A device and a process for feeding articles to be packaged with a packaging apparatus are presented. The articles are transported on a first conveying line and can be arranged according to a desired pattern, which is repeated on a second conveying line from which the articles will be picked up in a subsequent station. For this purpose, at least one transfer device is provided for transferring the articles from the first conveying line to the second conveying line, with a self-moving transfer arm and a respective gripping device to pick up the articles. The gripping device has a plurality of gripping elements which are movable between a first configuration, in which the gripping elements are aligned with each other to grip the articles from the first conveying line, and a second configuration, in which at least two of the gripping elements are staggered with respect to each other, to lay the articles according to a predetermined pattern.

A typing tunnel off-loading and sorting system includes an off-loading conveyor, cameras and photoelectric eye. The overhead cameras detect the item size and whether it is cubic in nature and type and size of its footprint. An in-line slide sorter having alternating conveyor rollers and pop-up belts pass through to, or divert articles from, a downstream conveyor. The vision based system may also be used to detect space between articles and insert articles in the unoccupied space.

A conveyance control device executes: a control step of detecting entering to a merging point adjacent area set on adjacent to each merging point on the conveyance route; a detection step of detecting whether there is an obstacle around the carrying cart; a communication step of performing, when the entering to each merging point adjacent area is detected, local wireless communications with another carrying cart by using a common frequency band and a common identification code set to values different among merging points; and a merging point passing control step of starting the communication step when the other carrying cart is detected in the merging point adjacent area in the detection step, and causing passing of a merging point in accordance with a priority set to each entering passage to the merging point, after a handshake with the other carrying cart is successfully performed in the communication step,

A sorting device for articles has at least two main conveyor lines, each conveying consecutively arranged articles, at least two feeder devices, which respectively feed the articles to one of the main conveyor lines, at least two recognition devices for detecting a sorting destination for each article, a plurality of sorting outlets arranged at the end of each main conveyor line, each assigned to sorting destinations, and to which the articles are transported. The sorting device further has at least two connecting conveyor lines, each branching off the main conveyor lines at branch points, by way of which the articles can be conveyed from one main conveyor line to another main conveyor line. The articles can be temporarily stored in a storage device, which feeds temporarily stored articles to one of the main conveyor lines in the direction of conveyance before at least one of the branch points.

A camera based vision system that recognizes and maximizes belt area utilization. A plurality of cameras are positioned at flow entry points of feed conveyors and at the singulator. The control algorithm recognizes individual items area, the rate at which individual objects are passing, and the area utilization of the collector belt. The video camera and computer based conveyor package management system monitor and control the number and size of the packages present on the infeed conveyors, collector conveyor, singulator conveyor and sorting conveyor in a package handling system wherein the camera data is used to measure the available area or space on the conveyors to maintain a desired density of packages on selected conveyor(s). The conveyor speed is controlled as a function of occupancy on a collector or just prior to a singulator or receiver.

A method for combining multiple separate streams of packaged materials into a main stream is provided, in which each of the streams of packaged materials is conveyed on a feed conveyor, is combined with the main stream in the region of a feed opening of the feed conveyor and further transported on a main conveyor in the main stream and in which at least one lateral wall laterally delimits the main stream. In order to combine multiple separate streams of packaged materials into the main stream despite a narrowing of the conveyor width to counteract jamming, packaged materials from the main stream in the region between two feed openings of two feed conveyors are guided towards the lateral wall and then along the lateral wall, as a result of an alignment of the main conveyor relative to the lateral wall. A device for conveying packaged materials is also provided.

A side-by-side reducer (SSR) conveyor has one lateral side of driven rollers operating at a different longitudinal running speed than another lateral side of driven rollers. The one lateral has an input section of driven rollers skewed away from the other lateral side followed by a converging zone of driven rollers skewed toward the other lateral side. The separation prevents frictional contact between side-by-side cartons so that one can be longitudinally moved a different velocity than the other to converge in a tandem arrangement.

The invention concerns a conveyor system (2) for formatting slice-shaped food products in product stacks. The conveyor system (2) comprises an inlet (4), a lower product conveyor (8), an upper product conveyor (7, 9), a vertically swivelling distributor conveyor (6) for distributing the incoming food products selectively to the lower product conveyor (8) or to the upper product conveyor (7, 9), an output conveyor (10) receiving the food products partially stacked from the lower prod-uct conveyor (8) and the upper product conveyor (7, 9), and an outlet (11) for outputting the stacked food products in product rows. The invention provides that the individual conveying tracks (6G, 6H) of the distributor conveyor (6) can be swivelled vertically independently of one another in order to forward the incoming food products individually for each conveying track selectively to the lower product conveyor (8) or to the upper product conveyor (7, 9). The invention also includes a corresponding operating method.

A method and a device for filling containers with products, in which the products are successively conveyed horizontally to a filling installation in which the products, while being combined to form individual product groups, are grouped, and an offered-up container, which is conveyed horizontally to the filling installation, is filled in a single track with one or a plurality of product groups, wherein the filled containers subsequently are in particular horizontally transported away. The method includes conveying the products in multiple tracks to the filling installation, grouping the products to form product groups, feeding the product groups in multiple tracks to a common revolving vertical conveyor of the filling installation, conveying the product groups to an ejection position from which the product groups are conveyed onward in a single track to an offered-up container, and filling the offered-up container with at least one of the product groups.

A logistics center automation system includes a singulator to which a cluster control for simultaneously moving articles unloaded from a plurality of unloading vehicles is applied, a transport robot configured to deliver the articles moved by the singulator to a loading vehicle corresponding to destination information, a mobile multi-recognizer configured to extract destination information of the transport robot, and a controller configured to control the singulator, the transport robot, and the mobile multi-recognizer.