A mobile sorting system

Abstract

The application provides a mobile sorting system, which comprises a mobile sorting robot moving along a fixed line and a rack arranged along the fixed line; the rack is used for storing storage baskets, and the storage baskets are used for storing blood boxes; the mobile sorting robot is provided with telescopic forks, a sorting table and a mechanical hand; the sorting table is provided with basket positions for placing the storage baskets and sorting baskets, and the mechanical hand is used for transferring medical supplies between the storage baskets and the sorting baskets; the telescopic forks are used for moving the storage baskets and the sorting baskets between the sorting table and the rack; the mobile sorting robot can complete the operation of taking out the storage baskets, sorting the medical supplies and returning the storage baskets at one time, the frequency of reciprocating movement of the mobile sorting robot is reduced, and the efficiency is improved; the sorting mechanism and the mobile robot are integrated, and mainly the space of a moving channel of the mobile sorting robot is occupied, more racks can be arranged on both sides of the channel, and the space utilization rate of the cold storage is correspondingly improved; the layout is simpler, the reliability is improved, and the cost is reduced.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of medical product storage, in particular to a mobile sorting system. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the medical system, there are many drugs, instruments and auxiliary products that enter the human body or directly contact the surface of the human body. The production and circulation of these medical products need to ensure strict hygiene conditions, especially the drugs that enter the human body directly through injection.

[0003] In addition, biological active preparations such as blood products and vaccines in drugs not only need strict hygiene and temperature environment during production and circulation, but also cannot be impacted to avoid damage to active cells therein.

[0004] Medical products usually need to go through multiple links such as original factory, distribution agency and medical institution from raw material production to use, and will go through multiple storage and sorting operations. Taking blood products as an example, human blood as raw material will go through multiple links such as blood donation point, factory, blood station and medical institution, and each link needs to ensure qualified and compliant storage conditions. According to the Blood Storage Requirements issued by the Ministry of Health, various blood products have strict storage specification requirements. For example, the storage temperature of red blood cells is 2-6℃, and the storage temperature of plasma is below-18℃. Therefore, blood products are usually stored in a closed low-temperature cold storage, and blood sorting should be carried out at the same temperature.

[0005] In order to maintain a sterile or low-temperature environment, it is necessary to minimize the impact of personnel on the storage environment and reduce the need for personnel to enter the warehouse. Therefore, an automated system that can completely replace manual sorting for outbound and inbound sorting is needed to carry out warehouse operations of medical products.

[0006] A Chinese patent with patent number CN112239042A discloses an intelligent access system with storage and sorting functions using two-level sorting logic, but the two-level sorting device in the technical solution of the patent document has the disadvantages of complex structure, high cold storage space occupancy rate and high energy consumption, and the complex structure brings system reliability problems. SUMMARY

[0007] In view of the above, the present application provides a mobile sorting system. The system has a simple structure, can efficiently and lowly consume energy to complete the automatic outbound and inbound of medical products, and can also realize the automatic sorting of medical products in the warehouse according to orders while occupying a small space in the warehouse. The present application is especially suitable for the warehousing operation of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products of biological pharmaceuticals and blood products, including production plants, transfer stations and terminal hospitals and other institutions.

[0008] It should be noted that the sorting basket referred to in the present application refers to a container for temporarily storing medical supplies; liquid medical supplies, which directly use hard packaging outside, or first bagging packaging, and then secondary packaging with a hard box.

[0009] A mobile sorting system comprises a mobile sorting robot moving along a fixed line, and a shelf arranged along the fixed line;

[0010] The shelf is used to store storage baskets, and the storage baskets are used to store medical supplies;

[0011] The mobile sorting robot is provided with telescopic forks, a sorting table and a mechanical hand:

[0012] The sorting table is provided with basket positions for placing storage baskets and sorting baskets, and the mechanical hand is used to transfer medical supplies between the storage baskets and the sorting baskets;

[0013] The telescopic forks are used to move the storage baskets and the sorting baskets between the sorting table and the shelf.

[0014] Preferably, the storage basket is open at the top and has a through hole at the bottom;

[0015] It also includes a tappet, which is used to lift the medical supplies from the through hole when the mechanical hand takes out or puts medical supplies into the storage basket.

[0016] Preferably, the sorting basket has the same specifications as the storage basket, the sorting table is provided with at least two basket positions arranged side by side, and the sorting table is provided with a gantry that slides along the direction of the basket position arrangement or perpendicular to the direction of the basket position arrangement;

[0017] The mechanical hand is installed on the upper part of the gantry, and the tappet is installed on the lower part of the gantry, and the installation position of the tappet is below the sorting table;

[0018] The middle part of the basket position of the sorting table is hollowed out for the tappet to pass through the sorting table.

[0019] Preferably, the sorting table is arranged adjacent to the side of the telescopic forks in the non- telescopic direction;

[0020] When the storage basket or the sorting basket is transferred between the telescopic forks and the sorting table, the tappet is inserted into the through hole, and then the storage basket or the sorting basket is moved by the gantry.

[0021] Preferably, the telescopic forks are provided with a rotating positioning plate, which is used to position the storage basket or the sorting basket, so that the tappet can be accurately inserted into the through hole at the bottom of the storage basket or the sorting basket.

[0022] Preferably, the storage basket is provided with a plurality of vertical storage compartments, and each storage compartment is provided with a through hole at the bottom.

[0023] Preferably, the shelf is a multi-layer shelf, and the mobile sorting robot is further provided with a lifting seat, and the telescopic fork is installed on the lifting seat.

[0024] Preferably, the telescopic fork is a bidirectional telescopic fork, which can be vertically telescoped to one side of the fixed line or vertically telescoped to the other side of the fixed line.

[0025] Preferably, the cold storage is further included, and the mobile sorting robot and the shelf are located in the cold storage.

[0026] The conveying belt is further included, one end of the conveying belt is located outside the periphery of the fixed line, and the other end of the conveying belt is located outside the cold storage.

[0027] Preferably, the control device is further included, and the control device is located outside the cold storage.

[0028] The two-level sorting mode in the background art adopts a primary sorting device to sort out the storage basket from the shelf to a sorting position, and a secondary sorting device located at the sorting position to further sort out the medical supplies. Compared with the background art, the beneficial effects of the present application are: the present application completes the operations of taking out the storage basket-sorting out the medical supplies-returning the storage basket by the mobile sorting robot once, reduces the frequency of reciprocating movement of the mobile sorting robot, and improves the efficiency; the sorting mechanism and the mobile robot are integrated, and mainly occupy the space of the mobile path of the mobile sorting robot, more shelves can be arranged on both sides of the path, and the space utilization rate of the cold storage is correspondingly improved; since the number of components is reduced, the structure is simplified, the reliability is improved, and the cost is reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0029] The present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the embodiments and the drawings, in which:

[0030] Figure 1 is a planar layout diagram of the mobile sorting system.

[0031] Figure 2 is a side view of the mobile sorting robot.

[0032] Figure 3 is a front view of the mobile sorting robot.

[0033] Figure 4 is a top view of the mobile sorting robot.

[0034] Figure 5 is a cooperation schematic diagram of the telescopic fork carrying the storage basket.

[0035] Explanation of reference signs:

[0036] 1-Storage basket, 11-Perforation, 12-Storage compartment, 2-Telescopic fork, 21-Limit plate, 22-Rotating positioning plate, 3-Sorting table, 31-Basket position, 4-Robot arm, 5-Pole, 6-Gantry frame, 7-Lifting seat, 8-Conveyor belt, 9-Control cabinet, 100-Cold storage, 200-Shelf, 300-Mobile sorting robot. Detailed Implementation

[0037] To make the technical problems to be solved, the technical solutions, and the beneficial effects of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0038] Therefore, a feature pointed out in this specification is used to describe one feature of one embodiment of the invention, and does not imply that every embodiment of the invention must have the described feature. Furthermore, it should be noted that this specification describes many features. Although certain features may be combined to illustrate possible system designs, these features may also be used in other combinations not explicitly stated. Therefore, unless otherwise stated, the described combinations are not intended to be limiting.

[0039] The principles of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0040] The mobile sorting system in this embodiment is more suitable for blood banks and hospitals. Of course, its principle can also be applied to other medical supplies, other medical institutions, other material transfer agencies and manufacturers. Depending on actual needs, the blood box in this embodiment can be changed to other medical supplies.

[0041] In this embodiment, the blood box refers to blood products that are repackaged in a rigid box.

[0042] After being disinfected and separated, blood products are packaged in blood bags. Depending on the type, blood bags that need to be refrigerated are stored in liquid form, while blood bags that need to be frozen are frozen into blocks before being stored. To fully protect the blood bags, they are repackaged in hard boxes before being placed on the shelves. These boxes are then placed into storage baskets according to blood type, and the baskets are then placed on the blood bank shelves for storage.

[0043] To ensure the safety of blood transfusion patients, blood boxes and storage baskets are labeled with codes, and the entire process of entering and leaving the warehouse is controlled through a system.

[0044] like Figures 1-3 The mobile sorting system shown is a complete product used to store blood products and can automatically sort them out for storage and warehousing.

[0045] The mobile sorting system is surrounded by a square cold storage 100, and inside the cold storage 100, there are shelves 200 for storing blood bags.

[0046] After the blood bags are packed, they are first packed into a square blood box using a hard paper box, then the blood box is placed into a dedicated storage basket 1, and then the storage basket 1 is placed on the shelf 200; each storage basket 1 stores the same type of blood box, such as all A type blood.

[0047] The shelves 200 are arranged on both sides of the cold storage 100 in the width direction, and a mobile sorting robot 300 is arranged in the passage between the two shelves 200.

[0048] The sorting basket is a container for temporarily storing blood boxes. In this embodiment, the sorting basket has the same specifications as the storage basket, and in actual operation, it can be understood as an idle storage basket that is temporarily called. When the basket is used for long-term storage of blood boxes, it is a storage basket, and when it is used for sorting turnover, it is a sorting basket.

[0049] In order to complete the above work, the mobile sorting robot is provided with a telescopic fork 2, a sorting table 3 and a mechanical hand 4;

[0050] The sorting table 3 is provided with a basket position for placing the storage basket 1 and the sorting basket, and the mechanical hand 4 is used to transfer the blood box between the storage basket 1 and the sorting basket;

[0051] The telescopic fork 2 is used to move the storage basket 1 and the sorting basket between the sorting table 3 and the shelf 200.

[0052] Ordinary materials can be transferred by the mechanical hand 4 through grabbing or adsorption, but blood products are relatively fragile. During the transfer of the blood box between the storage basket and the sorting basket, if it is loose and falls or the clamping force is too large, it is easy to cause the blood bag inside the blood box to break, or the cells in the blood product to be damaged due to external impact, so attention should be paid to protection during the turnover process. Therefore, in this embodiment, a tappet 5 is used in cooperation with the mechanical hand 4 to take out the blood box from the storage basket 1, or put the blood box into the storage basket 1. Of course, it also includes taking and placing the blood box in the sorting basket.

[0053] The upper part of the storage basket 1 is open, and a plurality of vertical storage compartments 12 are arranged therein, and the blood box is placed in the storage compartment 12 in a standing posture, and the bottom of each storage compartment 12 is provided with a through hole 11;

[0054] When the blood bag blood box needs to be sorted out, the tappet rises from the through hole 11 at the bottom of the storage basket 1, lifts the blood box, the mechanical hand above the blood box grabs or adsorbs the upper part of the blood bag blood box and rises until the blood box is completely separated from the storage basket, and then moves horizontally to the turnover basket to place the blood box in a predetermined storage compartment of the sorting basket. During the lifting of the blood box, the tappet and the mechanical hand move synchronously.

[0055] Since the storage basket 1 has multiple storage compartments 12, the robotic arm 4 and the push rod 5 need to move synchronously to the designated storage compartment 12; in this embodiment, a ring-shaped gantry frame 6 is designed, the robotic arm 4 is installed on the crossbar at the top of the gantry frame 6, and the push rod 5 is installed at the bottom of the gantry frame.

[0056] The ring-shaped gantry 6 ensures that the robotic arm 4 and the push rod 5 remain synchronized as the gantry moves, and that the robotic arm 4 and the push rod 5 move on the same vertical line when picking out or putting in a blood box.

[0057] The sorting table 3 has at least two basket positions 31 arranged side by side, and the middle of each basket position 31 is hollowed out; one basket position 31 is used to place the storage basket 1 to be sorted, and the other basket position 31 is used to place the sorting basket.

[0058] The gantry frame 6 is installed on the sorting table 3 and moves perpendicular to the direction of basket arrangement. The gantry of the gantry frame 6 spans two basket positions along the direction of basket arrangement. The robotic arm 4 is located above the sorting table 3, and the push rod 5 is located below the sorting table 3. The push rod can pass through the hollow sorting table 3 and enter the storage basket 1 or the through hole at the bottom of the sorting basket.

[0059] During sorting, robotic arm 4 moves above the designated blood box via gantry 6. At this time, lever 5 is located below the designated blood box. Then, robotic arm 4 and lever 5 work together to remove the blood box. After the blood box rises to the set height, lever 5 retracts and resets. Robotic arm 4 moves with gantry 6 above the designated storage compartment 12. Lever 5 rises to the bottom of the blood box to lift it. Then, robotic arm 4 and lever 5 work together to place the blood box into storage compartment 12. Robotic arm 4 and lever 5 reset, ready for the next round of picking.

[0060] like Figure 4 As shown, this embodiment utilizes the strut 5 and the gantry 6 to move the storage basket 1 or sorting basket between the basket position 31 and the telescopic fork 2;

[0061] The sorting table 3 is installed adjacent to the telescopic fork 2 on one side along the moving direction of the mobile sorting robot 300. When the storage basket 1 or the sorting basket moves, the push rod 5 is first inserted into the through hole at the bottom of the basket, and then the gantry 6 is controlled to move. The storage basket 1 or the sorting basket is pulled onto the basket position 31 or pushed onto the telescopic fork 2 through the gantry 6.

[0062] In order to obtain more storage space, the shelf 200 in this embodiment is a multi-layer shelf, and the mobile sorting robot 300 is also equipped with a lifting seat 7, and the telescopic forks 2 are installed on the lifting seat 7.

[0063] The telescopic fork 2 has three levels of fork plates. During operation, the storage basket 1 or sorting basket is mounted on the top level fork plate of the telescopic fork 2. Figure 5 A diagram is provided showing the telescopic fork 2 mounted on a storage basket 1;

[0064] The telescopic fork 2 is square in shape, and the telescopic direction is consistent with the long direction of the square. Limiting plates 21 are arranged on both sides of the telescopic fork 2 in the width direction, and the limiting plates 21 are used to limit the side movement of the storage baskets or sorting baskets.

[0065] After the telescopic fork 2 picks up the storage basket or sorting basket, it needs to be positioned in order to accurately align the through hole of the basket bottom. Therefore, the telescopic fork 2 is provided with a rotating positioning plate 22 in the telescopic direction, which blocks the movement of the storage basket or sorting basket along with the telescopic fork 2 to complete the positioning. When positioning is not needed, the rotating positioning plate 22 is flipped to leave a passage.

[0066] As shown in the drawings, the telescopic fork 2 is provided with a rotating positioning plate 22 in the telescopic direction in the present embodiment, which blocks the movement of the storage basket or sorting basket along with the telescopic fork 2 to complete the positioning. When positioning is not needed, the rotating positioning plate 22 is flipped to leave a passage. Figure 5 The rotating positioning plate 22 is arranged on the side away from the sorting table, so as to avoid blocking the movement of the storage basket 1 or the turnover basket to the sorting table 3. Before moving the storage basket 1 or the turnover basket, the telescopic fork 2 adjusts the height through the lifting seat 7, so that the top fork plate is on the same plane as the sorting table 3.

[0067] In order to obtain more storage space, shelves 200 are arranged on both sides of the cold storage channel. The telescopic fork 2 is a bidirectional telescopic fork that telescopes vertically to both sides.

[0068] Therefore, the telescopic fork 2 is provided with two rotating positioning plates 22 in the telescopic direction, which respectively position the storage baskets and sorting baskets taken out from the shelves in different directions.

[0069] In order to avoid the loss of cold air inside the cold storage 100 and improve the efficiency of the storage basket or sorting basket entering and leaving the warehouse, the present embodiment further provides a conveyor belt 8. One end of the conveyor belt 8 is located on the periphery of the moving route of the mobile sorting robot 300 and is parallel to the moving route, and the other end is located outside the cold storage 100.

[0070] In the present embodiment, a control cabinet 9 is also installed outside the cold storage 100, and the management personnel controls the operation of the mobile sorting system through the control cabinet 9.

[0071] The sorting logic of the present embodiment is as follows:

[0072] The orders received by the system include outbound orders and inbound orders, and the orders contain a certain number of single blood type or multiple blood type blood boxes. After the system traverses the orders, specific action instructions are issued to the mobile sorting robot 300:

[0073]

[0074] ​When the blood boxes are taken out, the mobile sorting robot 300 carries the empty sorting basket to the designated shelf 200 to take out the designated storage basket 1, takes out the required blood boxes, and then puts the storage basket 1 back to the shelf 200; then moves to the next designated position to continue taking out the basket, taking out the blood boxes, and putting back the basket until all the blood boxes of the order are sorted. After the sorting is completed, the mobile sorting robot 300 puts the sorting basket into the conveyor belt 8 and sends the sorting basket out of the cold storage 100; or sends the sorting basket into the shelf 200 for temporary storage, and then sends the sorting basket out of the cold storage 100 through the conveyor belt 8 when needed. According to the current situation of blood management in many hospitals, the hospital will make a blood use plan in advance, and the present application can be sorted in advance during the idle time and stored in the cold storage, and then sent out of the cold storage when needed, which reduces the time length of the blood boxes at room temperature and avoids the waiting time for blood use; the sorted blood boxes are directly sent out of the cold storage, which is mainly used for emergency blood use.

[0075] When the blood boxes are taken out, the mobile sorting robot 300 carries the empty sorting basket to the designated shelf 200 to take out the designated storage basket 1, takes out the required blood boxes, and then puts the storage basket 1 back to the shelf 200; then moves to the next designated position to continue taking out the basket, taking out the blood boxes, and putting back the basket until all the blood boxes of the order are sorted. After the sorting is completed, the mobile sorting robot 300 puts the sorting basket into the conveyor belt 8 and sends the sorting basket out of the cold storage 100; or sends the sorting basket into the shelf 200 for temporary storage, and then sends the sorting basket out of the cold storage 100 through the conveyor belt 8 when needed. According to the current situation of blood management in many hospitals, the hospital will make a blood use plan in advance, and the present application can be sorted in advance during the idle time and stored in the cold storage, and then sent out of the cold storage when needed, which reduces the time length of the blood boxes at room temperature and avoids the waiting time for blood use; the sorted blood boxes are directly sent out of the cold storage, which is mainly used for emergency blood use.

[0076] The above only describes the preferred embodiments of the present application and does not limit the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A mobile sorting system, characterized in that, This includes a mobile sorting robot that moves along a fixed route, and shelves arranged along the fixed route; The shelf is used to store storage baskets, and the storage baskets are used to store medical supplies; The mobile sorting robot is equipped with telescopic forks, a sorting table, and a robotic arm. The sorting table is provided with basket positions for placing storage baskets and sorting baskets. The robotic arm is used to transfer medical supplies between the storage baskets and sorting baskets. The sorting table is provided with a gantry frame and also includes a push rod. The robotic arm is installed on the upper part of the gantry frame, and the push rod is installed on the lower part of the gantry frame, with the push rod installed below the sorting table. The sorting table has a hollowed-out section in the middle of the basket, which allows the push rod to pass through the sorting table; The telescopic forks are used to move the storage baskets and sorting baskets between the sorting station and the shelf.

2. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The storage basket has an opening at the top and a through hole at the bottom; the push rod is used to extend into the storage basket through the through hole to lift the medical supplies when the robotic arm takes out medical supplies from the storage basket or puts medical supplies into the storage basket.

3. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The sorting basket is the same size as the storage basket. The sorting table has at least two basket positions arranged side by side. The sorting table is equipped with a gantry that slides along the basket position arrangement direction or perpendicular to the basket position arrangement direction.

4. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The sorting station is located adjacent to one side of the telescopic fork in the non-telescopic direction; When the storage basket or sorting basket is transferred between the telescopic forks and the sorting table, the movement is driven by inserting the push rod into the through hole and then moving the gantry frame.

5. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The telescopic forks are equipped with a rotating positioning plate along the telescopic direction; The rotating positioning plate is used to position the storage basket or sorting basket so that the push rod can be accurately inserted into the through hole at the bottom of the storage basket or sorting basket.

6. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The storage basket has multiple vertical storage compartments, each with a perforation at the bottom.

7. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The shelf is a multi-layer shelf, and the mobile sorting robot is also equipped with a lifting platform, on which the telescopic forks are mounted.

8. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The telescopic fork is a two-way telescopic fork, which can extend vertically to one side of the fixed route or extend vertically to the other side of the fixed route.

9. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a cold storage facility, where the mobile sorting robot and shelves are located; It also includes a conveyor belt, one end of which is located outside the fixed line, and the other end is located outside the cold storage.

10. The mobile sorting system as described in claim 9, characterized in that, It also includes a control device located outside the cold storage.

Images