schaefer
Original assignee: Heiner Schaefer
Priority date: 2014-10-24
Filing date: 2015-10-19
Publication date: 2016-04-28
Also published as: DE102014017968A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device and a method for grouping containers (2), comprising a grouping conveyor (14) and at least two multi-axis manipulators (4a, 4b) for regrouping the containers (2) on the grouping conveyor (14), said manipulators (4a, 4b) each comprising a base part (6) that can be displaced along a horizontal Z axis, and a jib (8) which projects from the base part (6) and can be displaced on said base part (6) along a vertical Y axis, at least one gripper head (9, 10) for gripping and repositioning the containers (2) on the grouping conveyor (14) being arranged on each jib so as to be displaceable along an X axis and rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation (11, 12). According to the invention, at least two support-arm manipulators (4a, 4b) are used for the grouping, which project across the grouping conveyor from opposite sides and operate in a shared operating region on the grouping table, the projecting jibs being guided one over the other in circulating motions such that the jibs implement the return stroke and the working stroke alternately.

Description

Apparatus and method for grouping containers

The present invention relates to a device and a method for grouping containers, with a grouping conveyor and at least two multi-axis manipulators for regrouping the container on the Gruppierförderer, the manipulators each along a lying Z-axis movable base part, one on the base part along an upright Y-axis movable, projecting from the base cantilever, on each of which at least one gripping head for gripping and repositioning of the container on the Gruppierförderer along an X-axis movable and rotatable about an upright axis of rotation is arranged.

In palletizing systems, as they are used in the beverage and food industry, the layers to be palleted are sometimes assembled individually or the containers that are brought together to form a pallet, arranged as compact as possible and positioned so that the outside of the pallet position as smooth as possible is and complies with a certain degree. The associated grouping of the container can be done efficiently and integrated into the palletizing on a Gruppierförderer known to be promoted on the packages from one station to the next station. For example, upstream of the grouping conveyor, a feeder conveyor may be provided who allocates the containers to the grouping conveyor, for example with intermittent or stop-and-go operation. Downstream of the grouping conveyor may connect a discharge conveyor on which run the grouped containers from the Gruppierstation, the Gruppierförderer operated continuously or if necessary. Intermittent work, while the containers are grouped on the Gruppierförderer. Upstream and downstream of said Gruppierförderers but other equipment parts such as palletizing tables or other conveyor may be provided.

When grouping the containers are often translationally offset and / or rotated about an axis perpendicular to the Gruppierförderer footprint rotation axis, wherein the translational displacement and / or twisting of the container can be done directly on the Gruppierförderer, the container in contact with the footprint of the Group conveyor be moved and / or twisted. Alternatively or additionally, the containers can also be lifted a little way from the grouping conveyor, at least over a portion of the displacement path or the rotary movement.

The said "containers" may typically be beverage or food packs or other packaging from the beverage and food industries, such as shrink wrap, cartons, trays, plastic crates or other packaging for holding food or beverages, such containers also including containers such as bottles, cans For example, bottles or cans can be gripped and regrouped individually or in groups, but shrink-wrap packs containing, for example, several shrink-wrapped cans may also be used , be grouped in a similar way.

In order to be able to carry out the aforementioned displacement and / or rotation of the containers on the grouping conveyor, multiaxial manipulators are often inserted. sets, which have multi-axially movable gripping heads, by means of which the containers can be gripped, moved and / or rotated. The said gripping heads can in this case in principle be designed differently, for example as a single gripper for gripping a single container or as a multiple gripper for gripping several containers at the same time, as a pliers-like clamping gripper or as an open stop gripper or in any other way, which allows to offset said container and / or to twist.

From DE 102 19 129 B4 a grouping system is known in which a portal-like manipulator comprises a gripping head which is mounted on a yoke, which is movable along two parallel guide rails extending to the right and left of Gruppierförderer. By moving the gripping head along the transverse yoke, moving the crosshead along the longitudinal guides and rotating the gripping head about an upright axis of rotation, the containers on the grouping conveyor can be displaced and rotated and thereby grouped in the desired manner. The performance of this known grouping device is determined essentially by the operating speed of the portal-like manipulator, in particular its travel speeds along its axes.

From EP 27 27 689 A1 a further grouping device is known in which a plurality of gantry robots are assigned to a grouping conveyor in order to displace and / or to twist and thus group containers conveyed on the grouping conveyor in the desired manner. The gantry robots sit on common longitudinal guides that extend to the right and left of the grouping conveyor and can be moved individually so that the gripper heads of the different gantry robots can be used in different work areas, whereby the work areas can overlap. However, in each case a gantry robot provided downstream must be moved out of the collision area of the respective gantry robot in advance or in advance in order not to obstruct the working stroke of a respective gantry robot. As a result, this leads to a group-wise method in which the individual gantry robots in Essentially all at the same time forwards or all backwards at the same time. This results in very large mass oscillations, in particular taking into account a fast return driving against the conveying direction of the grouping conveyor to keep loss times due to the idle stroke low.

From DE 20 2005 015 268 U1 a further device for handling objects on a moving conveyor is known, wherein the individual gripping heads of this device rotate according to the mill-wheel principle and to process a common working area on the conveyor recurrently. The gripping heads are arranged movable and rotatable on cross members, said cross members endlessly circulate on annularly closed guide carriers. Although this mill wheel principle avoids the previously described vibrations due to inertia, but leads to a low flexibility of the system. Due to the annular closed guideways for the cross member, the length of the working stroke and, concomitantly, the length of the return stroke can not be variably adapted to different Gruppieraufgaben. In addition, the precision of the gripping operation suffers because the gripper heads are tilted when approaching on a container to be gripped, as they drive through the connecting arc between the upper and lower guide rail sections when driving down at the beginning of the power stroke.

From EP 122 31 21 B1 a device for forming layers of containers is also known, in which a plurality of articulated robots are arranged in succession on opposite sides of a conveyor in order to grasp and displace containers located on said conveyor. Although the articulated robots have slightly overlapping workspaces. Nevertheless, the performance of the system is limited, since during the return stroke of a gantry robot in the working area assigned to this no container manipulation can take place. An empty return stroke is required per working surface of an articulated robot, so that a corresponding number of articulated robots must be arranged one after the other and a large system length is required. On this basis, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved device and an improved method of the type mentioned at the outset, which avoid the disadvantages of the prior art and further develop the latter in an advantageous manner. In particular, an efficient, high-performance grouping of containers is to be achieved, which is flexibly adaptable to different grouping tasks, without requiring large system lengths and a high number of manipulators or causing vibration problems due to high inertia.

According to the invention, the object is achieved by a device according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 17. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

It is therefore proposed to use for grouping at least two Tragarm- manipulators that collar from opposite sides on the Gruppierförderer and edit a common workspace on the grouping table, the cantilever arms are performed in revolving movements over each other, so that the boom alternately return stroke and working stroke. While a boom is performing its work stroke, that is, performing the manipulation task on the grouping conveyor, the other boom, having completed its working stroke, may perform the return stroke and be carried over the boom that is currently operating. According to the invention, the device is characterized in that the manipulators are arranged on opposite sides of the Gruppierförderers, the cantilevers from the opposite sides respectively over the Gruppierförderer, so that the manipulators with their gripping heads have a common working area on the Gruppierförderer, wherein a control device for driving Y-axis and Z-axis drives in such a way that the outriggers of the manipulators travel cyclically over one another in circulation paths and process the common working area on the grouping conveyor successively recurring. As a result, the performance of the device can be considerably increased. In particular, there is no dead time during the return stroke. The time required for the return stroke of the one manipulator, the other manipulator can use to edit the common workspace. In this case, the alternating teeth of return stroke and working stroke of the two manipulators must not be formed exactly overlapping. Depending on whether the two manipulators perform exactly the same or different manipulation tasks for which different periods of time are required, the working strokes can also be partially executed in parallel or overlapping, in which case the leading manipulator, after he has finished his stroke, only the remaining part of the Working stroke of the trailing manipulator uses for his return stroke.

Advantageously, the drives of the two manipulators are freely selectable controllable, so that depending on the task different trajectories for the orbital motion and / or different speed profiles are feasible for this purpose.

In a further development of the invention, the control device can have trajectory adjustment means for variably setting the trajectory of the orbits of the arms. As a result, the orbits, along which the arms run cyclically over one another, adapted to the respective task and optimized for this purpose. For example, a substantially oval orbit may be converted into a rectangular orbit and / or a circular segmented orbit and / or a triangular orbit and / or an elliptical orbit, if this is more favorable for the manipulation task. Alternatively or in addition to changing the contour of the orbits or the contour type of the orbits and the dimensions of the orbits can be changed while maintaining the contour type. For example, in the case of an oval orbit, the length of the longer oval axis and / or the length of the shorter oval axis can be changed. In particular, the height of the orbit, in particular the course of the return stroke, can be adapted to the respective manipulation task, in which case in particular the height of the containers to be manipulated can be taken into account. Such a height adjustment of the orbit can in principle be done manually by said trajectory adjustment means. Alternatively, or in addition to such a manual adjustability, an automatic adjustment in response to a signal indicating the height of the can take place. Such a container height signal can be provided, for example, by a suitable sensor device, which detects the container height, or else by a process guide device, in which the respective processed containers are stored.

The said adjustability of the contour of the trajectory of the orbits of the boom is advantageously manipulator-individually possible. The orbits of the two manipulators need not be the same. While for the one manipulator, for example, a parallel to the conveying direction of Gruppierförderers longer orbit may be advantageous, it is possible for the other manipulator to set a shorter orbit length here.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the control device may comprise speed control means for variably setting the speed of the boom along the orbits, wherein said speed control means are advantageously designed such that for different portions of the orbits each different travel speeds of the boom are adjustable. For example, a higher speed can be set for the return stroke section of the orbits than for the working stroke section of the orbit.

Advantageously, said speed control means are infinitely variable in this case, so that the speed along said orbits can be gently and smoothly increased and lowered. Advantageously, said speed control means are designed to be manipulator-specific, so that for each manipulator the speed along the orbit of its arm can be adjusted individually and independently of the other manipulator. In particular, different speeds can be set for the manipulators in mutually corresponding orbit sections. For example, during the return stroke portion of its orbit, one manipulator may travel at a higher speed than the other manipulator during its return orbit of the orbit.

In order to achieve low vibrations of the overall system and compensate for the inertia of the manipulators against each other or compensate, the control device may be formed in an advantageous development of the invention such that at least the Z-axis drives of the two manipulators are controlled such that the two manipulators in the direction of Z axis moved in opposite directions. As mentioned above, there is no need to provide complete reverse in terms of time and / or distance traveled, since some vibration damping can be achieved even if incomplete backlash is not provided. Advantageously, however, the control device can set it up so that there is a substantial degree of opposition between the Z-axis movements of the manipulators.

As an alternative or in addition to such a counter-rotation of the Z-axis movements, the height movements in the direction of the Y-axis can advantageously also be carried out at least partially in opposite directions. The design of the control device with respect to the control of the Y-axis drives can be analogous insofar. However, compensating for the inertia in the Z-axis direction is more effective in reducing vibration because movements in the Y-axis direction are better trapped by the ground and thus bring less vibration problems. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the gripping heads are held over the entire orbit of the boom in the same, ready-to-reach angular position or orientation. As a result, on the one hand vibrations and torsions can be avoided. On the other gripping problems can be avoided at the beginning of the power stroke due to tilting of the gripping heads, which on the one hand the startup times or cycle times can be shortened and on the other disorders of the system can be avoided due to gripping problems. In particular, the gripping heads can be kept with their axes of rotation over the entire orbit of the boom, at least approximately always perpendicular to a plane defined by the footprint of the Gruppierförderers level.

In a further development of the invention, said gripping heads can be rotated relative to the support arm of the manipulator not only about said upright rotation axis, but also be at least a bit adjusted in the direction of the Y-axis, so be moved vertically. This can be used, on the one hand, to lift the containers gripped on the grouping conveyor a little, in order to reduce or eliminate the frictional resistance when displacing and / or twisting. If the height movability of the gripper heads relative to the support arm is greater, for example by attaching the gripper heads laterally on the support arm, an upward movement of the gripper heads can also be used to reduce the required height of the support arm during the return stroke, since the gripper head, as it were, moved out of the collision area when the boom passes over the other boom.

In a further development of the invention, three or more manipulators may be provided, which may each comprise a movable along a Z-axis base part, a movable on the base part along an upright Y-axis, projecting from the base member cantilever, in each case at least one gripping head for gripping and repositioning the container on the Gruppierförderer along an X-axis movable and can be arranged rotatably about an upright axis of rotation. In each case, two manipulators arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the grouping conveyor, wherein the arms of these pairwise cooperating manipulators can circle around each other in the manner described, ie travel cyclically over one another in orbits and successively process the common working area on the grouping conveyor.

In an advantageous development of the invention, in this case the control device can be designed such that the assignment of the manipulators is variable and optionally different manipulators can be combined in pairs or can work together in pairs. For example, if four manipulators are provided, two of which are arranged on a right side and two on a left side of the grouping conveyor, the control device may provide, for example, in a first operating mode, that a first manipulator on the right works alone, the second manipulator on the right side with a first manipulator on the left side working in pairs and a second manipulator on the left side in turn working alone. For example, when the controller switches to a second mode of operation, the first right hand manipulator and the first left hand manipulator may work in pairs and the second right hand manipulator and the second left hand manipulator work in pairs with each other Orbiting in the described manner. Alternatively or additionally, in a third mode of operation, said first manipulators may work in pairs on the right and left sides and the second manipulators on the right and left sides may each operate individually.

Depending on the number of manipulators, different configurations of cooperation can be provided here. Advantageously, the control device can variably change the assignment of the manipulators.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to preferred embodiments and associated drawings. In the drawings show: a schematic, abstracted, perspective view of a device for grouping of containers according to a first embodiment of the invention, according to the two support arm manipulators is provided with one gripping head to group one-line supplied bundles, but also a multi-lane feeding is basically possible a schematic, abstracted, perspective view of a device for grouping of containers according to a further embodiment of the invention, wherein two support arm manipulators each have two gripping heads on their boom to group two-lane bundles, a schematic, abstracted and perspective view of a device similar 2, wherein in comparison with FIG. 2, a two-lane longitudinal guide of the base part of the two manipulators is provided, comprising a lower guide track and an upper guide track, in order better to absorb tilting moments of the manipulator. a schematic, abstracted and perspective view of a device for grouping of containers, here a single manipulator 4a, followed by a pair of cooperating Tragarmmanipulatoren 4b + c and subsequently another manipulator 4d is provided, wherein similar to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the pair of support arm Manipulators 4b + c, each with two gripping heads, for grouping, eg, two-lane containers, and arranged on opposite sides of the grouping conveyor, the individual manipulators 4a and 4d each having, for example, a single head, 5 shows a schematic, abstracted and perspective illustration of a device according to a grouping of cans according to a further embodiment of the invention, which is similar to FIG. 3 and differs substantially from FIG. 3 by the series connection of two base parts lying below and overhead guideways to better absorb tilting moments, wherein the guide system of the two base parts is open to each other, so that it is possible that at least temporarily at least one of the manipulators of the one base part penetrates into the region of the other base part and by the overlapping use the travel ranges in the z-direction so that the overall construction length can be reduced, but a different pair assignment can also be effected, as shown for example in FIG. 4,

Fig. 6: a schematic, abstracted and perspective view of a

Device for grouping containers according to a further embodiment of the invention, wherein here in the conveying direction of Gruppierförderers several pairs of manipulators are arranged one behind the other, wherein a first and a second pair of manipulators each having a plurality of gripping heads, which can move and / or rotate the container and mutually different offset and / or Verdrehaufgaben can perform, the two pairs of double-headed manipulators are followed by two more manipulators, each of which can perform a lateral displacement and / or centering,

7-9: schematic representations of the orbits of the gripping heads of pairwise associated manipulators showing different orbits compared to each other for different gripper head configurations and on the other hand in comparison to each other different orbits of the orbits, 10 is a schematic perspective view of a Tragarm- manipulator, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 can be used, and

11 shows a schematic perspective view of the arrangement of two

Manipulators on opposite sides of a grouping conveyor.

It should first be noted with reference to FIGS. 1-9: two arrows in the indicated path describe a pairwise working of two opposing manipulators, an arrow in the path line a single operation of a manipulator. This also results in the exemplary assignment of pairwise and individually working manipulators.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the grouping device 1 may comprise a grouping conveyor 14, which may be formed, for example, as an endlessly circulating belt conveyor on which containers 2 can be conveyed along a conveying direction 3. The mentioned grouping conveyor 14 can hereby be supplied with one or more lanes in the aforementioned containers 2, with the grouping conveyor 14 being preceded by a feed conveyor 5, to which the grouping conveyor 14 can connect. Said feed conveyor 5 can also be designed as an endlessly circulating belt conveyor and serve as a feed conveyor, which can be driven intermittently, for example, to allocate the containers 2 individually or in groups at desired intervals to the grouping conveyor 14. The feed conveyor 5 can be designed as a single web or comprise only one feed web 5a, as shown in FIG. 1 or comprising two or more feed webs 5b, in order to be able to feed the bundles 2 to the grouping conveyor 14 in a plurality of paths, cf. Fig. 2 to 6.

At the downstream end of the grouping conveyor 14 further components of a palletizing system can connect, for example an outlet conveyor or discharge conveyor 16, which is only indicated in FIG. 1. Said grouping conveyor 14 may be formed integrally with only one continuous conveyor track or be formed in several pieces with a plurality of adjoining conveyor tracks or, depending on the grouping task, also several grouping conveyors 14 may be arranged one behind the other, cf. Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.

As the figures show, the grouping conveyor 14 has at least two manipulators 4a and 4b associated therewith which cooperate with one another or form a manipulator pair. The at least two manipulators 4a and 4b are arranged on opposite sides of the grouping conveyor 14 and can process a common working area 13 on the grouping conveyor 14, more precisely in this common working area 13 move containers 2 translationally on the grouping conveyor 14 and / or rotate them and thereby regroup them that is, compared with the delivery on the feed conveyor 5 and the arrangement given here in other positions and orientations are brought to each other, for example, to form a palletizing, which is then stacked by a palletizer on a pallet or there already located palletizing.

The two manipulators 4a and 4b can in this case be substantially identical and each comprise a base part 6 which can be movably mounted on an eg ground-level guide track 7 along a Z-axis, as for example FIG. 11 or also FIG shows in more detail, wherein said guideway 7 may be formed by a bottom track or a floor mounted guide rail. The base parts 6 each comprise a Z-axis drive, by means of which they can be moved independently of one another in the direction of said Z-axis, wherein said Z-axis or the guide track 7 can extend in particular approximately parallel to the conveying direction 3 of the grouping conveyor 14 ,

As shown in FIG. 3, instead of or in particular, in addition to a ground-level guideway 7a for the base part 6, an overhead guideway may also be used 7b be provided. By providing two spaced, parallel, in particular at different heights arranged guideways 7a and 7b for a manipulator tilting moments on the base part 6 due to the cantilevered formation of the manipulators with only on one side of the Gruppierförderers 14 provided guide or storage the base part 6 act, be better intercepted. As a result, instead of an excessively massive formation of a single guideway, each of the plurality of guideways 7a and 7b can be made slimmer and lighter.

Advantageously, the base parts 6 of the manipulators 4a and 4b can be mounted in each case with their lower and upper end sections on lower and upper guide tracks 7a and 7b so as to be displaceable in the direction of the Z axis, cf. FIG. 3 and FIG. 5.

The said base part 6 advantageously forms an upright portal carrier, for example in the form of a post, and carries a cantilevered arm 8, which is movably mounted on the base part 6 along an upright Y-axis, so that the arm 8 can be raised and lowered, cf. Fig. 10. A lifting drive or Y-axis drive, for example in the form of a spindle drive, toothed belt, rack or a rope circulating drive is provided here for raising and lowering of said boom 8.

The said boom 8 cantilevered advantageously transversely to the guideway 7 in a horizontal orientation freely from the base part 6 and extends freely cantilevered across the Gruppierförderer 14 away. Said boom 8 may have a horizontal, in particular substantially horizontal longitudinal extent.

At least one gripping head 9 is provided on each of said manipulators 3 and 4, wherein two or more gripping heads 9 and 0 can be mounted on a boom 8, in particular in the case of multi-track feeding of the containers, each in the longitudinal direction of the arm 8 at this are movably mounted and sweep a working area, which advantageously includes an adjacent to the ground-level guideway 7 area or in front of said guideway 7 and can cover substantially the entire width of the Gruppierförderers. Such a multi-head design of the manipulators, for example, Figs. 2 to 5. The longitudinal axis of the boom 8 forms the X-axis, which extends transversely to the Z-axis and transverse to the Y-axis.

The boom 8 may in this case have a length which substantially corresponds to the clear distance between the base parts 6 of the oppositely arranged manipulators 4a and 4b, but is slightly smaller than said clear distance, so that the manipulators in the direction of the Z-axis to each other can pass without the boom collides with the base part 6 of the other manipulator.

The one or more gripping heads 9 and 10 may be movably mounted on the respective arm 8 along a common guideway in said X-axis or may be arranged on two separate guideways, so that the two gripping heads 9 and 10 are movable past each other or At least at the same height are mobile. Optionally, in this case the boom 8 may also be split or formed in the form of a Zweifinger- or Mehrfingergabel whose fingers are movable together on the base part 6 up and down and parallel to each other, next to each other cantilevered freely from the base part 6. In this case, each gripping head advantageously has its own X-axis drive, so that the gripping heads can be moved independently of one another in the direction of the X-axis.

The gripping heads 9, 10 are in each case about an upright axis of rotation 11 and 12, which in particular parallel to the Y-axis of the manipulator 4 and / or perpendicular to the plane which forms the bearing surface of the grouping conveyor 14, opposite, by means of suitable rotary actuators the boom 8 rotatable, so that each gripping head 9 and 10 each movable in the direction of the X-axis and a Rotary axis parallel to the Y-axis and / or perpendicular to the plane which forms the bearing surface of the Gruppierförderers 14, is rotatable.

Each manipulator 4 may have further axes of movement. For example, the base part 6 or its tower-like, upright support member on which the boom 8 is moved to be rotated about an upright, in particular Y-axis-parallel axis of rotation, with the boom 8 and the attached gripping heads on both sides of the Guideway 7 or to work on the guideway 7. For example, the boom 8 can be rotated or tilted relative to the base part 6, in particular about an axis of rotation parallel to the longitudinal axis of the boom 8 or parallel to said X-axis. Also, the gripping heads may be movable about further axes relative to the boom 8.

In particular, a mobility of the gripping heads 9, 10 can be provided relative to the respective arm 8 in the direction of the Y-axis or in the height direction in order to raise and lower the gripping head relative to the boom 8 a bit. This may in particular be advantageous in order to be able to lift a gripped container 2 a piece from the grouping conveyor 14 in order to minimize the friction on the Gruppierfördereroberfläche when moving and / or twisting, without having to process the whole boom, which in particular with multiple gripping heads on a boom 8 causes greater independence of the gripping heads, but also reduces vibrations due to movements of the entire boom 8 just in the sensitive gripping operation.

The gripping means on the gripping heads 9 and 10 can in principle be designed differently, for example suction or vacuum grippers and / or frictional and / or positive clamping grippers or even only after the stop principle working open gripper eg. In the form of stop or centering comprise. Advantageously, pliers-like grippers with mutually movable and away from each other movable gripper parts can be mounted on the greyheads. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, the manipulators 4a and 4b with their gripping heads 9 and 9 and 10 cyclically successively each the common working area 13, in which case grab the grippers 9 and 10 each individual container 2 or groups of containers and in the desired manner offset or twist to fulfill the grouping task piece by piece.

Here, the boom 8 and thus the gripping heads mounted thereon 9 are moved to annular closed orbits 15, so that the boom 8 of the associated manipulators 4a and 4b cycle over one another, in particular such that one of the boom 8 in a further lowered working stroke one or more Container 2 manipulated, wherein the boom 8 can be moved with the grouping conveyor 14 in the conveying direction 3, while the other boom 8 can be moved back in a raised return position counter to the conveying direction, so that the two arms 8 ride over each other. Reached the one boom 8 the end portion of his working, this boom 8 is raised, while the other boom, which has carried out its return stroke and has reached the end portion of its return stroke, is lowered again and thus, so to speak, can begin its working stroke. The arms 8 of the two manipulators 4a and 4b are thus at least partially overlapping in time to each other moved in opposite directions, so that the working stroke of a manipulator 4a for the return stroke of the other manipulator 4b is used and vice versa. As a result, a dead time during the return stroke of a manipulator can be avoided, since during this time - at least during part of this time - the other manipulator performs its working stroke.

To describe said orbit 15, the Z and Y drives of the manipulators 4a and 4b are controlled by a control device 100 in a corresponding manner. In this case, the arms 8 of two associated manipulators 4a and 4b can travel the same orbit 15 or corresponding orbits 15 or else depart from each other different orbits 15. The orbit 15 of a boom 8 may have a different contour than the orbit 15 of the other boom. 8 Regardless of the equality or diversity of the orbits 15 of the two arms 8, said arms 8 can also travel their orbits 15 at different speeds. For example, one arm 8 can travel its return stroke or the return stroke section of the revolving path 15 faster than the other arm 8, in particular if the working stroke of the one arm 8 lasts longer and as a result a compensation is achieved. Overall, the speeds are coordinated to one another such that the boom 8 does not approach each other, wherein the movements of the boom 8 in particular can be coordinated so that they perform at least a large part of their working and return to each other in opposite directions. As a result, a considerable damping of vibrations can be achieved.

As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the orbits 15 can be set freely selectable, in particular, they can be changed in height, and their length can be changed in the direction of the Z-axis. Alternatively or additionally, the shapes of the trajectories, for example the transitions of Z-axis movements in Y-axis movements, can also be varied.

Advantageously, the orbits 15 may at least approximately have a rectangular, possibly. Rounded in the corners contouring and / or an oval contouring, advantageously at least the working stroke in lowered boom position can describe a straight orbit section parallel to the Z-axis and / or lowering and / or or lifting the gripping heads at the beginning and at the end of working and return stroke can have a predominantly perpendicular to the plane of the support surface of the grouping conveyor 14 guided section, see. By such a vertical lowering on the Gruppierförderer 14 through the gripping process can be carried out precisely and the respective gripping head are brought collision-free into its gripping position, even with narrow container intervals. As shown in FIG. 4, two or more manipulators 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d may be provided on each side of the grouping conveyor 14, wherein the said manipulators 4a to 4d may each be designed as drawn in FIG. 10 and in each case from one side over cantilever grouping conveyor 14. Depending on the grouping task, the manipulators may each comprise one or more gripper heads.

As a comparison of FIGS. 4 to 6 shows, the manipulators 4 a to 4 f can in this case be assigned to one another in different ways, wherein the pairwise assignment of the manipulators can also be variable over time. For example, the following assignment options can be provided for each side of two manipulators: pair pairs, ie two manipulators arranged on opposite sides of the grouping conveyor 14, are assigned to each other in pairs and carry out the previously described circulating movement, which guides the arms 8 of the paired manipulators over one another , Other assignment options are: single-pair single, single-single pair or single-pair single, cf. FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

Advantageously, said control device 100 can in this case variably design or change the named assignment, so that, depending on the grouping task, the manipulators in different configurations can be assigned to one another in pairs or can also work individually.

As FIGS. 7 to 9 show, the rotary head axes 11 and 12 of the gripper heads 9 and 10 are advantageously always perpendicular to the surface of the grouping conveyor 14 independently of the contouring of the trajectories of the circulating path 15.

Regardless of the aforementioned assignment of the multiple manipulators per grouping conveyor side, the manipulators 4a and 4c or 4b and 4d arranged on one side of the grouping conveyor 14 can each be movable on a common guideway 7 in the direction of the Z axis, in which case only one guideway, for example, lying down, provided or also each side two spaced apart, arranged at different heights guideways 7a and 7b can be provided, see. Fig. 5.

Alternatively, it would also be possible to store the manipulators arranged on the same side of the grouping conveyor 14 on separate guideways.

The several successive manipulators or manipulator pairs can perform the same or different grouping tasks. For example, a first manipulator or a first pair of manipulators can only effect a translatory displacement of a container 2 in the XZ direction and a second manipulator or a second pair of manipulators perform only one container rotation about an axis parallel to the Y axis, whereby, of course, a pair of manipulators also translates here shift and twist and another pair of manipulators only move or only twist, or even several successively arranged manipulators or manipulator pairs while both can move and rotate, but in this case can perform different shifts and / or different rotations.

The mentioned grouping functions can be carried out here on at least one individual container 2 or simultaneously on a group of containers 2, wherein several successive manipulators or pairs of manipulators can each group individual containers or groups of several containers or alternatively individual containers and container groups group.

As a comparison of FIGS. 4 to 6 shows, several manipulators or manipulator pairs can use the same grouping conveyor, cf. Alternatively, each pair of associated manipulators 4a and 4b on the one hand and 4c and 4d on the other hand may each have its own grouping conveyor 14, with the plurality of grouping conveyors 14 arranged one behind the other are, cf. 5). Advantageously, such multiple grouping conveyors 14 can each have their own grouping conveyor drive, wherein the grouping conveyor drives mentioned can be actuated independently of one another, in particular by the control device 100.

With regard to the aforementioned assignment of the manipulators to one or more grouping conveyors 14, mixed forms may also be provided. For example, two manipulator pairs can use a common grouping conveyor 14, while further downstream manipulators 4e and 4f can each have a single grouping conveyor assigned to them, cf. Fig. 6.

The supply of the container 2 can be done in a fundamentally different manner, for example, each Zuförderbahn 5a, 5b in the form of successive individual packages 2 with gap behind each other and / or side by side and / or multiple packs as a block close together in close succession and / or side by side.

When feeding and allocation of the container 2 by means of a plurality of feed conveyor or a plurality of feed paths 5a and 5b, the supply and allocation advantageously in the same time window or in at least overlapping time windows done so that when using multiple gripping heads 9 and 10 per X-axis in a working stroke along the X-axis as many heads of the X-axis are loaded.

The positioning of the gripping heads 9, 10 of the manipulators 4 can be advantageously controlled by distance measuring systems such as laser distance measurement, incremental encoder, bar code reader or camera systems of the control device 100.

Claims

claims

A device for grouping containers (2), comprising a grouping conveyor (14) and at least two multi-axis manipulators (4a, 4b) for regrouping the containers on the grouping conveyor (14), wherein the manipulators (4a, 4b) each have one along a lying Z-axis movable base part (6), one on the base part (6) along an upright Y-axis movable, from the base part (6) projecting boom (8) comprise, on which in each case at least one gripping head (9, 10) for gripping and Repositioning the container on the Gruppierförderer (14) along an X-axis movable and about an upright pivot axis (11, 12) is rotatably arranged, characterized in that the manipulators (4a, 4b) are arranged on opposite sides of the Gruppierförderers (14) , wherein the arms (8) from the opposite sides in each case over the Gruppierförderer collar, so that the manipulators (4a, 4b) with their gripping heads (9, 10) has a common working area on the Gr up-feed conveyor (14), wherein a control device (100) for driving Y-axis and Z-axis drives such that the arms (8) of the manipulators in orbits cyclically over one another drive and successively the common work area on the Gruppierförderer (14) edit, is provided.

2. Device according to the preceding claim, wherein the

Control device (100) has trajectory adjustment means for variably adjusting the trajectory of the orbits of the arms (8).

3. Device according to the preceding claim, wherein the trajectory adjustment means of the control device (100) manipulator-individually formed such that the orbit of each boom (8) is individually adjustable and / or for the orbits of the boom (8) different paths are adjustable.

4. Device according to one of the two preceding claims, wherein the

Web course setting means of the control device (100) are formed such that the height of the orbits in the region of Rückhubabschnitten the orbits, in which the gripping heads (9, 10) passes over the boom (8) of the respective other manipulator (4a, 4b) , in dependence on a height of the container to be grouped (2) on the Gruppierförderer (14) is adjustable.

5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the

Control device (100) speed control means for variably adjusting the speed of the boom (8) along the orbits, wherein the speed control means are designed such that for different portions of the orbits each different travel speeds of the boom (8) adjustable, in particular continuously variable adjustable, wherein the speed control means are manipulator-individually designed such that the speed of each boom (8) is individually adjustable along its orbit and / or the speeds of the boom (8) are mutually differently adjustable in mutually corresponding orbit sections.

6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the

Control device (100) the Z-axis drives of the two manipulators (4a, 4b) to control such that the two manipulators (4a, 4b) in the direction of the Z-axis to each other in opposite directions.

7. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the gripping heads (9, 10) with their axes of rotation (11, 12) over the entire orbit of the boom (8) at least approximately always perpendicular to one of the footprint of the Gruppierförderers (14) defined plane are held.

8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the gripping heads (9, 10) are arranged vertically movable on the arms (8) in the direction of the upright Y-axis.

9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein on the arms (8) each at least two gripping heads (9,10) about at least one axis of rotation (11, 12) are rotatably arranged, wherein the gripping heads (9, 10) preferably each one own, parallel to the Y-axis of rotation (1, 12) are rotatably arranged and are rotatable independently of each other by means of rotary actuators.

10. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the gripping heads (9, 10) each pivotable about a Z-axis parallel to the tilt axis and / or about an axis parallel to the X-axis pivot axis and arranged by tilting / swivel drives, preferably independently, tiltable / pivotable.

11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the base part (6) forms a standing, post-like portal which is movable on a lower guide track (7) along the Z-axis and the boom (8) carries on the base part ( 6) is mounted raised and lowered and cantilevered freely from the base part (6) transversely to the Z-axis, wherein the gripping head (9, 10) under said boom (8) are arranged hanging.

12. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the base part (6) on two in the direction of the Z-axis extending guideways (7a, 7b) is held movable, wherein the two guide tracks (7a, 7b) are spaced apart in the direction of the Y-axis, in particular an overlying and an underlying guideway (7a, 7b) form.

13. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the gripping heads (9, 10) removably mounted, in particular tool-free interchangeable gripping means comprises.

14. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the X-axis is aligned transversely to the Z-axis and transverse to the Y-axis.

15. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein three, four or more manipulators (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f) are provided, wherein the control device (100) is designed such that at least one of the manipulators with various others Manipulators to a pair summarized and pairwise cooperative operable.

16. Device according to the preceding claim, wherein the control device (100) is designed such that at least one of the manipulators selectively operable individually or with one of the other manipulators pairwise summarized and pairwise cooperative operable.

17. A method for grouping of containers (2) on a grouping conveyor (14), wherein the container of at least two multi-axis manipulators, the projecting from opposite sides of the Gruppierförderers forth on the Gruppierförderer (14) cantilevers (8), where respectively at least a gripping head is rotatable and longitudinally movably mounted, gripped, translationally offset and / or rotated and thereby regrouped on the Gruppierförderer (14), characterized in that the manipulators (4a, 4b) with their arms (8) in orbits cyclically over one another and a common working area on the Gruppierförderer (14) is processed by the arms (8) along a Arbeitshubabschnitts of the orbits successively recurring.