Automatic palletizing method and computer program product for packages implemented by means of a computer program

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of automatic stacking method and computer program product of package by computer program implementation.The method comprises the following steps: S7, the packaged each package is successively transported to stacking robot;S8, let stacking robot to each package according to stacking scheme layer by layer is stacked, wherein, stacking scheme contains stacking layer, the stacking position and stacking sequence of each layer package;S7 executes S70 in the conveying process: for each package, judge whether its in the sorting position in current package conveying sequence meets the preset stacking sequence, if not, then execute S71: temporarily suspend the conveying of the package, until its in the sorting position in package conveying sequence meets the stacking sequence, then resume the conveying of the package.The method ensures that the order of package arrival stacking station meets the package stacking sequence, ensures that stacking robot can normally layer by layer to each package is stacked.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of package palletizing technology, and in particular to an automatic package palletizing method and computer program product implemented using a computer program. Background Technology

[0002] With the development of mechanical automation and intelligentization, many manufacturing plants are using robots to automate production lines, reducing labor costs and improving production efficiency. The home furnishing manufacturing industry involves processes such as panel packaging and palletizing. Some home furnishing companies have proposed an automated palletizing production line. This line automatically determines the required panel sizes and quantities based on order information, then divides the panels into multiple packages according to subcontracting rules, creating a panel subcontracting scheme. A palletizing algorithm automatically calculates the corresponding palletizing scheme, which includes the number of palletizing layers, the palletizing position of each layer, and the palletizing order. Operators subcontract the panels into multiple packages according to the subcontracting scheme and then transport each package to a palletizing robot according to the palletizing order. The robot automatically palletizes each package according to the scheme. Since robot palletizing speed is much higher than manual packaging speed, to improve production efficiency, automated palletizing production lines typically have one palletizing station and multiple parallel manual packaging stations. These multiple manual packaging stations work together to transport packages to the palletizing station. Because different manual packaging stations have different output speeds, the order in which packages arrive at the palletizing station may not conform to the palletizing sequence in the palletizing plan. This may cause packages to pile up at the palletizing station, leading to the automatic palletizing production line crashing and stopping. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by this invention is how to avoid the order in which packages arrive at the palletizing station not conforming to the package palletizing sequence.

[0004] To address the aforementioned technical problems, this invention provides an automatic package palletizing method implemented using a computer program, comprising the following steps:

[0005] S7. The packaged packages are sequentially transported to the palletizing robot. Each package is obtained by packaging the boards according to the board sub-packaging scheme. Each package includes at least one board.

[0006] S8. Instruct the palletizing robot to palletize each package that arrives in sequence according to the palletizing scheme, which includes the number of palletizing layers, the palletizing position of each package, and the palletizing order.

[0007] S7 executes S70 during the conveying process: For each package, determine whether its sorting position in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset stacking sequence. If it does not conform, execute S71: Temporarily suspend the conveying of the package until its sorting position in the package conveying sequence conforms to the stacking sequence, and then resume the conveying of the package.

[0008] Furthermore, this includes the following steps performed prior to S7:

[0009] S1. Determine the required sheet metal of various sizes and quantities based on the order information;

[0010] S2. Based on the various sizes and quantities of panels required by the order, the panel subcontracting scheme for the order is derived according to the preset subcontracting rules. The panel subcontracting scheme contains panel information for each package, and the panel information includes at least one size of panel and its quantity.

[0011] S3. Based on the board subcontracting scheme of the order, the palletizing scheme is automatically calculated according to the preset palletizing algorithm.

[0012] Furthermore, S70 is implemented as follows: it determines whether the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, and accordingly determines whether the sorting position of the package in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence. If the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, it is determined that the sorting position of the package in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence; otherwise, it is determined that it does not conform.

[0013] Furthermore: Each package has a corresponding identification code affixed to it; in S70, the identification code on each package is scanned to obtain the palletizing layer to which the package belongs.

[0014] Furthermore, the method is applied to an automated palletizing production line, which includes a conveyor chain and, sequentially, a panel outbound section, a manual packaging section, an automated box sealing section, and an automated palletizing section. The panel outbound section includes a sorting channel equipped with a sorting robot and a stacking channel equipped with a stacking robot. The method includes the following steps performed between S3 and S7:

[0015] S4. Control the sorting robot to sort and output the panels of each package in sequence according to the panel information of each package;

[0016] S5. Control the stacking robot to stack the boards according to the board information of each package, and then transport the stacked boards to the manual packaging section in the form of packages. The operators will pack them into boxes and attach identification codes to the boxes, and then output them.

[0017] S6. Transport the packages output from the manual packaging section to the automatic sealing section, and use the sealing machine to automatically seal and package the packages to obtain the packaged packages.

[0018] Furthermore: there are multiple sorting robots and multiple stacking robots. The sorting robots are located in multiple sorting channels, and the stacking robots are located in multiple stacking channels. Each sorting channel corresponds to each stacking channel. In S4, the boards are sorted layer by layer from low to high according to the stacking layer, and the boards are stacked in turn by each sorting robot in turn according to each stacking robot in turn.

[0019] Furthermore:

[0020] The manual packaging section has multiple manual packaging channels, and the exits of each manual packaging channel converge at the automatic sealing section;

[0021] S5 transports the stacked panels to the manual packaging section in units of packages. Specifically, according to the package transport sequence, after allocating the first batch of packages to all manual packaging channels, if a package is output from any manual packaging channel, the next package is added to that manual packaging channel accordingly.

[0022] This includes S60, executed between S5 and S6. For each manual packaging channel, if the palletizing layer of the currently output package is higher than the lowest palletizing layer among all the current palletizing layers of packages in other manual packaging channels by a preset number of layers, then the delivery of the package is paused. Delivery of the package will only resume after all packages of the lowest palletizing layer in other manual packaging channels have entered the automatic sealing section. The preset number of layers is at least 2.

[0023] Furthermore, S71 specifically: temporarily removes the package from the conveyor line, allowing subsequent packages to continue to be conveyed for the palletizing robot to palletize layer by layer. Only when the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot reaches the palletizing layer to which the package belongs is the package placed back on the conveyor line for the palletizing robot to palletize the package.

[0024] The present invention also provides a computer program product, including a computer program that is executed by a processor to implement the automatic palletizing method for packages as described above.

[0025] The automatic package palletizing method S7 provided by this invention executes S70 during the package conveying process: For each package, it is determined whether its sorting position in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence. If it does not conform, then S71 is executed: The conveying of the package is temporarily suspended until its sorting position in the package conveying sequence conforms to the palletizing sequence before the conveying of the package is resumed. In this way, it can be ensured that the order in which packages arrive at the palletizing station conforms to the package palletizing sequence, and that the palletizing robot can normally palletize each package layer by layer. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of an automated package palletizing production line.

[0027] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the plan structure of an automated package palletizing production line.

[0028] Figure 3 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of a chain-type cache mechanism.

[0029] Figure 4 This is a front view of the chain buffer mechanism with all shelves raised above the conveyor chain.

[0030] Figure 5 This is a front view of the chain buffer mechanism when it is flush with the conveyor chain at the top of the shelf.

[0031] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the number of palletizing layers in the palletizing scheme.

[0032] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram showing the allocation of panels by package in each sorting and stacking channel of the panel outbound section.

[0033] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the planar structure of the automatic sealing section, chain buffer section, and automatic palletizing section in a modified embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0034] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments.

[0035] Automatic palletizing production line for packages, such as Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown, the system includes a conveyor chain 100 and, sequentially, a panel outbound section 1, a manual packaging section 3, an automatic box sealing section 4, a chain buffer and sequencing section 5, and an automatic palletizing section 6. It also includes a control system (not shown) that controls the equipment connecting the conveyor chain and the relevant equipment in each of the above sections. The processor of this control system can execute computer programs to implement an automatic package palletizing method. The process of the control system executing the automatic package palletizing method is described in detail below.

[0036] S1. Determine the required sizes and quantities of boards for the order based on the order information.

[0037] After receiving a customer order, the control system determines the various sizes and quantities of panels required to manufacture the furniture based on the furniture model and quantity in the order.

[0038] S2. Based on the various sizes and quantities of panels required by the order, derive the panel subcontracting plan for the order according to the preset subcontracting rules. The panel subcontracting plan contains panel information for each package, and the panel information includes at least one size of panel and its quantity.

[0039] The control system has preset subcontracting rules, such as: dividing all panels into multiple categories according to size, with the size difference between panels in each category not exceeding a threshold; if the cumulative height of panels in a single category does not exceed a height threshold, they are considered as one package; if they exceed the height threshold, the height threshold is used as the dividing line to divide the panels in that category into two or more packages. Based on the various sizes and quantities of panels required by the order, the control system derives a panel subcontracting plan according to the preset subcontracting rules. The subcontracting plan contains panel information for each package, including at least one size of panel and its quantity. For example, all panels required by the order can be subcontracted into 16 packages, each package containing its own panel information, including at least one size of panel and its quantity.

[0040] S3. Based on the board subcontracting plan of the order, automatically calculate the palletizing plan according to the preset palletizing algorithm.

[0041] The control system has pre-set palletizing algorithms, such as those commonly used in the industry. After determining the panel subcontracting scheme, the control system automatically calculates the palletizing plan according to the pre-set algorithm based on the order's panel subcontracting scheme. The palletizing plan includes the number of palletizing layers, the palletizing position of each layer of packages, and the palletizing order.

[0042] S4. Control the sorting robot to sort and output the panels of each package in sequence according to the panel information of each package. S5. Control the stacking robot to stack the panels according to the panel information of each package, and then transport the stacked panels to the manual packaging section in package units. The operators pack the packages into boxes, affix identification codes to the boxes, and then output them.

[0043] The board outbound section 1 has three sorting channels 11, 12, and 13 and three stacking channels 21, 22, and 23, with each sorting channel 11, 12, and 13 corresponding to each stacking channel 21, 22, and 23. The conveyor chain 100 has three parallel sections at the board outbound section 1, corresponding to the three sorting channels 11, 12, and 13 and the stacking channels 21, 22, and 23, respectively. Each sorting channel 11, 12, and 13 has 2 to 3 sorting robots 14, and each stacking channel 21, 22, and 23 has one stacking robot 24. The control system, according to the board information of each package in the board sub-packaging scheme, controls the sorting robots 14 in each sorting channel to sort the boards by package and place them onto the conveyor chain 100 in turn. The conveyor chain 100 then transports the boards to the corresponding stacking channels 21, 22, and 23, where the corresponding stacking robots 24 stack them in turn. The palletizing scheme is as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the palletizing system has three layers. The first layer has four packages (A1, A2, A3, A4); the second layer has five packages (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5); and the third layer has six packages (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6). The control system distributes the packages sequentially to the sorting channels 11, 12, 13 and the stacking channels 21, 22, 23, according to the palletizing layer from bottom to top. Figure 7As shown, package A1 is assigned to sorting channel 11 and stacking channel 21; package A2 is assigned to sorting channel 12 and stacking channel 22; package A3 is assigned to sorting channel 13 and stacking channel 23; package A4 is assigned to sorting channel 11 and stacking channel 21; package B1 is assigned to sorting channel 12 and stacking channel 22; package B2 is assigned to sorting channel 13 and stacking channel 23; package B3 is assigned to sorting channel 11 and stacking channel 21; and package B4 is assigned to sorting channel 12 and stacking channel 22. Channel 12 and stacking channel 22, package B5 is assigned to sorting channel 13 and stacking channel 23, package C1 is assigned to sorting channel 11 and stacking channel 21, package C2 is assigned to sorting channel 12 and stacking channel 22, package C3 is assigned to sorting channel 13 and stacking channel 23, package C4 is assigned to sorting channel 11 and stacking channel 21, package C5 is assigned to sorting channel 12 and stacking channel 22, and package C6 is assigned to sorting channel 13 and stacking channel 23. Then, the control system controls the sorting robots 14 of each sorting channel 11, 12, and 13 to sort the panels into packages and place them onto the conveyor chain 100 in turn. The conveyor chain 100 then transports the panels to the corresponding stacking channels 21, 22, and 23. The stacking robots 24 of each stacking channel 21, 22, and 24 stack the panels from the conveyor chain 100 into packages. The details are as follows, in chronological order: according to the panel sorting... The system controls the sorting robot 14 in sorting channel 11 to sort the panels of package A1 onto the conveyor chain 100 and transport them to the stacking channel 21, where the stacking robot 24 stacks the panels of package A1; the system controls the sorting robot 14 in sorting channel 12 to sort the panels of package A2 onto the conveyor chain 100 and transport them to the stacking channel 22, where the stacking robot 24 stacks the panels of package A2; the system controls the sorting channel 13... Sorting robot 14 sorts the panels of package A3 onto conveyor chain 100 and conveys them to stacking channel 23, where stacking robot 24 stacks the panels of package A3; sorting robot 14, controlling sorting channel 11, sorts the panels of package A4 onto conveyor chain 100 and conveys them to stacking channel 21, where stacking robot 24 stacks the panels of package A4; sorting robot 14, controlling sorting channel 12, sorts the panels of package B1 onto conveyor chain 100. Package B1 is conveyed to stacking channel 22, where stacking robot 24 stacks the plates. Sorting robot 14 in sorting channel 13 sorts package B2 onto conveyor chain 100 and conveys it to stacking channel 23, where stacking robot 24 stacks the plates. This process continues until all package plates are sorted and conveyed onto conveyor chain 100 to the corresponding stacking channels 21, 22, and 23, where stacking robot 24 stacks them. Figure 2As shown, the board outbound section includes an outbound channel 25 shared by three stacking channels 21, 22, and 23. The chain segment of the conveyor chain 100 at the outbound channel 25 is not directly connected to its chain segments at the stacking channels 21, 22, and 23. The stacking robot 24 stacks the boards on the chain segments at the stacking channels 21, 22, and 23 sequentially at the corresponding positions of the chain segments at the outbound channel 25, in units of packages. The stacking process is as follows: Package A1 has four plates. The stacking robot 24 in the stacking channel 21 stacks the plates one by one from the stacking channel 21 to the corresponding position of the chain segment of the conveyor chain 100 at the outbound channel 25, performing a total of four stacking operations, stacking layer by layer, to obtain the four-layer stacked plates of package A1. Package A2 has only one plate. The stacking robot 24 in the stacking channel 22 stacks the plates one by one from the stacking channel 22 to the corresponding position of the chain segment of the conveyor chain 100 at the outbound channel 25. Since package A2 has only one plate, only one stacking operation is needed to obtain the stacked plates of package A2. The stacking process for the other packages is similar and will not be described in detail.

[0044] The pallets stacked by the various stacking robots 24 are sequentially transported by the conveyor chain 100 to the manual packaging section 3 according to the stacking order. Specifically: after the three stacking robots 24 have stacked the first package's pallets A1, A2, and A3 in their respective stacking channels, the conveyor chain 100 sends these three packages A1, A2, and A3 together to the manual packaging section 3. After the three stacking robots 24 have stacked the second package's pallets A4, B1, and B2 in their respective stacking channels, the conveyor chain 100 sends these three packages A4, B1, and B2 together to the manual packaging section 3. In packaging section 3, after the three stacking robots 24 have stacked the second package pieces B3, B4, and B5 in their respective stacking channels, the conveyor chain 100 sends these three packages B3, B4, and B5 together to manual packaging section 3. This process continues until all packages are sent to manual packaging section 3 according to the stacking order (A1, A2, A3, A4 → B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 → C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, with no particular order among packages within a layer, and packages on the starting side of the arrow preceding packages on the ending side of the arrow).

[0045] The manual packaging section 3 is equipped with one board loading channel 30 and two manual packaging channels 31 and 32. The conveyor chain 100 travels through the board loading channel 30 and each manual packaging channel 31 and 32. A paper cutter (not shown) is installed at the board loading channel 30. The paper cutter cuts the cardboard required for packaging according to the board information of each package that is moved into the board loading channel 30 in sequence. The conveyor chain 100 has a packing position (not shown) at the corresponding board loading channel 30. The operator of the board loading channel 30 lays the cardboard corresponding to the current package with the inner side facing up on the packing position. The control system controls the conveyor chain 100 to drive the stacked board of the package to the cardboard laid flat on the packing position. The operator sorts the board on the cardboard, packs it into a package, affixes an identification code to the box, and then the conveyor chain 100 sends the package to the manual packaging channel. This embodiment has two manual packaging channels 31 and 32. At each manual packaging channel 31 and 32, the operator puts foam blocks into the packages moving through the channel to achieve anti-collision filling.The work efficiency of operators in each manual packaging channel 31 and 32 typically varies. Therefore, the control system allocates packages to the two manual packaging channels 31 and 32 based on the package conveying sequence and the number of packages queuing in each channel. The allocation process is as follows: The current conveying sequence of each package on the conveyor chain 100 is A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6. The control system first... Based on the maximum number of packages that can be queued in the manual packaging channels, the conveyor chain 100 is controlled to sequentially send the corresponding packages to the two manual packaging channels 31 and 32 according to the package delivery sequence. For example, if the maximum number of packages that can be queued in the manual packaging channels is 3, then the two manual packaging channels 31 and 32 will alternately allocate the 6 packages A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, and B2. That is, the first manual packaging channel 31 will be allocated three packages A1, A3, and B1 in sequence, and the second manual packaging channel 32 will be allocated packages A2, A4, B5, and B6. Packages A1, B2, and B3 are packaged in three separate manual packaging channels. Following this, whenever a manual packaging channel 31 or 32 completes the anti-collision filling of a package, the next package is sent to that channel according to the package conveying sequence. For example, if the second manual packaging channel 32 completes the anti-collision filling of package A2 first, meaning the number of packages in the queue for the second manual packaging channel 32 changes from 3 to 2, the control system will control the conveyor chain 100 to send package B3 to the second manual packaging channel 32. After a while, the second manual packaging channel... Packaging channel 32 has completed the anti-collision filling of package A4, meaning the number of packages in the queue of the second manual packaging channel 32 has changed from 3 to 2. The control system then controls the conveyor chain 100 to send package B4 to the second manual packaging channel 32. After a while, the first manual packaging channel 31 has completed the anti-collision filling of package A1, meaning the number of packages in the queue of the first manual packaging channel 31 has changed from 3 to 2. The control system then controls the conveyor chain 100 to send package B5 to the first manual packaging channel 31, and so on.

[0046] S6. Transport the packages output from the manual packaging section to the automatic sealing section, and use the sealing machine to automatically seal and package the packages to obtain the packaged packages.

[0047] The manual packaging section 3 also includes a converging channel 33. The conveyor chain 100 passes through the converging channel 33 from each of the manual packaging channels 31 and 32 and converges to the automatic sealing section 4. The packages filled by the two manual packaging channels 31 and 32 are conveyed to the automatic sealing section 4 via the converging channel 33. The automatic sealing section 4 is equipped with a sealing machine (not shown), which seals the packages that pass through the automatic sealing section 4. The sealed packages are then conveyed by the conveyor chain 100 to the chain buffer reordering section 5.

[0048] S7. The packaged packages are sequentially fed to the palletizing robot. Each package is made by packaging individual panels according to the panel sub-packaging scheme, and each package contains at least one panel. During the conveying process, S70 is executed: For each package, it is determined whether its sorting position in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing order. If it does not conform, S71 is executed: The conveying of the package is temporarily suspended until its sorting position in the package conveying sequence conforms to the palletizing order, and then the conveying of the package is resumed. S8. The palletizing robot is instructed to palletize each package that arrives sequentially according to the palletizing scheme, which includes the number of palletizing layers, the palletizing position of each layer of packages, and the palletizing order.

[0049] The linked cache reordering section 5 is equipped with a linked cache mechanism 501. For example... Figure 3 As shown, the chain-type buffer mechanism 501 includes a frame 51 mounted on a conveyor chain 100, a multi-layer shelf 52 that can be raised and lowered within the frame 51, and a lifting device 53 for driving the shelf 52 to rise and fall. Figure 3 or Figure 4 As shown, the shelves 52 are connected to each other via chains 522. Figure 5 As shown, in the initial state, all shelves of the shelf 52 except the top shelf are folded together, with the top shelf 521-1 flush with the conveyor chain 100, and the other shelves located below the conveyor chain 100. Figure 3 As shown, the chain buffer mechanism segment of the conveyor chain 100 includes multiple rolling shafts 110 arranged side-by-side along the conveying direction. Each layer of the shelf 52 includes multiple shelf rods 521 arranged side-by-side along the conveying direction. The shelf rods 521 of the shelf 52 and the rolling shafts 110 of the conveyor chain 100 are arranged alternately in the conveying direction. When a layer of the shelf 52 is flush with the conveyor chain 100, the shelf rods 521 of that layer are flush with the rolling shafts 110 of the conveyor chain 100. Figure 3As shown, this embodiment includes four sets of lifting devices 53, located at the four corners of the shelf 52. Each lifting device 53 includes a drive wheel 531, a driven wheel 532, and a transmission chain 533. The drive wheel 531 is fixed to the bottom of the frame 51, while the driven wheel 532 is fixed to the top of the frame 51. The drive wheel 531 and driven wheel 532 are connected via the transmission chain 533. The top 523 of the shelf 52 is fixed to the transmission chain 533 to follow its movement. A barcode scanner connected to the control system is located at the exit of the automatic sealing section 4. This scanner automatically scans the identification codes on packages moving from the automatic sealing section 4 to the chain-type buffer sequencing section 5 and sends the identification code information to the control system. The control system determines the palletizing layer of the package based on its identification code. The automatic palletizing section 6 includes a palletizing robot 61. The palletizing robot 61 palletizes each package arriving sequentially from the conveyor chain 100 according to the palletizing scheme, layer by layer. The control system determines whether the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 in the automatic palletizing segment 6 is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, and accordingly determines whether the package's sorting position in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence. If the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, then the package's sorting position in the package conveying sequence is determined to conform to the preset palletizing sequence; otherwise, it is determined not to conform. Package A2 is currently moving from the automatic sealing section 4 to the chain buffer reordering section 5. After the barcode scanner scans the identification code of package A2, it sends the information to the control system. The control system determines that package A2 belongs to the first layer based on the identification code. The current stacking layer of the palletizing robot 61 in the automatic palletizing section 6 is the first layer. Therefore, the current stacking layer of the palletizing robot 61 is equal to the stacking layer to which package A2 belongs. The control system determines that the sorting position of package A2 in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset stacking sequence, and there is no need to reorder package A2. Therefore, the control system controls the chain buffer mechanism 501 to remain inactive, and the conveyor chain 100 drives package A2 through the chain buffer reordering section 5 to move to the automatic palletizing section 6. The palletizing robot 61 performs palletizing on package A2, specifically placing package A2 in the corresponding position according to the palletizing position of package A2 in the palletizing scheme. After a while, package B2 moves from the automatic sealing section 4 to the chain buffer reordering section 5. The barcode scanner scans the identification code of package B2 and sends it to the control system. The control system determines that package B2 belongs to the second layer based on the identification code. However, the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 in the automatic palletizing section 6 is the first layer. Therefore, the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 is not equal to the palletizing layer to which package B2 belongs. The control system determines that the sorting position of package B2 in the current package conveying sequence does not conform to the preset palletizing order and needs to reorder package B2.Therefore, the control system controls the chain buffer mechanism 501 to perform buffer reordering action. Specifically, after the conveyor chain 100 drives the package to the position of the shelf 52, the control system controls the drive wheel 531 of each lifting device 53 to rotate counterclockwise by one stroke (one stroke corresponds to the shelf rising one layer), which drives the transmission chain 533 to rotate counterclockwise. Since the top 523 of the shelf 52 is fixed on the transmission chain 533, the counterclockwise rotation of the transmission chain 533 pulls the shelf 52 to rise one layer, causing the package B2 to rise and detach from the conveyor chain 100 (i.e., temporarily move away from the conveyor line) and rise to the next layer level with the conveyor chain 100 (i.e., rise from the highest layer 521-1 level with the conveyor chain 100 to the second highest layer level with the conveyor chain 100), thereby temporarily suspending the conveying of the package B2 (i.e., buffering the package B2). During this process, when the second-highest level of the shelving unit 52 rises to be flush with the conveyor chain 100, the shelving unit 52 vertically unfolds the second-highest level, while all levels below the second-highest level remain folded together. Each time the shelving unit 52 rises, it unfolds vertically one level. Since the next level of the shelving unit 52 is flush with the conveyor chain 100, it does not prevent the packages of the current palletizing layer from being driven through the shelving unit 52 by the palletizing robot 61 via the conveyor chain 100 to be moved to the automated palletizing section 6 for palletizing. For example, package A1 is subsequently moved from the automatic sealing section 4 to the chain buffer reordering section 5. After the barcode scanner scans the identification code of package A1, it sends it to the control system. The control system determines that package A1 belongs to the first layer based on the identification code of package A1. The current stacking layer of the palletizing robot 61 in the automatic palletizing section 6 is the first layer (the order of stacking packages within the same layer is not important). Therefore, the current stacking layer of the palletizing robot 61 is equal to the stacking layer to which package A1 belongs. The control system determines that the sorting position of package A1 in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset stacking order, and there is no need to reorder package A1. Therefore, the control system controls the chain buffer mechanism 501 to remain inactive. The conveyor chain 100 drives package A1 through the chain buffer reordering section 5, that is, through the shelf 52 of the chain buffer mechanism 501, to move to the automatic palletizing section 6. The palletizing robot 61 stacks package A1, specifically placing package A1 in the corresponding position according to the stacking position of package A1 in the stacking scheme.After the palletizing robot 61 finishes palletizing all packages A1, A2, A3, and A4 on the first layer, it proceeds to the second layer. That is, the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 is the second layer. The control system determines that the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot 61 is equal to the palletizing layer of package B2 cached on the chain buffer mechanism 501. It then controls the drive wheels 531 of each lifting device 53 of the chain buffer mechanism 501 to rotate clockwise by one stroke, driving the transmission chain 533 to rotate clockwise. This causes the shelf 52 to descend one layer, so that the layer containing package B2 is lowered to be level with the conveyor chain. This allows package B2 to return to the conveyor chain 100. The conveyor chain 100 drives package B2 through the shelf 52 of the chain buffer mechanism 501 to move to the automatic palletizing section 6. The palletizing robot 61 then pallets package B2, placing it in the corresponding position according to the palletizing plan. In this embodiment, the automated package palletizing production line includes a chain-type buffer and reordering section 5 between the automated sealing section 4 and the automated palletizing section 6. This chain-type buffer and reordering section 5 is equipped with a chain-type buffer mechanism 501, which temporarily delays the transport of packages whose current position in the package transport sequence does not conform to the palletizing sequence. Only when the package's position in the package transport sequence conforms to the palletizing sequence is the transported package resumed to the automated palletizing section for layer-by-layer palletizing. This ensures that the order in which packages arrive at the palletizing station conforms to the package palletizing sequence, guaranteeing that the automated palletizing section can properly palletize each package layer by layer.

[0050] Preferably, in order to improve cache reordering capability, this embodiment, for example... Figure 2 As shown, in the chain-type buffering and reordering segment 5, two chain-type buffering mechanisms 501 and 502 are arranged one after the other along the conveying direction of the conveyor chain 100. If each layer of the shelf 52 of the first chain-type buffering and reordering mechanism 501 has already buffered packages, the second chain-type buffering and reordering mechanism 502 is activated to buffer packages. Alternatively, the first chain-type buffering and reordering mechanism 501 is used to buffer and reorder packages in the next layer (N+1 layer) after the current palletizing layer (e.g., N layer) of the palletizing robot 61, and the second chain-type buffering mechanism 502 is used to buffer and reorder packages in the second layer (N+2 layer) after the current palletizing layer. In other modified embodiments, such as Figure 8 As shown, the two chain buffer mechanisms 501 and 502 of the chain buffer sequencing section 5 are not arranged sequentially along the conveying direction of the conveyor chain 100, but are instead arranged in two parallel buffer channels 510 and 511. The conveyor chain 100 travels to the automatic palletizing section 6 via these two buffer channels 510 and 511 respectively. In this way, packages from different layers that need to be buffered can be diverted to the chain buffer mechanisms 501 and 502 of the two buffer channels 510 and 511 for buffering.

[0051] In S60, which is executed between S5 and S6, for each manual packaging channel, if the palletizing layer of the currently output package is higher than the lowest palletizing layer among the current palletizing layers of all packages in other manual packaging channels by a preset number of layers, the delivery of the package is paused. Delivery of the package will only resume after all packages of the lowest palletizing layer in other manual packaging channels have entered the automatic sealing section. The preset number of layers is at least 2.

[0052] The reordering capability of the chain-type cache reordering segment 5 is limited. In this embodiment, the chain-type cache reordering segment 5 can only achieve cache reordering of the two layers after the current palletizing layer. If the palletizing layers of packages output from different manual packaging channels differ by more than the number of reordering layers of the chain-type cache reordering segment 5, i.e. more than 2 layers, then the reordering capability of the chain-type cache reordering segment 5 is exceeded. Therefore, in this embodiment, the conveyor chain 100 is equipped with a buffer section at the exit of the manual packaging channels 31 and 32 of the manual packaging section 3, and a corresponding layer of control logic is added. Specifically, the exit of the manual packaging channels 31 and 32 is equipped with a barcode scanner (not shown) that is connected to the control system. The barcode scanner scans the identification code of the package to be output from channel 31 and 32 and sends it to the control system. The control system determines the palletizing layer to which the package belongs based on the package identification code. If it is determined that the palletizing layer of the package output from the current manual packaging channel is 3 layers higher than the lowest palletizing layer among the current palletizing layers of all packages in another manual packaging channel (the number of layers to be adjusted by the chain buffer adjustment section 5 + 1 is used as the preset number of layers; in this embodiment, the number of layers to be adjusted by the chain buffer adjustment section 5 is 2), the control system will determine the palletizing layer to which the package belongs. Therefore, the preset number of layers in this embodiment is 2+1=3. If the number of layers in the chain buffer reordering section 5 is 1, then the preset number of layers is 1+1=2. For example, if the lowest stacking layer of each package in another manual packaging channel is layer N, and the stacking layer of the package output by the current manual packaging channel is layer N+3, then N+3 layers - N layers = 3 layers. That is, the stacking layer of the package output by the current manual packaging channel is 3 layers higher than the lowest stacking layer of each package in another manual packaging channel. Then, the control conveyor chain 100 is paused at the buffer section at the exit of the manual packaging channel, thereby pausing the conveying of the package. The conveying of the package will only resume after all the packages of the lowest stacking layer on the other manual packaging channel enter the automatic sealing section 4.

[0053] The above description is merely an embodiment of the present invention and does not limit the scope of patent protection. Any non-substantial changes or substitutions made by those skilled in the art based on the present invention will still fall within the scope of patent protection.

Claims

1. An automatic package palletizing method implemented using a computer program, comprising the following steps: S7. The packaged packages are sequentially transported to the palletizing robot. Each package is obtained by packaging the boards according to the board sub-packaging scheme. Each package includes at least one board. S8. Instruct the palletizing robot to palletize each package that arrives in sequence according to the palletizing scheme, which includes the number of palletizing layers, the palletizing position of each package, and the palletizing order. Its characteristic is that S7 executes S70 during the conveying process: for each package, it determines whether its sorting position in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset stacking sequence. If it does not conform, it executes S71: temporarily suspends the conveying of the package, and resumes the conveying of the package only when its sorting position in the package conveying sequence conforms to the stacking sequence. Each package has a corresponding identification code affixed to it; the S70 implements this as follows: scan the identification code on each package to obtain the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, determine whether the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, and determine whether the sorting position of the package in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence. If the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot is equal to the palletizing layer to which the package belongs, then the sorting position of the package in the current package conveying sequence conforms to the preset palletizing sequence; otherwise, it is determined that it does not conform. S71 Specifically: The package is temporarily moved away from the conveyor line, allowing subsequent packages to continue to be conveyed for the palletizing robot to palletize layer by layer. Only when the current palletizing layer of the palletizing robot reaches the palletizing layer to which the package belongs is the package placed back on the conveyor line for the palletizing robot to palletize the package.

2. The automatic palletizing method for packages as described in claim 1, characterized in that, This includes the following steps performed prior to S7: S1. Determine the required sheet metal of various sizes and quantities based on the order information; S2. Based on the various sizes and quantities of panels required by the order, the panel subcontracting scheme for the order is derived according to the preset subcontracting rules. The panel subcontracting scheme contains panel information for each package, and the panel information includes at least one size of panel and its quantity. S3. Based on the board subcontracting scheme of the order, the palletizing scheme is automatically calculated according to the preset palletizing algorithm.

3. The automatic palletizing method for packages as described in claim 2, characterized in that, This method is applied to an automated palletizing production line, which includes a conveyor chain and, sequentially, a panel outbound section, a manual packaging section, an automated box sealing section, and an automated palletizing section. The panel outbound section includes a sorting channel equipped with a sorting robot and a stacking channel equipped with a stacking robot. The method includes the following steps performed between S3 and S7: S4. Control the sorting robot to sort and output the panels of each package in sequence according to the panel information of each package; S5. Control the stacking robot to stack the boards according to the board information of each package, and then transport the stacked boards to the manual packaging section in the form of packages. The operators will pack them into boxes and attach identification codes to the boxes, and then output them. S6. Transport the packages output from the manual packaging section to the automatic sealing section, and use the sealing machine to automatically seal and package the packages to obtain the packaged packages.

4. The automatic palletizing method for packages as described in claim 3, characterized in that: There are multiple sorting robots and multiple stacking robots. The sorting robots are located in multiple sorting channels, and the stacking robots are located in multiple stacking channels. Each sorting channel corresponds to each stacking channel. In S4, the boards are sorted layer by layer from low to high according to the stacking layer, and the boards are stacked in turn by each sorting robot in turn according to each stacking robot in turn.

5. The automatic palletizing method for packages as described in claim 3, characterized in that: The manual packaging section has multiple manual packaging channels, and the exits of each manual packaging channel converge at the automatic sealing section; S5 transports the stacked panels to the manual packaging section in units of packages. Specifically, according to the package transport sequence, after allocating the first batch of packages to all manual packaging channels, if a package is output from any manual packaging channel, the next package is added to that manual packaging channel accordingly. This includes S60, executed between S5 and S6. For each manual packaging channel, if the palletizing layer of the currently output package is higher than the lowest palletizing layer among all the current palletizing layers of packages in other manual packaging channels by a preset number of layers, then the delivery of the package is paused. Delivery of the package will only resume after all packages of the lowest palletizing layer in other manual packaging channels have entered the automatic sealing section. The preset number of layers is at least 2.

6. A computer program product comprising a computer program, characterized in that, The computer program is executed by a processor to implement the automatic palletizing method for packages as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

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