Abstract
A mobile, in particular autonomous, sorting unit, for transporting cargo to be transported in a logistics area, a production area or the like, having a cargo receiving unit which has a plurality of cargo carriers for receiving a plurality of cargo items, the cargo receiving unit being configured for autonomous discharging of the cargo items in any desired order by moving the cargo carriers to be unloaded to a discharging position. The invention further relates to a respective method for delivering cargo items to at least two different stations in a logistics area, a production area or the like with an autonomous mobile sorting unit.
Claims
1-16. (canceled)
17. A mobile, in particular autonomous, sorting unit, for transporting cargo to be transported in a logistics area, a production area or the like, comprising a cargo receiving unit which has a plurality of cargo carriers for receiving a plurality of cargo items, the cargo receiving unit being configured for autonomous discharging of the cargo items in any desired order by moving the cargo carriers to be unloaded to a discharging position, wherein the cargo carriers are moved to the discharging position by a rotary conveyor.
18. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein the cargo receiving unit is configured to discharge the cargo items by gravitational force.
19. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein the cargo carriers each comprise means for unloading cargo items on their own, in particular in a horizontal unloading direction.
20. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein the cargo receiving unit is configured for receiving the cargo items by moving the cargo carriers to be loaded to a receiving position.
21. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein the rotary conveyor has a vertical rotation plane.
22. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein each cargo carrier is configured to receive one cargo item.
23. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 17, wherein the cargo carriers are tiltable trays, the trays being tiltable between a loading and/or carrying state and a discharging state.
24. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 23, the trays being horizontal in the loading and/or carrying state, and the trays being tilted out of the horizontal plane in their discharging state.
25. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 23, wherein each tray is individually tiltable.
26. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 23, wherein the tiltable trays are each fixed in the rotary conveyor via a shaft arranged transverse to the conveying direction, the trays being tiltable relative to the shaft, wherein at least one tray is mounted on each shaft.
27. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 26, wherein the rotary conveyor comprises two parallel rotary conveying means spaced apart from each other, between which the shafts are mounted.
28. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 26, wherein a plurality of shafts is mounted spaced apart from each other in essentially equal distances over the circumference of the rotary conveyor.
29. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 21, wherein the rotary conveyor is held by a mounting frame which is mounted on or suspended from the mobile sorting unit, wherein the mounting frame comprises at least two vertical struts between which the rotary conveyor is being held.
30. The mobile sorting unit according to claim 21, wherein the rotary conveyor is driven by at least one drive shaft mounted in the mounting frame.
31. A method for delivering cargo items to at least two different stations in a logistics area, a production area or the like with a mobile sorting unit, comprising: loading a plurality of cargo carriers of the mobile sorting unit according to claim 17 with a plurality of cargo items in a random or defined order, in particular from a horizontal loading direction; respectively moving the cargo carriers to be unloaded to a discharging position on the mobile sorting unit in order to realize an optimized, in particular a shortest, delivery route of the mobile sorting unit in the logistics area, the production area or the like; and approaching at least two different cargo item delivery stations with the mobile sorting unit for unloading cargo items assigned to the respective stations.
32. The method according to claim 31, wherein unloading of the cargo items is realized by gravitational force.
Description
DRAWINGS
[0038] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
[0039] Further characteristics, advantages and features of the invention are indicated in the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention by means of the accompanying drawings which show:
[0040] FIG. 1 a perspective view of a first embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0041] FIG. 2 a side view of a second embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0042] FIG. 3 a perspective view of the second embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0043] FIG. 4 a front view of the second embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0044] FIG. 5 a perspective view of a third embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0045] FIG. 6 a front view of a fourth embodiment of the mobile sorting unit;
[0046] FIG. 7 a perspective view of a parcel distribution center using mobile sorting units;
[0047] FIG. 8 a perspective view of a further embodiment of the mobile sorting unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0048] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0049] A first embodiment of the mobile sorting unit 1 is shown in FIG. 1. The platform of the unit is realized by an AGV 13 being able to autonomously move the mobile sorting unit 1 between a plurality of load, discharge and cargo item detection stations in a working area. A cargo receiving unit 2 is mounted on the mobile sorting unit 1, comprising a mounting frame 10 supported on the AGV 13, comprising two vertical struts 11 between which a rotary conveyor 6 is held. The rotary conveyor 6 has a horizontal rotation axis and a vertical rotation plane. It comprises two opposite rotary conveying means 9 realized as circular discs. A plurality of cargo carriers 3 is perpendicularly mounted between the discs, the cargo carriers 3 each comprising a shaft 8 rotatably mounted between the discs and two individually tiltable trays 7 side by side rotatably mounted on the shaft 8. The cargo carriers 3 can be rotated to any position of the cargo receiving unit 2. As is shown are two cargo items 4 placed on two of the trays. The trays 7 of the mobile sorting unit 1 are accessible or reachable to load cargo items 4 on it when the respective cargo carriers 3 are positioned at a top position or are positioned at a lateral position of the mobile sorting unit 1. As shown in the figure, the lateral positions can be used for discharging the cargo items. For unloading, the corresponding trays 7 are first moved into a lateral discharging position 5. Then, by titling the tray to be unloaded towards the outside of the mobile sorting unit 1, the cargo item on the tray 7 is unloaded by sliding or falling off the tray 7. The tray 7 can be tilted by about 45 degrees for side discharge of the cargo. Alternatively, the tray can be tilted by about 90 degrees to discharge the load essentially vertically downwards. It is either possible to tilt only one of the trays 7 in the discharging position 5 or to tilt both of the trays 7. When the trays 7 are rotated by the rotary conveyor 6, their surface always remains facing upwards. In the uppermost position of the rotary conveyor 6, the trays 7 of two adjacent cargo carriers 3 form a flat surface in the embodiment shown. This makes it possible to load trays 7 of the side of the mobile sorting unit 1 facing a loading device as well as the side of the mobile sorting unit 1 facing away from the loading device in the same rotary conveyor 1 position.
[0050] FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show another embodiment of the invention. The main difference is that the mobile sorting unit 1 of the embodiment shown has several lateral discharging positions 5 on each side of the mobile sorting unit 1 due to a greater construction height of the cargo receiving unit 2 and that the rotary conveyor 6 is realized by two opposite belt conveyors. The opposite conveyors 6 each have two deflection discs or pulleys 21 over which the respective belt 14 is guided. The two opposite pulleys 21 each are mounted on common shafts 12, 18 in the mounting frame 10, with one of the shafts 12 serving as drive shaft. The cargo carriers 3 each have shafts 8, by means of which the cargo carriers 3 are supported between the opposite rotary conveyors 6. The opposite ends of the shafts 8 are rotatably mounted in the opposite belts 14. The mounting frame 10 has two vertical supports 11, which are supported by a horizontal cross strut 15. The number of horizontal struts 15 is adaptable, alternatively other structures such as knee bracings etc. are possible. The driverless transport vehicle respectively the AGV 13 has wheels 20 by which it moves. To hold the trays 3 in an upright position, so that the surface of the trays 7 always faces upwards, except for the tilting operations for discharging, a holding belt 19 is arranged parallel to and at the outside of one of the rotary conveyors 6 and slightly offset vertically below or alternatively above to it. The holding belt is 19 connected to the adjacent belt 14 in such a way that approximately Z-shaped coupling rods17 connected to the shafts 8 are each rotatably anchored in the holding belt 19. As the rotary conveyor 6 rotates, the vertical offset to the holding belt 19 remains constant, so that the coupling rods 17 always remain in the same vertical orientation and thus keep the shafts 8 of the cargo carriers 3 in the same orientation. The trays 7 rotatably mounted on the shafts 8 can each be activated via solenoid switches or individual motors so that individual tilting processes can be initiated. The trays 7 can for example be mounted on the shafts 8 via tilt bushings 16.
[0051] FIG. 4 shows the mobile sorting unit 1 during a discharging process. It can be seen that the discharging process takes place simultaneously on two levels of the cargo receiving unit 2, as shown on a first height h1 and a second height h2 thereby representing two different discharging positions 5. It is conceivable that the different cargo carriers 3 are approached to two vertically offset cargo pick-up units, so that the cargo can be fed simultaneously to different target destinations. In the embodiment shown, unloading is thus possible at up to 6 unloading positions simultaneously. As can be seen, the discharging of the cargo items 4 is achieved simply by tilting the trays 7 so that the cargo items simply fall out of the mobile sorting unit 1 due to their gravitational force F.sub.G.
[0052] The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is essentially the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, with the difference that in the embodiment shown the vertical struts 11 are higher so that the cargo receiving unit 2 can operate at a higher level. The height of the vertical struts 11 is simple and can be adjusted to suit individual applications.
[0053] A further embodiment is shown in FIG. 6. This is also based on the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. The main difference lies in the design of the trays 7, which have a different unloading mechanism. At the same time, the discharging position 5 in the shown embodiment is not at the top or side of the rotary conveyor 6, but at its bottom. The unloading mechanism provides that the cargo items 4 fall out of the tray 7 towards the bottom of the tray 7. For this purpose, the tray 7 has two centrally opening flaps which are hinged to the side of the load carrier 3 and fold away downwards so that the cargo unit 4 can fall out downwards. For this purpose, the mobile sorting unit 1 or the AGV 13 has an open base so that the load can fall into a receiving device underneath the AGV 13, for example. The advantage of this embodiment is the low height at which the cargo items 4 fall, so that even sensitive loads can be transported.
[0054] FIG. 7 shows an example of a possible application site for the mobile sorting unit 1 according to the invention. In a logistics or production area 22, several mobile sorting units 1 are used for transport between different stations 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. This means that no permanently installed conveyor systems are necessary. Station 23 is an automatic loading device, where the cargo items 4 to be transported arrive and which arranges these cargo items in such a way that they are sent to different belt conveyors, where the mobile sorting units 1 can be parked in such a way that the packages 4 conveyed by the belt conveyors can be loaded onto the currently uppermost cargo carriers 3. The rotary conveyor 6 of the respective mobile sorting unit 1 can continue to rotate the positions of the cargo carriers 3 until all trays 7 of the mobile sorting unit 1 are filled. Station 24 is a manual loading station, which has essentially the same function as the previously mentioned station 23, but the packages 4 are manually placed by workers on the respective belt conveyors. After loading the mobile sorting units 1, they pass through a cargo item identification station 25, where the barcodes or the like on the individual cargo items are scanned and the respective allocation of the individual cargo items 4 to the respective trays 7 on which the cargo items 4 are placed is determined. After receiving this information, a control unit of the mobile sorting unit 1 is operated such that the mobile sorting unit 1 follows an optimized route for the fastest possible delivery of all cargo items 4 and unloads the cargo items to be delivered at each approached station.
[0055] The mobile sorting units 1 then drive to one or more stations 26, 27 to deliver the individual cargo items 4 and then return to loading stations 23 or 24. Station 26, for example, is an unloading station with a receiving opening in the floor. Accordingly, a lateral or bottom discharging position 5 of the mobile sorting unit 1 is used for this opening. Station 27, on the other hand, has inclined chutes, over which the unloaded cargo items slide into assigned receptacles. At these stations, therefore, unloading of the cargo items 4 via a lateral discharging position or via the top position of the rotary conveyor 6 is possible.
[0056] FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the mobile sorting unit 1 which comprises instead of tiltable trays 7 or at least in addition to it crossbelts 28 on each cargo carrier 3. The crossbelts 28 are configured to discharge cargo items 4 without tilting the carrier out of its horizontal plane. The crossbelts 28 are arranged such that they can discharge items parallel to the rotation plane of the rotary conveyor 6. This is especially helpful for unloading onto horizontally running conveyor belts. The advantage of this embodiment is that unloading can take place at the same height as the delivery surface, which means that the space required is comparatively small. As can be seen the cargo carriers 3 are configured to each carry one item 3 or alternatively carry one item 3 together with a neighboring cargo carrier 3. For this case, the crossbelts 28 of the neighboring cargo carriers can be controlled such that they simultaneously perform the same movement.
[0057] The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in the claims and the accompanying drawings may, both separately or in any combination, be material for realizing the invention in diverse forms thereof.
[0058] The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
