Abstract

A parcel processing system and related process. The parcel processing system includes a bulk transport conveyor (702), a multi- stage bulk transport accumulator (701), a singulator (710), and a control system. A process includes receiving a bulk flow of parcels (720) at a bulk transport conveyor (702) to be transported from the bulk transport conveyor (702) through a multi-stage bulk transport accumulator (701) to a singulator (710), determining a speed setting of the singulator(710), operating a first stage (708) of the multi-stage bulk transport accumulator (701) according to the speed setting of the singulator (710), operating a second stage (706) of the multi- stage bulk transport accumulator (701) according to a fill state of the first stage (708) of the multi-stage bulk transport accumulator (701), and operating the bulk transport conveyor (702) according to a fill state of the immediate downstream stage of the multi-stage bulk transport accumulator (701).

IPC Classes  ?

• B65G 43/08 - Control devices operated by article or material being fed, conveyed, or discharged
• B65G 43/10 - Sequence control of conveyors operating in combination
• B65G 47/31 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a series of conveyors by varying the relative speeds of the conveyors forming the series

Abstract

A system for removing unstable articles from an automated processing stream includes an automated processing stream with a plurality of processing units including a flow diverter and configured to carry a stream of articles, a vision system, and a control system interfacing with the automated processing stream and the vision system, wherein the vision system is configured to detect positions of an article and to transmit position data to the control system, and wherein the control system is configured, through operation of a processor, to determine an expected position of the article based on a first detected position, compare the expected position to a second detected position of the article, determine a deviation of the second detected position from the expected position, and control the flow diverter to divert the article based on the deviation.

IPC Classes  ?

• B07C 1/04 - Forming a stream from a bulkControlling the stream, e.g. spacing the articles
• B65G 43/08 - Control devices operated by article or material being fed, conveyed, or discharged
• B65G 47/256 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors orientating the articles removing incorrectly orientated articles

Abstract

A system (100) for delaminating a stream (110) of articles (A, B, C, D, E) includes a delamination unit (130) with a plurality of individually controlled rollers (134) configured to carry a stream (110) of articles (A, B, C, D, E), a detection unit (150) with a sensor (152), and a control unit (160) with a processor (162) and interfacing with the delamination unit (130) and the detection unit (150), wherein the detection unit (150) is configured to detect a position of each of the articles (A, B, C, D, E) and to transmit position data to the control unit (160), and wherein the control unit (160) is configured, through operation of the processor (162), to correlate positions of the articles (A, B, C, D, E) with the plurality of individually controlled rollers (134), and to individually control the rollers (134) based on the position data to delaminate the stream (110) of articles (A, B, C, D, E).

IPC Classes  ?

• B07C 1/04 - Forming a stream from a bulkControlling the stream, e.g. spacing the articles
• B65G 47/31 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a series of conveyors by varying the relative speeds of the conveyors forming the series
• B65G 47/68 - Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors, i.e. discharging or feeding devices adapted to receive articles arriving in one layer from one conveyor and to transfer them in individual layers to more than one conveyor, or vice versa, e.g. combining the flows of articles conveyed by more than one conveyor
• B65G 59/12 - De-stacking of articles characterised by de-stacking during transit
• B65G 47/14 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from disorderly-arranged article piles or from loose assemblages of articles arranging or orientating the articles by mechanical or pneumatic means during feeding
• B65G 47/28 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a single conveyor