Patent Grant
11530060
The present application claims priority to German Application DE 10 2018 132 329.8, filed Dec. 14, 2018, which are incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus used to package article groups in outer packaging and/or to place article groups into outer packagings, the apparatus having the features of the independent claim 1. The invention moreover relates to a method used to package article groups in outer packaging and/or to place article groups into outer packagings, the method having the features of the independent method claim.
The automated loading of article groups, such as beverage containers, into outer packagings, such as beverage crates or beverage boxes, is normally carried out discontinuously because the outer packagings or beverage crates, which in such instances are typically transported in an uninterrupted product stream by conveyor belts or other horizontal conveying devices, need to be stopped for each loading procedure even if they are transported at continuous conveying speed in the remaining course of the process. For a precise loading, packaging machines equipped for the automated loading of article groups into outer packagings usually require the outer packaging to stand still, at least during the actual procedure of placing the article group into the outer packaging. Such a discontinuous loading naturally has the disadvantage of a comparatively low capacity, because the conveyance of the outer packagings or crates has to be repeatedly stopped in order to place the articles or containers into the outer packagings with the desired precision.
There are various approaches in prior art to reduce the recognized disadvantages, for example, by a quasi-continuous conveyance of outer packagings while being loaded with articles, such as described in WO 96/32323 or in GB 836 632.
If it can be achieved to load articles into the outer packagings in the ongoing conveying process, another requirement to be observed in such loading procedures becomes more and more important. The higher the conveying speed is at which the outer packagings are being moved while being loaded with articles, the higher the achievable product throughput will be, because the articles will have to be placed into the outer packagings at correspondingly shorter intervals. However, the articles have to be positioned very precisely in order not to miss their target positions in the outer packagings or in order for them not to collide with the outer packagings before being deposited in their particular target positions. Each such collision carries the risk of interrupting production, thus necessitating an interruption in the ongoing packaging operation.
In view of the disadvantages in the prior art, it can be regarded as a primary object of the invention to provide a simply constructed and reliably operating apparatus used to package articles or, as applicable, to place them into outer packagings, as well as to provide a corresponding packaging method, in which, on the one hand, disturbing discontinuities during the conveyance can be reduced or even prevented, and in which, on the other hand, the risks of misloading the outer packagings or of an imprecise positioning can be significantly reduced.
The above-identified object is achieved by a handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus as well as by a method used to transfer articles being conveyed, for example, in a mass flow and/or transported in rows or articles located in staging positions in another manner, into outer packagings being moved continuously or intermittently along a conveyor line, the apparatus and the method having the features of the particular independent claims. Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the relevant dependent claims.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention, besides the method described further below, also proposes a handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus used to package article groups in outer packaging and/or to place article groups into outer packagings, which handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus has a staging location for articles and/or for article groups, which staging location can optionally also be formed by a conveying device used to transport articles in a mass flow or in rows. If a supplying or staging in general or a staging location is referred to in the present context, this therefore does not only conceptually comprise a location where articles are staged in order to be taken over, but rather also in a very general sense a place or a conveying device where articles are transported to in order to be seized and taken over.
The handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus according to the invention furthermore comprises at least one conveyor line to successively transport outer packagings provided and prepared for an accommodation of in each instance at least one article group that has been formed from a plurality of articles. It should be pointed out that the packagings generalizingly referred to as outer packagings in the context of the present description can also take the shape of various different receptacles, which generally have to be suited to accommodate the articles, that is, at least one article group or a plurality of articles inserted thereinto together. In practice, the outer packagings can take the shape, for example, of boxes, trays, beverage cases, etc., which are open at the top and into which the articles can be placed from above by the handling device explained further below in detail, in particular, with the at least one controllable gripper head of the handling device. If, moreover, articles are generalizingly referred to, these are intended to be mass-flow-suitable piece goods for which the further handling and/or transport and/or shipment is typically carried out with outer packagings. The articles can thus be formed, in particular, by receptacles, beverage containers, bottles, cans, or the like, which can be gathered together in stackable and/or palletizable packaging units by the outer packagings.
The apparatus moreover comprises at least one handling device that is movable between the staging location and the at least one conveyor line, the handling device being provided and designed to simultaneously receive and seize in each instance one article group from the staging location, to transfer the article group to the conveyor line, and to place the article group into one of the outer packagings, which have been conveyed there. If a handling device is referred to in the present context, which handling device can be equipped with, for example, at least one gripper head used to handle the articles, this can be, for example, a gantry robot, a multi-axis robot, a parallel kinematic robot, or another suitable handling device, which can be moved back and forth between the at least two conveyor lines to transfer a plurality of articles simultaneously to the outer packagings, and which can at the same time in this process be lifted and lowered, as required.
For example, at least one controllable gripper head used to simultaneously receive a plurality of articles, such as beverage containers or bottles, can be located at a movable tool head of this handling device, which gripper head, for example, can be equipped with controllable article grippers, such as suction grippers, or with controllable gripper bells or the like, with which the articles, beverage containers, or bottles, can be seized and securely held for the transfer into the outer packaging and can also be reliably released in order to be deposited in the outer packaging. If the handling device is equipped with only one gripper head, it is normally possible to load an outer packaging with a defined number of articles, beverage containers, or bottles, simultaneously, for example, with a number of articles arranged in a rectangular group of a total of twenty or twenty-four or more articles, beverage containers, or bottles. The gripper head thus has to be equipped with a number of article grippers, which are normally controllable together, corresponding to the number of articles to be gripped, which article grippers can in their spatial arrangement in relation to each other moreover correspond to the arrangement of articles in the article group or can be adaptable to this arrangement.
Optionally, however, the handling device can also be equipped with two or three gripper heads of the same type, which allow to seize a correspondingly larger number of articles simultaneously and to place the articles in two or three consecutively conveyed outer packagings, for example. By the in this way created possibility to load a plurality of outer packagings simultaneously with particular article groups, in particular, with article groups in each instance of the same type, a correspondingly high throughput for loading the articles into the outer packagings is possible.
The present invention has the special innovation of a centering device assigned to the at least one conveyor line and movable along together with the outer packagings being transported there and to be loaded in each instance with article groups, which centering device serves to direct and guide at least some of the articles of a particular article group during a placing procedure, which articles are to be placed into the outer packagings by the handling device, and which centering device can effectively prevent the articles from colliding with the outer packages during the placing procedure or during the loading procedure, which is normally executed in a very short time and at a correspondingly high speed, from being imprecisely placed into the outer packaging, and/or from missing their particular target positions in the outer packaging.
As already indicated above, it can be provided for the apparatus according to the invention that the handling device comprises at least one controllable gripper head for an article group to be to be received and to be to be seized, with gripping elements that are controllable individually, in groups, or together for each article to be received and to be seized. In addition, it can be provided that each outer packaging to be loaded by a gripper head of the handling device in each instance has a separate centering element assigned to it, which centering element is a component of the movable centering device.
In this context it can preferably be provided that largely all positioning movements of the handling device and/or of the at least one gripper head in relation to an outer packaging to be loaded with an article group can be coordinated and/or synchronized with the positioning movements of the at least one centering element of the centering device. In this way, the centering device can be coordinated in its positioning movements to the conveying movements of the outer packagings as well as to the positioning procedures of the handling device at least in the last phase of the positioning of the handling device and/or of the gripper heads, that is, immediately prior to the actual placing procedure, which is associated with the disengagement of the articles from the gripper head or from the handling device. It can thereby be ensured that the centering device is in the right place, at least in the critical phase of the immediate approach of the articles to the outer packaging, in order to guide and direct the articles and in order to in this way prevent collisions and misloading due to an insufficiently precise positioning of the articles in relation to the appropriate outer packaging.
The at least one centering element of the centering device can expediently be formed by a suitable centering frame, the size of which preferably corresponds to a base area of an outer packaging, and which can be positioned above and/or placed on a circumferential edge of an outer packaging, and which guides the articles and in this way prevents, for example, that the articles touch down on the edge of the crate.
A particularly expedient variant of the apparatus according to the invention can provide that the centering frame has a plurality of directing devices to direct the articles while they are being placed into an outer packaging, which directing devices can be formed, in particular, by guide panels or the like leading funnel-shaped into the outer packaging.
A plurality of centering elements, preferably disposed next to each other, can optionally form the centering device. It is expedient for the number of centering elements of a centering device to correspond with the number of gripper heads of the handling device as well as with the number of the outer packagings to be loaded simultaneously.
The centering elements can optionally be adjustable together or separately in vertical direction.
The centering elements can optionally be adjustable together or separately in transport direction or opposite to the transport direction. Where required, the centering elements can also be adjustable together or separately transverse to the transport direction in order to be able to compensate for skew positions of the crates or of the outer packagings, for example.
An expedient embodiment variant of the apparatus can be formed by the centering device with its at least one centering element being guided at a movable robot arm. It is likewise conceivable that the centering device with its at least one centering element is guided at a gantry suspension disposed slidably on a rail along the conveyor line. Where required, the centering elements can also be suspended from pneumatic cylinders and be movable on a rail along the conveyor line.
It can moreover be provided that the centering device with its at least one centering element is controllable in its movements based on the detected movements of the outer packagings and/or based on an evaluation of the sensor signals supplied by at least one optical sensor detecting the outer packagings to be loaded.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention, besides the handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus described in various embodiment variants above and used to package article groups in outer packaging and/or to place article groups into outer packagings, furthermore proposes a method used to used to package article groups in outer packaging and/or to place article groups into outer packagings, in which method articles and/or article groups are transferred by a handling device from a staging location for the articles and/or article groups to at least one conveyor line. This conveyor line is used to successively transport outer packagings provided and prepared for an accommodation of in each instance at least one article group having been formed from a plurality of articles. The handling device transfers the articles and/or article groups from the staging location into the outer packagings being located and/or moved on the conveyor line and places the articles and/or article groups thereinto. The method provides that at least some of the articles of a particular article group that have been placed into the outer packagings by the handling device are directed and/or guided during a placing procedure by a centering device assigned to the at least one conveyor line and moved along with the outer packagings, which are being transported there and which are in each instance to be loaded with article groups.
This directing and guiding of the individual articles essentially serves to prevent risks of collisions while placing the articles into the outer packagings, because the relatively high processing speeds and the frequently very close spacings of the articles in the outer packagings increase the danger of the articles touching down with their base surfaces on the edges of the outer packaging or their partitions, thus potentially leading to production interruptions if the placing procedure is thereby disrupted or has to be stopped. The centering device is intended to remedy these problems by being brought to the particular outer packaging in each placing procedure and being positioned there such that the centering device can function as a sort of insertion aid or insertion funnel for the articles.
It can optionally be provided for the method that each outer packaging to be loaded by a gripper head of the handling device in each instance has a separate centering element assigned to it, at least during the actual procedure of placing the articles into the outer packaging in the intended positions, which centering element is a part of the movable centering device.
In this instance it can moreover be expedient to coordinate and/or synchronize largely all positioning movements of the at least one gripper head in relation to an outer packaging to be loaded with an article group with the corresponding positioning movements of the at least one centering element of the centering device such that a centering element is ready to prevent collisions of the articles with the outer packaging each time the articles are inserted into the outer packaging.
The at least one centering element of the centering device can, in particular, be formed by a centering frame, the size of which corresponds to a base area of an outer packaging, and which can be positioned above and/or placed on a circumferential edge of an outer packaging, and which guides the articles. The articles can thereby be prevented very effectively from touching down on the edge of the crate, which can all in all significantly reduce the susceptibility to errors in the packaging method according to the invention.
In order for the centering frame to effectively fulfill its task of improving the method according to the invention, the centering frame can, for example, have a plurality of directing devices to direct the articles while they are being placed into an outer packaging, which directing devices can be formed, in particular, by guide panels or the like leading funnel-shaped into the outer packaging.
A plurality of centering elements, preferably disposed next to each other, can optionally form the centering device.
The method can also provide that the centering elements can be adjusted together or separately in vertical direction in order to be positioned on or above the outer packagings. This adjustment is generally necessary because it is expedient to lower the centering elements at least by a short distance into the particular outer packagings so that their particular guide panels or the like can reach beyond the edge of the outer packaging and down to the top edges of a partition, where appropriate.
It can be moreover provided for the method that the centering elements are adjusted together or separately in transport direction or opposite to the transport direction in order to be positioned on or above the outer packagings. The centering elements can likewise be movable opposite to the transport direction, too, in order to be returned to further outer packagings to be loaded. This movement component of the centering elements is necessary in all loading methods where the outer packagings are moved on the conveyor line and are not brought to a halt while being loaded with articles. The centering elements thus have to be moved along synchronously with the advancing outer packagings in order to be able to reliably fulfill their task during the loading procedure.
In a further variant of the method according to the invention, it can be additionally expedient that the centering elements can be adjusted together or separately transverse to the transport direction for the positioning on or above the outer packagings in order to be able to compensate for skew positions of the crates, for example, or in order to be able to compensate for misalignments of the outer packagings in relation to the transport direction. Since the gripper heads of the handling device are normally also positioned very precisely above the outer packagings, even if these are not precisely in alignment with preceding or following outer packagings or crates, it is in the same way expedient to also have the centering elements perform such compensatory movements. Where appropriate, the outer packagings can be brought into a desired alignment with preceding or following outer packagings or crates, if so desired, by corrective movements of the centering elements transverse to the transport direction.
An expedient variant to perform the method according to the invention can consist in suspending the centering device with its at least one centering element from a movable robot arm, for example, and in guiding it thereat.
It is likewise conceivable to suspend the centering device with its at least one centering element from a gantry suspension and to guide it thereat, which gantry suspension can be slid, for example, on a rail suited for this purpose along the conveyor line. In this instance, the centering elements can be suspended from or guided at pneumatic cylinders, for example, and can be movable on a rail along the conveyor line.
A further expedient option of the method according to the invention can consist in controlling the centering device with its at least one centering element in its movements based on the detected movements of the outer packagings and/or based on an evaluation of the sensor signals supplied by at least one optical sensor detecting the outer packagings to be loaded.
In the following passages, the attached figures further illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention and their advantages. The size ratios of the individual elements in the figures do not necessarily reflect the real size ratios. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged in relation to other elements to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
The same or equivalent elements of the invention are designated using identical reference characters. Furthermore and for the sake of clarity, only the reference characters relevant for describing the individual figures are provided. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples of the embodiments of the apparatus or of the method according to the invention are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The schematic top view of
The handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus 10 only schematically indicated here has a first conveyor line 12 used to transport a multitude of upright articles 14 assigned to it. This first conveyor line 12 can be understood as modification of a staging location for the articles 14 because it is very generally referred to a staging location in the context of the definition of the invention, which can be a stationary delivery location with a multitude of articles 14 staged there or also, for example, a conveyor line 12 according to
The objects or piece goods generally referred to here as articles 14 are in the present context formed, in particular, by upright beverage containers 16 being transported in a mass flow and/or in rows in a defined conveying direction 18 leading to the apparatus 10. Moreover, a second conveyor line 20 close to the first conveyor line 12 and running parallel thereto in the shown exemplary embodiment is assigned to the apparatus 10, the second conveyor line 20 being used to successively transport outer packagings 22 in the shape of beverage crates 24, which are provided and prepared to accommodate in each instance at least one article group formed from a plurality of articles 14 or beverage containers 16, as applicable.
The outer packagings 22 can generally also be formed by other crates or cases or receptacles of various types, for example, by boxes of simple cardboard or also, for example, by film wrappings, shrink films or other wrappings of planar packaging material. The machine referred to as handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus 10 in the present context can generally also serve to produce or form bundles such that it is possible to optionally also convey strappings, lengths of film, or the like on the second conveyor line 20 and to supply them to the apparatus 10 for further processing, in order for it to be possible to produce bundles in the apparatus 10 by gathering together grouped articles 14.
As is already discernible from the schematic top view of
The handling apparatus and/or packaging apparatus 10 shown in a schematic manner in
The handling station and/or packaging station 26 can optionally also serve to form bundles by bundling the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 being transported in conveying direction 18 on the first conveyor line 12 by gathering together a plurality of articles 14 or beverage containers 16 into bundles, for example, into strapped bundles, into film bundles, into shrink film bundles, into glued bundles, etc. This gathering together of the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 into bundles likewise always comprises a handling process.
The handling station and/or packaging station 26 has a manipulator 28 or a plurality of manipulators 28, which can be equipped, for example, with at least one gripper head 30 or optionally also with a plurality of parallelly controllable gripper heads 30, which are provided to simultaneously receive and seize from the first conveyor line 12 in each instance one article group with each present gripper head 30, and to transfer it to the second conveyor line 20 within the apparatus 10, and to place the article group, that is, the group of articles 14 or beverage containers 16, into one of the outer packagings 22 or, as applicable, beverage crates 24 being conveyed there. The manipulator 28 formed by at least one gripper head 30 or by a plurality of gripper heads 30 can likewise be provided to seize the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 from the first conveyor line 12 and to supply them for further bundle formation by gathering articles 14 or containers 16 groupwise together in bundles.
Even if a first conveyor line 12 is generally referred to in the present context, it is also possible that instead of such a conveyor line 12, which can be designed as horizontal conveying device, for example, a staging location for the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 designed in nearly any manner is available and used, from which staging location the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 can be seized by the manipulator 28 and can be supplied for bundle formation or placed or inserted into the staged outer packagings 22.
The handling station and/or packaging station 26 only schematically indicated in the
The controllable gripper head 30 or the plurality of gripper heads 30 located at the manipulator 28 being preferably used in the handling station and/or packaging station 26 at a movable tool head (not illustrated in detail here) serves or serve for simultaneously receiving a plurality of articles 14, beverage containers 16, or bottles. For this purpose, the gripper head 30 is or the gripper heads 30 are equipped, for example, with controllable suction grippers or with controllable gripper bells or the like, with which the articles 14, beverage containers 16 or bottles can be seized at their neck section or top section and can be securely held for the transfer and the approximately perpendicular insertion into the outer packagings 22 or beverage crates 24, which are open at the top, and can also be reliably released in order to be deposited in the outer packaging 22 particularly provided for this purpose or into the beverage crate 24 particularly provided for this purpose, as applicable.
If the handling station and/or packaging station 26 is equipped with only one gripper head 30 as manipulator 28 in a simplest equipment variant, it is normally possible to load an outer packaging 22 or, as applicable, a beverage crate 24 with a defined number of articles 14, beverage containers 16, or bottles, simultaneously, for example, with a number of articles arranged in a rectangular group of a total of twenty or twenty-four or more articles, beverage containers 16, or bottles. Preferably, however, the handling station and/or packaging station 26 can also be equipped with two or three gripper heads 30 of the same type, which allow to seize a correspondingly larger number of articles 14 or beverage containers 16 simultaneously and to place the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 into two or three consecutively conveyed outer packagings 22 or beverage crates 24, for example. By the in this way created possibility to load a plurality of outer packagings 22 or beverage crates 24 simultaneously with particular groups of articles 14 or beverage containers 16, a correspondingly high throughput for loading the articles 14 or, as applicable, the containers 16 into the outer packagings 22 is possible.
The schematic illustration of
The reference character 32 in the
The schematic front view of the
As is indicated in
An optional, continuous, individual centering of the individual centering frames 36 defines the position for the normally likewise robot-controlled gripper heads 30 of the handling device or, as applicable, of the manipulator 28. The typically robot-controlled gripper heads 30 can preferably coordinate or synchronize themselves with the continuous movements and positions of the centering elements or, as applicable, of the individual centering frames, whereby a precise and error-free placing movement can be ensured when lowering the articles 14 or beverage containers 16 to the particular target positions in the outer packagings 22 or beverage crates 24.
The
The schematic side views of
As can be discerned from the schematic side view
The schematic side view of the
This phase of the centering procedure is shown below in the image II of
The bottom image III of the
The altogether five schematic side views of
The centering device 32 in this variant is adjusted centrally in height under simultaneous adjustment of the centering elements 34 or centering frames 36, as is illustrated by the vertical double arrow in
The
The
The altogether three schematic side views of
In this second method variant, the control of the centering device 32 is again carried out in such a manner that the centering elements 34 formed by the centering frames 36 can each be adjusted separately in horizontal direction, as is illustrated in
Although the centering device 32 in this second method variant is again centrally adjusted in height, the centering elements 34 or centering frames 36 suspended from the gantry robot 40 can in this instance each be adjusted in height in relation to the centering device 32 separately and independently of one another, as is illustrated by the three vertical double arrows in
While in this context the entire centering device 32 can also be lifted and lowered by the gantry robot 40 shown in
The
The actual loading procedure is not shown in the
The altogether three schematic side views of
In this third method variant, the control of the centering device 32 is carried out as in the first variant according to
The centering device 32 in this third method variant is adjusted centrally in height and can be lifted and lowered by the gantry robot 40 shown in
The
The
The actual loading procedure is not shown in the
The schematic front view of
A further movement component of the centering frame 36 transverse to the conveying direction 18 can additionally be possible in all shown variants in order to be able to compensate for skew positions and lateral offset of the outer packagings 22 or beverage crates 24. In this manner it is possible to load without problems outer packagings 22 or crates 24, for example, even if they are not aligned precisely in conveying direction 18, by correspondingly laterally shifted centering elements 34 or centering frames 36, in which instance it can be additionally provided that the lowered centering frames 36 can bring the crates 24 precisely in alignment with each other by being shifted in horizontal direction transverse to the conveying direction 18 until all crates 24 or outer packagings 22 in contact with the centering device 32 are in alignment with each other.
The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous changes and modifications can be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention and that such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all such equivalent variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2018 132 329.8 | Dec 2018 | DE | national |
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| Number | Date | Country |
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| Entry |
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| Priority Application: DE 10 2018 132 329.8 filed on Dec. 14, 2018—German Search Report dated Aug. 13, 2019. |
| Priority Application: DE 10 2018 132 329.8, Filed Dec. 14, 2018—Extended European Search Report dated Jul. 1, 2020. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200189776 A1 | Jun 2020 | US |
