Methods and systems for pallet sizing and pucking

• US 10,639,786 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. (The Cigna Group)
• Original Assignee: Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. (The Cigna Group)
• Inventors: Joplin, Jonathan W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Adams, Gregory W
• Application Number:
  US16/118,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20180370682A1
• Time in Patent Office: 613 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0052 multiple gripper units or multiple end effectors
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0093 co-operating with conveyor means
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 3/003 Filling medical containers such as ampoules, vials, syringes or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/16 and operating to stop, or to control the speed of, the machine as a whole
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 9/045 for single articles, e.g. tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 19/44 Elements or devices for locating articles on platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/0261 Puck as article support
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

A pharmaceutical order filling system uses pucks disposed on a pallet to accommodate a plurality of container sizes into which pharmaceuticals can be dispensed. An order processing device receives a pharmaceutical order and identifies a size of container into which a pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical order should be dispensed. A pallet sizing and pucking device is configured: to configure a pallet with a plurality of pucks adapted to accommodate containers and to configure the pucks on a pallet in a manner that will facilitate efficient fulfillment of the pharmaceutical order.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a gripper assembly including a plurality of gripper heads, a gripper head of the plurality of gripper heads adapted to grip and to release a puck of a plurality of pucks, the gripper head being an independently actuated, pneumatic gripper head adapted to grip and to release the puck;

a puck holding area;

a plurality of pucking stations, a pucking station of the plurality of pucking stations including a robot arm, the robot arm being adapted to selectively place the puck onto a container carrier and to selectively-remove the puck from the container carrier, the robot arm being adapted to selectively remove the puck from the puck holding area when the puck is gripped by the gripper assembly and to selectively place the puck over a cavity of a plurality of cavities of the container carrier when the puck is released by the gripper assembly;

a plurality of puck conveyors adapted to circulate, among the plurality of pucking stations and the plurality of pucks, the plurality of puck conveyors including a first puck conveyor and a second puck conveyor, the first puck conveyor being adapted to circulate a first group of the plurality of pucks, the second puck conveyor being adapted to circulate a second group of the plurality of pucks, the first group of the plurality of pucks adapted to receive a first set of containers, the second group of the plurality of pucks adapted to receive a second set of containers; and

a RFID reader communicatively coupled with a pucking station of the plurality of pucking stations to read puck data from a RFID tag associated with the container carrier,

wherein the plurality of gripper heads are adapted to align with a row of cavities of the plurality of cavities,

wherein the puck holding area includes a portion of the plurality of puck conveyors and a stop unit, and

wherein placement of the puck onto a container carrier is based on the puck data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each puck of the plurality of pucks is either from the first group of the plurality of pucks or the second group of the plurality of pucks.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the robot arm is further adapted to selectively place a group of the plurality of pucks onto a row of cavities of the plurality of cavities.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pucking stations are further adapted to configure the container carrier in association with a pharmaceutical order.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the gripper head is a spring assist closed gripper head.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the gripper head is a spring assist open gripper head.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the container carrier is a pallet.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of cavities are in a five by five cavity row/column configuration with the pallet.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the puck is retained over the cavity being placed on an insert extending from and forming the cavity, the insert once place fitting between an interior wall and exterior wall of the puck.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the pallet includes a base on which the RFID tag is mounted.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a system conveyor to provide the container carrier towards the plurality of pucking stations;

an in-bound lift and transfer unit to move the pallet from the system conveyor to a container carrier conveyor;

the container carrier container to receive the container carrier from the in-bound lift and transfer unit and deliver the container carrier through a frame portion of a pucking station of the plurality of pucking stations.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the pucking station includes a frame portion that supports the robot arm within the pucking station and a portion of the plurality of puck conveyors disposed within the frame portion.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the puck data includes at least one of a container carrier identifier, container properties, a number of pucks of the first group of the plurality of pucks to be placed on the container carrier, and a number of pucks of the second group of the plurality of pucks to be placed on the container carrier.

14. A method comprising:

circulating, among a plurality of pucking stations, a plurality of pucks using a plurality of puck conveyors including a first puck conveyor and a second puck conveyor, the first puck conveyor being adapted to circulate a first group of the plurality of pucks, the second puck conveyor being adapted to circulate a second group of the plurality of pucks, the first group of the plurality of pucks being adapted to receive a first set of containers, the second group of the plurality of pucks being adapted to receive a second set of containers, a pucking station of the plurality of pucking stations including a robot arm;

reading, using a RFID reader communicatively coupled with the pucking station of the plurality of pucking stations, puck data from a RFID tag associated with a container carrier;

selectively placing, using the robot arm, a puck of the plurality of pucks over a cavity of a plurality of cavities of the container carrier when the puck is released by a gripper assembly, the gripper assembly including a plurality of gripper heads, a gripper head of the plurality of gripper heads adapted to grip and to release the puck, the plurality of gripper heads being respectively independently actuated, pneumatic gripper head adapted to grip and to release the puck; and

selectively removing, using the robot arm, the puck of the plurality of pucks from the container carrier when the puck is gripped by the gripper assembly,

wherein the placement of the puck onto the container carrier is based on the puck data.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein after the puck is retained over the cavity by an insert which extends from the cavity.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the container carrier is a pallet.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the placement of the puck of the plurality of pucks into the cavity of the plurality of cavities of the container carrier is into a row of cavities of the plurality of cavities.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the gripper head is a spring assist closed gripper head.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the gripper head is a spring assist open gripper head.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the puck data includes at least one of a container carrier identifier, container properties, a number of pucks of the first group of the plurality of pucks to be placed on the container carrier, and a number of pucks of the second group of the plurality of pucks to be placed on the container carrier.