Method and apparatus of replenishment in assembly line

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10703580-B2
Application number	US-201916273074-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2019
Priority date	Oct 8, 2018
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

The present invention is related to a replenishment method and device in an assembly line. A usage storage area for storing a first object set and a spare storage area for storing a second object set are defined in the replenishment apparatus. The replenishment apparatus comprises a fixing carrier in the usage storage area and a moving carrier in the spare storage area. The replenishment method comprises driving the moving carrier to move the second object set in the spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area when a remaining number of objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier is zero and the first object set in the fixing carrier is removed; and moving the moving carrier to leave the fixing carrier and recover to the spare usage area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A replenishment method for a replenishment apparatus, comprising:
a counter calculating a remaining number of objects in a first object set carried in a fixing carrier in a usage storage area;
a controller determining whether the remaining number of the objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier is zero;
the controller determining whether the first object set carried in the fixing carrier has been removed;
the controller driving a moving carrier to move a second object set in a spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area in response to the determination that the remaining number of the objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier is zero and the first object set in the fixing carrier is removed; and
the controller moving the moving carrier to leave the fixing carrier to return to the spare usage area.

2. The replenishment method of claim 1 , wherein the counter calculating the remaining number of the objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier in the usage storage area comprises:
the counter calculating a number of the objects in the first object set being picked up to determine the remaining number.

3. The replenishment method of claim 1 , wherein the counter calculating the remaining number of the objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier in the usage storage area comprises:
the counter calculating a weight change of the first object set after any of the objects is picked up from the first object set to determine the remaining number.

4. The replenishment method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating a remaining number of the objects in the second object set in the usage storage area after the moving carrier has moved the second object set to the fixing carrier.

5. The replenishment method of claim 1 , wherein before the controller driving the moving carrier to move the second object set in the spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area comprises:
determining whether there is the second object set in the moving carrier; and
only in response to the determination that there is the second object set in the moving carrier, driving the moving carrier to move the second object set in the spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area.

6. The replenishment method of claim 1 , wherein after the controller moving the moving carrier to leave the fixing carrier to return to the spare usage area, further comprising:
transmitting an indication signal to replenish new fully-stored second object set to the moving carrier in the spare storage area.

7. The replenishment method of claim 5 , further comprising in response to the determination that the second object set is not in the moving carrier, transmitting an alarm.

8. The replenishment method of claim 1 , wherein before the controller driving the moving carrier to move the second object set in the spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area, further comprising:
determining whether there is an obstacle in the usage storage area;
in response to the determination that there is the obstacle in the usage storage area, stopping the moving carrier from moving the second object set to the fixing carrier of the usage storage area and transmitting an alarm.

9. A replenishment apparatus, for an assembly line, defined with a usage storage area and a spare storage area, comprising:
a fixing carrier, disposed in the usage storage area, configured to store a first object set capable of storing a plurality of objects;
a counter, configured to calculate a remaining number of the objects in the first object set of the usage storage area;
a moving carrier, disposed in the spare storage area, configured to store a second object set capable of storing a plurality of objects, and to move the second object set from the spare storage area to the fixing carrier of the usage storage area; and
a controller, configured to execute the following steps:
determining whether a remaining number of the object in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier is zero;
determining whether the first object set carried in the fixing carrier has been removed;
driving the moving carrier to move the second object set in the spare usage area to the fixing carrier in the usage storage area in response to the determination that the remaining number of objects in the first object set carried in the fixing carrier is zero and the first object set in the fixing carrier is removed; and
moving the moving carrier to leave the fixing carrier to return to the spare usage area.

10. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the counter is one of an infrared sensor, a wireless tag sensor, and a barcode reader.

11. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the counter is a weight sensing device.

12. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the counter is a touch switch.

13. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the spare storage area further comprises a clearance sensing device, and the controller determines whether there is the second object set in the moving carrier by the clearance sensing device, only in response to the determination that there is the second object set in the moving carrier, the controller can drive the moving carrier to move the second object set to the fixing carrier of the usage storage area.

14. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising an indication device, wherein after the moving carrier moves away from the fixing carrier to return to the spare storage area, the indication device transmits an indication signal.

15. The replenishment apparatus of claim 13 , wherein in response to the determination that there is no the second object set in the moving carrier, the controller transmits an alarm.

16. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the usage storage area further comprises a clearance sensing device, and the controller determines whether there is an obstacle in the usage storage area by the clearance sensing device, in response to the determination that there is the obstacle in the usage storage area, the controller stops driving the moving carrier to move the second object set to the fixing carrier of the usage storage area and transmits an alarm.

17. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the fixing carrier and the moving carrier are complementary comb structures, the moving carrier goes through the fixing carrier in response to the moving carrier rotates around the fixing carrier.

18. The replenishment apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the replenishment apparatus further comprises a driving device, and the driving device comprises:
a moving unit, for moving the moving carrier close to or away from the fixing carrier under a driving state; and
a driving unit, for rotating the moving carrier between a horizontal position and a vertical position.

Assignees

• Wistron Corp

Inventors

• Ye Jiao
• Tong Jingang
• Xiang Kun
• Jia Qiang

Classifications

• B65G47/902

  provided with drive systems incorporating rotary and rectilinear movements · CPC title

• B65G47/482

  using exclusively mechanical transmitting means between destination marks and switching means · CPC title

• B65G1/026

  Racks equipped with a displaceable load carrying surface to facilitate loading or unloading · CPC title

• B25H1/12 Primary

  with storage compartments · CPC title

• B65G1/06 Primary

  with means for presenting articles for removal at predetermined position or level (B65G1/12 takes precedence) · CPC title