Patent Application
20250153942
The invention refers to a conveyor arrangement.
EP 3 373 232 B1 discloses am intralogistics arrangement. Thereby an object can be delivered between several handling stations. A drive unit can be moved along a mechanical trackbound conveying path. Depending on the position of the drive unit, the drive unit can drive rollers which are located above the drive unit. An object lying on top of the drive roller is consequently moved by the driven roller.
US 2016/0167888 A1 discloses a robotic device having a conveyor, including a conveyor belt, a conveyor motor coupled to at least one conveyor cylinder and configured to rotate the at least one conveyor cylinder to rotate the conveyor belt in at least one direction. A connector is provided and adapted to engage with a connector receptacle of another conveyor. A rotating head detachably coupled to the conveyor and configured to rotatably maneuver the conveyor in at least one direction. A drive module coupled to the rotating head and configured to move the robotic device in at least one direction.
DE 10 2018 130 330 A1 discloses a device for conveying and aligning objects, The device comprising a conveying device which has two conveyor belts which are arranged essentially parallel to one another and can be driven independently of one another, and a detection device for detecting on the conveyor arranged object. An an evaluation device is provided for evaluating the position and orientation of the detected object. A control and regulation unit is set up to control the conveyor belts depending on the evaluation.
EP 3 862 839 A1 A discloses a transport system having a load table with a traveling body configured to transport an object placed on the load table. The traveling body including a storage unit configured to store map information including a position of the load table and self-position information indicating a position of the traveling body. An environment recognition unit is provided to acquire data indicating a position of the traveling body.
US 2002/0153231 A1 discloses a conveyor apparatus having a conveyor framework and an idler rotatably and releasably mounted to the conveyor. The framework has a quick release means which dismounts the idler in response to a situation where a person's hand becomes trapped between a conveyor belt and an idler roller.
US 2020/0033883 A1 discloses a mobile robot for use in an operating environment. The mobile robot includes a mobile robot base, a conveyor system and a drive system. The conveyor system is supported by the mobile robot base. The conveyor system includes a conveyor belt configured to receive an item with the mobile robot and/or provide the item from the mobile robot. The conveyor system is configured to support the item during movement of the mobile robot within the operating environment. The drive system is arranged with the mobile robot base. The drive system is configured to move the mobile robot within the operating environment and position the conveyor system such that the conveyor belt is operable to receive the item with the mobile robot and/or provide the item from the mobile robot.
It is the object of the invention to provide systems and methods to convey objects along a non-mechanically trackbound conveying path between several locations. This object is solved by a conveyor arrangement and use of a conveyor device.
The conveyed object can be transferred between the first conveying track and the second conveying track. That means that by operating the first conveying track and/or by operating the second conveying track the object can be transferred from the first conveying track to the second conveying track or from the second conveying track to the first conveying track. Transferring between the first and the second conveying track means transferring from the first to the second conveying track and/or vice versa.
In the separated state the conveying tracks are located at such a large distance to each other that it is impossible to transfer an object between the first and the second conveying track by operation of at least one of the conveying tracks.
The present invention provides also an arrangement, which is easy to install and does not need large infrastructural provisions. Also, the arrangement can be modified easily. This is achieved by one or more of the following embodiments.
In an embodiment a first mobile conveyor has a first connector adapted to provide a, in particular wired, connection between the first conveyor and the second conveyor in the handover state. The first connector is adapted to transfer energy between the first conveyor and the second conveyor in the handover state, and/or to transfer data between the first conveyor and the second conveyor in the handover state, in particular in combination via a second connector of the second conveyor. Hereby energy and/or controlling can be provided by one of the conveyors, so that only one of the conveyors needs to be provided with a controller or an energy storage.
In an embodiment, the first connector and the second adapter are adapted to establish a wireless connection between the first conveyor and the second conveyor in the handover state. In particular, the wireless connection is adapted to transfer energy between the first conveyor and the second conveyor, the transferred energy is used to power the second conveying track. As an example, a near field communication (NFC) technology may be used, where technologies are able to transfer power in the area of up to 100 W, which is sufficient for the powering the conveying track.
In an embodiment, the first conveyor has an energy storage for providing power for the operation of the drive module, in particular via a powerline. The conveyor arrangement is adapted to provide energy from the energy storage for the operation of the second conveying track during the handover state. Here a single energy storage can be used for a plurality of conveyors. Here a particular second conveyor needs to be powered merely when the first conveyor is in a handover state with the particular second conveyor, so that a separate energy storage or a wiring to the second conveyor can be omitted.
In an embodiment, the first conveyor has a controller, the controller is in particular adapted to receive a sensor signal from a first sensor of the first conveyor and to issue a control signal to a first conveyor motor driving the first conveying track or to a module drive driving the drive module. In the handover state the controller may adapted to receive a sensor signal from a second sensor of the second conveyor. The controller adapted to issue a control signal to a second conveyor motor for driving the second conveying track in the handover state. Also here the controller of the first conveyor takes over a respective task also for the second conveyor, so that a huge number of controllers for each second conveyor can be omitted. Here merely in the handovers state a conveying operation of the second conveyor is performed, which controlled by the controller of the first conveyor.
In an embodiment, the arrangement has a crush protection, which is adapted to prevent crushing a user's hand when protruding between the first and the second transfer edge. This is of particular relevance if the tolerances of the mobile drive are larger than the minimum distance between the two conveyors in the handover state. By merely controlling the drive operation it cannot be ensured that a distance between the two conveyors is always that large, that a hand cannot be crushed between the conveyors. The crush protection prevents injuries in cases where the transfer edges of the conveyors get too close to each other. In principle the transfer edge can be considered as the most protruding area of a transfer track in direction to the other conveying track.
A crush sensor may be provided to detect a crush situation. In case a crush situation is detected, a driving operation of the drive module of the first conveyor may be stopped.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is described with respect to the following drawings; which herein show
The conveying arrangement 100 has a number of second stationary conveyors 2.
Stationary means that during intended use the location of the second stationary conveyors 2 is fixed. But it is possible that during a modification of the conveying arrangement 100 the location of the stationary conveyors 2 may be changed from time to time, where such modification usually happens outside of the intended usage.
The second stationary conveyor 2 has a second conveying track 21 and a support frame 22 on which the second conveying track 21 is mounted.
The conveying arrangement 100 has at least one, in particular a plurality of, first mobile conveyors 1. The first mobile conveyor 1 is adapted to drive within the conveying arrangement 100, which is herein called the “driving operation”. The first movable conveyor 1 has a first conveying track 11 and a drive module 12, on which the first conveying track 11 is mounted.
With the conveying arrangement 100 an object 9 can be transported between any of the second stationary conveyors 2 by means of the first mobile conveyor 1 along a conveying path P. The conveying path P doesn't need to be a predefined conveying path; here the mobile conveyor 1 may drive autonomously along any in particular a shortest conveying path P.
As
In some of the following figures the conveying track is illustrated as a combined roller and belt conveying track (see e.g. in
According to
The first mobile conveyor 1 has a first conveyor drive M11. The first conveyor drive M11 is adapted to provide a drive power to the first conveying track 11 so that an object 9 located in the first conveying track 11 is conveyed during a conveying operation.
The first mobile conveyor 1 has an energy storage 13 for storing electric energy, in particular an electrochemical battery. The energy storage 13 provides electrical power to the first conveyor drive M11 and the module drive M12.
The first mobile conveyor 1 has a first presence sensor 15 adapted to detect the presence of an object 9 to be conveyed along a predefined area of the first conveying track 11. In an embodiment there are more than one first presence sensors 15 provided. In an embodiment the one or more first presence sensors 15 can be used to determine the exact position of an object within the first conveying track 11.
The first mobile conveyor 1 has a controller 14 adapted to control operation of the first conveyor drive M11 and the module drive M12. The first presence sensors 15 are connected to the controller 14 and provide input values for the controller 14.
The second stationary conveyor 2 has a second conveyor drive M21. The second conveyor drive M21 is adapted to provide a drive power to the second conveying track 21 so that an object located on the second conveying track 21 is conveyed during a conveying operation.
The second stationary conveyor 2 has a second presence sensor 25 adapted to detect the presence of an object 9 to be conveyed along a predefined area of the second conveying track 21. In an embodiment there are more than one second presence sensors 25 provided. In an embodiment the one or more second presence sensors 25 can be used to determine the exact position of an object 9 on the second conveying track 21.
The first mobile conveyor 1 has a first connector 16; the second stationary conveyor 2 has a second connector 26. In the separated state (
In an embodiment the handover state the second conveyor drive M21 is connected via the second connector 26 and the first connector 16 to the energy storage 13 (of the first movable conveyor 1) via a power line pl. This has the advantage that the plurality of second stationary conveyors 2 can be powered without the need to provide a separate energy supply to all of the second conveyors 2. In particular no external wiring needs to be provided to all of the second stationary conveyors 2. So the second stationary conveyors 2 can be easily installed. Also from time to time the location of the second stationary conveyors 2 can be amended with easy effort.
In the embodiment of
In alternative embodiment the connectors may be wireless and in particular non mechanical. As an example and NFC or Infrared connection may be used which is also suitable for transferring energy in the scope of max 100W. The connector may be an inductive connector.
In an embodiment, the operation of the second conveyor drive M21 is controlled by the controller 14 (of the first movable conveyor 1). The second conveyor drive M21 is in the handover state connected via the second connector 26 and the first connector 16 to the controller 14 (of the first movable conveyor 1) via a control line cl. This has the advantage that the plurality of second stationary conveyors can be controlled without the need to provide a controller to each of the second conveyors 2. So the second stationary conveyors 2 can be easily installed.
In an embodiment also the one or more second presence sensors 25 are in the handover state connected via the second connector 26 and the first connector 16 to the controller 14 (of the first movable conveyor 1) via a control line cl.
The controller is in particular adapted for hot swapping (also called hot-plugging). That means, that devices, with which the controller communicates, may be connected and disconnected during the operation of the controller.
An object 9 can be transferred between the first mobile conveyor 1 and the second stationary conveyor 2. That means that the object 9 can be transferred from the first mobile conveyor 1 to the second stationary conveyor 2 or from the second stationary conveyor 2 to the first mobile conveyor 1.
For transferring the object 9 between the conveyors 1, 2, the conveyors tracks 11, 12 are to be aligned with each other.
In the handover state a first transfer edge 11t of the first conveying track 11 and a second transfer edge 21t of the second conveying track 21 are to be aligned with each other such that these are facing each other at a distance d of max. 10 cm (
In the crush protection 30 the first and/or the second transfer edges 11t, 21t are supported resiliently. If a user's hand protrudes during the handover state transfer between the transfer edges 11t, 21t the transfer edges are urged in the opposite direction facing away from the respective other transfer edge to avoid crushing the hand (
As can be understood in an embodiment merely one of the first or second transfer edges 11t, 21t may be supported resiliently in the manner to provide a sufficient protective effect.
As can be understood the effect can be achieved in the context of a roller conveyor according to
The rollers 17t, 27t which forms the transfer edges 11t (in case of a belt conveying track in combination with the belt) are supported resiliently.
The roller is in particular the first roller of the first conveying track which is facing the second conveying track and/or the second roller of the second conveying track which is facing the first conveying track, when the first conveying track is approaching the second conveying track. The roller is hereinafter called the transfer roller 17t, 27t.
The transfer roller 17t, 27t is held in a roller support 30a which is movable in particular slidably supported relative to spring abutment 30c. Between the spring abutment 30c and the roller support 30a a spring 30b is provided urging the roller support away from the spring abutment 28c and in the direction of the transfer edge 11t, 21t.
The roller support 30a is movable in a direction facing away from the transfer edge.
The rollers 17t which forms the transfer edges 11t (in case of a belt conveying track in combination with the belt) are supported resiliently. Here the rollers 17t forming the transfer edge 11t is held by a deflection frame 110. The deflection frame 110 can be pivoted around a defection pivot 111 downwards to prevent a crushing a hand 8 (
The conveyor belt 18 is supported on a belt bed 19.
The embodiment of
A crush sensor 112 may be provided to detect a possible crush situation. In the embodiment of
In case the crush sensor detects a possible crush situation, a driving operation of the first conveyor can immediately be stopped, which may be followed by an immediate subsequent drive operation in the reverse direction to increase the distance again.
There may be provided an coupling 113, 213 as shown in
The coupling 113, 213 may be adapted to selectively provide a holding force between the first conveyor 1 and the second conveyor 2 in the handover state, preventing an unintentionally turn into the separated state. The electromagnetic coupling 113, 213 may switch off the holding force before intentionally turning from the handover state into the separated state.
In the example the coupling has a first coupling part 113 attached to the first conveyor 1 in particular to the first connector 16, and a second coupling part 213 attached to the second conveyor 2, in particular to the second connector 26. One of the first and the second coupling part 113, 213 has an electromagnet; the other coupling part 213, 113 has a permanent magnet.
It is to be noted that any kind of fastening tracks (e.g. belt conveyor or roller conveyor) may be used in the embodiment of
The invention is particular relevant if the first mobile conveyor 1 is not mechanically trackbound. The lack of a mechanical track-binding may cause the problem, that an accuracy of the alignment between the conveyors in the handover state is subject to large tolerances. The smaller the tolerances get the more expensive a sensor technology or drive technology for supporting the accuracy becomes.
In contrast to a mechanical track-binding the none track-bound mobile conveyor can at least sectionally be guided by a contactless guiding system. A contactless guiding system may be implemented by an induction line fixed to the flat floor of the production hall. Such a contactless guiding system does not reliably provide an accurate positioning of the mobile conveyor at affordable costs as a mechanical track bound system.
The invention therefore provides safety at affordable costs even for a mobile conveyor which is not equipped with a mechanical track-bound system.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22157909.7 | Feb 2022 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/052781 | 2/6/2023 | WO |
