WO2012016974A1 - Unloading manipulator and method for the automated unloading of articles - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an unloading manipulator and to a method for the automated unloading of articles from containers and loading spaces of vehicles, such as lorries, swap bodies or the like, in which the articles, for transportation purposes, are stacked in a space-saving manner one beside the other and/or one above the other, wherein the free end of the unloading manipulator can be telescoped into the container or loading space as far as the stack of articles. In order to render the unloading operation more ergonomic, and to increase the unloading speed and efficiency per operator, it is proposed that the free end of the unloading manipulator (5) bears a roll-on gripper (7), with the aid of which preferably just one article (2) can be raised with a friction fit, rolled onto the belt of the roll-on gripper (7) and transferred to a piece of conveying machinery at the rear, which transports the article (2) out of the container or loading space (L).

Description

description

DISCHARGE MANIPULATOR AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATED UNLOADING OF PIECES

The invention relates to a Entlademanipulator and a

Method for automated unloading of piece goods from containers and holds of vehicles, such as trucks,

Swap bodies or the like in which the piece goods to

 Transport space-saving next to each other and / or stacked on top of each other, wherein the free end of the Entlademanipulators to the stack of articles in the container or cargo space is telescoped and the Entlademanipulator for receiving and transporting the separated piece goods in

Longitudinal direction of the Entlademanipulators from the container or cargo space is designed out.

Currently, piece goods, such as e.g. Packages, mostly m containers or transported in the hold of trucks, swap bodies or similar vehicles. The piece goods are stacked in the containers or holds in height and width to as many of these cargo in one

Transport unit to record. The loading and unloading happens largely manually, with aids such

telescopic conveyor belts are used, which transport the piece goods into the holds or containers in and out. The abandonment of the cargo on the telescopic conveyor belts is essentially of

Workers inside the container or hold manually.

Since, due to tight space conditions, rarely more than one worker can be deployed in the hold, the discharge rate is limited to a typical value of up to 1000 units / hour and man. Complicating the considerable physical stress of the workers by handling the up to 33 kg heavy packages by hand and have to be moved with muscle power. A telescopic conveyor of the type described in support of

Charging is known for example from EP 0 0904 244 Bl.

The object of the present invention is the unloading of piece goods from containers and holds of vehicles such as trucks, swap bodies or the like.

more ergonomic and increase the unloading speed and the efficiency per worker in order to improve the efficiency of the system.

To solve the problem, two inventive concepts are proposed. In a first concept, the free end of Entlademanipulators carries a Aufwälzgreifer, which is provided with a friction element in the form of a reverse circulating rollers around endless belt, with the aid of which preferably only a piece of goods can be lifted frictionally, aufflzbar on the belt of Aufwälzgreifers and to a rear, the piece goods from the container or loading space transporting conveyor technology can be handed over.

Aufwälzgreifer also Knife bands called belong to

frictional gripping systems and are as such in

Material flow systems known where they are used for frictional gripping objects whose surface is accessible only laterally and / or from above. The invention combines a known rolling gripper with a

Telescopic conveyor to a partially or fully automatable Entlademanipulator, with the help of the unloading of stacked cargo from containers and

Cargo holds of vehicles ergonomically simple and fast. The worker parked for the unloading must intervene at best controlling, but is freed from the heavy physical work, because the rolling gripper itself takes over the taking up of the piece goods on the Entlademanipulator. The worker applies to the rolling gripper on the side surface of a piece goods and lifts this frictionally so far high, until the rolling gripper grab under the cargo and this backwards on the conveyor of the

Ablademanipulators can deliver. In one embodiment of the invention it is provided that the Aufwälzgreifer and / or the Entlademanipulator together with the Aufwälzgreifer by a worker, ergonomic

supported, are spatially movable. The unloading manipulator and / or the rolling gripper arranged thereon are

weighted so balanced that for the worker lifting and lowering and the lateral pivoting of the

Components of the unloading manipulator without or with extremely little effort is possible. Thus, the worker can easily reach each location of the stack by holding by hand the unloading manipulator and / or the one placed thereon

Gripper picks and leads there.

To prevent that picked up by the rolling gripper

General cargo falls to the ground and / or injures the worker is provided according to another feature of the invention, that the Aufwälzgreifer at least on one longitudinal side of the

Friktionselementes is provided with an upright guide wall for aufaufälzende cargo. The guide wall, which is preferably provided between the worker and the stack on the operating side of the Entlademanipulators, conducts the cargo safely on the tape and on the

telescopic part of the unloading manipulator. The worker, who controls the rolling gripper with one hand, can with the free hand, the piece goods when transferring to the

Lead friction element.

In addition to the telescoping of the Entlademanipulators can according to a supplementary feature of the invention of the

Aufwälzgreifer against the Entlademanipulator be designed to be slidable in the Längsachsrichtung to keep the moving mass when destacking small. According to the inventive method is provided that the telescopic Entlademanipulator is moved with its free end in the container or cargo space of the vehicle, after which the worker attaches the Abwälzgreifer to the lower edge of a stacked piece goods and through the

 Frictional friction of the friction belt lifts the cargo and rolls up on the tape, from where the cargo along the

Unloading manipulator from the container or loading space of the

Vehicle is transported out, where appropriate, the worker with one hand the Abwälzgreifer and / or the

 Unloading manipulator moves driven and if necessary with the other hand the unloading process of the piece goods

supported. A second concept of the invention provides for the solution of

 Task before that in the region of the free front end above the Entlademanipulators a gripper is arranged with the one or more cargo from the stack of articles in the direction of Entlademanipulators be pulled out and dropped onto the front end of the Entlademanipulators. Instead of a rolling gripper in this solution, a piece goods directly gripping device is used, which is able to detect at least one piece goods and pull out of the stack. The piece goods or the piece goods are dumped or put on the front end of the unloading manipulator, from where they with a conveyor technology for

transported backward end of Entlademanipulators. Preferably, the gripper is designed as a suction pad, the suction elements are arranged on a space-movable pivot arm, which is man-controlled movement. A worker controls the gripper arm with the suction elements, so that they can detect one or more cargo. By

Backward movement of the gripping arm, the piece goods or the piece goods are pulled out of the stack and fall on the free end of Entlademanipulators or provided there conveyor technology for transporting the cargo. It is accepted that several pieces of goods from the unstable after removal of individual cargo stack on the conveyor technology can fall. So that no piece goods fall on the bottom of the container or cargo space, is another feature of the

Invention provided that the front end of the

Unloading manipulator as the unstacked piece goods

receiving trough is formed, whose bottom portion through a the cargo from the container or cargo space

out transporting conveyor belt is formed.

Preferably, the trough substantially covers the width of the cargo space and is formed from guide walls arranged laterally of the unloading manipulator. The

 Guiding walls direct the piece goods to the conveyor technology, in the simplest case an endlessly circulating band, which the

General cargo, usually via subsequent additional belts, transported to the rear from the container or cargo space.

In order to increase the effectiveness of the device, according to an advantageous feature of the invention corresponds to

Working width of the gripper of the width of the trough. In order to enable a person access to the stack or gripper, according to the invention, the guide walls can be folded up. This will give the worker the gripper from a stack

controls remote area allows to approach if necessary to the stack or to the gripper. This should be

However, the trough should be emptied so far that one

Fold up at least one of the guide walls is possible.

Both concepts for unloading have advantages over the known solutions. The unloading speed of

Containers and holds can be significantly increased with both variants, which increases the efficiency per employee. The ergonomic conditions are determined by the

significantly improved semi-automated operations; the up to 33 kg heavy cargo no longer has to be moved by hand become. The increased unloading speed saves building space; because with fewer gates in the entrance center, the same input power can be achieved. Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and will be described below.

a schematic side view of a truck when unloading a stack of piece goods by means of a Entlademanipulators, a plan view of the Entlademanipulator of Figure 1, a second embodiment of the invention with a suction pads on the Entlademanipulator and

Figures 4 and 5, the Entlademanipulator of Figure 3 in two

 Variants in plan view.

In Figure 1, a sectional side view of a truck 1 is shown in a rough schematic representation, the loading space L with a stack of piece goods 2, im

Embodiment packages, is loaded and at the

indicated ramp 3 of an input center 4 to be unloaded for packets. For this purpose is inside the

Entrance center 4 on the ramp 3, a Entlademanipulator 5 fixedly arranged, consisting essentially of a

telescopic cantilevered arm 6 and a mounted at its front end Aufwälzgreifer 7 consists. Of the

Entlademanipulator 5 is provided in its longitudinal extent with a (not shown) conveyor belt over the

unloaded packets 2 can be transported from the front end to the rear end of the Entlademanipulators 5. As in Figure 1 can be seen at the front end of the

 Entlademanipulators 5 of Aufwälzgreifer 7 arranged, which is provided in a known manner (and therefore not shown) with a friction element in the form of a rearward circulating rollers around endless belt. The Aufwälzgreifer 7, as indicated by the double arrow 8, can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction and, as can be seen from the arrows 9 in Figure 2, in the horizontal direction to both sides movable. As the double arrow 10 indicates, the

Entlademanipulator 5 are changed altogether in its altitude to adapt the system to the loading height of the truck 1.

In Figure 1, a worker 11 is indicated, the control gripper 12 operates the Aufwälzgreifer 7 and this or the telescopic arm 6 of the Entlademanipulators 5 on the packages 2 to and from the packages 2 can move away.

Likewise, via the control lever 12, the height and

Side position of the rolling gripper 5 of the worker 11

changed.

To unload the packages 2, the rolling gripper with its friction element (belt) is moved against a side surface of the package 2 to be unloaded, so that the rearward (in the direction away from the stack) circulating belt with the

Frictional force of its surface, the package 2 lifts so far that the Aufwälzgreifer 5 engages under the bottom of the package 2 and this with the help of the friction element on the

Auflälgreifgreifer 5 charges. The backward moving tape moves the resting package or packages farther back on the telescopic arm 6 of the unloading manipulator 5 and transports it into the building interior of the

Entrance center 4 for the packages.

The Entlademanipulator 5 is balanced so that the worker 11 little or no force needed to charge the packages 2 on the Auflälband 5. If necessary, the worker 11 can lead a package 2 by hand and the Charge process, but this may only be necessary in a few cases.

As can be seen in FIG. 1 and better in FIG. 2, a guide wall 13 is laterally of the rolling gripper 5

is provided, which protects the worker 11, which is adjacent to the front end of the Entlademanipulators 5, if a package 2 should fall from the stack next to the Entlademanipulator 5 and at the same time passes the package.

With the illustrated device manages a very fast and ergonomically extremely favorable unloading the stack of packages and the same piece goods, without a high physical stress on the worker is recorded.

Figure 3 shows another solution to the same problem. Here, the Entlademanipulator 5 is also anchored within the entrance center 4 on the ground and extends with his telescopic arm 6 in the loading space L of a truck 1 into it. Instead of a Aufwälzgreifers the telescopic arm 6 of the Entlademanipulators 5 at its free end with a

Suction gripper 14 equipped, the suction elements 15 are arranged at the free end of a space-movable pivot arm 16. The swivel arm is remotely controlled on the arm 6 of the

Discharge manipulator 5 is arranged, wherein the movement of the

Suction gripper 14 is caused by a worker 11, the protected within the entrance center 4 at one

Control panel 17 is seated and operated by lever the suction pad 14. Illumination with a headlight 18 radiating into the loading space of the truck allows the worker 11 to better recognize the gripper area within the cargo space L.

The suction elements 15 of the suction pad 14 are pressed against the side wall of one or more packages 2. By

Applying the suction force on the suction elements 15 are the

Packages 2 seized and detained. When pivoting back the gripper arm 16, the package 2 or several packages 2 are pulled out of the stack and in the front of the Unloading manipulator 5 provided trough 19 dropped. It is intended that also more packages 2 from the

Release stacks and also fall into the trough 19. The trough 19 is to the rear side of the

 Unloading manipulator 5 open; the bottom 20 is formed by a (not shown) conveyor belt, the falling into the trough 19 packets 2 in the direction of the rear end of the Entlademanipulators 5, ie in the building of

Entrance center 4 transported.

As can be seen in Figure 4 at the arrows 21, is the

Entlademanipulator 5, at least in its front region laterally pivotable, so that the suction elements 15 (Figure 3) the positions of the stacked packets 2 can be adjusted. Also in this variant, the arm 6 of the

Entlademanipulators 5 telescopic and can be moved deep into the loading space L of the truck 1 into it. FIG. 5 shows a variant in which the trough 19 is very wide and substantially the same

Interior width of the loading space L corresponds. The trough 19 is formed from tapered, outwardly rising side walls 22 which centrally guide the falling into the trough 19 packets 2 on the conveyor belt located at the bottom, from where the packages 2 are transported away. The guide walls 22 are - at least in this variant - pivotable, that is, in the lower region of each guide wall 22 is a horizontal and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the

Entlademanipulators 5 extending axes provided to the guide wall 22 to a vertical position

is pivotable. In the raised position of the

Guide wall 22 is in case of failure, a passage for a worker 11 to the stack of packages 22 and the suction pad 14 possible.

Claims

claims 1. Entlademanipulator for automated unloading of piece goods from containers and holds of vehicles, such as trucks, swap bodies or the like. in which the piece goods are stacked next to each other for transport and / or stacked, the free end of the Entlademanipulators is telescoped to the stack of stacks in the container or cargo space and the Entlademanipulator for receiving and transporting the separated piece goods in the longitudinal direction of the Entlademanipulators designed out of the container or cargo space, characterized in that the free end of Entlademanipulators (5) carries a Aufspielzgreifer (7), which with a friction element in the form of a backward order Pulleys circulating endless belt is provided, with the aid of which preferably only a cargo (2) frictionally raised, on the band of Aufwälzgreifers (7) aufzulzbar and on a rear the cargo (2) from the container or cargo space (L) transporting conveyor technology can be transferred , 2. Entlademanipulator according to claim 1, characterized characterized in that the rolling gripper (7) and / or the Entlademanipulator (5) by a worker (11), ergonomically supported, is spatially movable. 3. Entlademanipulator according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that the Aufwälzgreifer (7) is provided at least on one longitudinal side of the friction element with an upright guide wall (13) for the piece goods (2) aufwälzende. 4. Entlademanipulator according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that the Aufwälzgreifer (7) relative to the Entlademanipulator (5) in the Längsachsrichtung is displaceable. 5. Method for the automated unloading of general cargo from containers and holds of vehicles, such as trucks, Swap bodies or the like , with help of a Discharge manipulator according to claims 1 to 4, characterized, that the telescopic unloading manipulator with its free end in the container or cargo space of the vehicle is moved, after which a worker attaches the Abwälzgreifer to the lower edge of a stacked piece goods and by Reibmitnahme the friction belt lifts the cargo and rolls on the tape, from where the cargo along the Entlademanipulator from the container or Cargo space of the vehicle is transported out. 6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the worker with one hand moves the Abwälzgreifer and / or Entlademanipulator drive-supported and if necessary with the other hand the unloading process of the piece goods supported. 7. Entlademanipulator for the automated unloading of piece goods from containers and holds of vehicles, such as trucks, swap bodies or the like., In which the cargo for transport space saving next to each other and on top of each other are stacked, wherein the free end of Entlademanipulators is telescopically into the stack or stowage into the container or cargo space and for receiving and transporting the separated piece goods in the longitudinal direction of the Unloading manipulator is designed out of the container or cargo space, characterized in that in the region of the free front end above the unloading manipulator (5) a gripper (14) is arranged, with which one or more piece goods (2) from the stack of articles in the direction of Entlademanipulators (5) pulled out and on the front end of Unloading manipulator (5) are abwerfbar. 8. Entlademanipulator according to claim 7, characterized in that the gripper (14) as a suction gripper is formed, the suction elements (15) on a raumbeweglichen pivot arm (16) are arranged, the Man-controlled is movable. 9. Entlademanipulator according to claim 7 and 8, characterized in that the front end of the Entlademanipulators (5) as the unstacked piece goods (2) receiving trough (19) is formed, whose bottom portion by a the General cargo from the container or load compartment (L) out transporting conveyor belt is formed. 10. Entlademanipulator according to claim 7 to 9, characterized in that the trough (19) by the width of the Cargo space (L) substantially covering, side of the Entlademanipulators (5) inclined arranged guide walls (22) is formed. 11. Entlademanipulator according to claim 7 to 10, characterized in that the working width of the gripper (14) corresponds to the width of the trough (19). 12. Entlademanipulator according to claim 10, characterized characterized in that the guide walls (22) for a Person access to the stack can be folded up. 13. unloading manipulator according to one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the front part of the Discharge manipulator (5) and / or the gripper (14) in vertical and horizontal directions (21) are pivotable. 14. Method for automated unloading of piece goods from containers and holds of vehicles, such as trucks, Swap bodies or the like , with help of a Discharge manipulator according to claims 7 to 13, characterized, that the telescopic Entlademanipulator is moved with its free end and the gripper provided there in the container or cargo space of the vehicle, after which the Operator attaches the gripper to at least one stacked piece goods and this pulls out in the direction of Entlademanipulators from the stack, whereby this and possibly a number of loose piece goods from the stack fall into the trough of the unloading manipulator and by a conveyor along the Entlademanipulator from the container or Cargo space of the vehicle is transported or be.