Device used to organise flat packets according to a determined sequence

• US 7,343,219 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2004
• Issued: 03/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korber Supply Chain Logistics GmbH
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Berdelle-Hilge, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawford; Gene O.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Prakasam; Ramya G.
• Application Number:
  US10/570,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20060259185A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,281 Days
• Field of Search: 700/223, 700/219, 700/213, 700/228, 700/230, 209/900, 209/584, 209/911, 198/704, 198/703
• US Class Current: 700/223
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/082 In which the objects are carried by transport holders and the transport holders form part of the conveyor belts conveyors with carriers B65G47/00

Abstract

A device used to arrange flat packets according to a determined sequence of delivery points associated with receiver addresses, whereby below a continuous part of a surrounding pocket ring designated as a covering area, one part of a collector belt, which is displaced with relative speed, is arranged on a stacking device to receive packets from the pockets in order to further transport the packets. The transportation speed of the collector belt is synchronised with the transportation speed of the pocket ring such that each section of the collector belt passes along the covering area of each pocket of the pocket ring at least once during the movement thereof. The packets are emptied onto the collector belt from the pockets of the pocket ring according to the read recipient addresses such that they leave the collector belt in the stacking device in a determined sequence of the recipient addresses.

Claims

1. A device for sorting flat mail items according to a predetermined sequence of delivery points associated with recipient addresses, comprising:

at least one separating unit, each having a downstream reader unit for identifying address information located on a mail item;

a first pocket ring configured to receive the mail items from each reader unit and having a plurality of pockets coupled to a circulating conveyor system, wherein an empty pocket is configured to receive a mail item for sorting the mail items, wherein the pockets are configured to be downwardly opened in a controlled manner, and wherein the first pocket ring circulates in a transport direction at a transport speed;

a buffer storage unit arranged between the reader units and the first pocket ring, wherein the buffer storage unit has circulating buffer pockets for receiving read mail items and for delivering the mail items in a controlled manner to empty pockets of the first pocket ring, wherein conveyor means of the buffer storage unit circulate in the same direction as the first pocket ring but at a different transport speed; and

a carrying system having a collector belt and arranged below a continuous portion of the first pocket ring, wherein a portion of the carrying system overlaps with the continuous portion within an overlap area, wherein the portion of the carrying system travels at a relative speed to the continuous portion, wherein the collector belt is subdivided into sections for receiving the mail items from the pockets to transport the mail items in a transport direction to a stacking device, and wherein the collector belt moves at a transport speed,

wherein the portion of the pocket ring extending beyond the overlap area and not located below the exit points of the buffer storage unit is guided in a plane located above a plane of the buffer storage unit or below a plane of the collector belt, the mail items circulating in the same direction in both planes

wherein the transport speed and the transport direction of the collector belt are matched to the transport speed and transport direction of the first pocket ring such that, as each section of the collector belt travels along the overlap area, it passes each pocket of the first pocket ring at least once, and

wherein the mail items are emptied out of the pockets of the first pocket ring onto the collector belt according to read recipient addresses such that the mail items leave the collector belt towards the stacking device in the predetermined sequence of the recipient addresses.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a second pocket ring arranged between the first pocket ring and the carrying system, wherein the second pocket ring circulates at a second transport speed and in a second transport direction, at least one of which is different from the transport speed and transport direction of the first pocket ring, and wherein pockets of the second pocket ring are configured to receive mail items from the first pocket ring and to deliver them to the carrying system within the overlap area.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the first pocket ring and the collector belt circulate in opposite directions.

4. The device according to claim 2, further comprising devices for loading further mail items onto the sections assigned to the recipient addresses, wherein the devices for loading are arranged above portions of the collector belt disposed outside the overlap area.

5. The device according to claim 2, further comprising sensors configured to measure a thickness of the mail item, wherein the mail items are emptied into a section of the collector belt only up to a defined maximum overall height.

6. The device according to claim 2, wherein the collector belt is arranged in a U-shape below a portion of the first pocket ring.

7. The device according to claim 2, wherein the first pocket ring has, outside the overlap area, at least one unloading station for ejecting mail items from the pockets according to specified sorting criteria.

8. The device according to claim 2, further comprising a portioning unit between the collector belt and the stacking device, wherein the portioning unit is configured to bundle matching mail items for a particular delivery point prior to stacking.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the buffer pockets are configured to be connected to a circulating endless conveyor means and to be disconnected from the conveyor means.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first pocket ring and the collector belt circulate in opposite directions.

11. The device according to claim 1, further comprising devices for loading further mail items onto the sections assigned to the recipient addresses, wherein the devices for loading are arranged above portions of the collector bolt disposed outside the overlap area.

12. The device according to claim 1, further comprising sensors configured to measure a thickness of the mail item, wherein the mail items are emptied into a section of the collector belt only up to a defined maximum overall height.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the collector belt is arranged in a U-shape below a portion of the first pocket ring.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first pocket ring has, outside the overlap area, at least one unloading station for ejecting mail items from the pockets according to specified sorting criteria.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein the buffer storage unit has, outside the overlap area, at least one unloading station for ejecting mail items from the buffer pockets according to specified sorting criteria.

16. The device according to claim 1, wherein a height-overcoming deflection of the first pocket ring is effected inside the buffer storage unit.

17. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a portioning unit between the collector belt and the stacking device, wherein the portioning unit is configured to bundle matching mail items for a particular delivery point prior to stacking.