Method for removing piece goods from a conveyor, blowoff device and sorting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023174320-A1
Application number	US-202218076732-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 7, 2022
Priority date	Dec 7, 2021
Publication date	Jun 8, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for removing a piece good from a conveying means of a sorting system, wherein the sorting system includes the conveying means for conveying the piece good in a transport direction along a conveyor line, and wherein the conveying means is configured in such a way that a piece good arranged in a cell area on the conveying means is movable at right angles to the transport direction, includes the steps generating image data by means of a camera arranged on the conveyor line, wherein the image data represent at least the conveying means in one section of the conveyor line; by means of a controller, detecting a piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means on the basis of the image data generated; generating a blowoff command for a blowoff device arranged on the conveyor line, wherein the blowoff command is generated while considering a time of the generation of the image data, a conveying speed of the conveying means, and an arrangement of the camera, the conveyor line and the blowoff device relative to one another; and by means of the blowoff device, blowing off the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means on the basis of the blowoff command.

First claim

1 . A method for removing a piece good from a conveying means of a sorting system, wherein the sorting system comprises the conveying means for conveying the piece good in a transport direction along a conveyor line configured as a circular line, and wherein the conveying means is configured in such a way that a piece good arranged in a cell area on the conveying means is movable at right angles to the transport direction, comprising the steps:
generating image data by means of a camera arranged on the conveyor line, wherein the image data represent at least the conveying means in one section of the conveyor line, by means of a controller, detecting a piece not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means on the basis of the image data generated, by means of the controller, classifying the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means with regard to a property of the piece good, in particular a shape, a position, a dimension, a packaging material, a surface finish and/or a weight, on the basis of the image data generated, generating a blowoff command for a blowoff device arranged on the conveyor line, by means of the blowoff device, blowing off the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means on the basis of the blowoff command, checking the blowoff by means of a light barrier after the blowoff, and receiving a check signal generated by the light barrier,
wherein the blowoff command is generated by means of machine learning while considering a time of the generation of the image data, a conveying speed of the conveying means, an arrangement of the camera, the conveyor line and the blowoff device relative to one another and while considering the check signal and the classification of the piece good.

2 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the blowoff device is arranged after the camera in the transport direction, in such a way that between the section of the conveyor line that is represented by the image data and a blowoff location of the conveyor line there is a transport time through the conveying means of 0.2 seconds to 3 seconds, wherein the blowoff location corresponds to that location of the conveyor line at which the blowoff device blows off the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means.

3 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera is arranged on the conveyor line in such a way that the image data generated by the camera represent the conveying means from above.

4 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the blowoff device is arranged on the conveyor line in such a way that a compressed air blast generated by the blowoff device is directed at right angles to the transport direction of the conveying means and/or is located in a plane parallel to a conveying plane of the conveying means.

5 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the blowoff command comprises at least one blowing time and a blowing period, and wherein the blowoff step comprises generating at least one compressed air blast for the blowing period at the blowing time by means of the blowoff device.

6 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of determining a dimension of the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means parallel to the transport direction, and wherein the blowoff command, preferably the blowing period, is generated while considering the determined dimension.

7 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of determining a shape, a position, a dimension, a packaging material, a surface finish and/or a weight of the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means, and wherein the blowoff command is generated while considering the determined shape, the position, the dimension, the packaging material, the surface finish and/or the weight.

8 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of receiving a clock signal of the sorting system, and wherein the image data are generated while considering the received clock signal and/or wherein the blowoff command, preferably the blowing time, is generated while considering the received clock signal.

9 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the blowoff device comprises a plurality of compressed air nozzles, wherein the plurality of compressed air nozzles are arranged beside one another in the transport direction, wherein the method comprises the step of determining a shape, a position, a dimension, a packaging material, a surface finish and/or a weight of the piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means, and wherein the blowoff command is generated while considering the determined shape, position, dimension, packaging material, surface finish and/or weight for the plurality of compressed air nozzles in such a way that the piece good can be removed and/or is removed from the conveying means with the shortest possible total blowing period.

10 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the sorting system comprises a load monitoring device arranged on the conveyor line for determining a position of the piece good arranged in the cell area on the conveying means, wherein the method comprises the step of receiving a load message from the load monitoring device by the controller, and wherein the step of generating image data by means of the camera arranged on the conveyor line comprises considering the load message and/or wherein the step of detecting a piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means on the basis of the image data generated comprises considering the load message.

11 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyor line is configured as a circular line, and wherein the method comprises the step of, by means of the controller, identifying cell areas of the conveying means in which a piece good not placed completely in the cell area on the conveying means has been detected by means of the controller, on the basis of the image data.

12 . Blowoff unit for removing a piece good from a conveying means of a sorting system, wherein the blowoff unit comprises a camera, a controller and a blowoff device, and wherein the blowoff unit is set up to carry out a method according to claim 1 .

13 . Sorting system for sorting piece goods, comprising a conveying means for conveying the piece good in a transport direction along a conveyor line and a blowoff unit according to claim 12 , wherein the conveying means is configured in such a way that a piece good arranged in a cell area on the conveying means is movable at right angles to the transport direction.

Assignees

• Deutsche Post Ag

Inventors

• Kocak Nureddin Kerim
• Bayraktar Fatih

Classifications

• B65G47/5104 Primary

  for articles · CPC title

• B07C5/342

  according to optical properties, e.g. colour {(according to radiation transmittivity B07C5/3416)} · CPC title

• B65G47/503

  the system comprising endless moving means · CPC title

• B07C5/36 Primary

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