WO2018167152A1

WO2018167152A1 - Device for receiving stacked objects

Info

Publication number: WO2018167152A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/056403
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthias Hiegl
Original assignee: SAMA GmbH
Priority date: 2017-03-14
Filing date: 2018-03-14
Publication date: 2018-09-20
Also published as: DE102017002478A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for receiving stacked objects (14), comprising a telescopic conveyor (12), an at least vertically adjustable unloading unit (16) that is coupled to the end face of the telescopic conveyor (12), and a gripper (22) for receiving an object (14) from the stack and moving the object (14) onto the unloading unit (16). According to the invention, the gripper (22) is designed to exert an at least substantially horizontal pulling or pushing force on the object (14).

Description

Device for receiving stacked objects

The invention relates to a device for receiving stacked objects, in particular packages or articles. In logistics centers and factories, containers or swap bodies are frequently loaded and unloaded in ever faster cycles. These can contain stacked objects, such as packages or other items, in ordered or unordered stacks. Also package carriages or pallets must be loaded and unloaded with objects, which are arranged in ordered or unordered stacks or must be taken up by such stacks.

The picking up of objects, in particular parcels, from disordered stacks is today usually carried out manually by a worker who transfers the removed objects after picking up a conveyor system.

However, attempts have also been made to facilitate this work by partial automation or to automate it completely.

There are some examples of automatic unloading of trucks or containers with 5-axis grippers. Such a system is disclosed, for example, in US Pat. No. 9,533,841 B1. A gripper is mounted on a carriage and is retracted into a truck, with a conveyor belt is tracked. The grapple is mounted at a fixed height on the cart and has an amplitude or reach or arm length that allows it to be picked up over the entire height of the container. The BEUMER Group GmbH & Co. KG offers a modified telescopic belt conveyor under the BEUMER Parcel Picker® brand with an unloading unit coupled to the front side, which the operator can actively steer and which is height-adjustable. The unloading unit can be retracted by the operator into a container or truck to be unloaded. The packages to be unloaded can be pulled onto the conveyor system via a manually guided package manipulator with a long handle. The unloading unit extends over the entire width of the container to be unloaded, so that the operator can not move within the container next to or in front of the unloading unit in order to intervene manually if necessary. From the operator's point of view, the objects to be unloaded can not be reached by hand without the use of the long handle package manipulator. Manual interventions in the unloading process require the unloading unit to be moved out of the container.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and flexibly usable device for receiving stacked objects, in particular packages.

The object is achieved by a device for receiving stacked objects with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims.

The invention relates to a device for receiving stacked objects with a telescopic conveyor, a front end coupled to the telescopic conveyor, at least höhenverstellba- ren unloading unit and a gripper for receiving an object from a stack and for moving the object on the discharge unit.

In particular, it is proposed that the gripper is designed to exert an at least essentially horizontal pulling or pushing force on the object. A lifting of the object and a required complex mechanics can be avoided. Preferably, the substantially horizontal engages Pulling or pushing force only on a single vertical side surface of the object and not on two opposite side surfaces.

It is also proposed that the gripper is attached to a horizontally extending rail. The combination of the vertically adjustable and in advance embodiments also movable in the conveying direction unloading with attached to a horizontally extending rail gripper flexible use for receiving arranged at different heights objects is possible.

In particular, the device may comprise a carriage which can be moved in and out of a container or swap bodies to load or unload them. The objects to be unloaded may be, for example, packages or other items that are delivered in ordered or unordered stacks. Also, package carriages or pallets can be unloaded with the device, with the objects being picked up by ordered or unordered stacks.

In order to facilitate the simple drawing also of lying on the bottom of the container, the swap body, the pallet or the trolley objects, the unloading is movable in an advantageous embodiment of the invention to the ground.

The gripper may be movable on the rail and the device may for this purpose comprise a corresponding actuator or be manually displaced by a user on the rail. Depending on the configuration of the invention, the rail can be designed as a mounting rail for mounting different grippers or as a roller or slide rail. The rail can be mounted at a fixed height, but is adjustable in height in advantageous embodiments of the invention, in particular independently of the discharge unit. However, if the device exclusively or primarily for receiving objects with a is designed predetermined height, the rail is advantageously adjusted simultaneously with the discharge unit.

It is also proposed that the rail is designed for mounting me rerer gripper side by side. The grippers can be used simultaneously to increase the throughput or Kings nen designed differently, so that depending on the object, a suitable gripper can be used.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the gripper or at least one of the grippers is designed as a suction gripper. As a result, a flexible, non-destructive recording of the objects can be ensured.

It is also proposed that the suction gripper has an at least substantially horizontal suction direction and is designed to emphasize the object on the unloading unit.

As a result, a lifting of the object can be avoided and the suction pad can be designed according to smaller forces, which in turn allows lower pressure losses during suction.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a plurality of parallel, independently operable suction pads. The number of suction cups used can be adapted to the object to be extracted or to the size and weight of the latter. As a result, energy losses and pressure losses, which are usually associated with noise, can be avoided.

It is also proposed that the gripper comprises a horizontally retractable lance and a gripping unit, wherein the gripping unit can be brought by extending the lance into contact with the object and the object can be pulled out by retracting the lance. The bim emphasis of the object mitzubewegende mass of the gripper can be kept low in this way. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a control unit for adjusting the height of the discharge unit and for actuating the Grei fers. The control unit is preferably at least partially automated. However, the control unit may additionally comprise a user interface for manually actuating the device with a joystick or other operating means. The control unit may in particular also be designed for the control unit for extending and retracting the lance when the device is such a lance. sums up.

Furthermore, the inventors propose to equip the device with an image acquisition unit. Then, the control unit should be designed to evaluate image data of the image acquisition unit, to determine a size and / or position of an object to be recorded in a next step from image data of the image acquisition unit. The unloading unit and / or the gripper can then be actuated by the control unit depending on the detected size and / or position.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the gripper comprises a plurality of independently operable gripper units, in particular suction pads. The control unit can then be designed to determine a number of gripper units used to pick up the object, depending on the determined size of the object. By minimizing the number of grippers used, energy saving potentials can be tapped and pressure losses reduced.

Furthermore, it is proposed that the control unit is designed to detect from the image data a lower edge of an object to be recorded in a next work step and to move a conveying plane of the unloading unit to the height of the lower edge. The object can then be pulled forward on a substantially flat surface, in which conveying plane substantially steadily continues the upper side of the underlying object or the bottom of the container, the swap, the pallet or the trolley. It is also proposed that the unloading unit can be moved horizontally and orthogonally to a conveying direction, in particular with respect to a carriage with which the unloading unit can be moved in and out in the conveying direction of the conveyor system, into the container or the swap body.

In order to allow manual intervention by the operator, it is proposed that a width of the unloading unit is at least 50 cm smaller than an internal width of an ISO container of about 2.4 m. The operator can thereby also stand within the container next to the unloading unit or run past it, without having to extend the device completely out of the container.

Further features and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the figures. The entire description, the claims and the figures disclose features of the invention in specific embodiments and combinations. The person skilled in the art will also consider the features individually and combine these with other combinations or subcombinations in order to adapt the invention as defined in the claims to its needs or to specific fields of application.

Here are:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is another view of the device of FIG.

1;

3 shows a schematic representation for retracting the device according to the invention into a truck, FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of a suction gripper of the device according to the invention from FIGS.

5a-5e show a sequence of method steps for receiving an object from a stack and for moving the object onto a discharge unit of the device from FIGS. 1-4, and FIG _η

Fig. 6 is a schematic representation of a device according to another embodiment of the invention.

Figures 1 - 3 show a first embodiment of the invention.

A device according to the invention for receiving stacked objects is mounted on a carriage 10, which can be moved in and out of a container or into a swap body (FIG. 3). The apparatus comprises a telescopic conveyor 12 which conveys objects to be unloaded 14 (Figures 5a-5e), especially packages, to a static conveyor system (not shown) of a logistics center. The device comprises a frontally coupled to the telescopic conveyor 12 height adjustable and adjustable transversely to the conveying direction unloading unit 16 and a frame 18 with a horizontally oriented, above the telescopic conveyor 12 arranged rail 20. On the rail 20, a gripper 22 for receiving an object 14 is attached , for example screwed or mounted on the rail 20 movable or movable. The gripper 22 is adapted to receive the object 14 from a stack and to move the object 14 onto the unloading unit 16. The gripper 22 is pivotable about a horizontally oriented axis or rotatable arm on the

Rail 20 is fixed so that a height adjustment of the gripper 22 is possible not only by a height adjustment of the rail 20 but also via a pivoting of the arm. The rail 20 is wide enough to allow attachment of a plurality of grippers 22 side by side, even if the rail 20 is equipped in the embodiment shown in the figures with only one gripper 22, but which comprises several, each designed as a suction pads and independently controllable units.

The suction gripper 22 has an at least substantially horizontal suction direction and is thus aligned so that it Object 14 from the stack on the discharge unit 16 can pull without lifting it.

The suction gripper 22 is shown in more detail in FIG. 4. The units are arranged in parallel, independently operable

Suction gripper 22a - 22c, each with a horizontal retractable and extendable lance 24a - 24c and a gripping unit 26a - 26c. The gripping units 26a - 26c designed as suction heads can be brought into contact with the object 14 by extending the respective lances 24a - 24c, suck the object 14 and suck the object 14

Object 14 can then be pulled out by retracting the lance 24a - 24c.

The device further comprises a computer-designed control unit 28 for height adjustment of the unloading unit 16, for operating the gripper 22 and the control unit 28 of the extension and retraction of the lances 24a - 24c. The control unit 28 includes a user interface 30 with a joystick or multiple levers and a monitor or other suitable device that allows manual intervention in an otherwise largely automated unloading process. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the user interface 30 is a wireless, portable remote control. In other embodiments, the user interface may be fixedly connected to the cart 10, which may also include a seat for the operator.

Mounted on a frame 18 which supports the rail 20 is an image acquisition unit 32 in the form of a camera, the images of which are transmitted to the control unit 28.

FIGS. 5a-5e illustrate the operation of the device according to the invention. In a first step illustrated in FIG. 4 a, the control unit 28 becomes image data of the image acquisition unit 32 and determines a size and / or position of an object 14 to be recorded in a next step from image data of the image acquisition unit 32 using suitable image processing software. The corresponding object is shown hatched in Fig. 5a. In one embodiment of the invention y

For example, the image capture unit 32 comprises a plurality of cameras which record an image from different angles and thus enable three-dimensional detection of the stack of objects 14 to be removed. Of course, depth information can also be obtained via other techniques, such as infrared or ultrasonic reflection. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention are also conceivable in which information about the size or the weight is determined by means of bar codes or QR codes which has been applied to the objects 14 or in which known information about the composition of the stack is evaluated. Which of the objects 14 will next be unloaded may be determined by an algorithm which, in addition to the anticipated stability of the remainder stack upon removal, may also account for travel of the device. Often, but not necessarily always, the highest stacked item 14 will be unloaded next.

Control unit 28 thus acquires information about the size, shape and position of the next object to be unloaded 14 on the stack and controls the unloading unit 16 and / or the gripper 22 depending on the detected size and / or position.

If the male object 14 is identified, the control unit 28 moves the gripper 22, which is height-adjustable on the frame 18, to a height at which the suction gripper 22 is centered in front of the front side of the object 14 and moves the gripper 22, which can be extended horizontally on a rod or telescopic rod, in the direction of Front surface of the object 14 and brings a suitable number of gripper units 26a - 26c by extending the corresponding lances 24a - 24c in contact with the front of the object 14, as shown in Fig. 5b.

The control unit 28 further detects from the image data a lower edge of an object 14 to be recorded in a next work step and adjusts the height of the unloading unit 16 such that the conveying plane of the unloading unit 16 is adjusted to the height of the unloading unit 16. ₁ edge is moved (Fig. 5c) and then moved up to the stack, so that the conveying plane, ie an upper side of conveyor belts of the discharge unit 16, which is continued at the leading edge by a ramp-like wedge extension, with the top of the below to be removed Object 14 lying object 14 is aligned and forms a substantially continuous plane with this top. (Figure 5d). At this level, the object 14 may then be advanced with the suction grippers 22 until it lies on the unloading unit 16 or the conveyor belts of the conveyor system or unloading unit 16 (Figure 5e). For removal, the gripper 22 is pivoted out of the path of the object 14 or moved up before the next object 14 is taken from the stack. During removal, the objects 14 pulled from the stack are conveyed under the rail 20 in a conveying direction running parallel to the longitudinal direction of the lances 24a-24c or to the pulling direction of the gripper units 26a-26c. The trajectory of the objects therefore runs essentially straight.

Due to the coordinated use of the image data and the control of the discharge unit 16, packages or objects 14 can be removed selectively and individually from the stack. As a result, stacks of packages of different sizes, in which adjacent objects 14 are stored at different levels, can be cleared away without any significant drop heights when the packages are pulled out.

The individual removal or the selective gripping of the objects can also be a free space of stuck packets possible. The device can, if it is determined that an object 14 stuck, so the extraction of other objects 14 is blocked, first remove surrounding objects 14 and approach the first stuck object 14 again. The sequence of the steps shown in FIGS. 5b-5d can be changed or the various movements can be carried out simultaneously. The Fig. 5b - 5d sequence is chosen only for clarity.

Even if the unloading unit 16 is moved in the example shown in FIG. 5d to a front edge of the package or object 14 located below the package to be removed, the removal unit 16 can also be obliquely positioned on the objects to be removed further from the stack Top of an object 14 are placed.

The gripper units 26a-26c can also be used to align the objects 14 while also transmitting a thrust force to the object. If a front side of the object 14 to be extracted is at an angle, it can be rotated by pulling the object 14 with one or more suction units and simultaneously holding or pushing back with other suction units until the front side is straight and therefore can be withdrawn with minimal suction. she

Suction units may further include flexible squeegee lips that conform to unevenness of the surface of the object 14.

The unloading unit 16 is further horizontally movable on the carriage 10 transversely to the conveying direction of the conveyor system and a width of the unloading unit 16 is at least 50 cm smaller than an inner width of an 8-foot wide ISO container. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the width of the discharge unit is 1.5 m or less, particularly advantageously even 1 m or less. The unloading unit is positioned centrally in front of the objects in the transverse direction, and the drop height is reduced to a minimum by the vertical movement of the unloading unit 16 to the height of the object 14 to be removed. As a result, even with narrow unloading units it can be reliably avoided that drawn objects fall laterally next to the unloading unit 16. The user can even with retracted unloading 16 next to them or ₁ past her to manually engage in the unloading, for example, to move wedged objects 14.

A "revision passage" can be kept open by the transverse movement or the pivoting of the unloading unit 16. The removal of the entire apparatus from the container and a retraction if the package can not be picked takes a very long time The time saved by the machine standing in the case of revision The operator is able to keep the fault and, after completing the operation, starts up the machine again, which is considerable The narrow and space-saving design of the unloading unit 16 is also made possible by the conveyor unit going backwards through the frame 18 and under the rail 20.

Therefore, a "collaborative system" is made possible in which man and machine work together in limited space.

The horizontal pivotability and height adjustability of the discharge unit 16 and the Höhenvestellbarkeit the rail 20 can be greatly simplified dynamically by weight savings of the components. This is achieved according to the invention in particular by the use of easy-to-build grippers 22 and by avoiding large projections of robot colors. Fig. 6 shows schematically another embodiment of

Invention with a designed as a simple 5-axis Knickarmroboter gripper 22, which engages from above or on the object to be removed 14 and this pushes forward on the discharge unit 16. At the end of the gripper 22, a suction gripper for gripping the upper side of the object 14 or a pull hook for engaging behind the object 14 can be provided.

Claims

claims

1. A device for receiving stacked objects (14) with a telescopic conveyor (12), a front side of the tele skopförderer (12) coupled, at least vertically adjustable unloading unit (16) and a gripper (22) for receiving an object (14) of a Stack and for moving the object (14) onto the unloading unit (16),

wherein the gripper (22) is adapted to exert an at least substantially horizontal pulling or pushing force on the object (14),

characterized in that the gripper (22) is attached to a horizontally extending rail (20) and the unloading unit (16) and the telescopic conveyor (12) are arranged to convey the object (14) under the rail.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1,

characterized in that the rail (20) for attachment of a plurality of grippers (22) is designed side by side.

3. Device according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that the gripper (22) as Sauggrei fer (22) is formed.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3,

characterized in that the suction gripper (22) has an at least substantially horizontal suction direction and is designed to emphasize the object (14) on the unloading unit (16).

5. Apparatus according to claim 4,

characterized by a plurality of parallel arranged, inde pendent operable suction pad (22).

6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the gripper (22) comprises a horizontal extendable and retractable lance (24a - 24c) and a gripping unit (26a - 26c), wherein the gripping unit (26a - 26c) by extending the lance (24a - 24c) in contact can be brought with the object (14) and the object (14) can be pulled out by retracting the lance (24a - 24c).

7. Device according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized by a control unit (28) for height adjustment of the unloading unit (16) and for actuating the gripper (22).

8. Device according to claims 6 and 7,

characterized in that the control unit (28) further for

Control unit (28) for extending and retracting the lance

(24a - 24c) is designed.

9. Device according to one of claims 7 and 8,

characterized by an image acquisition unit (32), wherein the control unit (28) is adapted to evaluate image data of the image acquisition unit (32), a size and / or position of an object to be recorded in a next step (14) from image data of the image acquisition unit (32) determine and the discharge unit (16) and / or the

Gripper (22) depending on the detected size and / or position to operate.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9,

characterized in that the gripper (22) comprises a plurality of independently operable gripper units (26a - 26c), in particular suction pads (22), wherein the control unit (28) is adapted to control a number of gripper units used to receive the object (14) ( 26a-26c) depending on the determined size of the object (14).

11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the control unit (28) is adapted to detect from the image data a lower edge of an object to be recorded in a next step (14) and to move a conveying plane of the unloading unit (16) to the height of the lower edge.

12. Device according to another of the preceding claims,

characterized in that the gripper (22) on the horizontal rail (20) is movable.

13. Device according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that the unloading unit (16) is movable horizontally and orthogonal to a conveying direction of the conveyor system.

14. Device according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that a width of the unloading unit (16) is at least 50 cm smaller than an inner width of an ISO container.

15. Device according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that a width of the discharge unit (16) is at most 1.50 m, in particular at most 1 m