A SYSTEM AND METHOD OF HANDLING PIECES OF LUGGAGE

Abstract

A system for handling luggage, such as in an airport. Luggage is provided from a delivery system having a first luggage moving band or rollers to a cart having a second luggage moving band or rollers, where the second luggage moving band does not move when luggage is not received thereby. In this manner, the distance between adjacent pieces of luggage on the second luggage

Claims

1. A system for handling pieces of luggage, the system comprising: a delivery system comprising at least one first luggage moving element for transporting a number of pieces of luggage in a first direction, a cart comprising a second luggage moving element having a predetermined length and being positioned so as to receive pieces of luggage from the first luggage moving element, the cart being configured to move in relation to the delivery system so as to transport received luggage, a controller configured to synchronize the speed of the first and second luggage moving elements to control a distance between adjacent pieces of luggage on the second luggage moving element.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the movement of the second moving element so that the second luggage moving element does not move when the first luggage moving element moves and where no luggage is transferred from the first to the second luggage moving element.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the second luggage moving element to move at a lower speed than a speed with which the first luggage moving element moves.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to brake the second luggage moving element when luggage is transferred from the first luggage moving element to the second luggage moving element.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the delivery system comprises a first detector configured to detect luggage.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the cart comprises a second detector configured to detect presence and/or a position of one or more pieces of luggage on the second luggage moving element.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the first and second luggage moving elements to obtain a distance between adjacent pieces of luggage no more than 10 cm.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the cart is configured to move, relative to a predetermined coordinate system in one direction along a first axis and the delivery system is configured to move in another direction along another axis not parallel to the first axis.

9. A loader/unloader comprising: a base, a first luggage moving element, an actuator configured to move the first luggage moving element relative to the base, a sensor for detecting a relative position between the first luggage moving element and a second luggage moving element, a controller configured to receive an output of the sensor and activate the actuator to move the first luggage moving element toward the second luggage moving element.

10. An assembly of the loader/unloader according to claim 9 and a cart comprising the second luggage moving element, wherein the controller is configured to output controlling information and the cart is configured to receive the controlling information and control the cart to move so as to bring the second luggage moving element toward the first luggage moving element.

11. A method of handling pieces of luggage, the method comprising: a first luggage moving element transporting a number of pieces of luggage in a first direction, a second luggage moving element, provided on or at a cart, receiving the pieces of luggage from the first luggage moving element while a controller synchronizes the speed of the first and second luggage moving elements to control a distance between adjacent pieces of luggage on the second luggage moving element, subsequently, the cart moving in relation to the delivery system so as to transport received luggage.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the controller controls the movement of the second moving element so that the second luggage moving element does not move when the first luggage moving element moves and where no luggage is transferred from the first to the second luggage moving element.

13. A method according to claim 11, wherein the controller controls the second luggage moving element to move at a lower speed than a speed with which the first luggage moving element moves.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the controller brakes the second luggage moving element when luggage is transferred from the first luggage moving element to the second luggage moving element.

15. A method according to claim 11, wherein the synchronizing step comprises a first detector detecting luggage at or on the first luggage moving element.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein the synchronizing step comprises a second detector detecting presence and/or a position of one or more pieces of luggage on the second luggage moving element.

17. A method according to claim 11, wherein the controller controls the first and second luggage moving elements to obtain a distance between adjacent pieces of luggage no more than 10 cm.

18. A method according to claim 11, wherein, prior the transporting step, the cart moves, relative to a predetermined coordinate system in one direction along a first axis and the delivery system moves in another direction along another axis not parallel to the first axis.

19. A method of operating a loader/unloader comprising: a base, a first luggage moving element, and a sensor, the method comprising: the sensor for detecting a relative position between the first luggage moving element and a second luggage moving element and moving the first luggage moving element toward the second luggage moving element.

20. A method according to claim 19, where the second luggage moving element is provided on a cart, the method further comprising the step of the loader/unloader outputting controlling information and the cart receiving the controlling information and the cart moving so as to bring the second luggage moving element toward the first luggage moving element.

Description

[0124] In the following, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawing, wherein:

[0125] FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to the invention used in an airport,

[0126] FIG. 2 illustrates a cart for use in the system of FIG. 1 and

[0127] FIG. 3 illustrates a first and a second luggage moving element handing over luggage.

[0128] In FIG. 1, a system 10 is illustrated for handling luggage in an airport. The system comprises a central storage facility 20 capable of receiving and holding a plurality of pieces of luggage. The facility 20 may be based on any technology such as a revolving belt, a pater noster system, racks or the like holding the luggage in a matrix fashion or the like.

[0129] The facility 20 has a plurality of outlets 22 from to which luggage may be fed and loaded on to carts 30 for transporting the luggage to an airplane 40.

[0130] In the preferred embodiment, the carts 30 are autonomous in the sense that when provided with a destination, they will be able to navigate to the destination without human assistance. In another embodiment, the carts are self-propelled and remotely navigated by a controller 90.

[0131] Different types of aircraft take the luggage in different manners. Smaller aircraft require the luggage provided as individual pieces of luggage whereas larger aircraft are configured to receive containers in which a number of pieces of luggage are provided.

[0132] A controller 90 is provided for controlling the operation of the storage facility 20, the outlets 22 and the carts 30.

[0133] The agility of the system may depend on the time it may take for the luggage to move from the storage facility to the outlet. If this time is too long, the cart may have to wait, or the luggage may have to be ordered for the whole airplane, which could block one or more outlets until all the luggage therein has been picked up by carts. On the other hand, if the distance from the outlet to the airplane is too large, the carts will use a lot of time driving, so that each cart will be able to transport fewer pieces of luggage per hour. Thus, it may be desired to provide multiple storage facilities 20 so that these may be positioned strategically in larger airports, such as closer to the gates or the airplanes. Thus, the delivery time from the storage facility to the outlet may be smaller and the distance from the outlet to the airplane may be smaller.

[0134] Then, a remote storage facility 50 may be provided for receiving the luggage from the check-in counters 28 and forwarding the relevant luggage to the individual storage facility 20. Usually, luggage check-in must be completed so much in advance that there is ample time to transfer the luggage from the remote storage facility to the central storage facility.

[0135] If no remote storage facility is provided, luggage from the check-in counters may be fed directly to the storage facility 20.

[0136] Clearly, all other operations of airports, such as luggage security scanning, may be performed at any path along the path of the luggage, such as at the remote storage facility if provided.

[0137] The controller 90 may receive an instruction that an airplane 40 is ready for receiving luggage and may then select an empty or available outlet, select an empty cart, instruct the empty cart to navigate to the selected outlet and instruct the storage facility 20 to forward a first batch of luggage to the selected outlet. Loading and unloading of carts is generally described in WO2016/107844.

[0138] Clearly, the airplanes should also be unloaded, and the carts may be used for that purpose also. An input 24 may be provided into the storage facility 20 to which luggage unloaded from airplanes may be fed to the storage facility. Such luggage may be destined for this airport and thus fed to an output 26 to a baggage reclaim area of the airport, potentially via the facility 50. Alternatively, the luggage may be in transit to be loaded on to another airplane, whereby the luggage may be fed to and stored in the storage facility 20 or the remote storage facility 50 for later transport to the correct storage facility, outlet, cart and airplane.

[0139] The carts may be fully autonomous in the sense that they are provided with a destination, such as an outlet, inlet, airplane, loading ramp 42, GPS coordinate or other position in the airport, where after the cart may find its own way there. Naturally, corridors, paths, roads, or the like may be defined in the airport along which the carts should or must move. Traffic rules may be defined for maximum velocity, minimum velocity, how to act at intersections (the right of way) and the like. Autonomous carts usually have one or more sensors for determining the position of the cart and/or obstacles in the vicinity of the cart. Such sensors may be based on GPS, Radar, Lidar, Sonar, stereo vision, vision using structured radiation, beacons, markings or signal emitters on/in the ground or the like. The carts may be in communication with each other or the central processor to inform if obstacles are detected, which could also be problematic to other carts, what a particular position of e.g. an airplane or its loading ramp is, if this is not standardized, and the like. Congestion at intersections or busy portions of the airport may be reported or determined so that some carts may decide to take an alternative route to avoid such congested spots. The carts may comprise sensors configured to ensure correct positioning of the cart vis-à-vis an outlet, inlet, airplane or the like to facilitate automatic loading and unloading of the luggage from/to the cart.

[0140] The carts may operate according to a “just in time” principle, where the luggage for a cart is received while the cart is on the way to the output. In that manner, the luggage does not have to wait at the output and thus risk blocking the output, and the cart will not have to wait at the output also potentially blocking the output and reducing the efficiency of the cart.

[0141] Such “just in time” principle may be seen from Applicant's co-pending application filed on 11 Jun. 2020 with application number EP20179529.1.

[0142] As mentioned, different cart types may be used. In FIG. 2, a cart 30 is illustrated which has a rack comprising a number of reception spaces 32, which may each comprise an endless belt 321 so that each space may comprise a plurality of pieces of luggage 36 extending, in the drawing, along an axis perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. An alternative to the belt is rollers, such as driven, rotating rollers.

[0143] When the cart is ready to receive luggage, this luggage is provided to a predetermined one of the spaces 32 by a belt 221 of the output 22, see FIG. 3. The belt 221 and/or 321 may be exchanged by driven rollers. The belt 221 will deliver the luggage to the belt or rollers 321.

[0144] Naturally, the output 22 may comprise a number of belts 221 arranged with the same structure as the spaces 32 of the cart so that parallel transfer of luggage from the belts 221 to the spaces 32 may be obtained. In this manner, a swift loading is obtained. Alternatively, the belt 221 may load each belt 321, if multiple belts are provided, sequentially—or even move between belts 321 to ensure the correct ordering of the pieces of luggage on the belts 321.

[0145] However, as the belt 321 will have a limited length and as it is desired to optimize the amount of luggage handled by the cart, it is desired that the distance between adjacent pieces of luggage 36 is controlled.

[0146] Then, it is desired that the belt 321 only moves when a piece of luggage 36 is received, as the former piece of luggage would be moved too far from the next piece of luggage generating a large gap or distance between the two pieces of luggage.

[0147] For this reason, it is desired to synchronize the velocities of the belts 321 and 221—especially at some points in time. In this context, the velocity of a belt 321 may be vis-à-vis a frame or other portion of the cart 30 and the velocity of the belt 221 may be vis-à-vis a frame or the like of the delivery system or output 22.

[0148] One or more sensors 12 may be provided for determining a position, such as a first portion and/or a last portion of a piece of luggage. The sensors may be of any type, such a simple optical beam to be broken by the piece of luggage, image-based detection or the like. The sensor may be provided for sensing the position (such as front or back portions) of a piece of luggage on the belt 221. In this manner, the belt 221 may be controlled in a manner so that the position of the luggage is known until this piece of luggage engages the belt 321. Then, the movement of the belt 321 may also be controlled so that the new piece of luggage is provided at a predetermined distance to, such as abutting, the former piece of luggage on belt 321.

[0149] Alternatively, or additionally, a sensor 13 may be provided at the belt 321, such as at the inlet end of the belt 321. In this manner, the belt 321 may be allowed to move only if a piece of luggage is sensed. Thus, the belt 321 will move when receiving a piece of luggage and will stop as soon as this piece of luggage has passed the position of the sensor. If a new piece of luggage is subsequently received, the belt 321 will move again. In this manner, the distance between the pieces of luggage on the belt will be controlled.

[0150] It may be desired that when a piece of luggage is transferred from belt 321 to belt 221, the belt 221 moves a fraction slower than the belt 321 so as to close any gap between the piece of luggage transferred and the former piece of luggage on the belt 221. A larger gap may, however, make identification of individual pieces of luggage easier.

[0151] In one situation, the movement of the belt 321 may be generated by the piece of luggage delivered by the belt 221—and thus by the belt 221. When the belt 321 itself is not driven but simply allowed to move freely or only slightly damped, the piece of luggage 36 being received on the belt 321 will be pushed by the belt 221 to confer a force and thus torque from the belt 221 to the belt 321 via the piece of luggage. Once this piece of luggage as disengaged the belt 221, it will move no more, but may be pushed by the next piece of luggage to be received by the belt 321. This next piece of luggage will push the former piece of luggage and will, as a result thereof, make the belt 321 move to make space for the next piece of luggage.

[0152] In general, when the cart 30 moves with the luggage, the belts may be locked or prevented from moving to ensure that the luggage does not fall from the cart.

[0153] It is clear from the above that a large number of manners exist of controlling the relative movements of the belts 321 and 221 to control the spaces between adjacent pieces of luggage.

[0154] As mentioned, one belt 221 may feed each space 32 if multiple spaces are provided. Alternatively, each space 32 may be fed by a separate belt 221 to increase the loading speed.

[0155] When synchronizing the movement of the belts 321 and 221, it is desired that either the same controller controls both belts or a communication is performed by a controller, such as controller 38 controlling the belt 321 and a controller, such as a controller 223 controlling the belt 221. This communication may be performed wirelessly, such as via Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM, radio communication, optically or the like. Clearly, but not preferred, a cabled connection may be provided.

[0156] Such communication may be provided using elements 222/322 or elements positioned on the cart and in relation to the output 22. Usually, this communication is two-way in the sense that the cart may transfer information to the output and the output may transfer information to the cart.

[0157] It is preferred that the belt 321 is the controlling factor when it is the receiving entity. Thus, if the belt 321 is full, no more luggage should be received. Also, it may be desired to control the velocity and/or movement of the belt 221 in relation to that of the belt 321, when the belt 321 receives luggage.

[0158] In order to ensure safe loading of the luggage 36 from the belt 221 to the belt 321, the relative positioning of the belt 321 vis-à-vis the belt 221 may be controlled.

[0159] The cart 30 preferably is self-propelled and even more preferred autonomous, so that it may be parked in the vicinity of the output 22. The cart 30 may be provided with means for determining a desired position vis-à-vis the output 22 and/or belt 221, such as using a vision system or a homing system or targeting system by which the cart 30 may determine the position of the belt 221 or the output 22 and move and park in a desired position in relation thereto. A vision system may be configured to recognize the belt 221 or an element, such as a visible and easily recognizable target, such as a number of concentric circles. Alternatively, a homing system may comprise one or more beams of electromagnetic radiation for the cart to navigate in relation to. Such beams may be very narrow in width so that the final position of the cart is well defined, preferably within ±10 cm, such as within ±5 cm, such as within ±2 cm, such as within ±1 cm.

[0160] Multiple manners of positioning may be provided, such as a longer ranging, more coarse positioning or navigating technology and another, short range and more precise technology. A short range technology may be the emission of a magnetic field by one of the belt/output and the cart, such as around the belt 321, so that a sensor of the other of the belt/output and the cart may output a signal used for moving the cart or belt to obtain a final, desired position.

[0161] In FIG. 3, two portions of a homing or targeting system is seen, where the portion 222 is provided on the belt 221 or output 22 and the portion 322 is provided on the belt 321 or the cart 30.

[0162] This homing or targeting system may be defined between the output 22, such as the belt 221 and the belt 321, so that it is possible to position the belt 221 correctly in relation to the belt 321. Portions 322 may be provided at each belt 321 so as to be able to position the belt 221 correctly in relation to each belt 321. Alternatively, the system may be defined between the cart and the output, such as if the output has multiple belts, which are then correctly positioned vis-à-vis the belts of the cart.

[0163] The homing or positioning system used for positioning the cart vis-à-vis the output 22 may be different from any system used by the cart when navigating from the output 22 to the airplane, as this other navigation may require less precision.

[0164] To obtain the desired relative position, one or both of the output and the cart may be movable in relation to the other. The output or the belt 221 may be movable both vertically and horizontally, in relation to a base 224 and via an actuator 225, both toward the cart and in a direction perpendicular to the belts 321, so that as long as the cart is parked in the vicinity, the last position adaptation may be taken care of by the belt 221. Belt loaders which are able to handle such relative movement or adaptation may be seen in e.g. EP3569526, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0165] The belt 221 thus may be configured to be movable to be positioned correctly or sufficiently in relation to the belt 321. Alternatively, the cart may be able to perform the correct positioning. Further alternatively, both the cart and the belt 221 may be able to reposition, such as when the cart is able to move in the horizontal direction and the belt 221 in the vertical direction so that a coordinated movement is performed to arrive at the desired relative position.

[0166] Even though the sensor, such as a vision camera or the like, is positioned on one of the cart and the belt 221 or output 22, a communication may be performed between the cart and the controller controlling the belt so as to arrive at the desired relative position.

[0167] Having received the luggage, the cart will be moved to the airplane 40, such as to an unloading position close to the loading ramp 42. In this manner, a relative positioning may again be desired, if the ramp 42 comprises one or more belts for receiving the luggage. In this manner, the reverse may take place, where the luggage is delivered by the belt 321 to the belt of the ramp.

[0168] The relative positioning of the cart or belt(s) vis-à-vis the ramp 42 and one or more belts thereof may be as described above.

[0169] Now the ramp 42 may call for luggage in the sense that when the ramp is able to receive luggage, it may operate its belt while the cart belt 321 moves to deliver luggage to the ramp belt. In this situation, the ramp belt is the receiving element and may thus control the belt 321 to only deliver luggage when the ramp has room for it.

[0170] Naturally, the process may be reversed so that the cart actually receives the luggage from the ramp of an aircraft and delivers it to an input 24 for delivery to the system 20 and then to the passengers or a connecting flight.

[0171] Once the cart is empty, it may return to an outlet 22 to receive a new group of luggage—or it may move to a ramp of another aircraft to receive luggage for the input 24.

[0172] With the synchronization, the space between the pieces of luggage may be controlled, so that the amount of luggage on the cart may be optimized.

[0173] Actually, luggage from the output may be fed to a cart via another cart. Luggage for two carts may be provided to an output and the luggage for one belt 321 may be fed to the first belt 321 of the first cart and further to the belt of the other cart, when the other cart is parked so that the belts/rollers thereof are aligned. Thus, the belt 321 of one cart may be the loading belt and that of the next cart may be the receiving belt. The belt of the first cart then is controlled together with that of the last cart. The belt of the first cart may then move without that of the last cart moving if no luggage is transferred.

[0174] Now, the output may load luggage for two belts to the same space 32. This may be advantageous if the output has fewer belts which then need repositioning from feeding luggage to one space and until being able to feed luggage to another space 32.

[0175] Now, the carts may have sensors for also positioning relative to other carts. The same sensor types may be used, but now a cart may be configured to position itself and its belt(s) vis-à-vis another cart.

[0176] This optimization may be increased. The order of the luggage on the belt 221 may be controlled so that the luggage fed on to the belt 321 may be optimized to the length of the belt 321. Thus, if the length of the individual pieces of luggage is known, these may be grouped into individual groups for each belt 321 so that as much as possible of the belt length is utilized. If short pieces of luggage are provided, these may be used for filling the belts or may be provided on a belt of their own, which belt may then hold more pieces of luggage than belts holding larger pieces of luggage.

[0177] The ordering may be provided even at the overall belt 20, if provided, so that the luggage is fed to the belt 221 in the desired order. Alternatively, if a single belt 221 is used, the belt 221 may feed individual pieces of luggage to different belts 221 in a predetermined order so as to achieve as much optimization as possible.

[0178] Another advantage may be seen if the weight of the individual pieces of luggage is known. In this situation, the cart may be more balanced by moving the belts slightly in one or the other direction, whereby the centre of weight of the luggage on that belt may be shifted in relation to the luggage on the other belts and the cart. In that manner, the belts may be moved so as to centre the weight thereof so that the cart is able to move also around corners at higher speeds without risking tipping over. Naturally, the amount to which a belt may move will depend on where the luggage is positioned on that belt. These positions, however, may be determined from the movement of the belt during receipt of the luggage.

[0179] Yet another advantage may be seen when the size, weight, type, or destination, for example, of the luggage is known. In that situation, the luggage may be fed on to the cart or to a particular belt according to this parameter. Heavy luggage may be desired provided at lower belts, larger pieces of luggage may be desired unloaded first in order for these to be stacked at lower positions than smaller pieces of luggage in the aircraft, for example. Knowing the parameters of the individual pieces of luggage as well as their position on the belts allows a certain selection of which luggage with which parameters to unload first.

[0180] Naturally, this may be taken into account even at loading of the cart so that the luggage is positioned so that it may be unloaded in the desired order.

[0181] Naturally, the parameters of the luggage may be transferred from the output 22 to the cart 30 and further to the ramp 42 and/or airplane 40. In this manner, the ID of the passenger, the priority of the luggage, the destination, the colour, size, weight, shape, or the like of the luggage may be stored and transferred. Such parameters may be determined visually or by suitable sensors, such as a scale, an RFID or bar code reader if the information is embedded in a RFID tag or bar code (or any other technology such as NFC) of the luggage.

[0182] Then, it may be ascertained that all luggage is on the plane, has been unloaded, has been received, has been delivered or the like. It may be ascertained that no luggage is left on the plane, has fallen of a cart or has not been received from the output 22.

[0183] In fact, even from the shape or colour of the luggage, it may be ascertained that all luggage is on board, as the order in which the luggage is transported in the system 20 and via the belt 221 may be determined. Then, it will be possible to see if a piece of luggage has gone missing as that size would be missing in the sequence.