Conveyor arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12583682-B2
Application number	US-202218685395-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2022
Priority date	Sep 7, 2021
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

Conveyor arrangement ( 1 ), comprising a conveying section ( 11 ) having a plurality of rollers ( 22 ) on which a conveyable object ( 9 ), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed, a mobile drive ( 30 ), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section ( 11 ) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller ( 22 ) depending on the position of the mobile drive ( 30 ) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller ( 22 ); wherein that the mobile drive ( 30 ) comprises scanners ( 40 ) to detect a presence of an conveyable object ( 9 ) located above the rollers ( 22 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A conveyor arrangement ( 1 ), comprising:
a conveying section ( 11 ) having a plurality of rollers ( 22 ) on which a conveyable object ( 9 ), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed; a mobile drive ( 30 ), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section ( 11 ) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller ( 22 ) depending on the position of the mobile drive ( 30 ) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller ( 22 ) wherein the mobile drive ( 30 ) comprises scanners ( 40 ) to detect a presence of an conveyable object ( 9 ) located above the rollers ( 22 ), further wherein at least one scanner ( 40 ) is located below the roller ( 22 ) and is adapted to detect a conveyable object ( 9 ) located above the mobile drive and above on the rollers ( 22 ); a position database ( 51 ) adapted to store positions of the conveyable objects ( 9 ) located in the conveyor arrangement ( 1 ), wherein the conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) is adapted to store a position of the objects located in the conveyor arrangement obtained by the scanners ( 40 ); wherein the conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) is adapted to use the stored position in a manner to control movement of the mobile device ( 30 ) in a later conveying operation of the object linked to the stored position; and wherein in the later conveying operation, the mobile drive ( 30 ) is directed from a position distant from the object in a direction towards the stored position of the object.

2 . The conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) according to claim 1 , further comprising a position database ( 51 ) adapted to store positions of the conveyable objects ( 9 ) located in the conveyor arrangement ( 1 ).

3 . The conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein the scanner has a field of view (F) which is oriented in top view parallel to an orientation of the roller ( 22 ), in particular the orientation of the roller conforms to an axis of rotation of the roller, and/or wherein the field of view (F) is oriented in frontal view angled to a horizontal plane in an acute angle.

4 . The conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein the scanner is adapted to scan said conveyable object ( 9 ):
in top view, in a direction parallel to an axis of ration, and
in frontal view at an acute angle compared to a horizontal plane.

5 . A conveyor arrangement ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyor arrangement is adapted to determine the presence of a conveyable object ( 9 ) above the roller ( 22 ) from below the roller by analyzing a plurality of distances to surfaces of items above mobile drive, and wherein the distances are obtained by at least one of the scanners.

6 . A method for operating a conveyor arrangement ( 1 ), comprising:
providing a conveyor arrangement, comprising:
a conveying section ( 11 ) having a plurality of rollers ( 22 ) on which a conveyable object ( 9 ), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed,
a mobile drive ( 30 ), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section ( 11 ) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller ( 22 ) depending on the position of the mobile drive ( 30 ) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller ( 22 ), wherein the mobile drive ( 30 ) comprises scanners ( 40 ) to detect a presence of an conveyable object ( 9 ) located above the rollers ( 22 );
transporting a selected object ( 9 c ) from a starting position to a final position within the conveying arrangement ( 1 ) by a transport operation comprising the following steps:
moving the mobile drive ( 30 ) to a stored position of said selected object ( 9 c ), wherein the stored position is stored in a database ( 51 ); and
when moving the mobile drive, using the scanners ( 40 ) to determine the actual position of said selected object ( 9 c ) and positioning the mobile drive ( 30 ) below said selected object ( 9 c ) based on the determined actual position of said selected object ( 9 c ).

7 . The method according to claim 6 ,
characterized in, that the positions of a plurality of conveyable objects ( 9 ) located along the conveying sections are tracked, in particular stored, in a position data base ( 51 ), and wherein a stored position is used to guide the mobile drive at a later conveying step to a selected conveyable object.

8 . The method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
determining an actual position of any of said conveyable objects ( 9 ) by:
positioning the mobile drive ( 30 ) below the conveyable object ( 9 );
defining the position of the mobile drive ( 30 ) based on the position of the mobile drive, optionally under consideration of an offset value.

9 . The method according to claim 6 ,
wherein in regular intervals and/or upon a user request an inventory is conducted, further wherein during conducting the inventory the occupancy status of at least sections ( 11 ) of the conveying arrangement ( 19 ) tracked in the position database is set and/or updated; wherein conducting the inventory comprises the following steps:
driving the mobile drive ( 3 ) along all of said at least sections ( 11 ), thereby determining the position of conveyable objects ( 9 ) located above the roller ( 22 );
defining the position of the mobile drive ( 30 ) based on the position of the mobile drive, optionally under consideration of an offset value; and
setting or updating the defined position in the position data base ( 51 ).

10 . The method according to claim 6 ,
wherein a position of an conveyable object ( 9 ) within the conveying arrangement ( 1 ) is defined by
a unique identifier of a conveying section ( 11 . . . 19 ) on which the conveyable object ( 9 ) is located; and
a unique position value indicating the position within the conveying section.

11 . The method according to claim 6 ,
wherein the transport operation comprises a verifying step in which the position of selected pallet ( 9 c ) is verified, in particular wherein the verifying step comprises the steps:
determining the actual number of conveyable objects ( 9 ) located within the starting section ( 11 ), in particular by counting the objects within said starting section ( 11 ), thereby using the scanners ( 40 ) of the mobile drive ( 30 ) to detect the presence of all conveyable objects ( 9 ) within the total extension of said conveying section ( 11 );
determining a stored number of conveyable objects ( 9 ) located within said conveying section ( 11 ) based on the position data stored in the position data base ( 51 ),
comparing the determined actual number and the determined stored number;
in particular:
wherein a verifying result is positive in case the determined actual number and the determined stored number are equal,
wherein a verifying result is negative in case the determined actual number and the determined stored number are not equal;
in particular for determining the actual number of conveyable objects ( 9 ) on the starting conveying section ( 11 ) the mobile drive ( 30 ) essentially drives along the entire extension of said starting conveying section ( 11 ); in particular wherein in case that the verifying step delivers the result, that
the number of conveyable objects ( 9 ) actually located in said conveying section ( 11 ) corresponds to the occupancy status stored in the position data base ( 51 ),
but the positions of the conveyable objects ( 9 ) within said conveying section ( 11 ) does not correspond to the occupancy status stored in the position data base ( 51 ),

Assignees

• Interroll Holding Ag

Inventors

• Frangeul Xavier
• Loizeau Antoine

Classifications

• B65G2203/0208

  relating to the transported articles · CPC title

• B65G2201/0267

  Pallets · CPC title

• B65G43/08

  Control devices operated by article or material being fed, conveyed or discharged {(and controlling the discharging devices B65G47/42)} · CPC title

• B65G13/06 Primary

  Roller driving means · CPC title

• B65G13/071 Primary

  with frictional engagement · CPC title