Conveying system, plant for sorting bulk goods having a conveying system of this type, and transport method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9833815-B2
Application number	US-201515119019-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2015
Priority date	Feb 28, 2014
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

Conveying system for transporting a material flow (M) comprising a large number of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ), characterized in that with the conveying system, by means of optical detection of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) in the material flow (M), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively the location position (x(t),y(t)) thereof at several different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be determined and by means of the location positions (x(t),y(t)) for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) determined at the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ), respectively the location (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) thereof at at least one defined time (t b ) after the respectively latest of the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be calculated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A conveying system for transporting a material flow (M) comprising a large number of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ),
wherein with the conveying system, by means of optical detection of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) in the material flow (M), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively the location position (x(t),y(t)) thereof at several different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be determined and
by means of the location positions (x(t),y(t)) determined at the different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively the location (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) thereof at the at least one defined time (t b ) after the respectively latest of the different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be calculated.

2. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the movement paths ( 1 ) composed of a plurality of location positions (x(t),y(t)) of the respective object at different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be determined for the individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ),
the movement paths of different objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) being able to be determined and/or being able to be differentiated from each other via recursive or non-recursive estimating methods.

3. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein a movement model can be determined respectively for the objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) by means of the respective movement paths thereof, in particular can be selected from a prescribed quantity of movement models, and/or parameters for such a movement model can be determined.

4. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) can be classified on the basis of the optical detection.

5. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the classification of an object (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) can be performed by taking into account the location positions (x(t),y(t)) determined for this object at the different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ), the movement path determined for this object and/or the movement model determined for this object.

6. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the two-dimensional location positions (x(t),y(t)), in particular two-dimensional location positions relative to the conveying system, can be determined for the objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ), or
in that three-dimensional location positions in space can be determined for the objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ).

7. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein with the conveying system, by means of optical detection of the individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) in the material flow (M), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively in addition to the location position (x(t),y(t)) thereof, also the orientation thereof at several different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be determined and in that, by means of the location positions (x(t),y(t)) and orientations determined at the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ), respectively the location (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) thereof at the at least one defined time (t b ) after the respectively latest of the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be calculated.

8. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein by means of the location positions (x(t),y(t)) and orientations determined at the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ), respectively in addition to the location (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) thereof also the orientation thereof at the at least one defined time (t b ) after the respectively latest of the different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) can be calculated.

9. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the optical detection is effected by means of one or more optical detection unit(s), which comprises/comprise or preferably is/are one or more surface sensor(s) and/or a plurality of line sensors at a spacing from each other,
and/or
in that, during the optical detection, a sequence of two-dimensional images can be recorded, from which the location positions of the objects at the different times can be determined.

10. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein within the scope of the optical detection of one or more of the objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) at several different times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ), images, in particular camera images, of this/these object/s can be produced, in that respectively the shape(s) of this/these object/s in the produced images can be determined and in that respectively a three-dimensional image of this/these objects/s can be calculated from the determined shapes.

11. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the calculation of the location(s) of the object/s at the defined time(s) is effected taking into account calculated three-dimensional image/s.

12. The conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein classification of the object/s is effected using the calculated three-dimensional image/s.

13. A plant for bulk material sorting comprising a conveying system according to claim 1 ,
wherein a sorting unit with which the objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) can be sorted on the basis of the calculated locations (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) at the defined time(s) (t b ).

14. A plant according to claim 1 ,
wherein the objects can be sorted on the basis of the classification thereof,
the classification being effected into good objects (GO 1 , GO 2 , . . . ) and into bad objects (SO 1 , SO 2 ) and preferably the sorting unit having an ejection unit, in particular a blow-out unit, which is configured to remove bad objects from the material flow (M) using the calculated locations (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) at the defined time(s) (t b ).

15. A method for transporting a material flow (M) comprising a large number of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ),
wherein in this method, by means of optical detection of individual objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) in the material flow (M), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively the location position (x(t),y(t)) thereof at several different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) is determined, and
in that, by means of the location positions (x(t),y(t)) determined at the different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ), for these objects (O 1 , O 2 , . . . ) respectively the location (x b (t b ),y b (t b )) thereof at at least one defined time (t b ) after the respectively latest of the different, fixed times (t −4 , t −3 , . . . ) is calculated,
the method being implemented using a conveying system or a plant according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung

Inventors

• Gruna Robin
• Vieth Kai-Uwe
• Schulte Henning
• Langle Thomas
• Hanebeck Uwe
• Baum Marcus
• Noack Benjamin

Classifications

• B07C5/3425 Primary

  of granular material, e.g. ore particles, grain (investigation moving fluids or granular solids using optical means G01N21/85) · CPC title

• B07C5/361 Primary

  Processing or control devices therefor, e.g. escort memory · CPC title

• B07C5/10

  measured by light-responsive means {(sorting according to colour B07C5/342)} · CPC title

• B07C5/342

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

• B07C2501/0018

  Sorting the articles during free fall · CPC title