Transport Bag for an Overhead Conveyor

Abstract

A transport bag for an overhead conveyor comprises a front side wall, a rear side wall and a bottom wall that interconnects the front side wall with the rear side wall, wherein an adherent contact surface is at least partly provided on an outer side of the front side wall and/or on an outer side of the rear side wall to prevent a lateral displacement of two transport bags abutting against each other.

Claims

1. A transport bag for an overhead conveyor, the transport bag comprising: a front side wall; a rear side wall; a bottom wall interconnecting the front side wall with the rear side wall, wherein an adherent contact surface is at least partly provided on at least one of 1) an outer side of the front side wall and 2) an outer side of the rear side wall in order to prevent a lateral displacement of two transport bags abutting against each other.

2. The transport bag according to claim 1, wherein the adherent contact surface has a friction layer made of a friction material.

3. The transport bag according to claim 2, wherein the friction layer has a static coefficient of friction of at least 0.6.

4. The transport bag according to claim 3, wherein the static coefficient of friction is at least 0.8.

5. The transport bag according to claim 3, wherein the static coefficient of friction is at least 1.0.

6. The transport bag according to claim 2, wherein the friction layer is attached to at least one of the front side wall and the rear side wall.

7. The transport bag according to claim 2, wherein the friction layer is integrated into at least one of the front side wall and the rear side wall.

8. The transport bag according to claim 2, wherein the friction layer is flame-inhibiting.

9. The transport bag according to claim 2, wherein the friction layer is halogen-free.

10. The transport bag according to claim 1, wherein the adherent contact surface has at least one of 1) at least one elevation and 2) at least one recess.

11. The transport bag according to claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing plate.

12. The transport bag according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing plate is arranged in a region of the adherent contact surface.

13. The transport bag according to claim 11, wherein at least part of the transport bag has a multilayer design, and wherein the adherent contact surface and the reinforcing plate are arranged one behind the other along a thickness of at least one of the front side wall and the rear side wall.

14. The transport bag according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing plate has a bending stiffness that is greater than that of at least one of the adherent contact surface and a bag material.

15. The transport bag according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing plate is configured as one of a PP hollow-chamber web plate and a corrugated cardboard.

16. The transport bag according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing plate is entirely covered by the adherent contact surface.

17. The transport bag according to claim 1, wherein the adherent contact surface comprises a front adherent contact surface provided on the front side wall, and further comprising a rear adherent contact surface provided on the rear side wall.

18. The transport bag according to claim 17, wherein the front adherent contact surface and the rear adherent contact surface are configured entirely identically to one another.

19. The transport bag according to claim 1, wherein the adherent contact surface has at least one adherent element that is adherently connectable, via at least one of a positive fit and a non-positive fit, with a counter adherent element of a transport bag abutting thereagainst in such a way as to be removable.

20. The transport bag according to claim 19, wherein the adherent element and the counter adherent element are magnetic.

21. The transport bag according to claim 19, wherein the adherent element and the counter adherent element are configured as a hook-and-loop fastener.

22. The transport bag according to claim 1, wherein, on a respective free end opposite to the bottom wall, the front side wall and the rear side wall are directly connected to each other via at least one carrier frame.

23. The transport bag according to claim 1, further comprising a coupling unit via which the transport bag can be coupled to a conveyor unit of the overhead conveyor.

24. The transport bag according to claim 23, wherein the conveyor unit is configured as a roll adapter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an accumulation path of an overhead conveyor with a plurality of transport bags accumulated there;

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the accumulation path according to FIG. 1;

[0031] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a transport bag according to the invention;

[0032] FIG. 4 shows a front view of the transport bag according to FIG. 3;

[0033] FIG. 5 shows a rear view of the transport bag according to FIG. 3;

[0034] FIG. 6 shows a side view of the unloaded transport bag according to FIG. 3;

[0035] FIG. 7 shows a perspective detail view of a friction layer of the adherent contact surface of the transport bag according to FIG. 3; and

[0036] FIG. 8 shows an enlarged detail view of adherent contact surfaces of adjacent transport bags according to FIG. 1, the adherent contact surfaces being arranged such as abut against each other.

[0037] An accumulation zone 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 forms part of an overhead conveyor. The accumulation zone 1 has an upper conveyor rail 2 that is arranged at an angle of inclination n with respect to the horizontal 3.

DESCRIPTION OF AT LEAST ONE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0038] The accumulation zone 1 has an actuable stopper element 4 to stop transport bags 5 that are transported along the conveyor rail 2. The transport bags 5 are transportable along the conveyor rail 2 in a guided manner by means of a respective adapter element 6. The conveyor rail 2 defines a transport direction 7.

[0039] Each of the transport bags 5 carries transport products 8. The transport products 8 in particular have different sizes. In particular, the transport products 8 have a thickness, oriented along the transport direction 7, that is greater than the initial thickness of the transport bag 5 in the unloaded condition. When loaded with the transport products 8, the outer contour of the transport bag 5 changes with respect to the unloaded condition. In the loaded condition, the transport bag 5 has a deformed, in particular bulged shape.

[0040] In the region of the accumulation path 1, the transport bags 5 with the adapter elements 6 are arranged along the conveyor rail 2 at substantially equal distances from each other. The distance of the transport bags 5 is directly proportional to the loading thereof. When the transport bags 5 are loaded with transport products 8 having different thicknesses along the transport direction 7, the transport bags may be arranged at varying distances from each other. The distance corresponds approximately to the bag width in the loaded condition. Due to the bulged shape of the transport bags 5, they abut against each other. In particular the transport bags arranged further down the line are arranged such as to be substantially non-inclined with respect to the vertical 9.

[0041] The transport bags 5 are provided with 2 adherent contact surfaces 10 each. The adherent contact surfaces 10 of two transport bags 5 arranged adjacent to each other abut against each other. This prevents the transport bags 5 from being displaced along a transverse direction 11, which is oriented perpendicular to the transport direction 7, due to the accumulation pressure.

[0042] The design of the transport bag 5 will hereinafter be explained in more detail by means of FIG. 3 to FIG. 8. The transport bag 5 has a front side wall 12, a rear side wall 13 and a bottom wall 14 that interconnects the front side wall 12 with the rear side wall 13. The front side wall 12, the rear side wall 13 and the bottom wall 14 are made of a uniform flexible bag material. In an upper region opposite to the bottom wall 14, the front side wall 12 and the rear side wall 13 are secured to two opposite carrier frames 15. The rear side wall 13 has a coupling unit 16 with a hook element 17 to be hooked into the adapter element 6. The adapter element 6 is in particular a roll adapter that constitutes a conveyor unit.

[0043] In the region of the bottom wall 14, the transport bag 5 has lateral compensation elements 18 that allow the bag to widen in a thickness direction. The thickness D of the transport bag 5 in the unloaded condition is shown in FIG. 6. The adherent contact surfaces 10 of the transport bag 5 are in each case arranged on a respective outer side of the front side wall 12 and the rear side wall 13. According to the exemplary embodiment shown, the adherent contact surfaces 10 are configured as friction layers made of PVC-P. The adherent contact surfaces 10 on the front side wall 12 and the rear side wall 13 are in particular configured identically and only differ from each other in terms of their position on the front side wall 12 and the rear side wall 13.

[0044] In order to improve the adherence of two adjacent adherent contact surfaces 10, the friction layers 18 are each provided with a surface texture that is shown in more detail in FIGS. 7 and 8. The surface texture of the adherent contact surface 10 may also be configured in such a way that the adherent contact surface 10 is wavy, concave or convex, for example.

[0045] In particular on the front side wall 12, a reinforcing plate, whichaccording to the exemplary embodiment shownis configured as a polypropylene hollow-chamber web plate, is arranged underneath the adherent contact surface, in other words underneath the friction layer 18. The size of the reinforcing plate 19 substantially corresponds to the size of the friction layer 18 so the friction layer 18 is reinforced by the reinforcing plate 19 substantially across the entire surface thereof. According to the exemplary embodiment shown, the reinforcing plate 19 has a width of 200 mm and a height of 300 mm. The rectangular surface area of the reinforcing plate 19, which is defined by the height and width thereof, is in particular slightly smaller than the surface area of the friction layer 18, in other words the adherent contact surface. This ensures that the reinforcing plate 19 is entirely covered by the friction layer 18.

[0046] The reinforcing plate 19 has a thickness of 3.0 mm.

[0047] The dimensions of the reinforcing plate 19 and/or the friction layer 18 may also be chosen greater or smaller. In particular, the dimensions of the reinforcing plate 19 and/or the friction layer 18 are adjusted to the size of the transport bag, in other words the height and width of the side walls 12, 13.

[0048] FIG. 7 shows an enlarged sectional view of the friction layer 18 with a plurality of pyramid-shaped elevations 20. The elevations 20 are arranged in rows and columns in a grid-like manner. Both in the direction of the rows and in the direction of the columns, a respective intermediate space 21 is formed between the elevations 20. The intermediate spaces 21 form recesses between the elevations 20. The adherence of transport bags 5 abutting against each other along an accumulation path 1 can be improved in such a way that the elevations 20 of one adherent contact surface engage the intermediate spaces 21 of the adherent contact surface 10 of the adjacent transport bag (see FIG. 8). The retaining force or adherence of the transport bags abutting against each other is thus increased. The intermediate spaces 21 may have a width of 0.5 mm to 1 mm and a depth of approximately 0.5 mm. In the region of the adherent contact surface 10, the material thickness of the transport bag 5 is approximately 1.5 mm. In this region, the transport bag 5 has a multilayer design comprising the adherent contact surface 10 of the friction layer 18 arranged on the outside, the reinforcing plate 19 arranged therebelow and the bag material arranged therebelow. The bag material is a flexible textile fabric.

[0049] If in particular precisely one elevation and/or precisely one recess are provided on the adherent contact surface, the width and height thereof may for instance amount to several millimeters, in particular between 5 mm and 50 mm. The width of the recess configured in the shape of an elongate hole is configured correspondingly.

[0050] The material that is provided with the adherent contact surface 10 has in particular restoring properties, in other words it is in particular fully elastic so after removing the transport products 8 from the transport bags 5, it reverts back to its initial shape that corresponds to the unloaded initial condition.

[0051] The friction layer 18 is in particular made of an elastomer material. It is conceivable as well to integrate the reinforcing plate 19 into the friction layer 18 in such a way that the reinforcing plate 19 is extrusion-coated with the material of the friction layer 18.