METALLIC PALLET WITH AN RFID TAG FOR TRANSPORTING GAS CYLINDERS, ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD THEREFOR

Abstract

A gas cylinder pallet, including a base, an attachment frame placed on the base, two receptacles arranged below the base and configured to interface with a respective fork tine of a transport device, and an RFD tag arranged below the base between the receptacles. Wherein the gas cylinder pallet is at least 90% formed from metal.

Claims

1.-9. (canceled)

10. A gas cylinder pallet, comprising: a base, an attachment frame placed on the base, two receptacles arranged below the base and configured to interface with a respective fork tine of a transport device, and an RFID tag arranged below the base between the receptacles, wherein the gas cylinder pallet is at least 90% formed from metal.

11. The gas cylinder pallet according to claim 10, wherein the RFID tag is arranged in a Faraday cage into which the fork tines can be inserted via the receptacles.

12. The gas cylinder pallet according to claim 10, wherein the RFID tag is arranged at least 30 cm distant from each lateral edge of the gas cylinder pallet.

13. An arrangement comprising a gas cylinder pallet according to claim 10, further comprising a transport device having two fork tines, wherein at least one of the fork tines has an RFID antenna, and wherein the RFID tag of the gas cylinder pallet and the RFID antenna of the transport device are designed, by interaction with one another, to identify the gas cylinder pallet.

14. The arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the RFID antenna is arranged in a groove of the fork tine.

15. The arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the RFID antenna is arranged in one third of the fork tine that adjoins a tip of the fork tine.

16. The arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the RFID antenna has an extent along the fork tine in the range from 30 to 80 cm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the figures. The figures show a particularly preferred exemplary embodiment; however, the invention is not limited thereto. The figures and the size relationships presented therein are only schematic. In the figures:

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a first embodiment of an arrangement according to the invention,

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a side view of the arrangement from FIG. 1 with gas cylinders,

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a second embodiment of an arrangement according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0038] FIGS. 1 and 2 show an arrangement 11 comprising a gas cylinder pallet 1 and an (only hinted-at) forklift as a transport device 8. The gas cylinder pallet 1 comprises a base 2 and an attachment frame 3 for gas cylinders 4 that (as is evident in FIG. 2) is placed on the base 2. Furthermore, the gas cylinder pallet 1 comprises two receptacles 5 arranged below the base 2 and intended for a respective fork tine 6 of the transport device 8. The transport device 8 has two such fork tines 6 which together form a forklift fork 7. The receptacles 5 are highlighted as broken lines in FIG. 1. The broken lines serve merely for illustration, FIG. 1 uses arrows to indicate that the fork tines 6 of the transport device 8 can be inserted from left to right into the receptacles 5. Alternatively, the transport device 8 could also load the gas cylinder pallet 1 from the side shown at the top or bottom in FIG. 1. For that case too, the gas cylinder pallet 1 that is shown has two receptacles; however, for the sake of clarity, they are not highlighted separately.

[0039] Furthermore, the gas cylinder pallet 1 has an RFID tag 9 arranged below the base 2 between the receptacles 5. One of the fork tines 6 of the transport device 8 has an RFID antenna 12. The RFID tag 9 of the gas cylinder pallet 1 and the RFID antenna 12 of the transport device 8 are designed, by interaction with one another, to identify the gas cylinder pallet 1. If the gas cylinder pallet 1 is loaded onto the forklift fork 7, the RFID antenna 12 is moved, within range, past the RFID tag 9. As a result, the gas cylinder pallet 1 can be identified upon loading.

[0040] The gas cylinder pallet 1 is at least 90% formed from metal. As a result, part of the material of the gas cylinder pallet 1 forms a Faraday cage within which the RFID tag 9 is arranged. In this respect, the RFID tag 9 is shielded by the material of the gas cylinder pallet 1. This allows the influence of interfering signals to be reduced. The fork tines 6 having the RFID antenna 12 can be inserted into the Faraday cage via the receptacles 5. As a result, an interaction between the RFID tag 9 and the RFID antenna 12 is possible in spite of shielding.

[0041] The RFID tag 9 is arranged at least 30 cm distant from each lateral edge 10 of the gas cylinder pallet 1. The lateral edges 10 of the gas cylinder pallet 1 are the edges of the gas cylinder pallet 1 when considered in the view shown in FIG. 1. In the embodiment that is shown, the RFID tag 9 is in each case arranged in the centre of two mutually opposite lateral edges 10.

[0042] The RFID antenna 12 is arranged in a groove 13 of the fork tine 6. The RFID antenna 12 has an extent L along the fork tine 6 (that is to say in the left-to-right direction in FIG. 1) in the range from 30 to 80 cm. The RFID antenna 12 is situated in the vicinity of a tip 14 of the fork tine 6. Thus, the RFID antenna 12 is arranged in one third of the fork tine 6 that adjoins the tip 14. Consequently, the RFID antenna 12 can also be used to identify gas cylinder pallets 1 if a plurality of gas cylinder pallets 1 are loaded in succession by the transport device 8 and transported simultaneously.

[0043] FIG. 3 shows an arrangement 11 which, by contrast with FIGS. 1 and 2, has two gas cylinder pallets 1 which are loaded in succession onto the fork tines 6 and transported simultaneously.

[0044] The invention allows metallic gas cylinder pallets 1 to be identified in an automated manner by means of RFID. By arranging the RFID tag 9 between the receptacles 5 for the fork tines 6 of a transport device 8, such as a forklift 8, the RFID tag 9 is shielded from the surroundings and can nevertheless interact with an RFID antenna 12 in a fork tine 6. This applies in particular even when a plurality of gas cylinder pallets 1 are loaded together onto the forklift fork 7. Moreover, the RFID tag 9 and the RFID antenna 12 are arranged so as to be protected from weather influences.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0045] 1 Gas cylinder pallet [0046] 2 Base [0047] 3 Attachment frame [0048] 4 Gas cylinder [0049] 5 Receptacle [0050] 6 Fork tine [0051] 7 Forklift fork [0052] 8 Transport device [0053] 9 RFID tag [0054] 10 Lateral edge [0055] 11 Arrangement [0056] 12 RFID antenna [0057] 13 Groove [0058] 14 Tip [0059] L Extent

[0060] It will be understood that many additional changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangement of parts, which have been herein described in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments in the examples given above.