WO2016142841A1

WO2016142841A1 - Sorting device for conveyor

Info

Publication number: WO2016142841A1
Application number: PCT/IB2016/051282
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giampiero BOLSIERI
Original assignee: Bolsieri Giampiero
Priority date: 2015-03-10
Filing date: 2016-03-07
Publication date: 2016-09-15

Abstract

A sorting device for conveyor comprises two vertical rows of wheels (1) each of which is mounted on a supporting structure (2) able to provide the wheel (1) with a capacity for independent rotation on its own axis and around a vertical axis passing through the center of the wheel (1) so as to be adjustable in the horizontal plane between a rest position in which its axis of rotation is perpendicular to the conveying direction and an operative position in which said axis is oriented to the right or to the left, the device further comprising a drive mechanism which rotates all the wheels (1) and each row of vertical wheels (1 ) being divided into two or more groups of wheels (1) that can be oriented independently in the horizontal plane through respective orientation mechanisms.

Description

SORTING DEVICE FOR CONVEYOR

The present invention relates to sorting devices for conveyors, and in particular to a sorting device comprising at least one row of wheels actuated by a same motor but divided into two or more groups that can be oriented independently in the horizontal plane.

It is known that a conveyor provided with an automatic sorting device, hereinafter referred to as "sorter", substantially consists of a series of conveying sections between which are formed the sorting stations. In each station a sorting device can divert a parcel from the main path by directing it towards a lateral bay for later processing, or remain in the rest position if the parcel should not be diverted but only conveyed to the next station.

A typical prior art device such as that described in NL 1040341 is constituted by a module comprising at least two rows of wheels that are vertically arranged and mounted on the module so as to be adjustable in the horizontal plane between the rest position, in which their axes of rotation are perpendicular to the conveying direction of the parcels, and an operative position in which said axes are oriented to the right or to the left for the deviation of the parcel towards a lateral bay (typically with a maximum angle of 45°). The presence of this wheeled module poses limits to the performance of the sorter, determining the minimum size of the parcels that can be sorted by the sorter as well as the maximum speed of the conveyor and thus the productivity of the sorter.

In fact, in the general case in which a first parcel should be routed towards a bay adjacent to a sorting station and a second parcel that follows it should on the contrary be routed towards a more distant bay, the second parcel must wait until the first parcel has completed its lateral deviation and the wheeled module has returned to the rest position before being able to pass over said module. The same applies of course in case the first parcel should be routed towards a bay adjacent to a first side of the sorting station, for example to the left, and the second parcel should be routed towards a bay adjacent to a second side of the sorting station, for example to the right.

Since a wheeled module typically includes 3 or 4 rows of wheels, the gap between two successive conveying sections is quite large and the module operating time is quite long because of the time necessary for the lateral deviation of each sorted parcel. Consequently, the separation time between two consecutive parcels is relatively long and implies a low speed of the conveyor and/or a large distance between the two parcels, which are both factors that negatively affect productivity.

A further drawback of prior art devices derives from the fact that in order to divert a parcel, regardless of its size, it is always necessary to orient a whole row of wheels even if only a part of said row (maybe a minimal part if the parcel is small ) is actually acting on the parcel, as shown in the figures of said NL 1040341. Accordingly, an orientation mechanism dimensioned to move the whole row of wheels presents greater cost, bulkiness, inertia and power consumption compared to a mechanism which could only orient the wheels affected by the parcel to be diverted. Moreover, the supporting structures of the wheels which do not act on the parcel suffer unnecessary wear since they might remain in the rest position rather than rotate back and forth.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a sorting device which overcomes the above drawbacks. This object is achieved by means of a device in which the wheels of each row, while being always set in rotation by a same motor, are divided into two or more groups that can be oriented independently in the horizontal plane by respective independent orientation mechanisms.

A first important advantage of the device according to the present invention is to allow to reduce or even cancel out the distance between two parcels with different destinations if they are previously positioned on the conveyor so as to be aligned with the group of wheels which must act on them. In other words, in a conventional device if a first parcel must be routed towards a bay and a second parcel must be routed to another bay the second parcel must be spaced enough to give time to the wheeled module to divert the first parcel and then return to the rest position, whereas in the present device the two parcels may even be placed side by side since each one can be directed toward the respective bay by a respective group of wheels of a same row, both groups of wheels operating simultaneously and independently.

Note that the pre-alignment of the parcels can be obtained in various ways, both manually and with other devices among which also a previous sorting device which is not limited to conveying a parcel to be sorted in a subsequent sorting station without diverting it but rather diverts it enough to align it with the group of wheels that must subsequently sort it.

A second significant advantage of the present device stems from the fact that each orientation mechanism acts only on a part of the row of wheels and therefore can be smaller, consume less energy and have a shorter time of operation since the mass to be oriented is much lower. The higher speed of deviation of the parcels allows in turn to reduce the separation time, and all this is achieved with a lower energy consumption and less structural wear for each deviation of a parcel.

Still another advantage of this device consists in the redundancy resulting from the presence of multiple orientation mechanisms for each row of wheels, each of said mechanisms comprising a respective actuator. In a prior art device the failure of one actuator results in the inability to orient a whole row of wheels, which makes it difficult if not impossible to continue to operate the device until the actuator is repaired or replaced. This may involve a downtime for the entire sorter with a severe drop in productivity, whereas in the present device the failure of an actuator affects only a group of wheels, which can possibly be connected temporarily to an adjacent orientation mechanism, whereby the device can continue to operate (although with reduced capacity) while the actuator failure is attended to.

All the above advantages of reduction/cancellation of the distance between the parcels, higher speed of deviation of the parcels and redundancy of the orientation mechanisms concur to ensure a much higher productivity of the sorter with respect to a sorter comprising prior art sorting devices.

These and other advantages and characteristics of the device according to the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig.l is a top perspective view of a sorting device according to the invention; Fig.2 is a bottom perspective view of the device of Fig.1 ;

Fig.3 is a front view of the device of Fig.l ; and

Fig.4 is a view in horizontal section along line IV-IV of Fig.3.

Referring to the figures, there is seen that a device according to the present invention comprises two parallel rows of wheels 1, although theoretically it could comprise a single row of wheels 1, mounted on articulated supporting structures 2 suitable to provide each of said wheels 1 with a capacity of independent rotation on its own axis, around a horizontal axis parallel to its own axis and around a vertical axis passing through the center of the wheel.

More specifically, wheels 1 are set into rotation through contact with a drive roller 3 (Fig.3) that is arranged between the two rows of wheels 1 and driven by a motor 4 via a belt transmission 5, in a manner similar to what is described in US 5921374, the supporting structures 2 of each row being rotatably mounted in vertical seats formed in a corresponding supporting crossbar 6. The possibility of wheel 1 to rotate about a horizontal axis parallel to its own axis of rotation is required to compensate for the wear of wheel 1, in order to maintain adequate contact with the drive roller 3.

Each wheel 1 is oriented in the horizontal plane through a vertical rod 7 which transmits to the respective supporting structure 2 a movement of the orientation mechanism, said movement being determined by a control unit (not shown) that receives from a sensor system (not shown) information about the planned destination of the parcel arriving to the sorting device.

The main innovative aspect of the device according to the present invention resides in the fact that it comprises multiple orientation mechanisms for each row of wheels 1, the number of said mechanisms being equal to the number of groups into which the row of wheels is divided. In the embodiment illustrated in the figures by way of example, each row includes ten wheels 1 divided into three groups, namely two lateral groups with three wheels and a central group with four wheels, each of which is oriented by a respective orientation mechanism comprising its own actuator.

In fact, each orientation mechanism comprises a command bar 8, in which are rotatably inserted the vertical rods 7 of the respective group of wheels 1 , and an actuator formed by a first part 9a, on which said command bar 8 is pivoted, and a second part 9b pivoted on the device frame. In the illustrated example each pair of corresponding groups, i.e. groups aligned in the conveying direction, for constructional simplicity preferably shares a single central actuator 9a, 9b that moves a single U-shaped command bar 8, in which the vertical rods 7 are inserted of the two groups upstream and downstream from the drive roller 3. Therefore, the vertical rods 7 of a group will be arranged to the inside of the respective supporting crossbar 6 while those of the other group will be arranged to the outside of the respective supporting crossbar 6, so that the movement of the single command bar 8 results in the same orientation for wheels 1 of the two corresponding groups.

From the description above, the simple and effective operation of the device according to the present invention is readily understood. When a parcel proceeds along a conveying section towards the sorting device the sensor system detects its position, size and destination and on the basis of these parameters the control unit determines which mechanism(s) of orientation to activate, as well as the extent and direction of the movement. For example, in the three-group device shown in the figures the two lateral groups are oriented outwards and the central group is in the rest position, so that two parcels could be simultaneously sorted into lateral bays to the right and to the left while a third parcel proceeds straight.

Note also that in the case of pre-alignment of the parcels each group can maintain a given orientation to sort several parcels without having each time to return to the rest position, thus greatly reducing the number of activations of the respective orientation mechanism which results in lower energy consumption and less wear of the device components.

It is clear that the above described and illustrated embodiment of the device according to the invention is just an example susceptible of various modifications. In particular, the number of groups in which each row of wheels is divided and the number of wheels in each group may vary depending on the device configuration (number of wheels, transverse pitch, etc.) and on the operating requirements. For example, a row can be divided not into symmetrical groups as in the figures but rather with a lateral group larger than the other if the sorting side is related to the size of the parcels. Moreover, when the device comprises multiple rows of wheels it is preferable but not essential that the division into groups is the same for all rows.

Similarly, the actuating elements of the device (motor, transmission, drive roller, actuators, etc.) can be replaced by other mechanically equivalent elements, and the same applies to the structural parts (supports, crossbars, rods, bars, etc.). For example, in case wheels 1 are set into rotation by means of belt drives rather than through contact with the drive roller 3, wheels 1 do not require that structures 2 allow a rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to their axis of rotation since it is not necessary to compensate for the wear of wheels 1 and/or vary the contact pressure to maintain adequate contact with the drive roller 3.

Claims

1. Sorting device for conveyor, comprising at least one row of vertical wheels (1) each of which is mounted on a supporting structure (2) suitable to provide said wheel (1) with a capacity of independent rotation about its own axis and about a vertical axis passing through the center of the wheel (1) such that it can be oriented in the horizontal plane between a rest position in which its axis of rotation is perpendicular to the conveying direction and an operative position in which said axis is oriented to the left or to the right, said device further comprising a drive mechanism that drives into rotation all the wheels (1), characterized in that said at least one row of vertical wheels (1) is divided into two or more groups of wheels (1) that can be oriented independently in the horizontal plane through respective orientation mechanisms.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes multiple rows of wheels (1) in which the division into groups is the same for all rows.

3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that each orientation mechanism acts on multiple corresponding groups aligned in the conveying direction.

4. Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each wheel (1) is oriented in the horizontal plane through a vertical rod (7) that transmits to the respective supporting structure (2) a movement of the respective orientation mechanism, the supporting structures (2) of each row being rotatably mounted in vertical seats formed in a corresponding supporting crossbar (6).

5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that each orientation mechanism includes a command bar (8), in which the vertical rods (7) of the respective group of wheels (1) are rotatably inserted, and an actuator formed by a first part (9a), on which said command bar (8) is pivoted, and a second part (9b) that is pivoted to the device frame.

6. Device according to claims 3 and 5, characterized in that the command bar (8) is U-shaped and receives the vertical rods (7) of two corresponding groups, the vertical rods (7) of a group being arranged to the inside of the respective supporting crossbar (6) whereas those of the other group are arranged to the outside of the respective supporting crossbar (6).

7. Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes at least two rows of wheels (1) that are driven into rotation through the contact with a drive roller (3) arranged between said two rows of wheels (1), the supporting structure (2) of each wheel (1) providing it with a capacity of rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to its own axis of rotation.

8. Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the row or each row of vertical wheels (1) is divided into groups that are symmetrical with respect to the conveying direction.