Transfer system of food products by means of pickers

• US 20050241494A1
• Filed: 04/20/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CT Pack S.R.L.
• Original Assignee: CT Pack S.R.L.
• Inventors: Davi, Daniele, Rosignoli, David, Mezzaro, Daniele
• Granted Patent: US 7,240,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 99/443.C
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/105 by grippers B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/12 and operating to control, or stop, the feed of wrapping materials, containers, or packages
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/16 and operating to stop, or to control the speed of, the machine as a whole
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4182 manipulators and conveyor only
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31445 Detect changed working conditions, to correct machine load, balance
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40554 Object recognition to track object on conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A transfer system of food products (P) comprising:

• • a product conveyor (11);
  • a first support conveyor (13) suitable for moving supports in equicurrent with the product flow (P);
  • a plurality of pickers (R1, R2, R3) situated in series along the run of said products and supports;
  • presence and position surveying means (C1,C2);
  • an electronic image identification (34) and data processing system;
  • a second parallel support conveyor (14) transferring the supports in equicurrent with respect to the product flow, assisted by a specific finishing picker (R4), situated downstream of said pickers (R1, R2, R3), in turn equipped with surveying means (C3).

Claims

1. A transfer system of food products (P) comprising:

a product conveyor (11);

a first support conveyor (13) suitable for moving supports (12) in equicurrent with the product flow (P);

a plurality of pickers (R1, R2, R3) situated in series along the run of said products (P) and supports (12) and suitable for individually collecting said products (P) from the product conveyor (11) to arrange them on supports (12) translated from the first support conveyor (13);

presence and position surveying means (C1, C2) of which at least one is situated upstream with respect to the product flow, of the first picker (R1) suitable for detecting the presence, number, position and orientation of each product (P);

an electronic image identification and data processing system (34), in addition to, by the processing of said information, calculation of the potentiality, flow rate and distribution of the charge between the pickers R1, R2, R3, as well as the control of the speed of the conveyor belts, to transfer data and instructions to the pickers, characterized in that it also comprises a second parallel support conveyor (14), transferring the supports (12) in equicurrent with respect to the product (P) flow, assisted by a specific finishing picker (R4), situated downstream of said pickers (R1, R2, R3), in turn equipped with presence and position surveying means (C3), also referring to said electronic system.

2. The transfer system according to claim 1, wherein said product conveyor (11) is situated between two support conveyors (13, 14).

3. The transfer system according to claim 2, wherein said supports (12) can be trays or cases completely closable, or a combination of both.

4. The transfer system according to claim 3, wherein said support conveyors (13, 14) are belt conveyors with a hop-chain (17).

5. The transfer system according to claim 3, wherein said support conveyors (13, 14) are of the belt type, envisaged for being managed by further surveying means dedicated thereto.

6. The transfer system according to claim 4, wherein the relative speed of the two support conveyors (13, 14) is fixed in relation to the ratio between the number of pickers dedicated to the first (13) and to the second support conveyor (14), within a certain regulation margin.

7. The transfer system according to claim 6, wherein said support conveyors (13, 14) have a relative speed fixed in a variable ratio from 1:

2 to 1;

5 with the first conveyor (13) translating at a higher speed.

8. The transfer system according to claim 7, wherein said support conveyors (13, 14) have a relative speed fixed in a ratio of 1:

3.

9. The transfer system according to claim 1, wherein said presence and position surveying means (C1, C2, C3), each include a monochromatic television camera (20′

, 20″

, 20′

″

) for acquiring the image of products P and one or more high frequency light sources (21).

10. The transfer system according to claim 1, wherein upstream of said product conveyor (11), a feeding belt (15) is envisaged on which the products are placed at random, together with a second vibrating belt (16) onto which the products are discharged to be separated if joined together.

11. The transfer system according to claim 1, wherein said pickers (R1-R4) preferably of the 4-axis type, are equipped with handlers (22), with an individual grip of the sucker type, with an anti-crash system and the possibility of rotating, with a suction circuit possibly supported by a supplementary sleeve filter for air purification, comprising a suction group for each handler (22), equipped with a pump, inversion valves, for example of the special Vortex type, and washing tubes of the sucker (with water) in counter-current with respect to the suction direction.

13. The transfer system according to claim 1, wherein said presence and position surveying means (C1, C2, C3) are situated before the first picker (R1), before the second picker (R2) and before the finishing picker (R4).

14. A canning and packaging plant (30) of products (P), characterized in that it comprises a transfer system (10) according to claim 1.

15. The plant (30) according to claim 14, wherein, downstream of the transfer system (10), there is a line (42) as a continuation of the first support conveyor (13) together with a line (43) which continues the second support conveyor (14), wherein a packaging machine (47) of the flow-pack type, with thermo-welded film packaging, is envisaged for each line of filled supports (42, 43), when supports of the tray type are used, or a closing machine (54) when supports of the case/box type are adopted.

16. The plant (30) according to claim 14, wherein upstream of said transfer system (10), a case producer (31) is present, from which a first case conveyor line (32) starts, alongside a second case conveyor line (33).

17. The plant (30) according to claim 16, wherein along the run of the two lines (32, 33), strippers (35, 36) are present for separating the stacked trays.

18. The plant (30) according to claim 15, wherein each of the two lines (42, 43), following the packaging unit (47), have a labelling machine (51), a metal detector (52), a weigh-price-marker (53) and a stacking or storage station (56).

19. The plant (30) according to claim 14, wherein said plant comprises a closing unit (54) and a control scale (55), when cases/boxes are used.