Patent Application
20100091099
The present invention relates to a singularizer device for a mail-sorting system.
Current mail-sorting systems handle flows of postal objects of various types (for example, letters, postcards, flats—i.e., cumbersome postal objects, open magazines, postal objects wrapped in plastic material, etc.) using singularizer devices of various types suitable for executing specific sorting programs for treating objects having specific physical and/or dimensional characteristics.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a singularizer device for a system for sorting postal objects which will be able to recognize the type of postal objects fed at input and to modify its own operation accordingly.
The above aim is achieved by the present invention in so far as it relates to a singularizer device for a mail-sorting system configured for receiving at input homogeneous lots of postal objects and supplying at output postal objects that are singularized, i.e., physically separated from one another, to said mail-sorting system, each lot of homogeneous postal objects comprising postal objects having common dimensional parameters and/or physical/constructional parameters, said singularizer device being characterized in that it is provided with sensor means designed to detect the type of lot fed at input for implementing automatically a respective singularization program suited to the type of postal objects detected.
The invention will now be illustrated with particular reference to the attached figures, which represents a preferred non-limiting embodiment thereof and in which:
In
The system 1 comprises a mail-sorting device 3, which receives a flow of postal objects 7 at input and has a plurality of outputs 11, fed on which are groups 13 of postal objects 7 that have been sorted.
The postal objects 7, of a plane rectangular type, are: of standard dimensions, i.e., ones having dimensions comprised within the following ranges: length: 120-292 mm; height 85-180 mm; thickness: up to 6 mm; and weight: up to 100 g; and/or of extended formats, i.e., ones including envelopes up to the known C4 format, characterized by a length of 330 mm and a height of 235 mm, and up to 10 mm in thickness and 300 g in weight, and moreover including objects of similar formats but wrapped in cellophane—e.g. polywrapped—or open magazines. As is known, each group of sorted postal objects, if they are also sequenced, comprises a plurality of stacked postal objects, which are ordered according to successive delivery points (P0, P1, P2, . . . Pn—
The creation of the groups 13 of sequenced postal objects 7 is obtained using techniques of a known type that are not further specified or described in detail; for this reason, the sorting device 3 is illustrated schematically.
The device for sorting and sequencing mail 3 is coupled to a singularizer device 15, which receives a plurality of homogeneous lots 16 of postal objects 7 at input and supplies at output the postal objects 7 that have been singularized (i.e., physically separated from one another) to the mail-sorting device 3. Each lot of homogeneous postal objects comprises postal objects having common dimensional parameters and/or physical/constructional parameters. A lot may be formed also by one single postal object.
For example, the homogeneous lots may be formed by objects having dimensional parameters smaller than a threshold value. In this way there may be defined a first type of homogeneous lot L1 formed by postal objects having a maximum height (measured with respect to a horizontal resting surface on which the postal objects lie) of less than a threshold value S1, whilst the other postal objects (extended postal objects) are grouped together in such a way as to form a second type of homogeneous lot L2, in which the postal objects have a maximum height (once again measured with respect to the resting surface) of more than the threshold value S1.
The singularizer device 15 is designed to recognize automatically the type of lot fed at input for setting automatically (i.e., without intervention on the part of the operator) a singularization program characterized by respective singularization parameters suited to the type of lot handled.
For example, to distinguish between the types of lots L1 and L2 devices of an optical type 18 can be used, which operate according to known technologies (e.g., diffuse sensors) for detecting overstepping of the threshold S1.
The optical device 18 can define an optical path 18a (
The first singularization program implements, for example, the following parameters of the singularizer device 15:
The second singularization program implements, for example, the following parameters of the singularizer device:
In addition, the singularizer device 15 is designed to recognize other types of lots of postal objects defined by physical characteristics such as:
The detection of a plasticated wrapper occurs through sensors and/or devices of a known type, designed to detect the presence of plastic film wrapped round the postal object being sorted.
For example, a video camera 150 can be used (
Detection of open magazines can occur, in the case where the postal objects are of the open-magazine type with square spine, i.e., open magazines characterized by a shape of the bottom spine with C-shaped cross section, with the following modalities. An image-acquisition and processing device (vision system) detects the shapes of the underside of the postal objects.
In particular, a video camera 150a can be used (
The detection of open magazines can occur, in the case where the postal objects are of the open-magazine type with V-shaped spine in which the pages of the magazine and the cover are held together by two metal staples, with the following modalities.
In particular, an array of sensors 150b can be used (
Alternatively, the detection of the metal staples can be carried out by a vision system that analyses the portion of image acquired via an image-acquisition system (of a known type, similar to the one represented in
The sorting system 1 further comprises a mail-sorting device (
The postal objects 7b are of the “flat” and/or “oversized” type and have dimensions markedly greater than the ones allowed for the standard postal objects (e.g. up to a length of 400 mm, a height of 305 mm, a thickness of 35 mm, and a weight of 3 kg).
As is known, each group 13b of sorted postal objects comprises a plurality of stacked postal objects, which belong to one and the same delivery path R even though they are not ordered according to successive delivery points (P2, P1, P7, . . . P0).
The creation of the group 13b of sorted postal objects 7b is obtained using techniques of a known type that not are further specified or described in detail; for this reason, the sorting device 20 is illustrated only schematically.
The mail-sorting device 20 is coupled to a singularizer device 25, which receives a plurality of lots L3 formed by the postal objects 7b and supplies at output the singularized postal objects 7b to the sorting device 20.
Each output 11 of the sorting device, if it is carrying out also sequencing 3, is logically coupled to and physically set close to (for example set underneath) an output 21 of the sorting device 20 in such a way that:
A postal operator P (schematically illustrated in
Preferably, the sorting device 20 comprises a final conveying system 29 of the type comprising (
In greater detail, the conveying system 29 may comprise four rollers 40 carried by a vertical supporting structure 42 (represented schematically), which are mobile about horizontal shafts 43 the traces of which are arranged, in a vertical plane, so that they correspond to the vertices of a rectangle. (Alternatively, the four rollers 40 can be replaced by two rollers having a larger diameter).
The belt elements 30 are carried by the rollers 40 in such a way as to follow:
In this way, the endless-loop path performed is of a rectangular shape with vertices replaced by arcs of a circumference.
The rollers 40, in the example illustrated, turn in a counterclockwise direction in such a way that also each belt element 30 moves in a counterclockwise direction.
The top horizontal stretch 30—c extends above a central area of the supporting structure 42, in which the outputs 21 are provided. In particular, the outputs 21 are provided by respective parallelepipedal seats 41 set alongside one another and open upwards.
Each seat 41 is limited by a plane end wall 42—a parallel to the horizontal and by two plane side walls 42—b perpendicular to the end wall 42—a. Free edges of the plane side walls 42—b delimit an opening of the seat 41 facing upwards and set facing the top horizontal stretch 30—c.
Underneath the plane end wall 42—a of each output 21a respective output 11 is provided.
Each carriage 32 (
In greater detail, the supporting structure 45 of a plane type is delimited by a pair of approximately rectangular plane side walls 51, extending between which is a pair of idle rollers 52 set at the ends of the walls 51 and having axes parallel to one another, parallel to the axis 46 and perpendicular to the plane rectangular walls 51.
A belt 54 is set between the pair of rollers 52 and defines, with its opposite sides, a first plane resting surface 50—a and a second plane resting surface 50—b set on opposite faces of the supporting structure 45.
Each plane resting surface 50—a, 50—b is delimited in a transverse direction by a first rectangular arrest wall 56—a and a second rectangular arrest wall 56—b perpendicular to the belt 54 and extending in a direction parallel to the axis 46.
A roller 52 is angularly connected with a pinion 58, which extends laterally from the wall 51.
Finally, the end portions of a wall 51 are provided with triangular flanges 60, each of which is provided with a roller 62, the function of which will be clarified hereinafter.
The conveying system 29 is provided with a device designed to adjust the inclination γ of the first/second resting surface 50—a/50—b with respect to the instantaneous direction of advance of the belt element 30 (indicated by an arrow F).
In particular (
The positioning of the carriage 32 with respect to the horizontal and the rotations illustrated above are obtained by means of guides (not illustrated), along which the rollers 62 run; said guides extend around the endless-loop path.
In use, the postal objects 7b coming from the sorting device 20 reach the loading station 34 where they are set individually on the carriages 32 with the resting surfaces 50—a/50—b parallel to the horizontal and coplanar with each belt element 30.
A substantially plane postal object 7b can hence rest on the resting surface 50—a/50—b setting itself between the arrest walls 56—a, 56—b.
The carriage 32 that carries a postal object 7b follows the bottom horizontal stretch 30—a and then reaches the roller 40—b, where the carriage 32 is made to rotate in a direction concordant with the direction of rotation (counterclockwise in the example) of the roller 40—b in order to reduce the tangential component of the centrifugal acceleration that acts on the postal object 7b and prevent the latter from falling out of the carriage 32.
Next, the postal object 7b sets itself transverse with respect to the vertical along the ascending vertical stretch 30—b and reaches the top roller 40—c, where the carriage 32 is again made to turn in a direction concordant with the direction of rotation (counterclockwise in the example) of the roller 40—c in order to reduce the tangential component of the centrifugal acceleration that acts on the postal object 7b and prevent the latter from falling out of the carriage 32.
Next, the carriage 32 (and the postal object 7b) follows the top horizontal stretch 30—c that is set above the outputs 21.
When the carriage 32 is set above the output 21 to which the postal object 7b is to be sent, coupling is performed with a pinion 58 and a rack 65 (
Coupling between the rack 65 carried by the supporting structure 42 (and hence having a fixed position) and the pinion 58 (mobile with the carriage 32 under the thrust of the belt 30) in fact brings about rotation of the rollers 52, which in turn produce advance of the belt 54, which unloads the postal object from the carriage 32 to the output 21.
Alternatively, movement of the belt 54 in a position corresponding to a specific output 21 can be performed by activating an electric motor (not illustrated) carried on board the carriage 32. The electrical power can be supplied to the motor by means of mobile sliding contacts (not illustrated) or by electromagnetic induction, and the control of unloading can be provided, for example, through sensors of an optical type (emitter set on the ground; receiver set on board the carriage).
The postal object 7b falls into the parallelepipedal seat 41 selected (which is open upwards in order to enable entry of the postal object 7b) and sets itself on the plane end wall 42—a (in the case where the output 21 is empty) or on a postal object 7b already contained in the parallelepipedal seat 41.
In particular, the rectilinear channel 70 comprises a first end portion 70—a to which the postal objects 7 coming from the sorting and sequencing device 3 are fed and a second end portion 70—b from which the groups 13 of postal objects 7 stacked on top of one another in a pack are picked up.
The channel 70 is delimited by a plane rectangular end wall 69, by two plane rectangular side walls 68, and by a paddle 74, which is mobile in the same rectilinear direction 71 as the channel 70.
The postal objects 7 packed on top of one another are inclined with respect to the direction of advance 71 according to an angle β different from 90° (typical standard of stacker sorters). The angle β can be, as illustrated in
The paddle 74 (having a structure of a known type and consequently not described in further detail) is defined by a plane body, which lies in a plane that forms an angle β with respect to the rectilinear direction 71. The paddle 74 has an end portion that slides along a rectilinear guide 74—a parallel to the direction 71.
Means 72 are provided (for example, constituted by a pair of counter-rotating rollers) for single supply of the postal objects 7 to the first end portion 70—a of the rectilinear channel 70, said means being configured in such a way that each (plane rectangular) postal object 7 will be fed to the rectilinear channel 70 along a vertical plane of advance, the trace of which (designated by the reference number 73) forms an angle α of approximately 20-30° with respect to the plane in which the packed plane postal objects 7 lie.
Following upon complete entry of the postal object 7 into the channel 70, said postal object is displaced in the rectilinear direction towards the second end portion 70 a to enable entry of a new postal object 7. The displacement of the postal objects occurs with techniques of a known type (not illustrated). The repetition of the operations illustrated above provides a pack of postal objects 7 having planes of lie parallel to one another and inclined by an angle β different from 90° with respect to the rectilinear direction 71 and to the side walls 68 of the rectilinear channel.
In this way, on account of the stacking illustrated above, the occupation of space inside the channel 70 is improved.
In addition, once again in order to improve the occupation of space inside the channel 70, there is also adopted a solution (
The output 21, in the embodiment illustrated in
Minor perimetral edges of the bottom wall 82 and of the side walls 83—a, 83—b define an output 86 of the channel 81 for unloading of a group 13.
The bottom wall 82 has a plurality of rectilinear grooves 84 parallel to one another and extending substantially throughout the length of the bottom wall in a direction parallel to the direction of advance H.
The rectilinear channel is coupled to a cradle 87, which is mobile between a retracted position (illustrated in
In greater detail, the cradle 87 comprises two plane rectangular side walls 88, which are parallel to and set facing one another and are able to slide with a reciprocating motion in the direction H along respective guides 89 carried by the side walls 83—a, 83—b. The side walls 88 are arranged in vertical planes parallel to the planes in which the side walls 83—a, 83—b lie.
The cradle 87 comprises also a plane rectangular bottom wall 90, which extends between bottom edges of major side of the side walls 88 in a horizontal plane lower than that in which the bottom wall 82 lies.
In particular, in the retracted position, the side walls 88 are completely inserted in the guides 89, and the bottom wall is set underneath the bottom wall 82, whilst in the extracted position the side walls 88 are completely extracted from the guides 89 (from which they extend in cantilever fashion), and the bottom wall 90 constitutes a prolongation of the bottom wall 82.
Motion of the cradle 87 from the retracted position to the extracted one is performed by a thrust device, which comprises an actuator (not illustrated), which is set underneath the structure that provides the channel 81 and is equipped with an output member (not illustrated) that bears upon a contrast wall 94 perpendicular to the bottom wall 90 of the cradle 87 and extending along a minor end edge of the bottom wall 90.
The motion of the cradle 87 from the extracted position to the retracted position is, instead, performed manually by pushing the cradle 87 in the opposite direction.
The channel 81 carries also a thrust member 95, which is provided by a rectangular wall perpendicular to the bottom wall 82 and is provided with bottom portions that are able to slide along the rectilinear grooves 84 under the thrust of the actuator (not illustrated), which provides also the motion of extraction of the cradle 87.
In use, during the operations of formation of the group 13 of postal objects 7b, the cradle is set in the retracted position. In particular, a first postal object 7b is rested on the bottom wall 82, and successive postal objects are fed to the channel 81 and rest upon the objects already present in the channel 81 to form a group of stacked plane postal objects. Conveniently, feed of the postal objects 7b occurs from the top by means of feed devices described above (the belt 54 and the carriages 32).
When the height of the group of postal objects 7b contained inside the channel 81 reaches a limit height or else when the lot being processed has been completed, the unloading (dropping from above) of postal objects 7b into the channel 81 is stopped. The operations of unloading of the group 13 of packed postal objects 7b can hence be activated.
For this purpose, the actuator (not illustrated) is activated, which produces motion of the thrust member 95, which in turn produces motion of the group 13 of packed postal objects 7b towards the output 86 and simultaneously produces motion of the cradle 87 towards the extracted position. In this way, the group 13 of packed postal objects 7b slides initially on the bottom wall 82 and then on the bottom wall 90.
Upon completion of said operations, the group 13b of packed postal objects 7b arranges itself on the cradle 87 set in the extracted position. In said position, the group 13b of packed postal objects 7b can easily be picked up by an operator.
At the end of this step, the thrust member 95, moved by the actuator (not illustrated), is brought back into the retracted position so as to enable the sorter to resume the operations of unloading of postal objects 7b belonging to a subsequent lot to be processed, into the outputs 21 on the bottom walls 82.
Typically, extraction from the retracted position to the extracted position, with consequent transfer of the stack of postal objects 7b onto the cradle 90 can also take place simultaneously for multiple outputs 21 (the cradles are extracted all together or in subsets when the lot being processed is completed).
The table 100 is equipped with a system of guides and wheels of a known type (illustrated schematically) that enables a convenient translation thereof along the front of the machine so as to enable its displacement by the operator in front of the pair of superimposed outputs 11-21 in the emptying step.
Said table 100 is moreover equipped with a rectilinear channel with rectangular cross section 102 delimited by a resting wall 103 of the surface of the table 100 and by two rectangular side walls 104 perpendicular to the resting wall 103 and parallel to one another. Moreover provided is a resting base 105 that can be mounted inside the rectilinear channel 102 by setting it inclined with respect to the resting surface 103.
In use, during the unloading operations, the operator positions, with the aid of guide mechanisms of a known type (not illustrated), the table 100 in such a way that the rectilinear channel 102 thereof is aligned to the output 11 being emptied, precisely in such a way that the rectilinear channel 102 is aligned with the channel 70 of the output 11.
In this way, after raising and displacement of the mobile paddle 74 it is possible to transfer the pack 13 of sequenced postal objects 7 by simple translation from the channel 70 to the channel 102 present on the table 100.
Starting from one of the outputs 11 to be emptied, the operator will proceed to emptying one after the other all the outputs belonging to a group being emptied, availing himself of the supporting table 100, which is made to translate at each step.
For example, the operator can pick up in bunches or all together the pack of flat/oversized postal objects 7b from the extracted cradle 90 and deposit it on a side of the table 100. Next, he will transfer, as described above, the pack 11 of sequenced postal objects 7 inside the rectilinear channel 102, at the end of this step said postal objects being stacked in an inclined way so as to facilitate the subsequent merging operations.
The operator will pick up one flat/oversized postal object at a time from the pack positioned on the table 100 and, also on the basis of auxiliary information displayed on a display 107 present on the table 100 extracted by the sorting-control system, will insert it in the right position of the pack of sequenced postal objects 7 according to the sequence (P0, P1, P2, . . . Pn) corresponding to the delivery path R; for example, it will be possible to display the position in the stack (even approximately, e.g., ¼ of the stack) in which the flat is to be inserted inside the pack of sequenced objects 7.
As an alternative to displaying on the screen 107, said auxiliary information provided as an aid to the merging operations may be printed on a label.
In use, during other processing steps in which, unlike the modalities just described, the use is envisaged of containers for collecting the sorted correspondence, positioned inside the outputs 21 and lying precisely on the bottom walls 82 are containers designed to receive the flat and/or oversized correspondence unloaded from the sorting machine; when the container is physically full (condition detected through sensors of a known type and not illustrated) or else the lot being processed is completed, the container is extracted from the output according to the same modalities described previously for the pack of postal objects 7b.
More precisely the actuator (not illustrated) is activated, which produces the motion of the thrust member 95, which in turn produces the motion of the container, inside which the postal objects 7b are deposited, towards the output 86, and simultaneously produces the motion of the cradle 87 towards the extracted position. In this way, the container slides initially on the bottom wall 82 and then on the bottom wall 90.
At the end of said operations, the container sets itself on the cradle 87 in the extracted position. In this position, the container is easily picked up by an operator.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08425610.6 | Sep 2008 | EP | regional |
