A sorting/handling system for sorting/handling parcels or packets (P) comprises a tray conveyor (1) and a loading unit (3) for loading packets onto the trays of the conveyor, which loading unit comprises a plurality of pusher shoes (5) mounted to slide on a slat conveyor and spaced apart in pairs with uniform spacing, said pusher shoes being guided in a rail (8) forming a cam for injecting the packets onto the trays of the tray conveyor.

A conveyor that includes a conveyor frame, a first guide rail assembly, a divert unit having a switch assembly, and an alignment key is described. In this regard, the first guide rail assembly is positioned on a first portion of the conveyor frame such that rails of the first guide rail assembly extends along a length of the conveyor. In some examples, the first guide rail includes a first guide rail and a second guide rail positioned parallel to the first guide rail. Further, the first guide rail defines a groove along a length of the first guide rail assembly. Furthermore, according to some examples, the switch assembly defines a key slot. The key slot is adapted to enable the alignment key to pass through the key slot and further into the groove of the first guide rail, thereby, aligning the switch assembly on the first guide rail.

A shoe sorter is described. The shoe sorter can include a switch plate that supports movement of a shoe pin of a pusher shoe, a finger, and an actuation arm. In some examples, the finger can be configured to be moved in a first direction in response to a portion of the shoe pin contacting a portion of the finger. The actuation arm can be pivotably engaged to the finger so that a movement of the finger in the first direction can cause a movement of the actuation arm in a second direction. In this regard, the actuation arm in the second direction can cause a change in a signal outputted by the photoelectric sensor coupled to the shoe sorter. This change in the signal can be used by a processor to determine that the shoe pin is misaligned.

A conveyor that includes a conveyor frame, a first guide rail assembly, a divert unit having a switch assembly, and an alignment key is described. In this regard, the first guide rail assembly is positioned on a first portion of the conveyor frame such that rails of the first guide rail assembly extends along a length of the conveyor. In some examples, the first guide rail includes a first guide rail and a second guide rail positioned parallel to the first guide rail. Further, the first guide rail defines a groove along a length of the first guide rail assembly. Furthermore, according to some examples, the switch assembly defines a key slot. The key slot is adapted to enable the alignment key to pass through the key slot and further into the groove of the first guide rail, thereby, aligning the switch assembly on the first guide rail.

A sortation conveyor is provided that can include a switch assembly that includes a switch plate, a divert plate, and a bridge plate. The switch plate includes a switch member that defines a switch guide path and a switch that can be mounted on the switch member. Further, the divert plate includes a divert member that defines a divert guide path on a first side and a non-divert guide path on a second side of the divert member. Furthermore, the bridge plate includes a bridge member that defines a first bridge guide path and a second bridge guide path. In some examples, the bridge plate is positioned between the switch plate and the divert plate so that the first bridge guide path connects the switch guide path to the divert guide path and the second bridge guide path connects the switch guide path to the non-divert guide path.

A sorting/handling system for sorting/handling parcels or packets (P) comprises a tray conveyor (1) and a loading unit (3) for loading packets onto the trays of the conveyor, which loading unit comprises a plurality of pusher shoes (5) mounted to slide on a slat conveyor and spaced apart in pairs with uniform spacing, said pusher shoes being guided in a rail (8) forming a cam for injecting the packets onto the trays of the tray conveyor.

A method of sorting articles with a sorter apparatus and a sorter apparatus having a conveying surface that is adapted to transport articles in a direction of conveyance and a mechanism adapted to displace articles on the conveying surface, the sorter apparatus having an endless web of bodies travelling in an endless loop defining the conveying surface includes a distributed drive system having at least one drive that is adapted to produce to provide force with at least one of the bodies to propel the endless web. A diagnostic device traveling with the web and positioned at one of the bodies of the endless web. The diagnostic device is adapted to monitor operation of the sorter apparatus and includes at least one sensor that is adapted to detect at least one parameter of a proximate drive that is proximate to the at least one sensor, and a controller adapted to receive the at least one parameter from the at least one sensor. A stationary thermal sensor may also monitor the endless loop via another controller including receiving thermal data from the stationary thermal sensor and the another controller correlates the thermal images with a portion of the endless loop.

The system and method for sorting products include a device comprising a frame, carriers for products, pusher members which are displaceable along a carrier, guide means with a guiding member for guiding the pusher member in a conveying direction during transportation of the carriers in order to move it in a length direction of the carrier, for the purpose of laterally moving a product off the supporting surface at a discharge location, a presorting switch device with a presorting switch member in order, in an active presorting position, to move or keep the pusher member to or in a second transverse position, a switchable switch device with a switch member in order, in an active position, to move the pusher member in such a way that the guide member is subsequently guided by the guiding member.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a conveying system for conveying an item to be conveyed. The conveying system comprises a conveying track which comprises a conveying surface on which the item to be conveyed is placeable, wherein the conveying track comprises a coupling surface formed adjacent to the conveying surface, wherein the coupling surface comprises a first coupling profile. The conveying system further comprises at least one conveying drive for driving and/or braking the conveying track, wherein the conveying drive comprises a second coupling profile. The first coupling profile is coupled with the second coupling profile in such a way that the conveying drive is coupled with the conveying track in an interlocking manner for transferring a conveying force.

The invention relates to a system (1) for conveying articles (3), which system comprises an article conveyor (2) extending from an upstream end (4) to a downstream end (5), and a motor-driven shuttle trolley (6) having an article carrier deck (7) and designed to dock with said ends of the conveyor so as to transfer an article between the trolley and the conveyor. The conveyor is a gravity conveyor under which a ramp (12) extends, and the trolley is suitable for travelling under the conveyor and is provided with a lever (11) that is mounted to move vertically relative to the deck and that is designed to co-operate with the ramp while the trolley is moving under the conveyor so that, by following the ramp, the lever moves between a retracted position in which it is retracted under the conveyor and a deployed position in which it projects above the conveyor so as to drive an article along the conveyor. The method of matching digital images of the same article in a data processor unit comprises the steps of: transforming each digital image of an article into a local divergence topographic map of the luminance gradient vector field; detecting singularities or extrema of local divergence in the luminance gradient vector field, such singularities corresponding to points of interest in said digital image; and, for each detected point of interest, encoding the values for the singularity of the gradient field that are located on a plurality of concentric rings centered on the point of interest so as to derive a digital data vector (210); and transforming said vector into a digital hash key (220) by means of a family of hash functions of the cosine Locality-Sensitive Hashing (LSH) type.