EP1322538B1 - Device and method for loading the input unit of a letter sorting system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device and a method for loading the input unit of a letter sorting system with letters that are stood on their edges. The device consists of at least one stack receiving device which is located on a carriage (11) and which can receive a stack of letters at a given location, comprising a stack base (5) which can be moved beyond the carriage (11) in the direction of the stack, horizontally; and one or two separating blades (8, 9) which hold the stack, which can be displaced along the stack base (5) and which can rotate in and out of the stack receiving device. The dimensions and the height of the stack receiving device are configured in such a way that the stack base (5) can be moved onto the letter conveyor line (1) with the separating blade(s) (8,9) of the stack receiving device, as far the separating blade of the input unit (4).

Description

The invention relates to a device and a method for Loading the material input of a shipment sorting system, the one Separating device, one horizontally connected to it aligned consignment conveyor with a retaining wall for the transport of upright, flat consignments to Separating device and one in the consignment conveyor can be swung in and out and held in the transport direction and to transport the mail items to the separating device movable and reversible on a linear guide Separating knife.

So far, there has been mainly manual loading the substance input. The shipments are made a mail container tipped onto the consignment conveyor or removed by hand in batches from the mail container and opened put the consignment conveyor. After that, they will, too by hand, on the lower edge and laterally against the Support wall aligned and to the separating device or pushed to the rest of the stack. The cutting knife is then behind the stack swung in and the shipment separation begins, the separating knife and optionally also the as driven conveyor belt coupled to the cutting knife executed consignment conveyor the batch pressure controlled feeds the separating device.

A device for automatic loading also became known the material input of a mail distribution system known from WO 97/20644 (8 EP 0 865 328 B1), in which the direct loading process runs without manual activities. This is a filled Containers on the letter conveyor by means of a loading module the substance input between two additional, movable and swiveling separating knives emptied. Then the stack becomes automatic by means of the two separating knives in the direction of the separating device pushed to the remaining stack, which is the remaining stack holding knife swings out, travels close behind the rear additional cutting knife, swings back in and the two additional cutting knives swing out and drive towards the back to pick up a new stack. This one too The shipments are brought to a solution in a mail container Substance input, i.e. the shipments have to be relatively expensive the mail containers are filled. In many cases, these come Shipments from upstream sorting machines. Then be the pre-sorted consignments from the corresponding sorting compartments loaded into the mail container and as described for corresponding substance input transported. There are also sorting processes with several sorting runs in a row, at which the shipments from the sorting compartments are not in mail containers be loaded, but via a transshipment bridge from the Sorting bins on the letter conveyor of the material input be pushed (DE 42 36 507 C1). But there is a specific one about this Machine layout necessary, in which the sorting compartments and the letter transport path opposite the material input are located.

The invention specified in claims 1 and 5 is the The task is based on a device and a method for loading the material input of a shipment sorting system with upright to create standing, flat programs with the help of them loading shipments from upstream sorting systems in mail containers is no longer necessary or to the machine layout in sorting processes with several sorting runs, where the sorted mailings of the input again can be fed directly without a mail container, no requirements with regard to the spatial arrangement of substance input and sorting bins are more necessary.

By using at least one on a chassis located stack holder that can be loaded at any location is and their stacking floor beyond the chassis can be moved horizontally in the stacking direction, the stack of mail items of one or two slidable along the stacking floor Cutting knife is held, it is possible to to avoid reloading the batches of mail into mail containers. The batch pick-up is like the consignment conveyor with one Retaining wall executed, but not like the stacking floor is movable. After loading, the stack is picked up so approached the consignment conveyor of the material input, that it is practically their extension. After that the stacking floor is up to the consignment conveyor move the stacking knife, e.g. on telescopic rails or with the help of wheels or rollers on the consignment conveyor run and the new batch of mail will be sent to the remaining batch of the consignment conveyor or if the consignment conveyor is already empty, to the separating device with the separating knife (s) of the stack holder emotional. After swiveling out the cutting knife Consignment conveyor, driving behind those on the stack floor located stack, swiveling into the stack holder and Swiveling out of the separating knife or the stack holder is there is a uniform batch of mail in front of the separating device. Now the stacking floor is under the shipments withdrawn and the stack is directly on the consignment conveyor and can during the separation to the separation device be moved.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are in the subclaims explained.

So that conditions as even as possible when subtracting the Shipments prevail is the dividing knife of the shipment transport path in an advantageous manner by means of a traversing device the measured stack pressure at the separating device controlled keeping constant in the direction of the separating device traversable. To protect the transport for the consignments it is advantageous to carry out the consignment conveyor to be carried out as a conveyor belt which can be connected to a Cutting knife when moving the batch of mail to the separating device moved synchronously.

To transport the consignments from the batch pick-up to the Consignment track to be gentle on the consignments and at Loading of the stack receptacle, slipping of the standing items Avoiding on a smooth surface is the floor the stacking is advantageous as only in the direction of Separating device moving conveyor belt with rough Surface formed.

Are the shipments against that towards the singling device front cutters stacked, they slip because of of the rough ground and the blocked backward movement of the Conveyor belt does not return. On the other hand, when unloading the consignments do not cross the consignment conveyor pushed the rough floor because when pulling back the sliding Part of the pile pick-up the loaded floor surface through the movement of the conveyor belt almost locally remains unmoved.

It is also advantageous to stack the stack (s) on the sorting compartments to drive any consignment sorting system and load from the sorting bins. During a sorting process with multiple sorting runs, these are advantageous Sorting compartments of the consignment sorting system, their substance input to be loaded several times.

The invention is then described in an exemplary embodiment explained in more detail with reference to the drawing.

FIG 1a

eine Seitenansicht einer Beladeeinrichtung an der Stoffeingabe einer Sendungssortieranlage senkrecht zur Stapeleinrichtung mit über dem Transportgestell befindlicher Stapelaufnahme,

FIG 1b

eine Seitenansicht einer Beladeeinrichtung an der Stoffeingabe senkrecht zur Stapelrichtung mit auf die Sendungstransportbahn ausgezogener Stapelaufnahme,

FIG 1c

eine Seitenansicht einer Beladeeinrichtung in Stapelrichtung,

FIG 2a,b

in schematischer Darstellung zwei Varianten zum Beladen der Stapelaufnahme aus den Sortierfächern einer Sendungssortieranlage,

FIG 3a-c

in schematischer Darstellung den Beladevorgang in mehreren Phasen anhand einer Draufsicht.

Show

FIG 1a

2 shows a side view of a loading device at the material input of a mail item sorting system perpendicular to the stacking device with the stack holder located above the transport frame,

1b

1 shows a side view of a loading device at the material input perpendicular to the stacking direction with the stack receptacle extended onto the mail item conveying path,

1c

a side view of a loading device in the stacking direction,

FIG 2a, b

a schematic representation of two variants for loading the stack receptacle from the sorting compartments of a shipment sorting system,

3a-c

a schematic representation of the loading process in several phases based on a plan view.

In the example described here, the shipments are in the order of distribution for the deliverers. Since the Consignment sorting system only a limited number of sorting bins has to do this in several sorting runs in a row be carried out, the shipments of substance input exactly in the sorted order from the sorting compartments be fed again.

In the sorting compartments, the items are standing from behind stacked forward, going forward from one pressed against the growing stack by means of spring force swing-out stacking plate are supported. Emptying the Sorting bins and loading a mobile batch pickup can Then simply do it by taking the batch of items out of the bin is pushed onto the stack holder.

1. Die Sendungen werden in Transportbehältern angeliefert und auf die Stoffeingabe der Sendungstransportbahn geladen und vereinzelt.

2. Nach Beendigung des ersten Laufs werden die Sendungen zurück zur Stoffeingabe gebracht und ein zweites Mal vereinzelt. Hierbei darf die Reihenfolge der Sendungen pro Sortierfach nicht vertauscht werden.

3. Nach dem zweiten Pass werden die Sendungen wieder in die Transportbehälter gepackt.

For the shipment sorting system, the sequencer functionality is to be represented by a multi-stage sorting of the shipments. The distribution strategy used is based on a two-pass process:

1. The consignments are delivered in transport containers and loaded onto the material input of the consignment conveyor and separated.

2. At the end of the first run, the consignments are brought back to the substance input and separated a second time. The order of the shipments per sorting compartment must not be interchanged.

3. After the second pass, the shipments are packed back into the transport containers.

The batches of items are sorted from the sorting compartments first run on one or more on chassis Batches loaded along the shipment sorting system are distributed. The individual batch recordings are then driven to the material input and unloaded.

As shown in FIGS. 1a, b, c, the stack holder is open a chassis 11 attached. It has a stacking floor 5, which can be moved longitudinally beyond the chassis, two displaceable on a linear guide 7 along the stacking base 5 and swiveling in and out of the stack holder Cutting knife 8.9 and a support wall 6 on which the standing Align shipments. The stacking base 5 is located somewhat higher than the consignment transport path 1 of the material input, so that it can be pushed onto this. He has 6 Rollers 10.13 with which he on the chassis 11 and on the consignment conveyor 1 is running. Two rolls 10.13 each are next to each other, the roller 10 for longitudinal guidance in a straight, correspondingly large recess in the Mail transport lane 1 and a base plate of the chassis 11 is running. The displacement of the stacking floor is conceivable also with the help of telescopic rails, which also have the support function take. The support wall connected to the stacking base 5 6 of the stack holder has a lower height than that Retaining wall of the fabric input and is with the stack holder adjacent to the consignment conveyor at its supporting wall 2 displaceable. For the sake of clarity, the programs are not shown.

For loading the stack holder in a first variant 2a shows the stack receptacle located on the chassis 11 at a 90 ° angle to compartment wall 15 with the sorting compartments 16 posed. It starts with the content of subject No. 1, which is parked to the left of the front cutting knife 8, then the content of compartment no. 2 is placed on the left etc.

With the separating knife 9, the stack can fall to the left be prevented. In practice, the cutting knife 9 only tracked when the deposited stack is somewhat skewed exceeds. For each filling, for a carriage length, e.g. of 1m with 3 implementations.

The separating knife 8.9 which can be moved from the linear guide 7 can be freely swung up along the stack holder be moved. Located in the smooth stacking base 5 a narrow conveyor belt 14 as part of the floor with a rough, in this case cross-corrugated surface, that only is movable towards the separating device 17. Will the Consignments stacked on the stacking floor against the front pivoted-in cutting knife 8, so it is prevents the shipments from slipping. After finishing this The rear cutting knife 9 is also stacked swiveled in: Both separating knives 8.9 are thus cross-corrugated Conveyor belt 14 so to speak hooked and support safely the batch of items. Then the move takes place of the stacking base 5 with the stack of items on the item transport track 1.

In a second possible variant, the shipments of distributed front to back with descending number. The Cutting knife 2 is e.g. in the middle of the stack holder, to the right of it is the stack from the sorting bin with the highest number etc. is the right half the stack holder is filled, this stack is then after shifted to the left. This process can also be done with more frequently smaller stacks. The goal of this approach the loading point should always be as close as possible to the compartment wall have in order to fill the ways of filling the stack holder to minimize.

Because in exceptional cases the maximum fill level for the sorting compartments So-called overflow compartments are provided. These must also be in the correct order be emptied (if compartment no. 4 is assigned an overflow compartment no. 4+, Tray No. 4 is emptied first and then No. 4+). Therefore, they make sense about the sorting system regularly distributed so that they always have to be emptied can be walked away from the stack. So for the emptying of the sorting compartments on the stacking of the minimal way to travel.

• Dauerlicht = Fach voll
• Blinklicht = Nächstes zu entleerendes Fach
• Kein Erlöschen nach Quittierung = Ein weiteres Überlauffach muss noch geleert werden.

The operator is guided by using lamp buttons as a control mechanism for the emptying sequence.

• Steady light = compartment full
• Flashing light = next compartment to be emptied
• No expiry after acknowledgment = another overflow compartment has to be emptied.

After emptying the entire shipment sorting system onto the individual batch recordings, these become (untwisted) Material input pushed.

The first batch to be unloaded is the one with the Stack of Tray No.1 on its right end. For the one described above The first variant is that of substance input on next standing batch pickup. For the second variant would be this is the stack pickup at the end of the mail sorting system.

The corresponding batch pickup will initially be extended docked to the consignment feed conveyor. The movable stacking base 5 and the support wall 6 of the stack holder together with the two cutting knives 8.9 over the empty consignment conveyor 1 to the separating knife 4 Material input pushed (it is supported and guided thereby by the rollers 10.13 directly on the mailing conveyor 1) and a base plate of the chassis. The Cutting knife 4 of the material input is then pivoted upwards and pasted behind the stack of the stack holder. Around the separating knife will secure the position against shifting 4 held with a clamp. After folding up from Separating knife 4 of the stack holder, the stack base 5 can be withdrawn and the consignment conveyor is loaded.

• Nur noch ca. 20 cm Reststapel vor der Vereinzelungsvorrichtung am Ende der Sendungstransportbahn:
• Die Stapelaufnahme kann in einem Vorgang entladen werden, die Vereinzelungsvorrichtung läuft dabei weiter.
• Kein Reststapel:
• Die Vereinzelungsvorrichtung hält an und die Stapelaufnahme wird ebenfalls auf einmal entladen.
• Der Füllstand ist größer als die Kapazität der Sendungstransportbahn:
• Die Sendungstransportbahn wird nur nachgeladen. Mit Einfügen der Trennmesser an der entsprechenden Stelle wird der Reststapel am Umfallen gehindert.

Depending on the level of the consignment conveyor, several scenarios are possible:

• Only approx. 20 cm of remaining stack in front of the separating device at the end of the consignment conveyor:
• The stack holder can be unloaded in one process, the separating device continues to run.
• No residual pile:
• The separating device stops and the stack holder is also unloaded at once.
• The fill level is greater than the capacity of the consignment conveyor:
• The consignment conveyor is only reloaded. The remaining stack is prevented from falling over by inserting the cutting knife at the appropriate point.

If the stack holder is unloaded, the others follow in the corresponding order.

Claims (7)

1. Apparatus for loading the input unit of a mail-sorting installation, having a separating arrangement (17), having a horizontally oriented mail-transporting path (1) with a supporting wall (2) by means of which flat items of mail which stand on edge are transported to the separating arrangement (17), and having a separating blade (4) which can be pivoted in and out of the mail-transporting path (1) and can be displaced in the transporting direction on a linear guide (3), for the purposes of retaining the mail and transporting it to the separating arrangement (17), and can be returned again on said linear guide, characterized by at least one stack mount which is located on a carriage (11), receives the mail stack at any desired location and has a stack base (5), which can be displaced horizontally beyond the carriage (11) in the stacking direction, one or two stack-retaining separating blades (8, 9), which can be displaced along the stack base (5) and can be pivoted in and out of the stack mount, and a further supporting wall (6), the dimensions and the height of the stack amount being such that the stack base (5) can be displaced, with the separating blade or blades (8, 9) of the stack mount, onto the mail-supporting path (1) up to the separating blade (4) of the input unit, and that, once the separating blade (4) of the input unit has been pivoted out, displaced behind the mail stack located on the stack base (5) and pivoted in again and the separating blade or blades (8, 9) of the stack mount has or have been pivoted out, the stack base (5) can then be drawn back out of the region of the mail-transporting path (1), beneath the mail, and displaced into the loading position with the separating blades (8, 9) of the stack mount.
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the separating blade (4) of the mail-transporting path (1) can be displaced by means of a displacing arrangement in the direction of the separating arrangement (17), keeping the measured stack pressure on the separating arrangement (17) constant in a controlled manner.
3. Apparatus according to Claim 2, characterized in that the mail-transporting path (1) comprises a transporting belt which moves synchronously with the pivoted-in separating blade (4) when the mail stack is displaced to the separating arrangement (17).
4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the stack base (5) of the stack mount is designed, at least in part, as a transporting belt (14) which can only be moved in the direction of the separating arrangement (17) and has a rough surface.
5. Method of loading the input unit of a mail-sorting installation using the apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized by the following method steps:

   loading the stack mount with a mail stack, retained by one or two separating blades (8, 9);

   moving the loaded stack mount up to the input unit and moving the stack base (5) of the stack mount out, beyond the carriage (11), onto the mail-transporting path (1) up to the separating blade (4) of the mail-transporting path (1) and, if necessary, pushing the mail stack of the stack mount up to the stack still located on the mail-supporting path (1) or up to the separating arrangement (17);

   pivoting the separating blade (4) of the mail-transporting path (1) out, moving it back closely behind the rear separating blade (9), as seen in the direction of the separating arrangement (17), this separating blade supporting the mail stack located on the stack base (5), and pivoting it into the mail-transporting path (1);

   pivoting the separating blade or blades (8, 9) of the stack mount out, moving the stack base (5) into the region of the carriage (11), moving the carriage (11) up to the loading location and loading it with a further mail stack.
6. Method according to Claim 5, characterized in that the stack mount/s is/are moved up to the sorting compartments (16) of any desired mail-sorting installation and loaded from the sorting compartments (16).
7. Method according to Claim 6, characterized in that, in the case of a sorting operation with a number of sorting sequences, the stack mount/s is/are moved up to, and loaded from, the sorting compartments (16) of the mail-sorting installation, the input unit of which can be loaded a number of times with the aid of the stack mount.

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