Conveyor sortation system with parallel divert

• US 6,041,909 A
• Filed: 07/12/1999
• Issued: 03/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dematic Corporation (KION GROUP AG)
• Original Assignee: Mannesmann Dematic Rapistan Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Shearer, James T. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ellis, Christopher P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bower, Kenneth W
• Application Number:
  US09/351,634
• Time in Patent Office: 260 Days
• Field of Search: 198/890, 198/370.02, 198/890.1, 198/367.1, 198/723, 198/364, 198/717, 198/412, 198/415
• US Class Current: 198/370.02
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2207/36 Pushing shoes on conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/844 the article-engaging elements being pushers transversally movable on the supporting surface, e.g. pusher-shoes

Abstract

A conveyor diverting system having an endless conveying surface and diverting shoes transversely movable across the conveying surface for diverting articles having an upstream and a downstream diverting track where the upstream diverting track is oriented parallel to the downstream diverting track for a portion of its length, and converges with the downstream diverting track along its other portion. The conveyor system further includes a controller which utilizes only the downstream diverting track if the article to be diverted is less than a first predetermined length or greater than a second predetermined length. If the article to be diverted is between the first predetermined length and the second predetermined length, then both diverting tracks are utilized.

Claims

1. A method of diverting articles comprising:

providing a conveyor comprising a plurality of conveying members connected in a web, the upper surfaces of the conveying members define a conveying surface, and movable pushers associated with at least some of the conveying members which are selectively moveable across said conveying surface to divert articles carried on said conveying surface;

diverting particular ones of articles on the conveying surface without substantially altering the angular orientation of said particular ones of the articles at least during an initial portion of said diverting; and

diverting particular others of said articles on the conveying surface including altering the angular orientation of said particular others of said articles at least during an initial portion of said diverting.

2. The method of claim 1 including providing a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said diverting of said particular others of said articles includes altering the orientation of the articles by activating only a single one of said diverts.

3. The method of claim 1 including providing a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said diverting of articles without substantially altering their orientation for at least an initial portion of said diverting comprises activating at least two of said diverts.

4. The method of claim 1 including diverting said particular ones of the articles without substantially altering the orientation of said particular one of the articles throughout substantially the entire diverting.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said altering the orientation of said particular others of said articles comprises rotation of said particular others of said articles about a vertical axis.

6. The method of claim 1 further including measuring an article related distance for said articles, comparing the article related distance to a predetermined distance, and designating articles as either said particular ones of said articles or as said particular others of said articles as a result of said measuring of said article related distance.

7. The method of claim 6 further including diverting the particular ones of the articles only if the article related distance is less than the predetermined distance.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the article related distance is a length of the articles.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said articles are substantially aligned on said main conveyor with each other prior to diverting, said initial portion of said diverting of particular ones of said articles is sufficient to displace said particular ones of said articles out of alignment with other articles on said main conveyor, and said particular ones of said articles are reoriented after said initial portion of said diverting.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said conveying members further include a lower portion and two other portions between said upper and lower portions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said conveying members include an outer surface having a planar upper portion defining said conveying surface.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein each of said moveable pushers include a support portion having a glide surface engaging said upper, lower, and two other portions to guide along.

13. A method of diverting articles comprising:

providing a conveyor comprising a plurality of conveying members connected in a web, the upper surfaces of the conveying members define a conveying surface;

providing movable pushers associated with at least some of the conveying members the pushers are selectively moveable across said conveying surface to divert articles carried on said conveying surface;

providing a plurality of diverts which selectively cause said pushers to move across said conveying members when said diverts are activated to a diverting state;

measuring the length of the article to be diverted;

activating at least two of said plurality of diverts when the length of said article is less than a predetermined length; and

activating only one of said plurality of diverts when the length of said article is greater than said predetermined length.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said activating at least two of said plurality of diverts comprises activating said diverts long enough to allow only a single pusher to be diverted.

15. The method of claim 13 further including activating only one of said plurality of diverts when the length of said article is less than said predetermined length.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said activating only one of said plurality of diverts comprises activating said divert long enough to allow at least two of said pushers to be diverted.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein said activating at least two of said plurality of diverts further comprises maintaining an orientation of the article being diverted for at least an initial portion of the diverting.

18. The method of claim 17 including altering the orientation of the article being diverted after said initial portion of the diverting.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein each of said conveying members include an outer surface having a planar upper portion defining said conveying surface.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein said conveying members further include a lower portion and two other portions between said upper and lower portions.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein each of said moveable pushers include a support portion having a glide surface engaging said upper, lower, and two other portions to guide along.

23. The conveyor diverting system of claim 17 wherein said control system activates only one of said diverts when the length of the article is less than another predetermined length, said another predetermined length less than said predetermined length.

22. A conveyor diverting system, comprising:

a conveyor having a plurality of conveying members connected in a web, the upper surfaces of the conveying members define a conveying surface;

a plurality of pushers associated with at least some of the conveying members the pushers are selectively movable across said conveying surface to divert articles carried on said conveying surface;

a plurality of diverts which cause said pushers to move across said first conveyor when said diverts are activated to a diverting state; and

a control system that measures an article related distance and activates at least two of said plurality of diverts when the article related distance is less than a predetermined length, and activates only a single one of said plurality of diverts when the length of the article is greater than the predetermined length.

24. The conveyor diverting system of claim 22 wherein said article related distance is the length of the article.

25. The conveyor diverting system of claim 24 wherein when only a single one of said diverts is activated, said control system activates said divert long enough to allow at least two of said pushers to be diverted.

26. The conveyor diverting system of claim 24 wherein when at least two of said plurality of diverts are activated, said control system activates said diverts long enough to allow only a single pusher to be diverted by each divert.

27. The conveyor diverting system of claim 24 wherein said conveying members include an outer surface having a planar upper portion defining said conveying surface.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said conveying members further include a lower portion and two other portions between said upper and lower portions.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein each of said moveable pushers include a support portion having a glide surface engaging said upper, lower, and two other portions to guide along.

30. A method of diverting articles comprising:

providing a conveyor comprising a plurality of conveying members connected in a web, the upper surfaces of which define a conveying surface, and movable pushers associated with at least some of the conveying members which are selectively moveable across said conveying surface to divert articles carried on said conveying surface;

diverting particular ones of the articles on the conveying surface without substantially altering the orientation of said particular ones of the articles; and

diverting particular others of said articles including altering the orientation of said particular others of said articles during said diverting.

31. The method of claim 30 including providing a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said altering the orientation of said particular ones of the articles comprises activating only a single one of said diverts.

32. The method of claim 30 including providing a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said diverting of articles without substantially altering their orientation comprises activating at least two of said diverts.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein said altering the orientation of said particular ones of said articles comprises rotation of said articles about a vertical axis.

34. The method of claim 30 further including measuring an article related distance for said articles, comparing the article related distance to a predetermined length, and designating said articles as either said particular ones of said articles or as said particular others of said articles as a result of said measuring of said article related distance.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the article related distance is a length of the articles.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein each of said conveying members include an outer surface having a planar upper portion defining said conveying surface.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein said conveying members further include a lower portion and two other portions between said upper and lower portions.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein each of said moveable pushers include a support portion having a glide surface engaging said upper, lower, and two other portions to guide along.

39. A conveyor diverting system, comprising:

a conveyor having a plurality of conveying members connected in a web, the upper surfaces of the conveying members define a conveying surface, and movable pushers associated with at least some of the conveying members the pushers are selectively moveable across said conveying surface to divert articles carried on said conveying surface;

a control system that diverts particular ones of articles on the conveying surface without substantially altering the angular orientation of said particular ones of the articles at least during an initial portion of said diverting, and that diverts particular others of said articles on the angular conveying surface by altering the orientation of said particular others of said articles at least during an initial portion of said diverting.

40. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 further including a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said control system alters the orientation of the particular others of said articles by activating only a single one of said diverts.

41. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 further including a plurality of diverts for diverting said moveable pushers wherein said control system diverts said particular ones of the articles by activating at least two of said diverts.

42. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 wherein the control system diverts the particular ones of the articles without substantially altering their orientation throughout the entire diverting.

43. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 wherein said control system alters the orientation of said particular ones of said articles by rotating said articles about a vertical axis.

44. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 wherein said articles are substantially aligned on said main conveyor with each other prior to diverting, said initial portion of said diverting of particular ones of said articles is sufficient to displace said particular ones of said articles out of alignment with other articles on said main conveyor, and said particular ones of said articles are reoriented after said initial portion of said diverting.

45. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 wherein said control system measures an article related distance for said articles, compares the article related distance to a predetermined distance, and designates said articles as either said particular ones of said articles or as said particular others of said articles as a result of measuring of said article related distance.

46. The conveyor diverting system of claim 45 wherein said control system diverts the particular ones of the articles only if the article related distance is less than the predetermined distance.

47. The conveyor diverting system of claim 45 wherein the article related distance is a length of the articles.

48. The conveyor diverting system of claim 39 wherein each of said conveying members include an outer surface having a planar upper portion defining said conveying surface.

49. The conveyor diverting system of claim 48 wherein said conveying members further include a lower portion and two other portions between said upper and lower portions.

50. The conveyor diverting system of claim 49 wherein each of said moveable pushers include a support portion having a glide surface engaging said upper, lower, and two other portions to guide along.