Destacking conveyor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10899564-B2
Application number	US-201816629133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2018
Priority date	Jul 14, 2017
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A destacking conveyor having a conveyor belt with pushers selectively pushing stacked packages transverse to the conveying direction to one side of the conveyor against a vertical wall with a gap between the bottom of the wall and the belt to block the top package of a stack and allow the bottom package to pass through the gap and off the side of the belt to a reject bin. In another version a destacking conveyor uses a force applicator to apply a downward force against the top of a stack to hold the top package while the pushers slide the bottom package from under the top package.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A destacking conveyor comprising:
a conveyor frame extending in length from an upstream end to a downstream end and laterally between two opposite sides;
a conveyor belt advancing in a conveying direction along a length of the conveyor frame and having pushers for pushing packages in a transverse direction toward one or the other side of the conveyor frame;
a vertical wall having a bottom extending in the conveying direction above the conveyor belt and forming a gap between the conveyor belt and the bottom of the vertical wall;
a series of actuation zones disposed along the length of the conveyor frame and including actuators to selectively actuate the pushers as they advance through the actuation zones;
a package detector disposed upstream of the actuation zones to send a detector signal indicating the passage of a stack of packages to the actuators to sequentially actuate the actuation zones to actuate the pushers as they advance through the actuated actuation zones to push the stack in the transverse direction against the vertical wall as the stack advances in the conveying direction so that the top package of the stack is restrained by the vertical wall as the pushers push the bottom package under the vertical wall through the gap to separate the top and bottom packages as they advance in the conveying direction.

2. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the pushers are rollers that rotate when actuated on axes parallel to the conveying direction.

3. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the pushers are rollers that rotate when actuated on axes oblique to the conveying direction.

4. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the pushers are cross belts that advance across the conveyor belt perpendicular to the conveying direction when actuated.

5. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the pushers are shoes that advance across the conveyor belt perpendicular to the conveying direction when actuated.

6. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the package detector includes a photoelectric transmitter transmitting a light beam to a photoelectric receiver along a line at a height above the conveyor belt greater than the height of the gap.

7. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the package detector includes a vertical array of photoelectric transmitters transmitting light beams to a vertical array of photoelectric receivers along parallel lines to measure the height of a stack of packages.

8. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 wherein the package detector includes a horizontal array of range finders spaced apart laterally above the conveyor belt to measure the height of a stack of packages.

9. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 further comprising one or more wall actuators and wherein the vertical wall includes one or more liftable wall segments actuated by the one or more wall actuators.

10. A destacking conveyor as in claim 9 further comprising package detectors disposed on each of the liftable wall segments to detect the presence of a package in the gap and send a detector signal to the wall actuator to prevent the liftable wall segment from lowering onto the package in the gap.

11. A destacking conveyor as in claim 1 further comprising a reject actuation zone, including a reject actuator, downstream of the vertical wall and a pair of package detectors arranged to detect the presence of a package in the gap straddling the downstream end of the vertical wall and send a detector signal to the reject actuator to actuate the reject actuation zone to actuate the pushers passing through the actuation zone to push the package off the side of the conveyor belt.

12. A destacking conveyor comprising:
a conveyor frame extending in length from an upstream end to a downstream end and laterally between two opposite sides;
a conveyor belt advancing in a conveying direction along a length of the conveyor frame and having pushers pushing packages in a transverse direction toward one or the other side of the conveyor frame;
a vertical wall having a liftable segment extending in the conveying direction above the conveyor belt and also having a bottom;
a wall actuator coupled to the liftable segment to raise the liftable segment to a raised position forming a gap between the conveyor belt and the bottom of the liftable segment and to lower the liftable segment to a lowered position dosing the gap enough to prevent packages from passing through the gap;
a package detector disposed upstream of the liftable segment to send a detector signal indicating the passage of a stack of packages to the wall actuator to raise the liftable segment to the raised position so that the top package of the stack is restrained by the vertical wall as the pushers push the bottom package under the vertical wall through the gap to separate the top and bottom packages as they advance in the conveying direction.

13. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 wherein the package detector includes a photoelectric transmitter transmitting a light beam to a photoelectric receiver along a line at a height above the conveyor belt greater than the height of the gap.

14. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 wherein the package detector includes a vertical array of photoelectric transmitters transmitting light beams to a vertical array of photoelectric receivers along parallel lines to measure the height of a stack of packages.

15. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 wherein the package detector includes a horizontal array of range finders spaced apart laterally above the conveyor belt to measure the height of a stack of packages.

16. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 wherein the package detector measures the height of a stack of packages and sends a detector signal to the actuator to lift the wall segment in the raised position so that the gap is lower than the height of the stack.

17. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 further comprising a plurality of the wall actuators and wherein the vertical wall includes a series of the liftable wall segments actuated by the wall actuators.

18. A destacking conveyor as in claim 17 further comprising package detectors disposed on each of the liftable wall segments to detect the presence of a package in the gap and send a detector signal to the wall actuator to prevent the liftable wall segment from lowering onto the package in the gap.

19. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 comprising a series of actuation zones disposed along the length of the conveyor frame and including actuators to selectively actuate the pushers to push packages in the transverse direction as they advance through the actuation zones.

20. A destacking conveyor as in claim 19 further comprising a reject actuation zone, including a reject actuator, downstream of the vertical wall and a pair of package detectors arranged to detect the presence of a package in the gap straddling the downstream end of the vertical wall and send a detector signal to the reject actuator to actuate the reject actuation zone to actuate the pushers passing through the actuation zone to push the package off the side of the conveyor belt.

21. A destacking conveyor as in claim 12 further comprising a discharge conveyor at the downstream end of the conveyor frame having a first side aligned with one of the sides of the conveyor frame and a second side aligned with the downstream end of the vertical wall so that packages that pass through the gap are not received by the discharge conveyor.

Assignees

• Laitram Llc

Inventors

• Briddell Dane
• Fourney Matthew L
• Costanzo Mark
• Reynolds Jr Leonard J
• Leefe Eric

Classifications

• B07C5/36

  Sorting apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution {(sorting according to destination B07C3/003, B07C3/02)} · CPC title

• B65G59/12

  characterised by de-stacking during transit · CPC title

• B65G47/68

  adapted to receive articles arriving in one layer from one conveyor {lane} and to transfer them in individual layers to more than one conveyor {lane or to one broader conveyor lane}, or vice versa, e.g. combining the flows of articles conveyed by more than one conveyor · CPC title

• B65G47/52

  Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors i.e. discharging or feeding devices (loading or unloading by means not incorporated in, or not operatively associated with, conveyors B65G65/00; transfer of workpieces during metal rolling B21B41/00) · CPC title

• B65G17/24 Primary

  comprising a series of rollers which are moved {, e.g. over a supporting surface, by the traction element to effect conveyance of loads or load-carriers} · CPC title