System for rotating a number of packages

• US 8,689,965 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2010
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA (Tetra Laval Holdings BV)
• Original Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA (Tetra Laval Holdings BV)
• Inventors: Elmehav, Jessica, Sjgren, Magnus
• Primary Examiner(s): Bidwell, James R
• Application Number:
  US13/496,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20120228085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,310 Days
• Field of Search: 198/415, 198/400, 198/401, 198/411
• US Class Current: 198/415
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/24 by endless belts or chains B65B35/205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/58 Turning articles by positively-acting means, e.g. to present labelled portions in uppermost position
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/101 by gravity B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/025 Boxes
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 43/08 Control devices operated by article or material being fed, conveyed or discharged and controlling the discharging devices B65G47/42
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/244 by turning them about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying plane
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/2445 by means of at least two co-operating endless conveying elements

Abstract

A conveyor belt system is provided for enabling rotation of a number of packages, such that every second package is rotated clockwise, and every other package is rotated counter clockwise. A computer program product is also provided.

Claims

1. A conveyor belt system comprising:

a first conveyor belt;

a second conveyor belt adjacently aligned next to the first conveyor belt;

a planar conveying surface of the first conveyor belt forming an angle of less than 180 degrees with a planar conveying surface of the second conveyor belt;

a third conveyor belt adjacently aligned downstream of the first conveyor belt;

a fourth conveyor belt adjacently aligned downstream of the second conveyor belt and next to the third conveyor belt; and

a control unit configured to control the belt speed of each conveyor belt, such that an object entering the system at the first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt may be rotated at a certain degree with regard to the travel direction of each conveyor belt before exiting the system at the third conveyor belt and the fourth conveyor belt.

2. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth conveyor belts have parallel conveying directions.

3. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, further comprising a first object sensor for detecting passage of an object, said first sensor being positioned before the first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt, and wherein the control unit is configured to adjust the belt speed of both the first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt when the first object sensor detects an object.

4. The conveyor belt system of claim 3, wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust the belt speed of both the first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt according to a preset packing pattern, when the first object sensor detects an object.

5. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, further comprising a second object sensor for detecting passage of an object, said second object sensor being positioned after the third conveyor belt and fourth conveyor belt, and wherein the control unit is configured to adjust the belt speed of both the third conveyor belt and fourth conveyor belt when the second object sensor detects an object.

6. The conveyor belt system of claim 5, wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust the belt speed of both the third conveyor belt and fourth conveyor belt according to a preset packing pattern, when the second object sensor detects an object.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein control unit is configured to rotate every other object, in a packing pattern, +90 degrees and every other object −

90 degrees, in relation to an orientation of each object entering the system.

8. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein at most one object is located on the first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt, and at most one object is located on the third conveyor belt and fourth conveyor belt, at each point in time.

9. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein the third conveyor belt and the fourth conveyor belt are mounted at an angle defined between upper planes of the third conveyor belt and the fourth conveyor belt.

10. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein the angle is selected in the range from 165 to 179 degrees.

11. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein a relative speed difference of the first and second speed is determined based on the length of the first conveyor belt and third conveyor belt or second conveyor belt and fourth conveyor belt.

12. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to rotate every other object at a first degree, and every other object at a degree differing 180 degrees from the first degree.

13. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to rotate each object of an object group entering the system, such that, the first object in every object group is rotated at the same degree of rotation as the last package in the previous object group.

14. The conveyor belt system according to claim 1 wherein the object is a package.

15. Method for turning packages in a conveyor assembly, said assembly comprising a first pair of conveyor belts being adjacent and having parallel conveying directions, the first pair of conveyor belts including a first pair of planar conveying surfaces forming an angle of less than 180 degrees, and a second pair of conveyor belts, being similarly adjacent and having parallel conveying directions, and where the second pair of conveyor belts are positioned downstream in alignment with the first pair of conveyor belts, wherein the belt speeds with each pair differs slightly such that a package entering the conveyor assembly is partly rotated in the first pair of conveyors and partly rotated in the second pair of conveyors, such that complete rotating is accomplished after the second pair of conveyors.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the object is a package.

17. A non-transitory computer program product stored on a computer-readable medium comprising software code adapted to perform the steps of the method according to claim 15 when executed on a data-processing apparatus.

18. A conveyor belt system for conveying at least one object along a conveying direction from an upstream location to a downstream location comprising:

a first conveyor belt rotatable around a first pair of rollers;

a second conveyor belt rotatable around a second pair of rollers, the second conveyor belt extending alongside the first conveyor belt along the conveying direction;

a third conveyor belt rotatable around a third pair of rollers, the third conveyor belt being positioned downstream of the first conveyor belt;

a fourth conveyor belt rotatable around a fourth pair of rollers, the fourth conveyor belt being positioned downstream of the second conveyor belt and extending alongside the third conveyor belt along the conveying direction; and

a control unit configured to;

(i) rotate the first conveyor belt at a different speed than the second conveyor belt to rotate the object as the object is conveyed along the conveying direction by the first conveyor belt and the second conveyor belt; and

(ii) rotate the third conveyor belt at a different speed than the fourth conveyor belt to rotate the object as the object is conveyed along the conveying direction by the third conveyor belt and the fourth conveyor belt.

19. The conveyor belt system of claim 18, the first conveyor belt forming a first planar surface as the first conveyor belt rotates around the first pair of rollers, and the second conveyor belt forming a second planar surface as the second conveyor belt rotates around the second pair of rollers, the first planar surface forming an angle with the second planar surface of less than 180 degrees.