Double width sorter

• US 20030066736A1
• Filed: 11/08/2002
• Published: 04/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dematic SRL (KION GROUP AG)
• Original Assignee: Rapistan Systems Advertising Corporation (OSI Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Edwards, Stuart M., Cerutti, Claudio A., Affaticati, Artemio G.
• Granted Patent: US 6,585,101 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 198/370.06
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 17/345 the surfaces being equipped with a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/02 Articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/0288 Signatures, i.e. sections of printed magazines, papers or books
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2207/18 Crossing conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/96 Devices for tilting links or platform releasing load-carriers B65G47/38

Abstract

A crossbelt sortation system is provided which includes a pair of side-by-side carrier belts on each of a plurality of transport units movable along a conveying path. The carrier belts may be operable independently or in a synchronized manner, in order to receive packages from one or more induction stations and either discharge the packages at an appropriate discharge station or transfer the package onto the carrier belt at the other side of the transport unit. A control system is operable to determine the destination side of the packages at the induction station and to further determine the availability and appropriateness of the carrier belts of the approaching transport units, in order to determine if an available carrier belt is proper or compatible to receive the next package at the induction station. The present invention thus effectively provides presortation of the packages as they are inducted onto the transport units, such that optimal throughput rates are achieved without the complex presortation processes implemented with the prior art systems. Additionally, the carrier belts of one or two adjacent transport units may be synchronously operated to receive larger packages across the side-by-side carrier belts of a single unit or to receive oversized packages or products at the carrier belts of a pair of adjacent transport units. The carrier belts may be synchronously operated to receive a package and pivot the package as it is inducted onto the transport units, in order to properly orient the package on the transport unit or units. The packages or products may then be discharged at an appropriate discharge chute in a similar manner.

Claims

1. A crossbelt sortation system comprising:

a plurality of transport units moving in a conveying path between at least one induction station and at least one discharge station, each transport unit having side by side driven carrier belts.

2. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said carrier belts are movable in a direction which is orthogonal to the conveying path.

3. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein each of said carrier belts is at least occasionally independently driven from the other of said driven carrier belts.

4. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of said transport units comprise an endless chain of transport units moving along an endless conveying path.

5. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 4, wherein at least one of said at least one induction station and at least one of said at least one discharge station are on opposite sides of the endless conveying path.

6. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 4, wherein at least one of said induction stations and at least one of said discharge stations is positioned on each side of the endless conveying path.

7. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said transport units include a pair of electric motors, each of said electric motors being operable to drive one of said driven carrier belts.

8. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein each of said transport units comprise first and second pairs of side-by-side carrier belts.

9. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said carrier belts are synchronously operable with carrier belts of an adjacent transport unit to load an article onto said carrier belts of an adjacent pair of transport units.

10. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein both of said carrier belts of said transport units are operable to receive a single article onto both of said carrier belts.

11. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1 further including a support extending between adjacent transport units, said support including a pair of support plates, each of said pair of support plates extending between corresponding carrier belts of said adjacent transport units.

12. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said transport units comprise a plurality of upper transport units and lower transport units movable together along the conveying path.

13. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1 further including a control which is operable to determine a destination of an article at said induction station and an availability status of each of said carrier belts of said transport units.

14. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 13, wherein said induction station comprises first and second induction stations, said control being operable to determine the destination of packages at both of said first and second induction stations.

15. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 14, wherein said control is operable to compare the destination of an article at said first induction station to the status of each transport unit approaching said first induction station to determine an appropriate carrier belt for transporting the article from said first induction station to an appropriate destination station.

16. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 15, wherein said control is further operable to select the appropriate carrier belt and to move the article from said first induction station onto the selected carrier belt when the selected carrier belt arrives at said first induction station.

17. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 16, wherein said control is operable to determine whether an appropriate carrier belt has already been selected by said second induction station before said control selects the appropriate carrier belt for the article at said first induction station.

18. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 13, wherein said control is operable to at least one of induct an article onto said carrier belts of said transport units, discharge an article from said carrier belts of said transport units, and transfer an article from one of said carrier belts of said transport units onto the other of said carrier belts of said transport units.

19. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 18, wherein said control is operable to at least one of induct, discharge and transfer the article in response to the availability status of the carrier belts and the destination of the article.

20. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 1, wherein said sortation system is operable to at least one of induct an article onto at least one of said carrier belts, transfer an article from one of said carrier belts of said transport units to the other of said carrier belts of said transport unit, and discharge an article from at least one of said carrier belts.

21. A method of sorting articles, comprising:

providing a crossbelt sortation system which comprises a plurality of transport units movable along a conveying path, at least one induction station, and at least one destination station, each of said transport units including at least two side-by side carrier belts;

operating said at least one induction station to position articles on at least one of said side-by-side carrier belts of each of said transport units; and

operating said side-by-side carrier belts in order to discharge articles at desired destination stations.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said carrier belts of each of said transport units are at least occasionally operable independently of one another.

23. The method of claim 21 including operating said carrier belts in order to at least one of load articles onto at least one of said carrier belts, discharge articles from at least one of said carrier belts and transfer an article from one of said side-by-side carrier belts to the other of said side-by-side carrier belts of a transport unit.

24. The method of claim 23 including providing at least one of said induction stations and at least one of said destination stations on opposite sides of said conveying path.

25. The method of claim 24 including operating said carrier belts in order to load articles from one of said induction stations and to discharge articles to one of said destination stations on an opposite side of said conveying path by operating said belts to transport the article across said side-by-side carrier belts toward said destination station.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein prior to operating said induction station, said method further includes the steps of:

determining an availability status of each of said carrier belts on said transport units;

determining a destination of an article at said induction station;

comparing the availability status with the destination to determine compatibility of the article with said carrier belts of said transport units; and

selecting a compatible carrier belt for receiving the article.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said transport units comprise first and second carrier belts, said method including transferring an article from said first carrier belt to said second carrier belt to provide compatibility between said first carrier belt and the article at said induction station.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein said crossbelt sortation system includes a plurality of induction stations, the destination of each article on each of said induction stations being continuously compared to the availability status of each of said carrier belts of said transport units.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein prior to selecting a compatible one of said carrier belts for an article, said method further includes determining whether the compatible carrier belt has already been selected by one of said induction stations.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein said step of operating said induction station includes correspondingly operating at least one of said carrier belts at one of said transport units which is adjacent to said induction station to position an article on at least one of said carrier belts of said transport unit adjacent to said induction station.

31. The method of claim 30 including determining at least one of a size and shape of an article at said induction stations prior to operating said induction station and said at least one of said carrier belts.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said carrier belts are operable at least one of independently, synchronously, and simultaneously, in response to at least one of the size and the shape of the article.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of operating at least one of said carrier belts includes simultaneously operating both of said carrier belts of said transport unit to load an article onto both of said side-by-side carrier belts of said transport unit.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of operating at least one of said carrier belts includes synchronously operating said side-by-side carrier belts of a pair of adjacent transport units, such that the article is rotated and moved onto said carrier belts of both of said adjacent transport units.

35. The method of claim 21 including determining a size and shape of an article at said induction stations prior to operating said induction station.

36. A crossbelt sortation system comprising:

an endless conveying path having a first side and a second side, said first side of said endless conveying path being generally opposite said second side;

a first induction station at said first side of said endless conveying path;

a second induction station at said second side of said endless conveying path;

a first destination station at said first side of said endless conveying path;

a second destination station at said second side of said endless conveying path;

a plurality of transport units which are movable along said conveying path, each of said transport units having first and second driven carrier belts which are movable in a direction generally transverse to a direction of said conveying path, said first carrier belt being at said first side of said endless conveyor path, said second carrier belt being at said second side of said endless conveyor path; and

a control which is operable to move articles from said first and second induction stations onto said transport units and to discharge articles from said transport units to said first and second destination stations.

37. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 36, wherein said control is operable to determine a size of articles at said first and second induction stations.

38. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 37, wherein said control is operable to move said carrier belts at least one of synchronously, simultaneously and independently in response to the size of the article.

39. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 38, wherein said control is operable to synchronously move said carrier belts of an adjacent pair of said transport units to pivot an article onto said carrier belts of said adjacent pair of transport units.

40. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 38, wherein said control is operable to simultaneously move said carrier belts of one of said transport units to move an article onto both of said carrier belts of said transport unit.

41. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 36, wherein said control is further operable to determine an availability status of each of said first and second carrier belts of said transport units and a destination of articles at said first and second induction stations.

42. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 41, wherein said control is operable to compare the availability status with the destination of articles to determine an appropriate one or more of said first and second carrier belts of said transport units for each article at said first and second induction station.

43. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 42, wherein said control is operable move an article from said first induction station onto said first carrier belt in response to the availability status and destination of the article.

44. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 43, wherein said control is operable to move an article from said second induction station onto said second carrier belt of said transport units in response to the availability status and destination of the article.

45. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 43, wherein said control is operable to move the article from said first carrier belt to said second carrier belt in response to the availability status of said second carrier belt and the destination of another article at another of said first and second induction stations.

46. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 43, wherein said control is operable to move the article from said first carrier belt to said second carrier belt and to discharge the article from said second carrier belt to said second destination station.

47. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 43, wherein said control is operable to discharge an article from said first carrier belt to said first destination station.

48. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 36, wherein said control is operable to move articles from said first induction station onto said first carrier belt, said control being further operable to move the articles from said first carrier belt to said second carrier belt and to discharge the articles from said second carrier belt to said second destination station.

49. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 36, wherein said control is operable to move a first article from said first induction station onto said first carrier belt and to move a second article from said second induction station onto said second carrier belt.

50. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 49, wherein said control is operable to discharge the first article at one of said first and second destination stations.

51. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 49, wherein said control is operable to discharge the first and second articles at said first destination station.

52. The crossbelt sortation system of claim 49, wherein said control is operable to discharge the first article at said first destination station and the second article at said second destination station.