Gantry of turnover tray picker

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for flipping a tray picker gantry. Embodiments include at least: a flip bridge associated with an actuation motor; at least one x-axis drive adapted to move the flipping bridge perpendicular to the length of the column of articles in the pickup tray; at least one z-axis drive adapted to move the flip bridge up and down relative to the pickup tray; and a plurality of clamps associated with the flipping bridge and adapted to clamp the article when the flipping bridge moves downward along the z-axis and hold the article when the flipping bridge moves upward along the z-axis and the motor is actuated to flip the flipping bridge.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 346,564, filed on May 27, 2022, entitled Flip Pallet Picker Gantry, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety. background Technical Field

[0003] The present invention relates to processing based on robot technology, and in particular, to a device, system and method related to a flip tray picker door frame.

[0004] Background

[0005] Often during manufacturing, especially in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and health products, various sorting and packaging methods must be employed. For example, it is often the case during manufacturing that products placed in an input tray having slots, sleeves, recesses, etc. must then be turned over to be moved into a shipping package. The simplest method of this process is to turn over the entire pallet, such as after registering / aligning the slots, sleeves, or recesses containing the product with the portion of the package, each discrete portion of the product will be placed into the portion of the package for shipping.

[0006] To improve production quality and increase yield, automating this type of flipping process has proven to be very effective and cost-efficient. However, automatically flipping large trays with discrete products presents risks such as confusion of discrete products / parts due to loss of registration. For example, when flipping a tray with discrete parts of a medication, the medication may be dispensed into a blister pack, but if the flipping speed is too slow or too fast, then the registration between the medication and its respective blister pack may be disrupted and the medication may fall outside the blister pack seal of that medication. As a result, the manufacturing process will be interrupted.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for a manufacturing element that allows a product tray to be flipped into its intended packaging in proper alignment. Summary of the invention

[0008] An apparatus, system and method for flipping a pallet picker gantry are disclosed. Embodiments include at least: a flip bridge associated with an actuating motor; at least one x-axis drive adapted to move the flip bridge perpendicular to the length of a column of articles in a pick tray; at least one z-axis drive adapted to move the flip bridge up and down relative to the pick tray; and a plurality of clamps associated with the flip bridge and adapted to grip articles when the flip bridge moves downward along the z-axis and to hold articles when the flip bridge moves upward along the z-axis and the actuating motor flips the flip bridge.

[0009] Thus, embodiments provide a manufacturing element that allows a product tray to be flipped into its intended packaging with proper alignment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Exemplary devices, systems, and methods will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of non-limiting examples only, in which:

[0011] Figure 1 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0012] Figure 2 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0013] Figure 3 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0014] Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4C showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0015] Figure 5A and Figure 5B showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0016] Figure 6 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0017] Figure 7 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0018] Figure 8 showing aspects of a pallet pick-up turner gantry;

[0019] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B showing aspects of a tray pick-up turner gantry; and

[0020] Fig.10 Aspects of a tray pick-up inverter gantry are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The accompanying drawings and descriptions provided herein may have been simplified to illustrate the aspects related to the device, system and method described herein, and for the sake of clarity, other aspects that can be found in typical similar equipment, system and method have been eliminated. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that other elements and / or operations may be desirable and / or necessary for realizing the device, system and method described herein. But because such elements and operations are known in the art, and because they do not promote a better understanding of the present disclosure, for the sake of brevity, the discussion of such elements and operations may not be provided herein. However, the present disclosure is considered to still include all such elements, variations and modifications to the described aspects known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0022] Embodiments are provided throughout the text so that the disclosure is fully thorough and the scope of the disclosed embodiments is fully conveyed to those skilled in the art. Many specific details, such as embodiments of specific parts, devices and methods, are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that certain specific disclosed details do not need to be adopted, and the embodiments may be implemented in different forms. Therefore, the embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. As described above, in some embodiments, known processes, known device structures and known technologies may not be described in detail.

[0023] The terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, rather than being intended to be limiting. For example, as used herein, the singular forms "one", "an" and "the" may also be intended to include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "include", "comprise", "contain", and "have" are inclusive, and therefore specify the presence of the features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or parts, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts and / or their compositions. Unless specifically determined to be a preferred or required execution order, the steps, processes and operations described herein should not be interpreted as necessarily requiring them to be performed in the specific order discussed or shown. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be used to replace the disclosed aspects or to be combined with the disclosed aspects.

[0024] When an element or layer is referred to as being "on," "over," "connected to," or "coupled to" another element or layer, unless expressly stated otherwise, it may be directly on, over, connected to, or coupled to another element or layer, or there may be intermediate elements or layers. Conversely, when an element or layer is referred to as being "directly on," "directly connected to," or "directly coupled to" another element or layer, there may be no intermediate elements or layers. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a similar manner (e.g., "between" versus "directly between," "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.). In addition, as used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0025] In addition, although the term first, second, third etc. can be used to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts here, these elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish an element, component, region, layer or part from another element, component, region, layer or part. Unless the context clearly indicates, the terms such as "first", "second" and other numerical terms do not imply order or sequence when used in this article. Therefore, without departing from the teaching of the embodiment, the first element, component, region, layer or part discussed below can be referred to as the second element, component, region, layer or part.

[0026] Among other advantages, the disclosed gantry pick-up flipper provides flexible presentation of products / articles from a conveyor-guided pallet. The gantry flipper operates with three-axis motion, operating in x, z, and theta, and may include y-axis / article pitch operation. The flipper may be operated separately from an auxiliary component handling / placement pallet robot / end effector and works efficiently within a small work envelope.

[0027] Pallet flow typically originates at a buffer station from which component / product "pick-up pallets" flow out onto a conveyor that delivers the pallets sequentially to specific work zones. Once stopped in the work zone of a gantry flipper, for example, the flipper progressively picks up columns of pallet contents and presents them to a secondary robot. More specifically, the bridge of the gantry flipper is set across the conveyor above the column of pallets and extends downward along the z-axis to pick up components, such as by vacuum suction cup clamps or mechanical clamping clamps. Then, using the gantry flip bridge, the gantry flipper's tooling can rotate the column of components, such as 180 degrees. The components can then be picked up by the secondary robot for placement. As each column is emptied, the gantry x-axis can be programmed to advance to the next column of components in the pallet.

[0028] The gantry flipper may feature a quickly interchangeable cassette tool plate that sits in the receiver carriage plate that spans the dual x-axis. The carriage tool may be equipped with spring loaded electrical contacts and O-ring interfaces for power, I / O and pneumatics, such as may be provided via electrical slip rings and on pneumatically sealed rotating ball bearing fittings on each side of the bridge plate.

[0029] Electrical and pneumatic slip rings can reduce the vertical height of the equipment. The variability provided in part by the slip rings allows the parts to be presented parallel to the tray vertically or at other angles depending on the placement needs. In addition to delivering the picked parts, the tool can also perform other value-added operations such as scanning bar codes, assembly, painting, coating, laser marking, testing operations, etc., and additionally replace the parts back into the corresponding tray pockets after these operations.

[0030] Tool plates can have pneumatic plenums for vacuum, pressure, or both. These can provide individual valves that control each vacuum cup set or double-acting part gripper. This can allow the tool to selectively omit picking up rejected parts from the pallet, such as might occur when using real-time inspection, and selectively release parts to a secondary end effector / pick robot. That is, the gripper / cup can positively release the item, rather than being pulled out.

[0031] Because blow molded plastic pallets are dimensionally variable, the gantry turning tool may include lateral pallet centering slides / tracks to improve lateral positioning. Between this fact and the fact that the pallets can be emptied sequentially, column by column, the risk of losing part / article registration is substantially eliminated in embodiments. This is the case for nearly any number of parts per column using embodiments.

[0032] The flip bridge can span the entire column of pallets and thus can span between two linear servos (x-axis actuators) and can additionally have guided vertical actuator assemblies on each side of the flip bridge outside the conveyor limits (z-axis actuators). The rotary servo can be connected directly to the flip bridge from the tool plate to provide the θ-axis actuators. The tool plate can additionally include quick disconnects for electrical, vacuum or pneumatic supply services.

[0033] The gantry turner can have a simple tool changer interface. That is, new numbers of tool modules / turning bridges / clamps can be quickly interchanged, for example with simple hand tools. For example, 16-20 or more individually addressable\controllable clamps can be provided on various easily interchangeable turner modules.

[0034] The y-axis adjustment of the gripper can be matched to the pallet pitch position. This can additionally compensate for process constraints where the pick column count / pitch and placement requirements do not match. For example, a pallet column of eight parts may be picked, but placement may require 5 parts per column. Thus, the placement requirement is met on the first pick and place, but the placement robot is 2 parts short on the second place. In this implementation, the flipper can fill the allocation when the robot returns, avoiding excessive cycle times. Thus, a pallet of 40 parts can be picked in 8 uninterrupted cycles instead of waiting for repeated part refreshes.

[0035] More specifically, embodiments provide a flip end effector that is capable of picking up components with different pitches and orientations, and / or completely different components, and flipping the orientation of those components for placement, such as in a placement tray. For example, a component may be picked up from a pick tray in a first orientation, and the component may be "flipped" 180 degrees to a second orientation for placement into a placement tray. Such an embodiment may occur, for example, in the case of medical supplies being loaded "upside down" from a corresponding orientation in a pick tray into a blister package.

[0036] exist Figure 1 , an embodiment is shown in which small parts 10 are in a first orientation in a pick-up tray 12 on a conveyor 14. A turning gantry 20 is shown above the pick-up tray 12. The gantry 20 is shown with two drives 22 along the x-axis, each extending perpendicularly to the length of the turner on either side of a turning bridge 20a; the gantry 20 also has a turning bridge 20a between front and rear transverse frame centering rails 30, which also extend perpendicularly to the x-axis drives 22.

[0037] The x-drive 22 can sequentially move the gantry turner 20 from one row of pallets 12 to another, and at each row, the turn-over gripper bridge 20a can pick up an item in the row and turn over the pallet row 12a of items 10. The turned-over items can then be "passed" for placement, or the gantry turner 20 can be automatically rotated over a placement pallet (e.g., on a vertical conveyor) for placement, for example as an end effector.

[0038] (Slide 3) For example, Figure 2, the parts 10 are flipped relative to their orientation in the pick tray 12 for the placement tray. These parts 10 are now ready to be picked up again in the proper orientation. Notably, the illustrated embodiment includes justifiers 104 that adjust the parts so as to improve secondary picking of the placement tray. When the items are placed by the rack turner 20, such justifiers 104 can move the adjustment of the placed items 10 after the orientation change, such as moving the items forward, backward, right or left, or changing the relative angles of various aspects of the items 10 when the items are placed by the gantry turner 20. The justifiers 104 can also allow changes in the size of the items placed on the placement tray, such as by allowing shorter derivatives of the parts to be adjusted forward in the same placement tray pockets / columns 12a, which are also used for similar but longer items.

[0039] The illustration also shows a vacuum tool 120, such as a 16 position vacuum tool. Also shown are a plurality of vacuum cups 122, including debris removal.

[0040] Figure 3 The gantry flipper 20 is shown in profile with the flip bridge 20a in a partially rotated position. The flipper may have a θ axis rotation capability 202 to 360 degrees, or may have a different angle limit, such as 180 degrees, depending on a given application. The flip bridge 20a and its associated tool preferably have a very low profile to improve robot clearance on the tool.

[0041] Additionally, as discussed throughout, due to the movement capability 222 provided to the bridge 20a in the z-axis direction, the flip bridge 20a can have a variable gap 210. The flip bridge 20 also provides movement along the x-axis, as described above, so as to be able to "move" along the columns 12a of the tray 12, thereby enabling pick and place from successive columns 12a to successive columns.

[0042] (Slide 5) Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4C (Slide 6) shows respectively the gantry tilting bridge 20a being lowered along the z-axis to pick up the component 10 from the pick tray 12; the tilting bridge 20a being raised along the z-axis with the picked up item 10 to clear the pick tray 12 and create a gap for the final rotation of the tilting bridge 20a; and the picked up item 10 being rotated 180 degrees to allow the auxiliary pick up portion from the tilting bridge 20a to be in the correct orientation of the auxiliary pick up portion. In addition, the z-axis actuator 222 has been lowered Figure 4C The flip bridge 20a in the embodiment of the present invention is provided to allow sufficient clearance for the robot to perform auxiliary picking. Figure 4B In contrast, the z-axis actuator 222 Figure 4AThis is also evident in (from a lowered z-axis position in A to an elevated position in B).

[0043] Figure 5A and Figure 5B Similarly shown is the gantry turner 20 performing picks from the component pick tray 12. In this figure, the turn bridge 20a is first shown turning halfway through it while rising along the z-axis to clear the component tray 12. The turn bridge 20a is then shown after a full rotation, and after being lowered along the z-axis to provide clearance for the auxiliary pick robot above.

[0044] It is worth noting that the element 10 can be released as needed when assisting in picking. Therefore, the turning bridge 20a may include holding valves (either one or two of each picked-up item that are horizontally and vertically adjacent), clamps (such as pliers, hooks or forks), etc., and these can be electrically, mechanically and / or pneumatically actuated and deactuated as needed to clamp the item 10 respectively and then release, and the holding can be uniquely actuatable / controllable for each clamp head (i.e., for each picked-up item), or the holding can be universally actuatable for all clamps at the same time.

[0045] The flip bridge 20a can be rotated along a transverse axis on one side of the bridge 20a by, for example, a servo motor. The servo mechanism can rotate continuously (for example with a z-axis actuator), or can be position encoded to rotate to a specific position at a specific rate.

[0046] Additionally, to achieve such rotation, electrical and / or pneumatic circuits must be considered. If rotation occurs without such design considerations, the electrical and pneumatic circuits may be twisted, crimped, torn, pinched, or otherwise fail to provide proper operation for the embodiment. Therefore, such circuits may be extended via one or more slip rings, sliding joints, etc. to allow full and repeatable rotation without impeding the functionality of the circuits.

[0047] Figure 6 The detachable nature of certain embodiments is shown. The flip bridge 20a can be electrically connected to its frame 20 (and thus the electrical feeder) via contact pads, and can be pneumatically connected to the frame via one or more detachable vacuum clamps. Therefore, set screws 602, such as 2-10 set screws, or more specifically 6 set screws, can be to hold the flipper in place, and the removal of these set screws can simply allow the flip bridge 20a to be interchangeable, such as inserting a bridge with different clamps, different numbers of clamps, different clamp spacing or angles, or different rotation capabilities.

[0048] Figure 7Aspects of the embodiment are shown with the flip bridge 20a and the gantry top plate 702 as dashed lines. As shown, the electrical contacts 704 described above can allow for rapid removal of the flip bridge 20a and can provide electrical I / O signals and power when placed in contact with corresponding pads on the flip bridge.

[0049] Also evident is the "plug-in" connection 710 of the tilt bridge 20a to the theta bearing / drive belt / drive shaft system located on the control block below the gantry top plate. Also shown is the dual port slip ring harness wiring 720 which may include the pneumatic wiring shown.

[0050] Additionally, the illustration includes a hollow electrical slip ring 730 through which power and I / O fed through the slip ring wiring described above can be transmitted. Additionally, a housing cover 734 for the theta servo motor 738 discussed throughout is shown in physical association with the theta axis bearings and drive belt.

[0051] (Slide 11) Figure 8 An exemplary interface for the flip bridge 20a to mate with the control block 802 and the gantry frame 20 is shown. Electrical contact pads 802a on the flip bridge 20a are shown to mate with the electrical contact pads shown above on the gantry frame. Also shown is a self-aligning pneumatic interface 820 (although one is shown, there may be more than one) for mating to the aforementioned pneumatic supply from the slip ring route of the control block.

[0052] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Vacuum port clamps 620 on the flip bridge 20a are shown. These vacuum ports 620a can be filtered (e.g., to avoid debris) and allow suction clamping of a single item 10 to the flip bridge 20a for flipping after it is picked up. Sixteen vacuum clamps 620 are shown, but any number of clamps can be used depending on the number of items to be picked up in each column of the pick tray. Also as shown, as discussed above, the adjuster 104 can be included in conjunction with the clamp.

[0053] Fig.10 A view of an upper valve block 902 and a lower valve block 904 of a vacuum manifold 910 is shown, such as may be used with Fig.9A and Fig. 9B The vacuum ports / grippers 620 are used in conjunction with the vacuum ports / grippers 620. In this illustration, the 20-position gripper manifold 910 can have 10 internal port offset port pairs 920a, b, where each manifold offset port of each pair can be composed of a base mounted 3-way valve. These offset ports 920 can have different densities, or can be individual ports rather than pairs of ports, for example, depending on the density of items in the columns in the pick / place tray.

[0054] Thus, during processing, the belt drive may move the gantry atop a row of pick trays; the z-axis drive may lower the flip bridge and drive the gripper; and the row of items may be picked from the pick tray. While picking, the gripper may remain actuated while the z-axis drive raises the flip bridge so as to clear the bridge to flip the items (i.e., the items are at a known height). The items are then flipped, and the z-axis may lower the flip bridge as needed to allow the flipped items to be presented to an auxiliary end effector such as a robot.

[0055] Then, the item can be picked up by the auxiliary end effector and placed in the placement tray, for example, it can be stationed on the conveyor at 90 degrees to the conveyor of the pick-up tray. Once the item is picked up by the auxiliary end effector, the turning bridge can be gradually indexed to the next column of the pick-up tray by the belt drive.

[0056] In addition, the description of the present disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosed embodiments. Various modifications to the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A flip tray picker door frame, comprising: A tilting bridge, the tilting bridge being associated with an actuating motor; at least one x-axis drive adapted to move the tilting bridge perpendicular to the length of the column of items in the pick tray; at least one z-axis drive adapted to move the flip bridge up and down relative to the pick tray; as well as A plurality of clamps are associated with the flip bridge and are adapted to clamp the article when the flip bridge moves downward along the z-axis and to hold the article when the flip bridge moves upward along the z-axis and the actuating motor flips the flip bridge.

2. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The actuating motor is a stepping motor.

3. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The pick-up tray is transported by a conveyor, which also runs perpendicular to the at least one x-drive.

4. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one x-drive includes two x-drives located at opposite ends of the flip bridge and on a frame surrounding the flip bridge.

5. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 4, wherein: Each x-drive includes a belt drive associated with a drive motor.

6. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 4, wherein: The frame also includes front and rear lateral frame centering rails extending perpendicular to the x-axis drive.

7. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one x-drive sequentially moves corresponding to each column of the pick tray.

8. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The grippers are actuated when the z-axis of the flip bridge is lowered and are deactivated when the object is handed over to the assisting robot after flipping.

9. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 8, wherein: The auxiliary robot places the turned-over objects in a placement tray.

10. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 9, wherein: The placement tray includes an adjuster to move the placed items.

11. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The flip bridge can flip 360 degrees.

12. The flip tray picker gantry according to claim 1, wherein: The turning bridge can turn over 180 degrees.

13. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The clamp is motorized.

14. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The clamp is mechanical.

15. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The clamp is pneumatically powered.

16. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The clamps are actuated individually.

17. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The actuating motor is position-encoded.

18. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The feed line to the tilting bridge is fed to the tilting bridge via a slip ring.

19. The flip tray picker gantry of claim 1, wherein: The flip bridge includes contact pads to provide electrical connection.

20. The flip tray picker portal of claim 1, wherein: The flip bridge bridges one or more detachable vacuum clamp lines to provide a pneumatic connection.

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