WO2016060460A1

WO2016060460A1 - Unloading device using air tube in carrying box

Info

Publication number: WO2016060460A1
Application number: PCT/KR2015/010823
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung Mo Kim; Sung Yong Jung; Koo Po Kwon
Original assignee: Cj Korea Express Corp
Current assignee: Cj Korea Express Corp
Priority date: 2014-10-14
Filing date: 2015-10-14
Publication date: 2016-04-21
Anticipated expiration: 2017-04-14
Also published as: KR20160043743A; KR101686238B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device and a method for unloading loads, and more particularly, to a device and a method for unloading loads which injects gas into an air tube disposed inside a carrying box to expand the air tube and push the loads out of the carrying box using expanding power of the air tube, thereby carrying out unloading work more easily.

Description

UNLOADING DEVICE USING AIR TUBE IN CARRYING BOX

With a great development of parcel delivery service business, there are constant efforts to reduce unnecessary expenses and waste of time during the process to carry goods through a parcel delivery service.

The processes of loading and unloading goods on transportation means are big parts of the whole process of transportation, and so, many transport service agents have made many efforts to improve the processes more effectively.

In the meantime, lots of ideas to improve the process of unloading goods have been proposed. Of the ideas, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2010-0018824 discloses a device which makes a slope between an entrance of a carrying box and an external conveyer to let loads be unloaded naturally along the slope when loads are unloaded.

However, such an unloading device can move the loads just between the entrance of the carrying box and the conveyer but loads located inside the carrying box must be pushed to the entrance of the carrying box with manpower. That is, in order to unload the loads more easily, a method which can move loads out of the carrying box from the inside of the carrying box is required.

The present invention relates to a device and a method for unloading loads which require less manpower and time than conventional unloading methods and which includes at least one air tube mounted on an inner wall of a carrying box to push out loads to an entrance of the carrying box using an expanding force of the air tube by injecting gas into the air tube.

As described above, the present invention is to improve the process of unloading the loads, and is proposed to satisfy the technical requirements described above and to provide additional technical elements that those skilled in the art cannot invent easily.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior arts, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for unloading loads which includes an air tube expanded or contracted in volume according to injection or discharge of gas and disposed on an inner wall of a carrying box to make the expanding air tube pushes loads out so that the loads are unloaded to an entrance or out of the carrying box.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for unloading loads which includes air tubes disposed on inner walls of one or more faces of a carrying box, preferably, on inner walls of a front face and a bottom face of the carrying box to unload the loads positioned in the carrying box without missing.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device for unloading loads which includes a controller for individually controlling a plurality of air tubes disposed inside the carrying box to selectively control proper air tubes according to loaded positions of the loads, thereby effectively unloading the corresponding loads.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a device for unloading loads which includes a sensor for sensing positions, namely, loaded height or loaded depth, of the loads arranged inside the carrying box, so that the controller can selectively control proper air tubes on the basis of the positions of the loads obtained by the sensor, thereby effectively unloading the corresponding loads.

To achieve the above objects, in an aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a device for unloading loads including: one or more air tubes which are expanded and contracted in volume according to injection and discharge of gas, push out the loads located inside a carrying box when expanding, and are disposed at least one face of the inner wall of the carrying box; and one or more pumps disposed to inject gas into the air tubes or discharge gas from the air tubes.

According to the present invention, the unloading device further includes a controller which decides the air tube to inject or discharge gas and controls a gas injection speed, a gas injection amount or a gas injection period of time.

Moreover, the air tube is disposed on the inner wall of a front face of the carrying box.

Furthermore, the unloading device further includes a height sensor for sensing a loaded height of the loads.

Additionally, the controller searches the air tube which is disposed at the loaded height sensed by the height sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube.

In addition, the unloading device further includes at least one air tube disposed on a bottom face of the carrying box.

Moreover, the unloading device further includes a depth sensor for sensing a loaded depth of the loads.

Furthermore, the controller searches the air tube which is disposed at the position sensed by the depth sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube and at least one air tube which is located on a straight line ranging from the sensed position to the entrance of the carrying box. Additionally, the one or more air tubes to which gas is injected is made in a stepped form.

In the meantime, the unloading device further includes a lift on which the loads are loaded and which is able to control height.

Moreover, the air tubes are connected to a guide rail disposed on the surface of the inner wall of the carrying box and move up and down or from side to side along the guide rail.

Furthermore, the unloading device further includes a sensor for sensing loaded positions of the loads.

Additionally, the controller searches the air tube corresponding to the position sensed by the sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube.

In addition, the unloading device further includes a linkage part whose one end extends from the bottom face of the rear of the inner wall of the carrying box and whose the other end is connected with a conveyer.

The present invention can reduce manpower and expenses because it automates the process of moving the loads to the entrance of the carrying box.

Moreover, the present invention can unload all of the loads arranged inside the carrying box regardless of positions of the loads and stacked height of the loads, thereby automating the unloading work without manpower.

Furthermore, the present invention relieves the shock of the loads by the air tubes during transport so as to deliver the loads in safety.

Additionally, the present invention can easily move the loads to the entrance of the carrying box using the stepped slope through the air tubes disposed on the bottom face of the carrying box.

In addition, the present invention can save energy and construct eco-friendly distribution environment because it uses just physical force by pressure and expansion of gas injected into the air tubes.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an unloading device according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where additional air tubes are added to the unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where a slope is made inside a carrying box by the unloading device and loads are unloaded utilizing the slope.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an unloading device according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the unloading device according to the second preferred embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state where shock of the loads is relieved by the air tubes in a transport step.

The above and other objects, technical configuration, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Reference will be now made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.

It will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. It is obvious by those skilled in the art that the invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments. Therefore, it will be understood that the embodiments described in the detailed description of the present invention are all exemplary to describe the present invention well and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to the exemplary embodiments.

It will be further understood that components described hereinafter are just examples for realizing the present invention. Therefore, the present invention may have different components without departing from the technical idea and scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the components of the present invention may be realized just by hardware or software, but may be realized in combination of various hardware and software parts which carry out the same functions.

It will be also understood that the terms of 'include' or 'have' in the specification are 'open type' expressions just to say that components exit and do not exclude additional components.

Additionally, it will be also understood that the expression that some component is 'connected' to another component means that some component is directly connected to another component or is connected to another component through a further component.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a device for unloading loads according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the device for unloading loads includes at least one air tube 100, a pump 150, a sensor 300 and a controller 400.

In this instance, the unloading device according to the present invention may mounted on the inside or the outside of a carrying box 1000. The carrying box 1000 means a structure in which lots of things can be loaded. In this description of the present invention, inner walls of the carrying box 1000 are called a front face and a rear face, a top face and a bottom face and side faces on the basis of a progress direction of transportation means.

The carrying box 1000 may be mounted on the transportation means or an independent structure. For instance, it should be understood that the carrying box 1000 means a structure having a space for loading lots of things like an on-board carrying box of a truck which deliver goods.

The air tube 100 is made of a flexible material which is expandable and contractible in volume according to injection and discharge of gas in order to push the loads out when the air tube 100 expands by injection of gas.

The air tube 100 may be divided into a gas injection/discharge part, a body part and a pressing part. The gas injection/discharge part serves to inject gas into the air tube 100 or remove gas from the air tube 100, and is connected with the pump 150 which will be described later.

The body part is actually a part that the air tube 100 is expanded and is made of a flexible material. It is preferable that the body part be at the least more than half of the length ranging from the front face to the rear face of the carrying box 1000 when the body part is expanded to the maximum.

The pressing part means the part that the body part directly touches the outer face of the loads when the body part is expanded, and preferably, has a form to absorb shock. For instance, in a case that the pressing part has the shape of a hemisphere with a diameter of at least 10cm, the pressing part can absorb shock to prevent breakage of the goods when the pressing part touches the loads even though the body part expands in a very short period of time. In the meantime, the pressing part may have shapes of various figures or three-dimensional shapes besides the hemispheric shape.

Meanwhile, the unloading device according to the present invention includes the pump 150. The pump 150 is a device to inject gas into the air tube 100 or discharge gas out of the air tube 100.

The pump 150 may be mounted on the inside or the outside of the carrying box 1000 to inject or discharge gas using the principle that materials move depending on difference in air pressure. The gas utilized to expand the air tube 100 is preferably air, but may be gas, such as oxygen or helium, according to a user's intention, and in this case, a storage space for storing the gas may be formed separately.

In the meantime, the unloading device according to the present invention includes the controller 400 for controlling operation of the pump 150.

In detail, the controller 400 controls an injection speed (pressure), an injection amount and an injection period of time that the pump 150 injects gas to the air tube 100 and controls expansion speed and volume of the air tube 100 according to kinds of the loads. For instance, in a case that the loads are fragile, the controller 400 makes the pump 150 inject gas at low pressure so that the air tube expands at a slow speed. Therefore, the air tube which expands at a slow speed pushes out the loads slowly so that the loads can be unloaded in safety without any breakage or damage.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the unloading device has one or more air tubes 100 disposed on one of inner wall faces of the carrying box 1000, preferably, on the front face of the carrying box 1000 and expands the corresponding air tube 1000 depending on the loaded height of the loads in order to unload the corresponding loads.

In this instance, the air tubes 100 are divided by unique identifiers, and the controller 400 can selectively operate only the air tube 100 which the user wants to expand utilizing the identifiers. For instance, in a case that five air tubes 100 are disposed on the front face of the carrying box 1000 by height, the controller 400 utilizes the identifiers ranging from F01 to F05 which are respectively assigned to the air tubes 100 to push out the loads located at a specific height.

Meanwhile, the unloading device expands the plural air tubes 100 disposed on the bottom face of the carrying box 1000 to control the loads to reach a proper height.

It will be described in detail referring to FIG. 3forms

The unloading device according to the present invention can unload not only loads of typical forms, such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, but also loads of atypical forms having irregular shapes in the same ways as the above. That is, because the present invention pushes out the loads by expanding the air tubes 100 disposed on the inner wall surface of the carrying box 1000, the loads of the typical forms or the atypical forms located at an area where the air tubes 100 get in touch with the loads when the air tubes 100 expand can be all unloaded by the air tubes 100.

Meanwhile, the unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment includes at least one pump 150 for injecting gas into the at least one air tube 100 or discharge the gas out of the air tubes 100. For instance, the unloading device may have the pumps 150 by the number of the air tubes 100 or a set of plural air tubes 100 may inject or discharge out gas by just one pump 150.

The unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment may include a plurality of air tubes 100 disposed on at least two inner walls as well as one face of the inner wall of the carrying box 1000. FIG. 3 illustrates an example that a plurality of the

air tubes

100a and 100b are disposed on the front face and on the bottom face.

Referring to FIG. 3, the unloading device which has the

air tubes

100a and 100b disposed on the bottom face selectively expands at least one of the air tubes 100 in order to effectively unload the loads. Particularly, the air tubes 100b disposed on the bottom face may be utilized to do as a lift, namely, to lift the loads to the height suitable to unload the loads. For instance, when the unloading device selectively expands the air tubes 100b disposed on the bottom face according to a structure of an external conveyer 500 connected to the entrance of the carrying box 1000 or geographical characteristics, for instance a slope, of places where loads are unloaded, unloading work can be achieved more effectively.

In the meantime, the unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention can be utilized as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 illustrates a state where the air tubes 100 disposed on the bottom face of the carrying box 1000 are made in a stepped form so that the loads can easily move toward the entrance of the carrying box 1000. As described above, the controller controls the air tubes 100b disposed inside the carrying box 1000 to be made in the stepped form and the air tubes 100a disposed on the front face of the carrying box 1000 to push out the loads, the unloading device can carry out unloading work without any breakage of the loads even in any environment that there is no conveyer having a slope at the entrance of the carrying box.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 2, the unloading device according to the first preferred embodiment includes the sensor 300 for sensing positions of the loads. In this instance, there are many kinds of sensors, for instance, an inductive sensor for sensing a change by things within a sensing distance range through an electromagnetic field formed on the surface of the sensor, a capacitive sensor for sensing a difference in capacitance according to approach of things by generating a high-frequency electric field to an electrode, and a photo sensor for detecting whether or not there is an object using light.

A plurality of the sensor 300 may be mounted on the surface of the inner wall of the carrying box 1000 and serves to sense how close the loads are stacked to the top face from the bottom face of the carrying box 1000, namely, loaded height of the loads, and how close the loads are located to the front face from the rear face of the carrying box 1000, namely, depth of the loads, and then, supplies information of the loaded things to the controller 400. In the meantime, the controller 400 controls the pump 150 connected with the

air tubes

100a and 100b disposed on the front face or the bottom face on the basis of the information of the loads obtained from the sensor 300 to regulate expansion degrees of the

air tubes

100a and 100b, namely, the gas injection speed and the injection amount, in order to effectively push out the loads.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a device for unloading loads according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an unloading device according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the unloading device according to the second preferred embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the unloading device according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an air tube 100, a pump 150, and a controller 400 for controlling the pump 150. As described in the first preferred embodiment, the unloading device according to the present invention may be disposed on the inside or the outside of the carrying box 1000.

As shown in FIGS 5 and 6, the unloading device according to the second preferred embodiment may further include a lift 200.

The lift 200 is disposed inside the carrying box 1000 to adjust the height of the loads to an installation position of the air tube 100. Preferably, as shown in FIG. 5, the lift 200 is mounted on the bottom face of the carrying box 1000 and is utilized to maintain the loaded height of the loads which gets lower when the loads are released. For instance, in a case that the air tube 100 is mounted on the inner wall of the front face of the carrying box 1000 to be 2m high from the bottom face, the unloading device can make the loads locate at the height of the air tube 100 using the lift 200 disposed on the bottom face of the carrying box 1000 even though the loaded height gets lower when the loads are unloaded.

In the meantime, a device for unloading loads according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a guide rail which is disposed on the inner wall of the carrying box 1000 to move the air tube 100 connected thereto, so that the air tube 100 can move up and down and from side to side along the guide rail.

For instance, in a case that the guide rail is formed vertically on the front face of the carrying box 1000 and the air tube 100 is connected on the guide rail to be able to move, even though there is no life 200, the height of the air tube 100 is adjusted according to the height of the loads to push out the loads at a proper height. On the other hand, the unloading device according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a sensor for sensing the position of the loads. In this instance, as described in the first preferred embodiment, there are many kinds of sensors, for instance, an inductive sensor for sensing a change by things within a sensing distance range through an electromagnetic field formed on the surface of the sensor, a capacitive sensor for sensing a difference in capacitance according to approach of things by generating a high-frequency electric field to an electrode, and a photo sensor for detecting whether or not there is an object using light.

One or more sensors 300 may be mounted on the surface of the inner wall of the carrying box 1000 and serves to sense how close the loads are stacked to the top face from the bottom face of the carrying box 1000, namely, loaded height of the loads, and how close the loads are located to the front face from the rear face of the carrying box 1000, namely, depth of the loads, and then, supplies information of the loaded things to the controller 400. In the meantime, the controller 400 adjusts the height of the lift 200 or moves the air tube 100 connected to the guide rail on the basis of the information of the loads obtained from the sensor 300 in order to effectively push out the loads.

Meanwhile, the unloading devices according to the first and second preferred embodiments of the present invention may further include a linkage part.

The linkage part is to connect the entrance of the carrying box 1000 and the external conveyer with each other.

In this instance, the linkage part gets in contact with the entrance of the carrying box 1000 and can be used as means for extending a moving route of the loads. The linkage part includes extending means whose one end is connectable with the rear face of the inner wall of the carrying box 1000, namely, the entrance of the carrying box 1000, so that the other end is connected with the conveyer 500.

It should be understood that the linkage part is not limited in methods to connect the carrying box 1000 with the conveyer 500 as long as the linkage part provides the extension route that the loads can move from the carrying box 1000 to the conveyer 500. However, as a preferred embodiment, the linkage part may be connected with the unloading device as an independent device in such a way that one end of the linkage part is connected with a specific shaft mounted on the rear face of the carrying box 1000, or may be formed integrally with the carrying box 1000.

In the meantime, the linkage part may further include additional members or may have various forms in order to help movement of the loads in stability.

For instance, in a case that the linkage part further includes a side member disposed on the side of the moving route, it can prevent that the loads deviates aside when moving through the linkage part.

Alternatively, the linkage part may have a form of a hopper to make the loads released by the air tube 100 move on a correct route without deviation. A hopper means a funnel-shaped object whose one mouth is bigger than the other mouth. In a case that the hopper-shaped linkage part is connected to the entrance of the carrying box 1000, it can considerably reduce an accident that the loads are deviated from the moving route.

FIG. 7 illustrates a state where the unloading device according to the present invention protects the loads during the transportation process.

That is, the unloading device according to the present invention can be effectively utilized not only during unloading work of the loads but also during the transportation process. The unloading device expands the

air tubes

100a, 100b and 100c, which are disposed on the inner wall of the carrying box 1000, according to the loaded form and arrangement of the loads so that the loads can be transported in a fixed state in safety.

Particularly, as shown in FIG. 7, the unloading device according to the present invention can fix the loads by expanding at least one air tube and prevent that the loads are bumped against the inner wall of the carrying box 1000 even in a contracted state.

Moreover, in a case that goods of high prices are transported, the unloading device expands one or more air tubes additionally to protect the goods. In this instance, the unloading device can sense positions of the loads using the sensor 300 disposed inside the carrying box 1000 and expand the

proper air tubes

100a, 100b and 100c in order to fix the loads.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments and applicable examples thereof, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments and applicable examples and various changes and modifications in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. It should be also understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the changes and modifications should not be understood discriminately from the technical idea or prospect of the present invention.

Claims

A device for unloading loads comprising:

one or more air tubes which are expanded and contracted in volume according to injection and discharge of gas, push out the loads located inside a carrying box when expanding, and are disposed at least one face of the inner wall of the carrying box; and

one or more pumps disposed to inject gas into the air tubes or discharge gas from the air tubes.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 1, further comprising:

a controller which decides the air tube to inject or discharge gas and controls a gas injection speed, a gas injection amount or a gas injection period of time.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 2, wherein the air tube is disposed on the inner wall of a front face of the carrying box.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 3, further comprising:

a height sensor for sensing a loaded height of the loads.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 4, wherein the controller searches the air tube which is disposed at the loaded height sensed by the height sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 4, further comprising:

at least one air tube disposed on a bottom face of the carrying box.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 6, further comprising:

a depth sensor for sensing a loaded depth of the loads.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 7, wherein the controller searches the air tube which is disposed at the position sensed by the depth sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube and at least one air tube which is located on a straight line ranging from the sensed position to the entrance of the carrying box.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 8, wherein the one or more air tubes to which gas is injected is made in a stepped form.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 1, further comprising:

a lift on which the loads are loaded and which is able to control height.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 1, wherein the air tubes are connected to a guide rail disposed on the surface of the inner wall of the carrying box and move up and down or from side to side along the guide rail.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 10, further comprising:

a sensor for sensing loaded positions of the loads.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 12, wherein the controller searches the air tube corresponding to the position sensed by the sensor and controls the pump to inject gas into the searched air tube.
The device for unloading loads according to claim 1, further comprising:

a linkage part whose one end extends from the bottom face of the rear of the inner wall of the carrying box and whose the other end is connected with a conveyer.