Intelligent loading system for express parcels and control method thereof

Abstract

The present invention discloses an intelligent loading system for express parcels and a control method thereof, wherein a platform conveyor belt is arranged on the platform; a carriage conveyor belt is arranged on the floor of the carriage, and the rear end of the platform conveyor belt faces the carriage conveyor belt; a positioning device is arranged in the middle of the platform conveyor belt to adjust the position of the parcel in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt; a lifting device is used to drive the platform conveyor belt to rise and fall so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt; a rear end camera is arranged on the platform side and faces the carriage to obtain the internal space information of the carriage; a front end camera faces the top surface of the front part of the platform conveyor belt to obtain the volume information of each parcel on the front part of the platform conveyor belt; a computing module sends instructions to adjust the parcel landing point by the positioning device and the lifting device so that the parcel falls into a suitable position. The present invention also discloses a control method for controlling the above-mentioned loading system. The present invention can automatically stack and load bulk express parcels quickly and efficiently.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of logistics transportation equipment, and in particular to an intelligent loading system for express parcels and a control method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of e-commerce, the volume of express parcel business in my country has maintained an annual growth trend. The growth of express parcel business has prompted the continuous development and progress of logistics equipment technology. Nowadays, many new equipment and technologies are emerging in the field of logistics equipment. However, in the loading operation of express parcels, it still mainly relies on manual palletizing and loading, which requires a large number of workers to carry out loading operations. The labor intensity is high and the production efficiency is low, which cannot meet the needs of logistics processing centers. Some existing express parcel automatic loading equipment uses movable industrial manipulators to clamp parcels for palletizing, which has problems such as high cost, complex structure, inconvenient maintenance, and low efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention is to provide an intelligent loading system for express parcels and a control method thereof, which can automatically stack and load bulk express parcels quickly and efficiently.

[0004] To achieve the above object, the present invention discloses an intelligent express parcel loading system, comprising:

[0005] A platform conveyor belt, wherein the platform conveyor belt is arranged on the platform;

[0006] A carriage conveyor belt, wherein the carriage conveyor belt is arranged on the floor of the carriage, and the rear end of the platform conveyor belt faces the carriage conveyor belt;

[0007] A positioning device, the positioning device is arranged in the middle of the platform conveyor belt and is used to adjust the position of the package on the platform conveyor belt in the width direction;

[0008] A lifting device, the lifting device is used to drive the platform conveyor belt to rise and fall so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt;

[0009] A rear camera, which is arranged on the platform side and faces the carriage to obtain the interior space information of the carriage;

[0010] A front camera, the front camera facing the top surface of the front part of the platform conveyor belt, and used to obtain volume information of each package on the front part of the platform conveyor belt;

[0011] The computing module is connected to the positioning device, the lifting device and the front and rear cameras for communication respectively. The computing module matches a position for each package according to the interior space information of the carriage and the package volume information sent by the front and rear cameras, and sends instructions to the positioning device to adjust the position of the package on the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the instructions, and the lifting device to adjust the rear end height of the platform conveyor belt, so that the package falls into the matching position.

[0012] Preferably, it also includes an evacuation device, which is arranged at the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, and the evacuation device includes an evacuation plane connected to the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, the end of the evacuation plane facing the car is wider than the end facing the platform conveyor belt, and a plurality of evacuation ridges are evenly arranged on the evacuation plane, one end of the plurality of evacuation ridges converges toward the platform conveyor belt, and the other end of the plurality of evacuation ridges diverges toward the car.

[0013] Preferably, an upright movable partition wall is fixedly connected to the top surface of the carriage conveyor belt to ensure that the stacked packages will not fall over when the packages first fall and are stacked on the top surface of the carriage conveyor belt.

[0014] Preferably, the positioning device is an omnidirectional diverter, which adjusts the orientation of the package and the position in the width direction of the package on the platform conveyor belt according to the instructions of the computing module.

[0015] Preferably, left and right evacuation baffles are respectively provided on both sides of the evacuation plane to prevent packages from falling.

[0016] Preferably, the top of the movable partition wall is inclined toward the depth of the carriage.

[0017] Preferably, left and right positioning baffles are respectively provided on both sides of the positioning device to prevent the package from falling.

[0018] Preferably, the rear end camera is fixed to the left evacuation baffle and / or the right evacuation baffle and faces the interior of the vehicle compartment.

[0019] Preferably, a gantry is provided at the front of the platform conveyor belt, and the front-end camera is fixed to a crossbeam of the gantry and faces the top surface of the front of the platform conveyor belt.

[0020] A method for controlling the above-mentioned intelligent loading system for express parcels comprises the following steps:

[0021] S1, use the rear camera to scan the space information inside the car and send it to the computing module;

[0022] S2, use the front-end camera to scan the volume information of the package in front of the platform conveyor belt and send it to the calculation module;

[0023] S3, using a calculation module to specify the position coordinates of each package in the carriage according to the volume information of each package and the current carriage space information, where the horizontal coordinate is the position of the package in the width direction of the carriage, and the vertical coordinate is the position of the package in the height direction of the carriage;

[0024] S4. Use the positioning device to adjust the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the horizontal coordinate sent by the calculation module, that is, the position of the package in the width direction of the car. At the same time, use the lifting device to adjust the inclination angle of the platform conveyor belt according to the vertical coordinate sent by the calculation module, so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, that is, the position of the package at the height of the car when it leaves the platform conveyor belt.

[0025] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0026] By setting up platform conveyor belts and carriage conveyor belts, packages fall from the platform conveyor belts to the carriage conveyor belts and are stacked layer by layer. After the packages are stacked to a certain height, the carriage conveyor belts extend to the carriages for a certain distance, so that the stacked packages extend to the carriages for a certain distance, and leave space at the door of the carriages for further stacking. The conveyor belts continuously transport packages for stacking with extremely high efficiency.

[0027] The front and rear cameras respectively identify the spatial information of the carriage and the package, and the calculation module automatically calculates the position of the package in the carriage, and converts the position into two data: horizontal coordinate and vertical coordinate. The horizontal coordinate is the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt, and the vertical coordinate is the position of the package in the height direction. The horizontal coordinate of the package is adjusted by the positioning device, and the vertical coordinate of the package is adjusted by the lifting device, so that the package can reach the designated position accurately for stacking layer by layer, so that the package stack is more compact when the conveyor belt is continuously transported and stacked, and the truck loading efficiency is higher;

[0028] By setting up an evacuation device, it can be used even when the width of the car is greater than the width of the platform conveyor belt. After the package enters the evacuation plane from the platform conveyor belt, it is guided by the evacuation convex strips and moves divergently to both sides before falling into the car. When the package is in the middle of the platform conveyor belt, no deviation will occur. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 2 This is a top view of the overall structure of Example 1 of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 3 This is a side view of the overall structure of Example 1 of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an evacuation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 5 This is a flow chart of the control method of Example 1 of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of Example 2 of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following will be combined with Figure 1 - Figure 6 The present invention is further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0036] Embodiment 1:

[0037] Reference Figure 1 - Figure 3 As shown, an intelligent loading system for express parcels includes a platform conveyor belt 21, a carriage conveyor belt 11, a positioning device 5, a lifting device 6, a rear-end camera 3, a front-end camera 4 and a computing module.

[0038] The platform conveyor belt 21 is set on the platform 2, the front end camera 4 is fixed above the front part of the platform conveyor belt 21 through the gantry 41 and faces the top surface of the platform conveyor belt 21, the positioning device 5 is set in the middle of the platform conveyor belt 21, and the lifting device 6 is set below the rear part of the platform conveyor belt 21. The package 9 is conveyed from the front to the rear of the platform conveyor belt 21, passes under the front end camera 4, the positioning device 5 in sequence, and falls from the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21.

[0039] The carriage conveyor belt 11 is arranged on the floor inside the carriage 1 , and the front end of the carriage conveyor belt 11 for receiving the package faces the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21 , and the rear end camera 3 is arranged on one side of the platform 2 and faces the interior of the carriage 1 .

[0040] The rear camera 3 is used to collect the spatial information inside the carriage 1, and the front camera 4 is used to collect the volume information of the package 9. The front and rear cameras 4 and 3 can directly use integrated stereo cameras to obtain spatial volume information, and can also be set as multiple cameras and use laser triangulation algorithm to measure spatial volume information. The present invention preferably uses an integrated stereo camera such as Hikvision MV-DB1612-05B binocular stereo camera.

[0041] The positioning device 5 is used to adjust the position of the parcel 9 in the width direction on the platform conveyor belt 21. The positioning device 5 adopts a conventional sorting and diversion platform in the logistics industry, and can preferably be an omnidirectional diversion platform, so that it can not only adjust the position of the parcel 9 in the width direction on the platform conveyor belt 21, but also adjust the orientation of the parcel 9 on the platform conveyor belt 21. This embodiment preferably adopts the applicant's patent: an angle automatic diversion conveyor (application number: 201720069741.4) as the positioning device 5. The left and right positioning baffles 51 and 52 are arranged on both sides of the positioning device 5 to prevent the parcel 9 from falling.

[0042] The lifting device 6 is used to drive the platform conveyor belt 21 to rise and fall, thereby adjusting the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21. The lifting device 6 adopts conventional electric-controlled lifting platforms, electro-hydraulic push rods, etc. in the logistics industry, and can also adopt the applicant's patent: climbing belt equipment lifting mechanism (application number: 201420781474.X) as the lifting device 6. This embodiment preferably uses an electro-hydraulic push rod as the lifting device 6. One end of the platform conveyor belt 21 is rotatably set on the platform 1, and the upper end of the telescopic end of the electro-hydraulic push rod is rotatably connected to the platform conveyor belt 21. When the electric-hydraulic push rod is extended and retracted, the platform conveyor belt 21 is linked to swing and tilt, thereby changing the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21.

[0043] The positioning device 5, the lifting device 6 and the front and rear end cameras 4 and 3 are respectively connected to the computing module for communication. The computing module is preferably a computer. The computing module will automatically calculate the position of each package 9 inside the carriage 1 according to the spatial information of the carriage 1 and the volume information of the package 9 sent by the front and rear end cameras 4 and 3, and convert the position into coordinates. The horizontal coordinate is the position of the package 9 in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt 21, and the longitudinal coordinate is the position of the package 9 in the height direction. The positioning device 5 is sent to adjust the position of the package 9 in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt 21, and the lifting device 6 is used to adjust the rear end height of the platform conveyor belt 21, so that the package 9 falls from the position specified by the coordinates and accurately falls into the position where it should be, so as to achieve more compact automatic stacking and palletizing.

[0044] The carriage conveyor belt 11 is also connected to the computing module for communication. When the rear camera 3 detects that the packages are full, the computing module controls the carriage conveyor belt 11 to move a certain distance into the depth of the carriage 1, thereby causing the package pile to move a certain distance into the depth of the carriage 1 and leaving space at the door of the carriage 1 for the packages to continue to fall and stack.

[0045] The top surface of the carriage conveyor belt 11 is fixedly connected with an upright movable partition wall 8 to ensure that the stacked packages 9 will not fall down when the packages 9 first fall and stack on the top surface of the carriage conveyor belt 1. The top of the movable partition wall 8 is inclined toward the depth of the carriage 1, so that the package stack is inclined toward the depth of the carriage 1, and the packages 9 are not easy to fall out of the carriage 1 from the carriage door.

[0046] Reference Figure 4 As shown, an evacuation device 7 is also provided between the platform conveyor belt 21 and the carriage 1. The evacuation device 7 is provided at the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21 and rises and falls with the platform conveyor belt 21. The evacuation device 7 includes an evacuation plane 71 connected to the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21. The end of the evacuation plane 71 facing the carriage 1 is wider than the end facing the platform conveyor belt 21. A plurality of evacuation ridges 72 are evenly arranged on the evacuation plane 71. One end of the plurality of evacuation ridges 72 converges toward the platform conveyor belt 21, and the other end of the plurality of evacuation ridges 72 diverges toward the carriage 1. Left and right evacuation baffles 73 and 74 are provided on both sides of the evacuation plane 71 to prevent the package 9 from falling. After the package 9 enters the evacuation plane 71 from the platform conveyor belt 21, it is guided by the evacuation ridges 72 to move divergently to both sides, and then falls into the carriage 1. When the package 9 is located in the center of the platform conveyor belt 21, it enters the evacuation plane 71 without deviation, so that it can be used even when the width of the carriage 1 is greater than the width of the platform conveyor belt 21.

[0047] The rear-end camera 3 is preferably disposed on the left and right evacuation baffles 73 , 74 and faces the interior of the vehicle compartment 1 .

[0048] Reference Figure 5 As shown, a control method for controlling the above-mentioned express parcel intelligent loading system includes the following steps:

[0049] S1, use the rear camera to scan the spatial information inside the car, automatically match and generate 3D spatial information such as point cloud model and send it to the calculation module;

[0050] S2, use the front-end camera to scan the volume information of the package in front of the platform conveyor belt and send it to the calculation module;

[0051] S3, using a calculation module to calculate the appropriate placement coordinates of each package according to the volume information of each package and the current compartment space information, where the horizontal coordinate is the position of the package in the width direction of the compartment, and the vertical coordinate is the position of the package in the height direction of the compartment;

[0052] S4. Use the positioning device to adjust the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the horizontal coordinate sent by the calculation module, that is, the position of the package in the width direction of the car. At the same time, use the lifting device to adjust the inclination angle of the platform conveyor belt according to the vertical coordinate sent by the calculation module, so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, that is, the position of the package at the height of the car when it leaves the platform conveyor belt.

[0053] Reference Figure 1 - Figure 4 The process of realizing intelligent loading in the present invention is as follows:

[0054] The parcel 9 is conveyed into the platform conveyor belt 21 from the front part. When passing through the front camera 4, the front camera 4 collects the volume information of the parcel 9. At this time, the calculation module matches the position of the parcel according to the volume information and the space information of the carriage 1 collected by the rear camera 3, and converts the position into coordinates. The horizontal coordinate is the position of the parcel 9 in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt 21, and the longitudinal coordinate is the position of the parcel 9 in the height direction.

[0055] The package 9 is then continuously conveyed to the positioning device 5, which adjusts the position of the package 9 in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt 21 according to the horizontal coordinate instruction sent by the calculation module;

[0056] Then the package 9 continues to be conveyed to the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21. At this time, the lifting device 6 adjusts the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt 21 according to the vertical coordinate instruction sent by the calculation module, so that the package 9 falls from the position where it should be to the carriage conveyor belt 11;

[0057] This cycle is repeated many times so that the packages are stacked and palletized on the carriage conveyor belt 1. When the rear camera 3 detects that the space in the carriage 1 is insufficient for further stacking, the carriage conveyor belt 1 is conveyed a certain distance deeper into the carriage 1, thereby leaving space near the carriage entrance for further stacking of the packages.

[0058] Embodiment 2:

[0059] Reference Figure 6 As shown, the difference between Example 2 and Example 1 is that the carriage conveyor belt 11 is cancelled, and the end of the platform conveyor belt 21 facing the carriage 1 is set as a telescopic conveyor belt. The parcel 9 is adjusted in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt 21 by the positioning device 5, and is conveyed by the platform conveyor belt 21 to the inside of the carriage 1 and dropped. The lifting device 6 controls the swing angle of the platform conveyor belt 21 to control the drop height of the parcel 9. When the parcel 9 is stacked in the carriage to the point where it cannot be stacked further, the end of the platform conveyor belt 21 extending into the carriage 1 retracts a certain distance backwards, so that the next parcel pile can be stacked. The telescopic conveyor belt is a telescopic conveyor belt commonly seen on the market, such as a three-section belt telescopic conveyor.

[0060] Of course, the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical concept and features of the present invention, and their purpose is to enable people familiar with this technology to understand the content of the present invention and implement it accordingly, and they cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modifications made according to the spirit of the main technical solution of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent express parcel loading system, characterized in that: include: A platform conveyor belt, wherein the platform conveyor belt is arranged on the platform; A carriage conveyor belt, wherein the carriage conveyor belt is arranged on the floor of the carriage, and the rear end of the platform conveyor belt faces the carriage conveyor belt; A positioning device, the positioning device is arranged in the middle of the platform conveyor belt and is used to adjust the position of the package on the platform conveyor belt in the width direction; A lifting device, the lifting device is used to drive the platform conveyor belt to rise and fall so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt; A rear camera, which is arranged on the platform side and faces the carriage to obtain the interior space information of the carriage; A front camera, the front camera facing the top surface of the front part of the platform conveyor belt, and used to obtain volume information of each package on the front part of the platform conveyor belt; An evacuation device, the evacuation device is arranged at the rear end of the platform conveyor belt; A computing module, wherein the positioning device, the lifting device and the front and rear end cameras are respectively connected to the computing module for communication. The computing module will specify the position coordinates in the compartment for each package based on the internal space information of the compartment and the package volume information sent by the front and rear end cameras. The horizontal coordinate is the position of the package in the width direction of the compartment, and the vertical coordinate is the position of the package in the height of the compartment. The positioning device will adjust the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the instructions, and the lifting device will adjust the rear end height of the platform conveyor belt, so that the package can accurately reach the designated position. The positioning device is an omnidirectional diverter, and the omnidirectional diverter adjusts the orientation of the package and the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the instructions of the computing module.

2. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The evacuation device includes an evacuation plane connected to the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, the end of the evacuation plane facing the car is wider than the end facing the platform conveyor belt, and a plurality of evacuation ridges are evenly arranged on the evacuation plane, one end of the plurality of evacuation ridges converges toward the platform conveyor belt, and the other end of the plurality of evacuation ridges diverges toward the car.

3. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The top surface of the carriage conveyor belt is fixedly connected with an upright movable partition wall, which is used to ensure that when the packages just start to fall and stack on the top surface of the carriage conveyor belt, the stacked packages will not fall over.

4. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 2, characterized in that: Left and right evacuation baffles are respectively arranged on both sides of the evacuation plane to prevent packages from falling.

5. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The top of the movable partition wall is inclined toward the depth of the carriage.

6. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Left and right positioning baffles are respectively arranged on both sides of the positioning device to prevent the package from falling.

7. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The rear end camera is fixedly connected to the left evacuation baffle and / or the right evacuation baffle and faces the interior of the vehicle compartment.

8. The intelligent express parcel loading system according to claim 1, characterized in that: A gantry is provided at the front of the platform conveyor belt, and the front-end camera is fixedly connected to the crossbeam of the gantry and faces the top surface of the front of the platform conveyor belt.

9. A method for controlling the express parcel intelligent loading system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1, use the rear camera to scan the space information inside the car and send it to the computing module; S2, use the front-end camera to scan the volume information of the package in front of the platform conveyor belt and send it to the calculation module; S3, using a calculation module to specify the position coordinates of each package in the carriage according to the volume information of each package and the current carriage space information, where the horizontal coordinate is the position of the package in the width direction of the carriage, and the vertical coordinate is the position of the package in the height direction of the carriage; S4. Use the positioning device to adjust the position of the package in the width direction of the platform conveyor belt according to the horizontal coordinate sent by the calculation module, that is, the position of the package in the width direction of the car. At the same time, use the lifting device to adjust the inclination angle of the platform conveyor belt according to the vertical coordinate sent by the calculation module, so as to adjust the height of the rear end of the platform conveyor belt, that is, the position of the package at the height of the car when it leaves the platform conveyor belt.

Images