NL2029652B1

NL2029652B1 - Handling device

Info

Publication number: NL2029652B1
Application number: NL2029652A
Authority: NL
Inventors: De Gooijer Gert
Original assignee: Flex Ind B V
Priority date: 2021-11-05
Filing date: 2021-11-05
Publication date: 2023-06-05

Abstract

The invention relates to a handling device fordividing and/or merging flows of products supplied from a product input to a product output, wherein said products at said input and said output are arranged in one or more rows, said device comprising: - a conveyor means for transporting said products from said input to said output over a conveyor belt along a conveying direction at a conveying speed; and - one or more product flow manipulators conﬁgured for manipulating one or more of said products with an end effector from said one or more rows of said input to said one or more rows of said output, wherein said one or more rows of said input differ from said one or more rows of said output, wherein said one or more product flow manipulators comprise parallel manipulators conﬁgured for sliding said products with a transport speed with said end effector over said conveyor belt from a start position to an end position along a transport path deﬁned by a sigmoid curve, wherein said transport path comprises a forward direction component and a sideways direction component, wherein said forward direction component at least substantially corresponds with said conveying direction along at least part of said transport path, and wherein said transport speed at least substantially corresponds with said conveying speed along said part of said transport path.

Description

Title: Handling device

Description:

The present disclosure relates to a handling device for dividing and/or merging product follows supplied from a product input to a product output, wherein said products at said input and said output are arranged in one or more rows, said device comprising: - a conveyor means for transporting said products from said input to said output over a conveyor belt along a conveying direction xc at a conveying speed vx; and - one or more product flow manipulators configured for manipulating one or more of said products with an end effector from one or more of said rows of said input to one or more rows of said output, wherein said one or more rows of said input differ from said one or more rows of said output.

A typical handling device for dividing and/or merging product flows supplied from a product input to a product output uses the system of picking up and placing (‘pick and place’) products from one row to another row in a transportation line.

A problem of such ‘pick and place’ handling devices is that they are often designed for one type or shape of product and switching from one type of product to another type of product takes a lot of time in terms of conversion of installation and start-up. Such downtimes not only limit the flexibility of the handling devices, but it also limits the handling speed in terms of the number of products that can be transported per minute (throughput).

It is a goal of the present disclosure to provide for a handling device that can handle products that differ in size, shape and weight and that has an increased handling speed compared to conventional handling devices.

This goal is achieved with the handling device according to the present disclosure, wherein said one or more product flow manipulators comprise parallel manipulators configured for sliding said products with a transport speed v with said end effector over said conveyor belt from a start position to an end position along a transport path defined by a sigmoid curve, wherein said transport path comprises a forward direction component x: and a sideways direction component yi, wherein said forward direction component x at least substantially corresponds with said conveying direction xc along at least part of said transport path, and wherein said transport speed v at least substantially corresponds with said conveying speed vx along said part of said transport path.

Said sliding of said products only comprises movements in the x direction and the y direction and not in the z direction. Hence, products are not picked up by said end effectors, such as grippers,

of said product flow manipulators, and the movement is thus only comprised of horizontal displacement of the products.

Handling devices for dividing and/or merging product to and from product flows that use shifters instead of the system of ‘pick and place’ to move products in a direction perpendicular to the transport path of said products. In such handling devices, the movement of products along the transport path needs to be stopped for a short period to shift the products from one input transport row to another output transport row in said direction perpendicular to said transport path. This temporary stoppage, dramatically reduces the handling speed resulting in a lower throughput of products per minute.

Applicant has found that with the handling device according to the present disclosure the goal is achieved of handling products differing in size, shape and weight while increasing the handling speed. Advantages are that the handling device is suitable for light and heavier and/or small and larger products, and the throughput is increased. Another advantage of the handling device according to the present disclosure is that it is a modular system. Depending on the number of input rows and/or output rows, the number of manipulators can be increased or decreased to achieve the desired order of products at the output.

The handling device according to the present disclosure is further arranged to achieve high handling speeds due to the sliding motion in which the product by the manipulator is not only moved or slid in a transverse direction to align with an adjacent or neighboring row, but at least also partly in a forward direction, e.g. a direction which at least substantially corresponds to the conveyer direction. Since the speed of movement of the product as manipulated by the manipulator also corresponds at least substantially with the conveying speed, the forward motion of the conveying belt is used in an advantageous manner. As the products will travel along a path which is at least partly defined as a sigmoid curve, at least part of the path corresponds in speed and direction with the speed and direction of the conveyer.

In a preferred embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said handling device further comprises a vision means for determining the position of said products. A benefit is that the handling device can determine where said product is and to where it should be moved to obtain an output in a desired order. This allows for a transport line comprising three input rows, a first row transporting products AAA, a second row transporting products BBB and a third row transporting products CCC, to merge these three input rows of products AAA, BBB and CCC into one output row, having said desired order of products, such as ABCABCABC, by means of said handling device.

Said vision means may be used for determining congestion at said output or at said input. A benefit is that the handling device can send an alert to an operator that a congestion at said output is detected. Possibly, said congestion issue can be resolved by the handling device itself, e.g. by redistributing the products along the rows.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said handling device further comprises a discharge means, such as a hatch. In case of a congestion at said output, the handling device can move the congesting products to said discharge means thereby resolving the congestion issue. This ‘self-cleaning’ function of said handling device results in a percentage of dumped products lower than 0.2%.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said manipulators are programmable manipulators. This allows for easy and fast conversion of a first set- up to a second set-up without the need to conversion of the installation, resulting is shorter downtimes.

In yet another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said manipulators are configured for redistributing products along said rows in correspondence with congestion at said output. This is beneficial, because the handling device can divide the products over the remaining output rows, such that the output of products can continue, thereby keeping the throughput high.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said manipulators are distributed along said transport path. This has the effect that each manipulator may be configured to manipulate or slide the products from or to the two adjacent input and/or output rows.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said manipulators are configured for manipulating said transport path of said product between two adjacent rows. This has the effect that the order of products in the output can be controlled with said configured manipulators.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said input comprises one or more metering conveyors for buffering products from a feed conveyor upstream of said metering conveyor. Possibly, said input comprises one or more accelerating conveyors for controlling a spacing between said products. Said buffering and/or accelerating conveyors improves the functioning/efficiency of the manipulators of said handling device in merging and/or dividing the products and decreases the risk of congestion at the output.

In yet another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said forward direction component x corresponds with said conveying direction Xs.

In a preferred embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said transport speed vi corresponds with said conveying speed vx. One or both of the transport speed and forward direction component may either partly, but preferably also fully correspond to the conveying direction and conveying speed.

Possibly, said transport speed vt comprises an acceleration component and a deceleration component. This allows for adjusting the speed with which the manipulators slide the products over the conveyor belt from the start position to the end position.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said end effector moving from said end position back to said start position is configured to manipulate a product to an adjacent row. A benefit is that which each movement between the start position and the end position of the end effector a product can be moved from one row to another row.

In another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said products may have any shape, such as a round, an oval or a rectangular shape. The products can have a width of between 60 to 150 mm, a length of between 100 to 200 mm, and a height of at least 10 mm. This provides maximum flexibility in use of the handling device with minimized risk of congestion at the output. Switching to handling products having a different shape is merely a matter of adjusting the programming of the handling device.

In a preferred embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said products have a height of at least 10 mm.

In yet another embodiment of the handling device according to the present disclosure, said products comprise products having a low-friction surface. With ‘low-friction surface’ is meant that the products can easily slide over the conveyor means of the handling device in such a way that the products are moved over the conveyor means without damaging the products during transport of said products along the transport path and in such a way that the products are not thrown off of the transport line due to the absence of friction between the surface of the product and the surface of the conveyor means, which would increase the percentage of dumped products.

Embodiments of the handling device according to the present disclosure will next be explained by means of the accompanying schematic figures, wherein:

Fig. 1A, Fig. 1B and Fig. 1C show all three a top view of a handling device according to the 5 present disclosure;

Fig. 2A and Fig. 2B show a side view and a back view of the handling device according to the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 shows a more detailed top view of a handling device according to the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of the merging of three product rows as input into one product row as output;

Fig. 5 shows a schematic representation of three possible merging/dividing two product rows as input into three or four product rows as output;

Fig. 6 shows a schematic representation of three possible merging/dividing one product row as input into three or four product rows as output.

A handling device 1, 101, 201, 301, 401 according to the present disclosure as shown in Fig. 1A-3 is suitable for dividing and/or merging flows of products 3 supplied from a product input 5 to a product output 7, wherein the products 3 at the input 5 and the output 7 are arranged in one or more rows 9, 11. The products 3 can have any s

The handling device 1 comprises a conveyor means 13 for transporting the products 3 from the input 5 to the output 7 over a conveyor belt 15 along a conveying direction x. at a conveying speed vx.

The handling device 1 further comprises one or more product flow manipulators 17 having an end effector 19, as can be seen in Fig. 2-3. The product flow manipulators 17 are configured for manipulating one or more of the products 3 with the end effector 19 from the one or more of rows 9 of the input 5 to the one or more rows 11 of the output 7, wherein the one or more rows 9 of the input 5 differ from the one or more rows 11 of the output 7.

The handling device 1 can be used to merge two rows 9 at the input 5 into one row 11 at the output 7 (Fig. 1B) or it can be used to divide one row 9 at the input 5 into two rows 11 at the output 7 (Fig. 1C).

The product flow manipulators 17 of the handling device 1 comprise parallel manipulators that are configured for sliding the products 3 with a transport speed wv with the end effector 19 over the conveyor belt 15 from a start position 21 to an end position 23 along a transport path 25 defined by a sigmoid curve. The end effector 19 of the manipulator 17 is configured to manipulate a product 3 from one row 11a to an adjacent row 11b when the end effector 19 is moving from the end position 23 back to the start position 21.

The transport path 25 comprises a forward direction component x: and a sideways direction component yi, wherein the forward direction component xt at least substantially corresponds with the conveying direction xc, preferably the forward direction component x; corresponds with the conveying direction xc, along at least part of the transport path 25. The transport speed vi corresponds at least substantially with the conveying speed vx, preferably the transport speed wv corresponds with the conveying speed vx, along the part of the transport path 25. Furthermore, the transport speed wt comprises an acceleration component and a deceleration component.

For example, in Fig. 5, situation i shows a handling device having two rows 9 at the input 5 and four rows 11 at the output 7. At the input 5, products 3 are transported in the Xx; direction with the conveying speed vx. Along the transport path 25, manipulators 17 are distributed. The manipulators 17 are configured for manipulating the transport path 25 of the products 3 between two adjacent rows 11a, 11b. A first manipulator 17 is configured for sliding products 3 of the bottom row 9 at the input 5 to the bottom two rows 11 at the output 11. Products 3 that need to move in a straight direction will not be moved by the end effector 19 of the first manipulator 17, thus said path is not manipulated.

Products 3 that need to be moved to the second row 11 from below will be moved by the end effector 19 of the first manipulator 17. The manipulator 17 slides those products 3 along the transport path having the sigmoid curve. Because the products 3 that are moved follow the transport path 25, the movement of these products 3 comprise the forward direction component x; and the sideways 25 direction component y. The manipulator 17 is configured in such a manner that the products 3 that are moved by the manipulator 17 have the transport speed v during movement over the transport path 25 that corresponds at least substantially with the conveying speed vx along part of the transport path 25. A second manipulator 17 is configured in a similar way as the first manipulator 17 to manipulate the products 3 from the top row 9 at the input 5 to the top two rows 11 at the output 7.

The handling device 1 further comprise a vision means 31 for determining the position of the products 3. The vision means 31 can be used for determining congestion at the output 7 or for detecting faulty or damaged products 3.

The manipulators are programmable manipulators. It is than possible to configure the manipulators 17 such that products 3 are not transported to a particular row 11 at the output 7. This might be done in case of an issue, such as congestion or maintenance at that particular row 11. The manipulators 17 than manipulate the products 3 to the remaining one or more rows 11 at the output 7, which is shown in situation ii of Fig. 5.

The handling device 1 comprises a discharge means 41 that can be used to remove products 3 from a transport line. For example, the handling device 1 having one row 9 at the input 5 and one row 11 at the output 7 as shown in Fig. 1A can be used to detect products 3 that are damaged and with the product flow manipulator 17, the damaged products 3 can be removed from the line by sliding the damaged products 3 to the discharge means 41.

The handling device 1 comprises a guiding means 51, preferably dynamic guiding means, that are suitable for manipulating the transport path 25 of the products 3 from one row 11a to an adjacent row 11b. This is exemplified in Fig 5, situation iii. Here, the guiding means 51 is positioned in such a manner that the row 11a is blocked and products 3 are directed to the adjacent row 11b via the guiding means 51. A manipulator 17 is configured to move products 3 to the other row adjacent to row 11b.

Fig. 6 shows three different situations (i-iii) wherein the handling device 1 comprises in each situation one row 9 at the input 5 and four rows 11 at the output 7. How the products 3 are distributed over the rows 11 at the output 7 depends on how the manipulators are configured. In situation i, the products 3 are distributed over the four rows 11, whereas in situations ii and iii, one row 11 is not used and the products 3 are distributed over the three remaining rows 11.

The input 5 of the handling device 1 comprises one or more metering conveyors 61 for buffering products 3 from a feed conveyor 83 upstream of the metering conveyor 61 (Fig. 3 and 4).

Furthermore, the input 5 comprises one or more accelerating conveyors 65. Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of the handling device 1 wherein products 3 A, B and C are transported over the feed conveyors 63 and the products 3 are buffered at the metering conveyors 61. The accelerating conveyors 65 are configured for controlling a space s between the products 3.

Claims

CONCLUSIONS

1. Handling device (1) for separating and/or merging streams of products (3) delivered from a product input (5) to a product output (7), with the products (3) at the input (5) and the output ( 7) are arranged in one or more rows (9, 11), the device comprises: - a transport means (13) for transporting the products (3) from the input (5) to the output (7) over a conveyor belt ( 15) along a conveying direction Xs at a conveyor belt speed vx; and - one or more product flow manipulators (17) configured to manipulate one or more of the products (3) with an end effector (19) from the one or more rows (9) of the input (5) to the one or more rows (11) of the output (7), wherein the one or more rows (8) of the input (5) differ from the one or more rows (11) of the output (7), characterized in that the one or multiple product flow manipulators (17) comprise parallel manipulators configured to shift the products (3) at a conveying speed vi with the end effector (19) over the conveying belt (15) from a start position (21) to an end position (23) along a conveying path ( 25) defined by a sigmoid curve, wherein the transport path (25) includes a forward direction component x: and a sideward direction component y:, wherein the forward direction component is x; at least substantially corresponds to the transport direction xc along at least a part of the transport path (25), and wherein the transport speed vi: corresponds at least substantially to the conveyor belt speed vx along the part of the transport path (25).

The handling device (1) according to claim 1, wherein the handling device (1) further comprises a vision means (31) for determining the position of the products

(3).

A handling device (1) according to claim 2, wherein the vision means (31) is used to determine accumulation at the outlet (7).

A handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handling device (1) further comprises a discharge means (41).

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the manipulators (17) are programmable manipulators.

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the manipulators (17) are configured to redistribute products (3) along the one or more rows (11) according to accumulation at the outlet (7).

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the manipulators (17) are distributed along the transport path (25).

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the manipulators (17) are configured to manipulate the said transport path (25) of the product (3) between two adjacent rows (11a, 11b).

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the handling device (1) further comprises one or more guiding means (51), preferably dynamic guiding means, for manipulating the transport path (25) of products (3) of one row (11a) to an adjacent row (11b).

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the input (5) comprises one or more metering belts (61) for buffering products (3) from a feed belt (83) upstream of the metering belt (61).

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the input (5) comprises one or more accelerator belts (65) for controlling a distance between the products (3).

A handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the forward direction component x; corresponds to the transport direction xe.

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the conveying speed vt corresponds to the conveying belt speed vx.

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transport speed v; an acceleration component and a deceleration component.

A handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the end effector (19) moving from the end position (23) back to the start position (21) is configured to manipulate a product (3) from one row (11a) to an adjacent row {11b).

Handling device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the products (3) can have any shape, such as a round, an oval or a rectangular shape.

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the products (3) have a height of at least 10 mm.

Handling device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the products comprise products with a low-friction surface.