Tray handling system and process
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A device for sequencing trays, comprising:
- a tray receiving conveyor which receives trays outputted from bin locations positioned remotely from one or more input feeders; and
a recirculating conveyor buffer system having two merge locations comprising a first merge location and a second merge location, the recirculating conveyor buffer system being configured to recirculate staged trays and coordinate merging of the staged trays with newly ejected trays received from the bin locations into a multiple of sequenced trays at the two merge locations,the recirculating conveyor buffer system further comprises a diverting section structured to divert trays away from the first merge location and divert the sequenced trays away from the one or more input feeders and feed the sequenced trays back to the recirculating conveyor buffer system through a path that bypass the first merge location, or directly to an output,wherein the bin locations include a working area for discharging product into a tray and at least one queued area for storing full trays.
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Abstract
A device and method for sequencing trays includes a tray receiving conveyor and a recirculating conveyor. Trays are placed on the recirculating conveyor and merged with ejected trays into a multiple of sequenced trays at one or more merge locations. The system can include more than one merge location, with one of the merge locations providing a merge of trays into a contiguous sequence of trays.
31 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A device for sequencing trays, comprising:
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a tray receiving conveyor which receives trays outputted from bin locations positioned remotely from one or more input feeders; and a recirculating conveyor buffer system having two merge locations comprising a first merge location and a second merge location, the recirculating conveyor buffer system being configured to recirculate staged trays and coordinate merging of the staged trays with newly ejected trays received from the bin locations into a multiple of sequenced trays at the two merge locations, the recirculating conveyor buffer system further comprises a diverting section structured to divert trays away from the first merge location and divert the sequenced trays away from the one or more input feeders and feed the sequenced trays back to the recirculating conveyor buffer system through a path that bypass the first merge location, or directly to an output, wherein the bin locations include a working area for discharging product into a tray and at least one queued area for storing full trays. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of sequencing trays, comprising the steps of:
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placing a tray from a queued area and a tray from a working area of a same bin location of any of a plurality of bin locations into a flow path in response to a first triggering event for the tray in the working area; recirculating the trays to a merging location; placing additional trays from a queued area in any other of the plurality of bin locations in the flow path when the additional trays are qualified for ejection based on second triggering event for trays in a working area and a qualification of the additional trays in the queued area of the other of the plurality of bin locations; and merging all of the trays into sequence as they pass the merging location. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A mail sorting system, comprising:
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at least one mail feeder feeding mail to trays located in bin locations comprising a working area where trays are being loaded and at least one queued area which buffers trays moved from the working area; a tray receiving conveyor which receives the trays ejected from the at least one queued area in response to a triggering and qualification event; a recirculating conveyor buffer system, including; at least two merge locations comprising a first merge location and a second merge location; at least two diverting locations downstream from the at least two merge locations, respectively, which are structured to divert trays away from the first merge location and divert sequenced trays away from the at least one mail feeder and feed the sequenced trays back to the recirculating conveyor buffer system through a path that bypasses the first merge location, or directly to an output; and a conveying system leading to the at least one mail feeder or an output; and a controller coordinating controlled movement of the trays ejected during different processing operations from the at least one queued area as they pass through the at least two merge locations and the at least two diverting locations in order to sequence the trays into a sequence at a second of the at least two merge locations. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36)
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34. A machine readable medium containing code for merging, in sequence, trays, comprising at least one module for:
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placing a tray from a queued area and a tray from a working area of a same bin location of any of a plurality of bin locations into a flow path in response to a first triggering event for the tray in the working area; recirculating the trays to a merging location; placing additional trays from a queued area in any other of the plurality of bin locations in the flow path when the additional trays are qualified for ejection based on the triggering event for trays in a working area and a qualification of the additional trays in the queued area of the other of the plurality of bin locations; and merging all of the trays into sequence as they pass the merging location.
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35. A device for sequencing trays, comprising:
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a tray receiving conveyor which receives trays outputted from bin locations positioned remotely from one or more input feeders; and a recirculating conveyor buffer system having two merge locations comprising a first merge location and a second merge location, the recirculating conveyor buffer system being configured to recirculate staged trays and coordinate merging of the staged trays with newly ejected trays received from the bin locations into a multiple of sequenced trays at the two merge locations, the recirculating conveyor buffer system further comprises a diverting section structured to divert trays away from the first merge location and divert the sequenced trays away from the one or more input feeders and feed the sequenced trays back to the recirculating conveyor buffer system through a path that bypass the first merge location, or directly to an output, wherein the diverting section diverts the trays directly to the output while being sequenced with previously sequenced trays leading to the output.
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Specification