Delivery point sequencing mail sorting system with flat mail capability

• US 20020125177A1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Published: 09/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Logistics LLC (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Energy & Automation Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Burns, Gary P., Stone, Robert L., Olson, Douglas E.
• Granted Patent: US 6,953,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 209/630
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 1/02 Forming articles into a stream; Arranging articles in a stream, e.g. spacing, orientating transport of sheets B65H
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/00 Sorting according to destination collating the pages of a book B42C1/00
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/008 Means for collecting objects, e.g. containers for sorted mail items pile receivers in general B65H31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/087 the objects being taken up in transport files or holders which are not part of the conveyor belts cable post B65G
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/90 Sorting flat-type mail
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/923 Feed through including at least one endless conveyor

Abstract

A method and apparatus for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence includes at least one sortation assembly adapted to sort articles and a buffer. The buffer is operable to arrange and convey containers of articles sorted in a first sort pass to an induct of the at least one sortation assembly for a second sort pass or process of the articles. The buffer automatically arranges the containers in an arranged manner prior to conveying the containers and articles to the induct of the at least one sortation assembly for the second sort process. The second sort process is then performed to sort the articles to a delivery point sequence or carrier walk sequence depth of sort. A conveyor assembly may be operable to convey containers to an appropriate one of multiple sortation assemblies and/or buffers to increase the sequencing matrix capability of the apparatus.

Claims

1. An article sortation system for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort, said article sortation system comprising:

at least one article sorter having an induct and a discharge, said at least one article sorter being operable to sort articles into a plurality of trays and discharge the trays of sorted articles at said discharge; and

a buffering assembly for automatically sorting and conveying the trays containing sorted articles sorted during a first sort of said at least one article sorter from said discharge of said at least one article sorter to said induct of said at least one article sorter, said buffering assembly being operable to automatically arrange the trays in an arranged manner and convey the arranged trays to said induct of said at least one article sorter for a second sort of the articles.

2. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said buffering assembly comprises a plurality of conveyors which are cooperatively operable to arrange and accumulate trays in the sequenced manner on said buffering assembly as the trays are received from said discharge of said at least one article sorter.

3. The article sortation system of claim 2, wherein said plurality of conveyors comprise at least one transport conveyor and a plurality of zone conveyors connected to said transport conveyor, said zone conveyors and said transport conveyor being cooperatively operable to receive trays from said at least one transport conveyor and discharge trays to said at least one transport conveyor in an appropriate order for said second sort.

4. The article sortation system of claim 3, wherein said plurality of zone conveyors are positioned along at least one side of said at least one transport conveyor.

5. The article sortation system of claim 4, wherein said at least one transport conveyor includes a plurality of transfer units, each of said plurality of transfer units being positioned at at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors and being operable to move trays between said at least one transport conveyor and a respective at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors.

6. The article sortation system of claim 2, wherein said plurality of conveyors define at least one generally continuous loop between said discharge of said at least one article sorter and said induct of said at least one article sorter.

7. The article sortation system of claim 6, wherein said buffering assembly is operable to circulate trays in said at least one generally continuous loop and input new trays into appropriate spaces between the circulating trays in said at least one generally continuous loop as the new trays are received from said discharge of said at least one article sorter.

8. The article sortation system of claim 7, wherein said at least one generally continuous loop comprises at least two generally continuous loops.

9. The article sortation system of claim 8, wherein said at least one article sorter includes a plurality of individual article sorting stations, each of said at least two continuous loops being operable to convey trays received from different groups of individual sorting stations of said at least one article sorter.

10. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said at least one article sorter comprises a first article sorter and a second article sorter.

11. The article sortation system of claim 10, wherein said buffering assembly is positioned along a return conveyor which is connected between at least one of a discharge of said first article sorter and a discharge of said second article sorter and at least one of an induct of said first article sorter and an induct of said second article sorter.

12. The article sortation system of claim 10, wherein said buffering assembly is connected between a discharge of said first article sorter and an induct of said first article sorter.

13. The article sortation system of claim 12 including a second buffering assembly connected between a discharge of said second article sorter and an induct of said second article sorter.

14. The article sortation system of claim 13 including a connecting conveyor positioned between said buffering assembly and said second buffering assembly and between said discharges of said first and second sorters.

15. The article sortation system of claim 14, wherein said connecting conveyor is operable to convey trays from said discharge of at least one of said first article sorter and said second article sorter to an appropriate one of said buffering assembly and said second buffering assembly.

16. The article sortation system of claim 15, wherein said connecting conveyor defines a generally continuous loop.

17. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said at least one article sorter comprises a single article sorter.

18. The article sortation system of claim 17, wherein said buffering assembly is operable to sort and convey the trays containing sorted articles sorted during the first sort of said article sorter from said discharge of said article sorter to said induct of said article sorter for a second sort of said article sorter.

19. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said buffering assembly is positioned at a level above said at least one article sorter.

20. The article sortation system of claim 19 further including elevating devices which are operable to convey trays upward from said discharge of said at least one article sorter to said buffering assembly and downward from said buffering assembly to said induct of said at least one article sorter.

21. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said buffering assembly includes an input for receiving out-of-area articles received from other article sortation facilities and supplying the out-of-area articles to said induct of said at least one article sorter.

22. The article sortation system of claim 1, wherein said buffering assembly includes an output for dispatching articles sorted by said at least one article sorter as out-of-area articles to be supplied to other article sortation facilities.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein conveying and arranging trays includes conveying each of the trays to an appropriate one of a plurality of zone conveyors.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein conveying and arranging the trays includes cooperatively discharging the trays from said zone conveyors in an arranged manner.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein conveying and arranging trays includes conveying the trays in a continuous loop.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein conveying and arranging trays includes generally continuously conveying the trays in said continuous loop.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein conveying and arranging trays includes inducting trays into said generally continuous loop in an arranged manner.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein providing at least one article sorter comprises providing at least two article sorters.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein providing a buffering assembly comprises providing at least two buffering assemblies.

31. The method of claim 30 including conveying trays from said discharge of one of said at least two article sorters to one of said at least two buffering assemblies.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein providing at least one article sorter comprises providing a single article sorter.

33. The method of claim 23 including elevating trays from said discharge of said at least one sorter to an elevated buffering assembly.

34. The method of claim 33 including lowering the arranged trays from said elevated buffering assembly to said induct of said at least one article sorter.

36. The method of sorting articles of claim 35, wherein said second set of output bins includes a greater number of output bins than said first set of output bins.

37. The method of sorting articles of claim 35, wherein said first and second sort passes are performed at a single sortation assembly.

38. The method of sorting articles of claim 35, wherein said first sort pass is performed at a first sortation assembly and said second sort pass is performed at a second sortation assembly.

39. The method of sorting articles of claim 35, wherein arranging the sorted articles includes conveying containers of the sorted articles along at least one conveyor between a discharge of the sortation assembly and said induct.

40. The method of sorting articles of claim 39, wherein conveying containers includes conveying containers around a generally continuous loop and inducting containers onto said generally continuous loop to arrange the containers in an appropriate sequence.

41. The method of sorting articles of claim 39, wherein conveying containers includes conveying containers to an appropriate one of a plurality of zone conveyors and discharging the containers from said plurality of zone conveyors in an appropriate sequence.

23. A method for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort, said method comprising:

providing at least one article sorter having an induct and a discharge;

sorting articles in a first sort of said at least one article sorter into a plurality of trays;

providing a buffering assembly for automatically sorting and conveying trays containing sorted articles sorted during a first sort of said at least one article sorter;

conveying and arranging trays of sorted articles in an arranged manner on said buffering assembly;

conveying the arranged trays of sorted articles to said induct of said at least one article sorter for a second sort of the articles; and

sorting articles in a second sort of said at least one article sorter.

35. A method of sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort via a first sort pass and a second sort pass of at least one sortation assembly, said method providing a sortation matrix for sorting the articles and comprising:

supplying articles for multiple carrier routes to an induct of the sortation assembly;

sorting articles in a first sort pass to a first set of output bins of the sortation assembly whereby each output bin of said first set of output bins may receive articles for each of said multiple carrier routes;

arranging the sorted articles at said induct for a second sort pass;

sorting the sorted articles to a second set of output bins of the sortation assembly whereby articles from said each output bin of said first set of output bins are sorted to each output bin of said second set of output bins.

42. A delivery point sequencing system comprises a conveying assembly for automatically sorting and conveying trays containing sorted articles from a discharge of at least one sorting assembly to an induct of the at least one sorting assembly, said conveying assembly having a generally continuous conveying track and being operable to automatically provide the trays to the induct of the at least one sorting assembly in a sequenced manner.

43. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 42, wherein said continuous conveying track of said conveying assembly comprises a plurality of conveyors which are cooperatively operable to arrange trays in a sequenced manner on said conveying assembly as the trays are received from the discharge of the at least one sorting assembly.

44. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 43, wherein said plurality of conveyors comprise at least one transfer conveyor and a plurality of zone conveyors connected to said at least one transfer conveyor.

45. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 44, wherein said at least one transfer conveyor is operable to convey trays from the discharge of the at least one sorting assembly to the induct of the at least one sorting assembly.

46. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 45, wherein said at least one transfer conveyor is operable to convey trays to an appropriate one of said plurality of zone conveyors and to induct the trays onto said appropriate one of said plurality of zone conveyors.

47. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 46, wherein said plurality of zone conveyors and said at least one transfer conveyor are cooperatively operable to arrange trays in said sequenced manner on said at least one transfer conveyor.

48. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 43, wherein said plurality of conveyors are configured to define at least one continuous conveying loop between the discharge of the at least one sorting assembly and the induct of the at least one sorting assembly.

49. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 48, wherein said conveying assembly is operable to circulate trays around said at least one continuous loop and induct trays into appropriate spaces between the circulating trays at said at least one continuous loop as the trays are received from the discharge of the at least one sorting assembly.

50. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 42, wherein said conveying assembly is operable to provide trays to at least two sorting assemblies.

51. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 50 including a control which is operable to determine an appropriate one of the at least two sorting assemblies, said conveying assembly being operable to arrange trays and convey the arranged trays to the appropriate one of the at least two sorting assemblies in response to said control.

52. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 42, wherein said conveying assembly is operable to convey and sequence trays between a discharge of a single sorting assembly to an induct of the single sorting assembly.

53. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 42, wherein said conveying assembly is positionable at a level above the at least one sorting assembly.

54. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 53 further including elevating devices which are operable to convey trays upward from the discharge of the at least one sorting assembly to said conveying assembly and downward from said conveying assembly to the induct of the at least one sorting assembly.

55. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 54, wherein at least one of said elevating devices comprises a vertical lifting or lowering device.

56. The delivery point sequencing system of claim 54, wherein at least one of said elevating devices comprises a ramped conveying surface.

58. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein substantially continuously conveying containers includes buffering the containers on said at least one conveyor.

59. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein said at least one conveyor is operable to automatically convey and arrange containers from a discharge of said at least one article sorter to said input of said at least one article sorter.

60. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein providing said at least one conveyor includes providing at least one continuous conveying loop between said discharge and input of said at least one article sorter.

61. The method of sorting mail of claim 60, wherein providing said at least one conveyor includes providing at least one incoming conveyor leading from said discharge of said at least one article sorter to said at least one continuous conveying loop and providing at least one outgoing conveyor leading from said at least one continuous conveying loop to said input of said at least one article sorter.

62. The method of sorting mail of claim 61, wherein substantially continuously conveying containers includes substantially continuously circulating containers around said at least one continuous conveying loop and inducting containers from said at least one incoming conveyor at appropriate places between the circulating containers to arrange the containers in said arranged manner.

63. The method of sorting mail of claim 62, wherein providing said at least one continuous conveying loop includes providing at least two independently operable continuous loops between said at least one outgoing conveyor and said at least one incoming conveyor.

64. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein providing at least one conveyor comprises providing a plurality of zone conveyors which are operable to receive containers from and discharge containers to at least one transport conveyor which conveys the containers to said input of said at least one article sorter.

65. The method of sorting mail of claim 64 including cooperatively discharging containers from said zone conveyors in an appropriate order onto said transport conveyor to arrange the containers on said transport conveyor in said arranged manner for said second sort pass.

66. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein providing said at least one conveyor includes providing an input to said at least one conveyor, said method further including supplying containers of out-of-area articles received from other article sortation facilities to said input to said at least one conveyor and conveying the containers of out-of-area articles to said at least one article sorter.

67. The method of sorting mail of claim 66, wherein providing said at least one conveyor includes providing an output of said at least one conveyor, said method further including conveying containers of articles sorted by said at least one article sorter to said output of said at least one conveyor as out-of-area articles and dispatching the containers of out-of-area articles to other article sortation facilities.

68. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein providing at least one article sorter includes providing a single article sorter and conveying arranged containers includes conveying arranged containers from said discharge of said single article sorter to said input of said single article sorter.

69. The method of sorting mail of claim 57, wherein providing at least article sorter includes providing first and second article sorters.

70. The method of sorting mail of claim 69, wherein supplying articles includes supplying articles to an induct of said first article sorter and conveying the arranged containers comprises conveying the arranged containers to an induct of said second article sorter.

71. The method of sorting mail of claim 70, wherein providing first and second article sorters includes providing at least two of said first article sorters, each having a throughput that is approximately one-half the throughput of said second article sorter.

57. A method of sorting mail to a delivery point sequence depth of sort comprising:

providing at least one article sorter adapted to perform at least two sort processes to articles supplied thereto;

providing at least one conveyor between a discharge of said at least one article sorter and an input of said at least one article sorter;

supplying articles to said at least one article sorter;

performing a first sort pass of the articles at said at least one article sorter;

substantially continuously conveying containers of articles sorted by the first sort pass on said at least one conveyor to arrange the containers in an arranged manner;

conveying the arranged containers to an input of said at least one article sorter; and

performing a second sort pass of the articles at said at least one article sorter to sort the articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort.

72. An article sortation system for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort, said article sortation system comprising:

at least two article sorters, each of said at least two article sorters having an induct and a discharge, said at least two article sorters being operable to sort articles into a plurality of trays and discharge the trays of sorted articles at said discharges; and

a conveying system interconnected between said inducts and said discharges of said at least two article sorters, said conveying system being operable to sort and convey trays containing articles sorted during a first sort of said at least two article sorters, said conveying system being operable to automatically arrange the trays in an arranged manner and provide the arranged trays to said inducts of said at least two article sorters for a second sort of the articles.

73. The article sortation system of claim 72, wherein said conveying system comprises at least two buffering assemblies connected to said induct of a respective one of said at least two article sorters and a conveyor assembly connected between said discharges and said at least two buffering assemblies.

74. The article sortation system of claim 73, wherein said conveyor assembly is selectively operable to convey trays from said discharges to an appropriate one of said at least two buffering assemblies for a second sort pass through the appropriate one of said at least two article sorters.

75. The article sortation system of claim 74, wherein said at least two buffering assemblies comprises a first buffering assembly connected to said induct of a first one of said at least two article sorters and a second buffering assembly connected to said induct of a second one of said at least two article sorters.

76. The article sortation system of claim 75, wherein each of said first and second buffering assemblies comprises a plurality of conveyors which are cooperatively operable to arrange and accumulate trays in a sequenced manner on said buffering assemblies as the trays are received from said conveyor assembly.

77. The article sortation system of claim 76, wherein said plurality of conveyors define at least one continuous loop between said conveyor assembly and said inducts of said first and second article sorters.

78. The article sortation system of claim 77, wherein said plurality of conveyors are operable to circulate trays on said at least one continuous loop and induct trays into appropriate spaces between the circulating trays in said at least one continuous loop as the new trays are received from said conveyor assembly.

79. The article sortation system of claim 76, wherein said plurality of conveyors comprise at least one transport conveyor and a plurality of zone conveyors connected to said at least one transport conveyor.

80. The article sortation system of claim 79, wherein said plurality of zone conveyors and said at least one transport conveyor are cooperatively operable to convey trays from said at least one transport conveyor to said plurality of zone conveyors, and to convey trays from said plurality of zone conveyors to said at least one transport conveyor in an appropriate order for said second sort.

81. The article sortation system of claim 74, wherein said conveying system is positioned at a level above said first and second article sorters.

82. The article sortation system of claim 81 further including elevating devices which are operable to convey trays upward from said discharges of said at least two article sorters to said conveyor assembly and downward from said at least two buffering assemblies to the respective one of said inducts of said at least two article sorters.

83. The article sortation system of claim 74, wherein said conveyor assembly comprises a generally continuous loop for conveying trays around.

84. The article sortation system of claim 72 including a control which is operable to determine an appropriate one of said first and second article sorters for a second sort pass for articles in a tray, said conveying system being selectively operable to convey and arrange the trays for induction to the appropriate ones of said first and second article sorters in response to said control.

85. A method of sorting mail to a delivery point sequence depth of sort comprising:

providing at least two article sortation assemblies adapted to perform at least two sort processes to articles supplied thereto;

supplying articles to said at least two article sortation assemblies;

performing a first sort pass of the articles;

determining an appropriate one of said at least two article sortation assemblies for the sorted articles to be inducted into for a second sort pass;

conveying trays containing sorted articles sorted by the first sort pass to arrange the trays in an arranged manner;

conveying the arranged trays to an input of said appropriate one of said at least two sortation assemblies; and

performing a second sort pass of the articles to sort the articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort.

86. The method of sorting mail of claim 85, wherein conveying trays includes buffering trays of sorted mail and arranging the trays in the arranged manner.

87. The method of sorting mail of claim 86, wherein buffering trays includes circulating trays around at least one continuous loop positioned between a discharge of said first sortation assembly and an induct of said second sortation assembly and inducting containers at appropriate places between the circulating containers to arrange the containers in the arranged manner.

88. The method of sorting mail of claim 86, wherein conveying trays of sorted articles includes:

conveying trays of sorted articles along at least one transport conveyor;

conveying the trays to a plurality of zone conveyors connected to said at least one transport conveyor; and

cooperatively discharging trays from said plurality of zone conveyors in an appropriate order onto said at least one transport conveyor to arrange the trays on said at least one transport conveyor in an appropriate order for said second sort pass.

89. The method of sorting mail of claim 85, wherein conveying the arranged trays includes conveying the arranged trays from a discharge of said at least two article sortation assemblies to an induct of an appropriate one of at least two buffering assemblies.

90. The method of sorting mail of claim 89, wherein conveying the arranged trays includes conveying the arranged trays along a continuous conveyor assembly positioned between said discharge of said at least two article sortation assemblies and said at least two buffering assemblies.

91. An article sortation system for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort, said article sortation system comprising:

at least one article sorter having an induct and a discharge, said at least one article sorter being operable to sort articles into a plurality of trays and discharge the trays of sorted articles at said discharge; and

at least one transport conveyor for conveying trays from said discharge of said at least one article sorter to said induct of said at least one article sorter; and

a plurality of zone conveyors positioned along said at least one transport conveyor, wherein said at least one transport conveyor and said plurality of zone conveyors are cooperatively operable to arrange and accumulate trays in a sequenced manner on said at least one transport conveyor, said at least one transport conveyor being operable to discharge the sequenced trays to said induct of said at least one article sorter.

92. The article sortation system of claim 91, wherein said plurality of zone conveyors are positioned along at least one side of said at least one transport conveyor.

93. The article sortation system of claim 92, wherein said at least one transport conveyor includes a plurality of transfer units, each of said plurality of transfer units being positioned at at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors and being operable to move trays between said at least one transport conveyor and a respective at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors.

94. The article sortation system of claim 91, wherein said at least one transport conveyor and said plurality of zone conveyors are positioned at a height above said at least one article sorter.

95. The article sortation system of claim 94 including a tray elevating device between said discharge of said at least one article sorter and said transport conveyor and a tray lowering device between said transport conveyor and said induct of said at least one article sorter.

96. The article sortation system of claim 91, wherein said at least one article sorter comprises a single article sorter.

97. The article sortation system of claim 91, wherein said at least one article sorter comprises at least two article sorters.