A product order fulfillment system including a multi-level transport system and a lifting transport system. Each level of the multi-level transport system having a corresponding independent asynchronous level transport system separate and distinct from the asynchronous level transport system corresponding to each other level of the multi-level transport system. Each independent lift axis of the lifting transport system being configured to independently hold at least one case and being communicably coupled to each asynchronous level transport system so as to provide for exchange of the at least one case between each asynchronous level transport system and each independent lift axis. Each independent lift axis is communicably coupled to each other independent lift axis of the more than one lift axis and forms a common output of mixed cases so as to create an ordered sequence of mixed cases in accordance to a predetermined case out ordered sequence.

Systems and methods are provided for conveyor operation and maintenance that employ one or both of a “smart shoe” technology where one or more conveyor shoes incorporate features, such as an RFID tag, and a “missing pin detection” technology where one or more pin components of conveyor shoes incorporate features, such as an RFID tag, allowing selective wireless tracking and identification capability. A conveyor system comprises a shoe management system allowing interactions directly with one or more RFID readers, which can detect, store and/or monitor information associated with “smart shoe” and/or “missing pin detection” RFID tags, where interface between this application and the reader can be implemented via a socket interface. An open platform communications (OPC) wrapper can be created around the interface so that a Human Machine Interface (HMI) could interact directly with shoe management system.

An article sorting apparatus includes an article support body, article lateral pushing bodies, a rectilinear-movement guide body, a sliding guide body having a sliding guide surface, and a diverting mechanism. The sliding guide surface is disposed so as to be spaced apart from the diverting mechanism in a main transport direction across a separation region, and the separation region is provided so as to include a contact start region that is a region in the main transport direction where each of the article lateral pushing bodies initially comes into contact with a target article.

A system for sorting articles includes a plurality of article supporters attached to an endless chain. At least one diverting point is provided at which the articles may be removed. A plurality of lateral pushers are movable along the article supporter so as to selectively push the articles off the article supporters at the diverting point. A distributing mechanism initiates the movement of the lateral pushers. At least one diversion detection device is configured to identify a presence of each of the article supporters. A controller is configured to determine a slat number of each of the article supporters and to determine whether the article positioned on the article supporter associated with the detected slat number should be removed at the diverting point, and to actuate the distributing mechanism. The at least one diversion detection device is substantially aligned with the actuator in the direction of travel.

A sortation conveyor includes a conveying surface extending in a longitudinal direction and configured to carry an article along a conveying path. The sortation conveyor also includes a pusher element configured to be selectively diverted transversely relative to the longitudinal direction for engaging and diverting the article away from the conveying path. The sortation conveyor further includes a flexible divert guide including at least one compressible member configured to transition between an uncompressed state and a compressed state.

A sortation conveyor includes a pair of conveying members defining a conveying surface extending in a longitudinal direction. The sortation conveyor also includes an end cap fixedly secured to respective ends of the conveying members. The sortation conveyor further includes a pusher element selectively moveable across the conveying surface. The pusher element is releasably coupled to at least one of the conveying members or the end cap.

A tolerance adjuster and wear device, e.g. spring clip, is provided for automatically adjusting the tolerance or clearance between a pusher shoe surface and an adjacent surface of a linear slat of a positive displacement sorter. The spring clip includes an engagement portion to couple the clip to a pusher shoe and a wear portion to automatically bias or adjust a tolerance between the pusher shoe and a corresponding slat. The engagement portion includes a retainer, in the form of a pair of opposing elastic grips or teach that are insertable through a receiver in a surface of the shoe. The wear portion includes a wear surface and spring element, such as a spring arm or convex dome. The spring element is elastic to provide a consistent and automatic bias against the slat surface. Preferably, the spring clip is extruded from a resilient, wear-resistant self-lubricating polymer.

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.

Systems and methods are provided for conveyor operation and maintenance that employ one or both of a “smart shoe” technology where one or more conveyor shoes incorporate features, such as an RFID tag, and a “missing pin detection” technology where one or more pin components of conveyor shoes incorporate features, such as an RFID tag, allowing selective wireless tracking and identification capability. A conveyor system comprises a shoe management system allowing interactions directly with one or more RFID readers, which can detect, store and/or monitor information associated with “smart shoe” and/or “missing pin detection” RFID tags, where interface between this application and the reader can be implemented via a socket interface. System and method also or optionally provide for unique slat installation and removal.

A parcel processing system (100, 200) includes a merge and align conveyor (102, 202) to transport parcels (108, 208) received at an input end to a discharge end thereof, along a conveying direction (116, 216). The merge and align conveyor (102, 202) includes a link conveyor, wherein the link elements (110, 210) extend longitudinally transverse to the conveying direction (116, 216). A plurality of shoes (112, 212) are provided, each shoe (112, 212) mounted individually on a respective link element (110, 210) and configured to be moved longitudinally along the respective link element (110, 210) while being moved in the conveying direction (116, 216) together with the respective link element (110, 210). The shoes (112, 212) are independently controllable to divert at least a subset of the parcels (108, 208) received at the input end transversely to the conveying direction (116, 216) and stop at a fixed line (122, 222) between opposite edges (130-132, 230-232) of the merge and align conveyor (102, 202). Thereby, a a substantially single file parcel flow exiting the discharge end of the merge and align conveyor (102,202) is obtained along the fixed line (122,222).