The invention relates to a palletising device and a method for populating transport pallets with packaging units in rows and/or columns, having the features of the preamble of claims 1 and 7. Accordingly, in order to populate transport pallets with packaging units in at least one position of packaging units, a feed apparatus is provided to bring the packaging units into the vicinity of the transport pallet and a delivery apparatus is provided for providing a transport pallet with the packaging units which have been brought in rows and/or columns.
Ready-packaged products, which are packed in bags, sacks or boxes or other containers, are placed in layers onto a transport pallet with the aid of a palletiser. In order to allow the delivery of the packaging units and the provision of the transport pallet with the packaging unit to proceed in an automated manner, a multiplicity of working steps are necessary. The product, generally the packaging units, is usually fed to the palletiser by means of conveyor belts or roller conveyors. The palletiser rotates and turns the product in a process-controlled manner, so that a dense layering on the pallet surface in at least one position is achieved. After “palletisation” is finished, the loaded pallet is intermediately stored or immediately transported further and where necessary provided with outer packaging beforehand. Outer packaging can mean, among other things, wrapping or shrink-wrapping film or fused plastic bags or any other type of outer packaging. The product is then ready for intermediate storage or transport.
During palletising, the packaging units have until now been collected one after the other in a row in the conveying direction of the feed apparatus. A complete row of packaging units is then pushed transversely to the feed direction onto an intermediate surface with a bolt or the like. Then the next row of packaging units is assembled and in turn pushed transversely as a complete row. The process is repeated until the loading surface of the transport pallet is used as completely as possible. Then the layer of packaging units created in rows and columns in this manner can be aligned again in itself. Suitable stops are used for this. Only then is the intermediate surface or roller situated under the layer of packaging units pulled out to the side, so that the stack layer is set down on a pallet situated underneath; the process therefore takes place overall as a batch operation and not in continuous operation, as would be desirable.
The invention is based on the problem of making continuous palletising possible with a generic palletising device. To solve this problem, a palletising device and a method having the features of claims 1 and 7 are proposed. Accordingly, it is provided for the delivery apparatus to comprise an endless conveying means, which is operated in a horizontal arrangement and consists of at least two conveyor runs which act as transport legs. The horizontally arranged endless conveying means can be moved as a whole by at least one packaging unit width and/or height with a transverse component to the direction of extent of one of its transport legs.
This makes it possible to feed the packaging units which are continuously received from the feed apparatus by the delivery apparatus, from a horizontal conveying path from a first conveyor run of the endless conveying means to a second conveyor run of the endless conveying means and to set down the packaging units in close succession directly on the transport pallet along the second conveyor run. With the aid of the displacement, which takes place with a transverse component (in relation to the second transport leg), of the endless conveying means as a whole by at least one packaging unit width or height, the assembly of a second stack row directly on the transport pallet can be started immediately after one stack row has been completed. This process is repeated until the desired pallet surface, in particular the entire pallet surface, is provided with the packaging units along its length and width. Then the endless conveying means with the delivery apparatus can be moved by at least one packaging unit height, and the same delivery process can be continued in a second layer of packaging units. In principle, however, it is also possible to stack up vertical layers of packaging units with the palletising device first and then form further vertical packaging layers. In this case, the endless conveying means is raised overall after completing a row of packaging units, in order to form the next layer of packaging units. For vertical stacking, the feed apparatus can be height-adjustable at least at its output end.
While it is in principle possible to choose the orientation of the feed section in relation to the direction of extent of the conveyor runs of the endless conveying means of the delivery apparatus freely, it is preferred if the direction of extent coincides as fully as possible with the transverse movement direction of the delivery apparatus. Among other things, this simplifies the continuous transfer of the conveyed packaging units by the delivery apparatus.
The transverse movement direction of the delivery apparatus to the transport leg providing the packaging units can in principle take place within a wide angular range, which in principle lies between 1° and 179°. If this angle is closer to 90°, in particular between 45° and 145° and very particularly preferably is 90°, the size of the system is particularly compact.
In principle it is sufficient if the endless conveying means has two conveyor runs. However, the horizontally arranged endless conveying means preferably forms a polygonal line consisting of more than two transport legs. Among other things, a certain conveying part-section of the feed apparatus can then run parallel to the run of the endless conveying means which receives the packaging units, which among other things makes it easier to synchronise the two movements and/or the alignment of the packaging units. A polygonal line of the endless conveying means which corresponds to the outline of the transport pallet, that is a rectangular polygonal line in many applications, is very particularly preferably selected. Deflection wheels or rolls are situated in a suitable deflection apparatus between the individual, in the last mentioned case four, transport legs of the endless conveying means.
It is now possible in various ways to transport the packaging units along the conveyor runs and around the deflections with the horizontally arranged endless conveying means. In principle it is possible to place the packaging units directly on the transport pallet by moving the packaging units on a substantially vertically oriented holding means, that is, in a laterally suspended manner. For the greatest possible flexibility in placing the packaging units, it is however preferred if the holding means for suspended transport of the packaging units have a substantially horizontal alignment, so that the packaging unit is transported in a suspended manner under the holding means. A wide variety of means for suspended transport can be used for this, such as grippers, suction devices, electromagnets and others. This makes it possible among other things to transfer the packaging units in an arrangement lying on the feed apparatus in a simple manner, namely from horizontal transport to suspended transport. If packaging units of different heights are to be stacked on the same or different transport pallets, an ability to change the height of the feed apparatus and/or of the horizontal endless conveying means can be provided. Such an ability to change height is also advantageous for stacking packaging units in several layers on top of each other. With suspended transport stops, which can be adjustable if necessary, can also be used for different positioning of the packaging units in relation to the horizontal endless conveying means. Such stops can also improve securing of the position, in particular securing against tilting of the packaging unit during transport along the conveyor run. In principle, such stops can also be provided in a gripping manner in a movable or rigid arrangement under the packaging units. This increases transport security and/or the range of permissible packaging unit weights which can be palletised, among other things. In principle, a vertically or horizontally suspended transport is not absolutely necessary.
The components to be used according to the invention which are mentioned above, as well as those claimed and described in the exemplary embodiments, are not subject to any special exceptional conditions in terms of their size, shape, material and technical design, so the selection criteria known in the field of application can be used without restriction.
Further details, features and advantages of the subject matter of the invention can be found in the subclaims and in the following description and the associated drawing, in which an exemplary embodiment of a palletising device for populating transport pallets with packaging units in rows and/or columns is shown by way of example. Individual features of the claims or of the embodiments can also be combined with other features of other claims and embodiments.
In the drawing,
The palletising device is explained in more detail viewed from above and in a left side view using the example of working position a) in
Above the transport pallet 1 there is a delivery apparatus 5, which is configured as a polygonal line of rectangular shape. An endless conveying means 5A, which like the feed apparatus 3 is guided around deflection apparatuses 6A-6D with vertical rotation axes and in particular can be driven at the deflection apparatuses, is equipped with holding means 7, which allow downwardly suspended transport of the packaging units 2 (see
The provision of the transport pallet 1 with packaging units 2 now proceeds in such a manner that first the successive packaging units 2 are placed directly on the transport pallet 1 closely to each other in a first row 10 or half-row 10A—see sequence picture b—until the state show in sequence picture c) is achieved. As can be seen from sequence picture d), the packaging unit which has been added to the first stack (half-)row 10A last is narrower than the others and arranged transversely to them in order to use the stacking surface in the best possible manner. Accordingly, the first stack row 10 can still be populated with a second transversely oriented packaging unit in this region (stack half-row 10B). Therefore, as can be seen by comparing sequence pictures c) and d), a relative movement between the transport pallet 1 and the delivery apparatus 5 is executed parallel to the first conveying direction F1. Then, to populate a second stack row 11, a further relative movement between the transport pallet 1 and the delivery apparatus 5 is executed and the second stack row 11 is provided. The feed flow of the further packaging units has been omitted in sequence pictures b) to h) for the sake of clarity. To be able to provide the second stack row 11 with packaging units positioned adjacently to each other, the relative movement between the transport pallet 1 and the delivery apparatus 5 can be continued for this purpose, as can be seen by comparing sequence picture e) with sequence picture f). It can be seen from sequence picture b) how the first layer of packaging units fills the transport pallet with optimal utilisation of area. Then follows a further relative movement between the transport pallet 1 and the delivery apparatus 5 in such a manner that now a further layer of packaging units can be stacked above the packaging units of the first stack row 10, 10A, 10B. This relative movement is not yet completed in sequence picture h), as can be seen.
In the preferred exemplary embodiment shown, one of the transport legs T, that is the conveyor run T1 of the endless conveying means 5A in the exemplary embodiment, therefore runs parallel to the feed direction of the feed apparatus 3, that is, parallel to the first conveying direction F1.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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20 2010 013 608.3 | Sep 2010 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2011/004821 | 9/27/2011 | WO | 00 | 5/3/2013 |