CONVEYOR SYSTEM, MOTOR ROLLER CONTROLLER AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A CONVEYOR SYSTEM

Abstract

Conveyor system, for instance for conveying goods, packages and the like including at least two wired motor-roller controllers, each wired motor-roller controller having at least one motor-roller control port and at least one wired signal bus port, at least two wireless motor-roller controllers, each wireless motor-roller controller having at least one motor-roller control port and a wireless port, and the two wired motor-roller controllers being connected in series along the signal bus via the signal bus port, characterized in that at each wired motor-roller controller senses a signal strength of wireless signals of the wireless motor-roller controllers, and the wired motor-roller controllers exchange information about the sensed signal strengths.

Claims

1. A conveyor system for conveying products, for instance goods, packages and the like, comprising: a first motor roller within a first conveyor zone and at least one first motor-roller controller that controls the first motor roller within the first conveyor zone, a second motor roller within a second conveyor zone and at least one second motor-roller controller that controls the second motor roller within the second conveyor zone, and a merger/diverter arranged for merging products into a line-up of the products along the conveyor zones and/or for sorting out products from the line-up of the products and spatially arranged between the first and the second conveyor zones and at least one merger/diverter controller that controls the merger/diverter, wherein the first and second motor roller controllers each have a wired I/O port and are connected via the wired I/O port with a central controller, the first and second motor roller controllers and the merger/diverter controller each have a wireless communication port and at least the first and second motor roller controllers are wirelessly connected to each other and the merger/diverted controller via the wireless communication port to control a merge/divert operation.

2. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the first motor roller controller and the second motor roller controller are arranged downstream of a main conveying direction.

3. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the merger/diverter controller comprises a wired I/O port and is connected via the wired I/O port with the central controller.

4. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein at least a third motor roller controller controls a third motor roller of a third conveyor zone, wherein the third conveyor zone is spatially arranged at the merger diverter.

5. The conveyor system of claim 4, wherein at least a fourth motor roller controller controls a fourth motor roller of a fourth conveyor zone, wherein the fourth conveyor zone is spatially arranged at the merger diverter.

6. The conveyor system of claim 5, wherein the third and/or fourth motor roller controllers control motor rollers of respective conveyor zones that have a conveying direction that differs from the main conveying direction.

7. The conveyor system of claim 5, wherein the third and/or fourth motor roller controllers control motor rollers of respective conveyor zones such that the conveying directions of the conveyor zones are upstream or downstream of the merger/diverter.

8. The conveyor system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the motor roller controllers and the merger/diverter controller are arranged to wirelessly exchange control signals for a merge/divert operation within the merger/diverter, in particular the first motor roller controller, the second motor roller controller, the merger/diverter controller and at least the third motor roller controller are arranged to wirelessly exchange control signals for a merge/divert operation within the merger/diverter.

9. The conveyor system of claim 4, wherein the first motor roller controller and the second motor roller controller are connected to the central controller via separated wired serial signal bus connections.

10. The conveyor system of claim 9, wherein the merger/diverter controller is connected to the central controller via a wired serial signal bus connection different from the wired serial signal bus connection of the first motor roller controller and/or the second motor roller controller.

11. The conveyor system of claim 9, wherein the first motor roller controller, the second motor roller controller, the merger/diverter controller and at least the third motor roller controller are arranged to exchange control signals for a merge/divert operation within the merger/diverter via their respective wired serial bus connections.

12. The conveyor system of claim 9, wherein each motor-roller controller is connected via a motor-roller control port to at least one motor-roller along the conveyor and that the serial topology of the wired motor-roller controllers along the wired signal bus and the serial topology of the motor-rollers along the conveyor correspond to each other.

13. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the motor roller controllers and/or the merger/diverter controller is connected via the I/O port and a wired serial signal bus to the central controller.

14. The conveyor system of claim 1 wherein wherein each wireless motor-roller controller is connected via the motor-roller control port to at least one motor-roller along the conveyor.

15. A method for controlling a merger/diverter within a conveyor system of claim 1, comprising: controlling the first motor roller of the first conveyor zone with the first motor-roller controller, controlling the second motor roller of the second conveyor zone with the second motor-roller controller, controlling the merger/diverter spatially arranged at the first and the second conveyor zones with the merger/diverter controller, wherein a merger/diverter operation, involving at least the first motor roller, the second motor roller and the merger/diverter, is controlled using both a wired serial connection of at least the first and second motor roller controllers with a central controller and a wireless connection of at least the first and second motor roller controllers with the merger/diverter controller.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] These and other aspects of the subject matter will be explained in more detail with reference to the following figure. The figures show:

[0057] FIG. 1a is a motor-roller-controller according to an embodiment;

[0058] FIG. 1b is a motor-roller-controller according to an embodiment;

[0059] FIG. 2 is a conventional conveyor; and

[0060] FIG. 3 is a conveyor system according to embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] FIG. 1 shows a conventional wired motor roller controller 2 for motor rollers. The controller 2 has a power inlet 4. The power inlet 4 preferably is a DC-power inlet 4, in particular 12V or 24V power inlet. Power inlet 4 receives the electric power for operating the controller 2. The Power inlet 4 may also receive the electric power for operation a motor roller.

[0062] A motor roller can be connected to a motor roller port 6. Motor roller port 6 has at least two, preferably four connectors for connecting the motor roller. Via the motor roller port 6 the motor-roller may at least be supplied with electrical energy. In addition, the motor-roller may be controlled by exchanging control signals and/or status information signals via the motor roller port 6. Control of motor rollers as such is well known and will not be described in more detail.

[0063] Eventually, controller 2 has a wired I/O-port 8a. I/O-port 8a can be a communication port for wired communication, for instance according to an industry standard, in particular as mentioned above. Moreover, I/O-port 8a can support any proprietary protocol. Via port 8a control signals and/or status information can be exchanged between the controller 2 and a central control center.

[0064] The I/O port is connected to a central controller (not shown) via a wired serial bus 10. The wired serial bus can be arranged according to any known industry standard, for instance as explained above. The wired serial bus 10 can be at least two wired, preferably at least four wired bus. The wired serial bus 10 can connect at least two consecutive controllers 2 serially. The wired serial bus 10 can be terminated at a controller 2. The wired serial bus 10 can connect the least two consecutive controllers 2 with a central controller. The wired serial bus 10 can be terminated at the central controller.

[0065] The controller 2 further has a central processor 26 which is connected to the power inlet 4, the motor roller port 6 and the I/O-port 8a. The central processor 26 can be programmed. The programming may be understood as setting parameters for the motor roller. According to the programming the motor roller is instructed via motor roller port 6 to at least rotate in a certain direction at a certain speed. Any other parameters as described above can be parameterized and programmed.

[0066] It is possible to set the parameters of controller 2 and read out status information from controller 2 via port 8a. In addition, controller 2 may have a memory 30.

[0067] During operation, central processor 26 outputs control signals for a motor roller via motor roller port 6. The signals output, the amperage as well as the voltage of the output signals and the like depend on configuration settings (parameters) of controller 2. Moreover, during operation, central processor 26 reads out status information from the motor roller via motor roller port 6.

[0068] A controller 3 for a merger/diverter may be set up similarly to the controller 2 and the description of the controller 2 may apply for a controller 3 for a merger/diverter. Instead of the motor-roller port 6, the merger/diverter controller 3 may have a transporter port 6a, via which control signals for a transport means on the merger/diverter may be controlled. The control of a merger/diverter is known in the art.

[0069] In order to exchange wireless signals via an air interface the controller 3 may also comprise a wireless unit 28b. The wireless unit 28b may be arranged to exchange signals with wireless unit 28a of other controllers 2.

[0070] A conventional conveyor as illustrated in FIG. 2 may comprise motor rollers 14 and rollers 16. A conveyor line 12 may have two or more conveyor zones 12a. Within each conveyor zone 12a, one motor roller 14 is mechanically coupled with at least one, preferably between two to seven rollers 16, in particular by V-belts or poly-V-belts or the like. Other mechanical couplings are also possible.

[0071] A motor roller 14 is rotatable arranged on a rack 18 and comprises a motor within a hollow tube. The motor within the hollow tube is connected to the controller 2 via its motor roller port 6.

[0072] For each of these zones 12a, a separate controller 2 is provided controlling the respective motor-roller 14. The controllers 2 are connected to power and a control bus via their power inlets 4 and I/O-ports 8.

[0073] The controllers 2 along the respective zones 12a are connected to each other and a central controller 30 via the serial bus 10. Control signals are exchanged between the controllers 2 and the central controller 30 using the serial bus 10.

[0074] A conveyor sys 12 according to embodiments with a plurality of conveyor zones 12a-d and a merger/diverter 14 is illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0075] FIG. 3 illustrates a conveying system, where a first conveying zone 12a with a first controller 2a is arranged upstream of a merger/diverter 14. A second conveying zone 12b with a second controller 2b is arranged downstream merger/diverter 14.

[0076] Diverting from this main conveying direction along conveying zone 12a, merger/diverter 14, conveying zone 12b, there are provided third and fourth conveying zones 12c, 12d with their respective controllers 2c, 2d. Conveying zones 12c, 12d are arranged for feeding products onto merger/diverter 14 or transporting products away from merger/diverter 14. The operation of conveying zones 12c, d in terms of a merge/divert operation using merger/diverter 14 is well known in the art and will not been described in detail.

[0077] As can be seen in FIG. 3, a first serial bus 10a connects controller 2a and any upstream controllers 2. Separate therefrom, a second serial bus 10b connects controller 2b with downstream controllers. Thus, there is a first serial bus 10a upstream of merger/diverter 14 and a second serial bus 10b downstream of merger/diverter 14. The same may apply for the conveying zones 12c, d. For conveying zone 12c, there is a third serial bus 10c, connecting controller 2c and within conveying zone 12d there is a fourth serial bus 10d connecting controller 2d. Serial busses 10a-d are all terminated at a central controller 30. As can be seen in FIG. 3 the serial busses 10a-d terminate at the respective controllers 2a-d spatially neighboring merger/diverter 14. It should be noted that it is not necessary that all serial busses 10a-d are separated from each other. However, the gist of the invention lies in that at least two of the serial busses 10a-d are separate from each other.

[0078] Besides serial busses 10a-d a further serial bus 10e terminates at central controller 30 a moreover, at a controller 3. Controller 3 is a merger/diverter controller 3 as explained above. Merger/diverter controller 3 may control merger/diverter 14 and the respective transport operation thereon to merge/divert products onto the conveyor as explained above.

[0079] Each of the controllers 2a-d, 3 may have a wireless unit 28a, 28b. Using wireless unit 28a, b, the controllers 2a-d, 3 may exchange control signals in order to enable a merge/divert operation on merger/diverter 14. These wireless signals may be signals for orchestrating controllers 2a-d, 3 during the merge/divert operation in order not to cause congestions or errors during the merge/divert operation. The wireless signals may be enhanced using also wired signals via the wired serial busses 10a-e and central controller 30.

[0080] All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

[0081] The use of the terms a and an and the and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms comprising, having, including, and containing are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning including, but not limited to,) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., such as) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.

[0082] Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.