Box type material conveying and stacking method

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a box material conveying and stacking method, relates to the technical field of automatic loading and unloading of materials, and comprises the following steps: conveying a material box to a preset shunt point in a target compartment along a first direction; orderly shunting the material box continuously input to the preset shunt point to at least two different positions different from the preset shunt point in a first plane; outputting the material box in the at least two posture adjustment channels after parallel posture adjustment of the material box in the at least two posture adjustment channels; orderly converging the multiple material boxes output by the at least two posture adjustment channels to a buffer station to obtain a material box group arranged in a row along a second direction; outputting the material box group arranged in a row along the second direction buffered by the buffer station to a lifting and stacking platform in an integral row; lifting the lifting and stacking platform to a target stacking position, and then stacking the material box group on the lifting and stacking platform in an integral row. The application is suitable for a box material automatic loading device, and can greatly improve the conveying and posture adjustment efficiency of the material box.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of automatic material loading and unloading technology, and in particular to a method for conveying and stacking box-type materials. Background Technology

[0002] Common forms of boxed materials (referred to as material boxes, such as corrugated cardboard boxes for cigarettes in the tobacco industry, and milk packaging cartons in the dairy industry) are as follows: Figure 1 As shown, the positive X-axis is defined as right, the negative X-axis as left, the positive Y-axis as forward, the negative Y-axis as backward, and the positive Z-axis as up, the negative Z-axis as down. Assuming posture 1 is the initial posture; then posture 2 can be achieved by rotating posture 1 forward / backward by 90°, or posture 6 by rotating posture 6 left / right by 90°; posture 3 can be achieved by rotating posture 2 horizontally by 90°, or posture 5 by rotating posture 5 forward / backward by 90°; posture 4 can be achieved by rotating posture 1 horizontally by 90°, or posture 3 by rotating posture 3 left / right; posture 5 is achieved by rotating posture 1 left / right or posture 3 forward / backward; posture 6 can be achieved by rotating posture 5 horizontally or posture 2 left / right. Commonly used methods for long-distance transport of box-shaped materials on conveyor lines in production workshops include... Figure 2 In posture 1 or posture 4, the material is conveyed forward along the positive Y-axis. These two postures are less prone to tipping over and are the most stable for conveying. However, after the material boxes are produced, they are generally transported by box trucks. At the final loading stage, because the material boxes need to be transported over long distances in trucks, multiple demand factors need to be considered, such as the stacking stability of the material boxes, the requirement for upright stacking during transportation, the pressure resistance of the lower layer material boxes when stacking multiple layers, and the utilization rate of cargo space under different material box sizes and cargo box sizes. In most cases, multiple stacking postures are required to meet the actual loading needs.

[0003] To meet the loading requirements of stacking bins in various postures, the existing technology mainly uses manual labor to move the bins into the truck and manually adjust the stacking posture of the bins according to the loading requirements. Obviously, manual loading has the problems of high labor intensity and low efficiency.

[0004] To overcome the drawbacks of manual loading operations, several automated loading devices for boxed materials have been proposed in this field. These devices solve the problem of manually moving boxes into the cargo compartment by extending a telescopic conveyor. Furthermore, by installing robotic arms or robots within the compartment, the boxes output from the end of the telescopic conveyor are adjusted in posture according to stacking requirements and transferred into the compartment for stacking. However, existing automated loading devices for boxed materials are still in their early stages, and these existing automated loading and palletizing solutions have the following problems: 1) If multiple robotic arms or robots are arranged in the carriage for handling and palletizing, although the efficiency of material box conveying and palletizing can be guaranteed, it will occupy a lot of space in the carriage. In addition, the range of motion of multiple robotic arms or robots will be greatly limited in the closed carriage, resulting in poor flexibility. 2) If only one robotic arm or robot is used for palletizing, it can only return to pick up the next pallet after one pallet is completed. The number of palletized pallets that can be moved and palletized per unit time is limited, resulting in low palletizing efficiency. 3) When multi-pose palletizing is required (usually 3 to 4 poses), the robotic arm or robot needs to identify the incoming material pose and adjust it to the target pose. The pose adjustment action is relatively complex, the robotic arm or robot's action execution speed is slow, and the precise pose adjustment and palletizing place high demands on the robotic arm or robot, resulting in high manufacturing costs. 4) If a multi-position adjustment device is added to the output line of the telescopic conveyor, the entire loading cycle will be slowed down by the need for multiple position adjustments because each position adjustment action takes time on a single conveyor line. In addition, the feeding and feeding of the hopper during the operation will further reduce the cycle time, and the position adjustment link will become the bottleneck of loading efficiency. If high-efficiency loading is pursued, the flexibility of position adjustment is limited (only 1 to 2 positions are supported).

[0005] In conclusion, there is an urgent need for an automated loading solution that can simultaneously satisfy both posture flexibility and loading efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method for conveying and palletizing boxed materials to solve the problem that existing automatic loading devices for boxed materials are difficult to balance in terms of attitude adjustment efficiency and flexibility, resulting in low efficiency in attitude adjustment, conveying and palletizing of boxed materials.

[0007] This invention provides a method for conveying and palletizing boxed materials, comprising the following steps: Step 1: Convey the material bin along the first direction to the preset diversion point in the target carriage; the first direction is the direction from the rear end of the target carriage to the front end; Step 2: Orderly divert the continuously input material bins at the preset diversion points to at least two different positions within a first plane that are different from the preset diversion points; wherein, the first plane is a plane that is not parallel to the first direction; Step 3: Perform parallel attitude adjustment on the material bins in at least two attitude adjustment channels and then output the material; wherein, the at least two attitude adjustment channels are respectively starting from at least two different positions in the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point; Step 4: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into the buffer station for buffering, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction; Step 5: Output the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction from the buffer station forward to the lifting and palletizing platform; Step 6: Raise the lifting and palletizing platform to the target palletizing position, and then stack the material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform in a row.

[0008] In some preferred embodiments, the first direction is a horizontal direction from the rear end of the target carriage to the front end, and the first plane is perpendicular to the first direction; In step 2, at least two different locations within the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point include: at least two different locations in a third direction and / or a fourth direction within the first plane; wherein, the third direction is the horizontal direction within the first plane, and the fourth direction is the vertical direction within the first plane.

[0009] In some preferred embodiments, step 3, which involves performing parallel attitude adjustment on the hoppers in at least two attitude adjustment channels, includes: When the number of attitude adjustment channels is 2, the first attitude adjustment is performed on the hoppers in parallel in the two attitude adjustment channels. When the number of attitude adjustment channels is greater than 2, the first attitude adjustment is performed in parallel on the hoppers in at least two attitude adjustment channels, and other attitude adjustments different from the first attitude are performed in parallel on the hoppers in the other attitude adjustment channels. The first posture is the posture of the bin that requires the most stacking in this operation.

[0010] In some preferred embodiments, the second direction is a horizontal direction that is transverse to the first direction; Step 4 further includes: moving the input bins to the buffer station along the second direction in the buffer station, so that the buffer station buffers the bin groups arranged in rows along the second direction.

[0011] In some preferred embodiments, the cache station includes at least two levels of cache stations arranged serially in the first direction; Step 4 includes: orderly merging the multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels into the buffer stations at each level, so that each buffer station at each level buffers at least one material box, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction at each buffer station.

[0012] In some preferred embodiments, step 4, which involves orderly merging the multiple material bins output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels into the various levels of buffer stations, includes: Step A1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step A2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m nThe parts bin is input to the buffer station at the last end of the first direction, and the parts bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For each round of material unloading by the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; Step A3: Each level of buffer station determines whether the next level of buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next level of buffer station. Otherwise, return to step A3. Step A4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step A2; otherwise, let... n After =1, return to step A2; where, N This refers to the total number of feeding operations required during each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0013] In some preferred embodiments, step 4, which involves orderly merging the multiple material bins output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels into the various levels of buffer stations, includes: Step B1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step B2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m n The part bin is input to the buffer station at the very front of the first direction where there is no buffered part bin, and the part bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For each round of material unloading by the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; Step B3: Each level of buffer station determines whether the next level of buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next level of buffer station. Otherwise, return to step B3. Step B4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step B2; otherwise, let... nAfter =1, return to step B2; where, N This refers to the total number of feeding operations required during each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0014] In some preferred embodiments, step 4 includes: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction through the converging conveying station; The material box flow output from the confluence conveying station is output to the buffer station for buffering, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction.

[0015] In some preferred embodiments, before step 5, the following step is further included: Raise the lifting palletizing platform until it is flush with the output plane of the buffer station; and / or Adjust the width of the lifting and palletizing platform along the second direction according to the target car width.

[0016] In some preferred embodiments, step 5 includes: Step 51: Output the entire stack of material boxes from the foremost last-level buffer station in the first direction forward to the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform. At the same time, output the entire stack of material boxes from other buffer stations forward to the front buffer station of each level. Step 52: Move the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform to the left / right, or divide the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform into two parts, left and right, and then move them to the left and right sides in opposite directions at the same time. After the translation is completed, return to step 51 until the number of material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform reaches the preset number, then block the output of material boxes from the buffer station to the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0017] The box-type material conveying and palletizing method provided in this embodiment of the invention has the following beneficial effects: 1) By conveying the material box along the first direction to the preset diversion point in the target carriage and diverting it to at least two attitude adjustment channels, and then performing attitude adjustment on the material box in the at least two attitude adjustment channels in parallel before outputting it, the attitude adjustment efficiency can be increased several times compared with the existing single-line attitude adjustment technology. Moreover, the multi-channel attitude adjustment allows the action rhythm of different channels to be staggered, further reducing the waiting time of material box conveying during attitude adjustment. 2) In the material box conveying process of the present invention, only a simple linear conveyor is needed to realize the forward conveying of the material box, the material box can be diverted by pushing / pushing actions, and the posture of the material box can be adjusted by 90° flipping forks. These actions are fast to execute and can be realized by small parts in the material box conveying direction, which is highly flexible. There is no need to set up a robotic arm or robot in the carriage for posture adjustment, which occupies little space. Therefore, multiple conveyor posture adjustment paths can be set directly from the rear to the front of the carriage, and posture adjustment can be performed while conveying, which is low cost. 3) This invention uses a buffer station to pre-buffer entire rows of boxes, for example, feeding two boxes at a time, which reduces the feeding time of the palletizing platform by 50% compared to feeding one box at a time. 4) The multi-level buffer station setting, compared with the case of only one-level buffer station, can not only save the space occupied by the width of the buffer station, but also, combined with the width-adjustable lifting palletizing platform, can realize the lifting palletizing platform to stack multiple material boxes in one row at a time. 5) The multi-level buffer station setting significantly increases the system's buffer capacity. During the palletizing operation on the palletizing platform, new input boxes are continuously received and buffered. The upstream box conveying / attitude adjustment can be carried out simultaneously without waiting for the palletizing action to be completed, which further improves the conveying and palletizing efficiency of boxes, saves the feeding time of the palletizing platform, and realizes the continuity of the box flow at the incoming end.

[0018] In summary, the box material conveying and palletizing method provided by the embodiments of the present invention enables the automatic box material loading device to simultaneously take into account both posture adjustment efficiency and flexibility. During automatic loading of the boxes, continuous conveying and rapid palletizing are possible, and different processes do not need to wait for each other, resulting in extremely high efficiency in box conveying and palletizing. Attached Figure Description

[0019] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of common postures for boxed materials; Figure 2 A flowchart of a box-type material conveying and palletizing method provided by the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the caching method for the caching station provided by the present invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the material bin diversion and parallel attitude adjustment process of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the feeding and unloading process of the lifting and palletizing platform of the present invention, in Embodiment 1. Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the feeding and unloading process of the lifting and palletizing platform of the present invention, in embodiment two. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, it should be noted that, for ease of description, the accompanying drawings show only the parts relevant to the present invention and not the entire structure.

[0022] In the description of this embodiment, terms such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "front," "rear," "longitudinal," and "horizontal" are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of description and simplification of operation, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 A flowchart of a box-type material conveying and palletizing method provided by the present invention is shown below. Figure 2 As shown, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps 1 to 6: Step 1: Convey the material box along the first direction to the preset diversion point in the target carriage; wherein, the first direction is the direction from the rear end of the target carriage to the front end. For ease of explanation, the positive direction of the first direction is defined as forward, the negative direction of the first direction is defined as backward, the left direction of the first direction is defined as left, and the right direction of the first direction is defined as right.

[0024] In this embodiment, the material box can be transported to a preset diversion point along the first direction by a linear conveyor or the like. The linear conveyor can be a telescopic linear conveyor that extends from the rear of the carriage into the interior of the carriage.

[0025] Step 2: Orderly divert the continuously input hoppers to at least two different positions within a first plane that are different from the preset diversion points; wherein, the first plane is a plane that is not parallel to the first direction.

[0026] In this embodiment, the material bins are quickly diverted in sequence or as needed in the horizontal / vertical / other directions by a diversion mechanism with preset diversion points, and distributed to the entrances of at least two parallel attitude adjustment channels.

[0027] Step 3: Perform parallel attitude adjustment on the material bins in at least two attitude adjustment channels and then output the material; wherein, the at least two attitude adjustment channels are respectively starting from at least two different positions in the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point.

[0028] Preferably, the first direction is a horizontal direction pointing from the rear end to the front end of the target carriage, and the first plane is perpendicular to the first direction; at least two different positions in the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point include at least two different positions in a third direction and / or a fourth direction in the first plane; wherein, the third direction is a horizontal direction in the first plane, and the fourth direction is a vertical direction in the first plane. That is, the parallel attitude adjustment channels include at least two, and the relative layout position relationship of the parallel attitude adjustment channels is not limited to a left-right horizontal arrangement, but can also be an up-down arrangement, or a mixed arrangement of up-down and left-right.

[0029] In some alternative embodiments, the attitude adjustment functions of multiple parallel attitude adjustment channels can be completely identical or inconsistent. However, if the adjustment functions of each attitude adjustment channel are inconsistent, when a large number of bins with the same attitude need to be output, although the flexibility of attitude adjustment is achieved, the efficiency advantage of parallel processing cannot be utilized. Therefore, preferably, at least two of the parallel attitude adjustment channels can achieve completely identical attitude adjustment functions to maximize the parallel processing capability of the system's attitude adjustment. After determining the attitude with the largest number required during palletizing in advance, the number of parallel attitude adjustment channels that can achieve that attitude can be selectively arranged according to the production speed requirements.

[0030] Preferably, when the number of attitude adjustment channels is 2, the first attitude adjustment is performed on the hoppers in parallel in two attitude adjustment channels; when the number of attitude adjustment channels is greater than 2, the first attitude adjustment is performed on the hoppers in parallel in at least two attitude adjustment channels, and other attitude adjustments different from the first attitude are performed on the hoppers in parallel in other attitude adjustment channels; wherein, the first attitude is the attitude of the hopper with the largest number of hoppers required for this stacking.

[0031] Furthermore, to reduce equipment complexity and considering the equipment's layout space, the parallel number of attitude adjustment channels is set to 3, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the equipment adopts a horizontal layout in the plane. Two channels are used to adjust the posture of a large number of palletizing bins, while the remaining channel is used to adjust other less frequently used postures or postures that can be completed quickly, so as to achieve a balance between equipment complexity and efficiency.

[0032] Step 4: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into the buffer station for buffering, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction.

[0033] In this embodiment, the hoppers that have completed their attitude adjustment are output from each parallel attitude adjustment channel and converge into the buffer station.

[0034] Preferably, in step 4, the multiple boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are first orderly merged into a box flow conveyed along the first direction through a converging conveyor station; then, the box flow output from the converging conveyor station is output to a buffer station for buffering, resulting in a box group arranged in rows along the second direction. In these embodiments, a converging conveyor station can be optionally configured between the attitude adjustment channels and the buffer station, including but not limited to a box-shifting mechanism or a swing wheel conveyor mechanism, so as to quickly convey the boxes that have completed attitude adjustment into the buffer station, and at the same time, it can better realize the entrance docking between the buffer station and the attitude adjustment station.

[0035] In other embodiments, the second direction is a horizontal direction transverse to the first direction; step 4 further includes: moving the material box input to the buffer station along the second direction within the buffer station, so that the buffer station buffers the material box group arranged in rows along the second direction. In these embodiments, the buffer station uses a transverse buffering method relative to the longitudinal conveying direction of the incoming material, which can save the space occupied in the length direction and shorten the overall length of the box-type material conveying equipment. To realize multi-piece feeding buffering at the buffer station, the buffer station has the function of forward conveying of material boxes, and at the same time has the function of transverse conveying of material boxes, so as to realize the entry of multiple material boxes.

[0036] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the caching method for the caching station provided by the present invention. Figure 3 The plane in the image represents the upper surface of the buffer station, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the method for caching the feed at the caching station includes the following steps: S11: Enter the first material bin from the middle position of the buffer station; S12: The first material bin that enters is moved to one side of the buffer station in the horizontal direction. In the figure, it is moved to the left side to make room for the feed inlet in the middle of the buffer station. S13: Continue from the middle position of the buffer station to enter the second material bin; S14: The second material box that enters moves to the other side of the buffer station in the horizontal direction. In the figure, it moves to the right side to make room for the feed inlet in the middle of the buffer station again. S15: Continue from the middle position of the buffer station to the third material bin.

[0037] As can be seen, through the above steps S11 to S15, three material boxes can be input at the buffer station and arranged in a row along the second direction (horizontally to the feeding direction). In fact, the maximum number of material boxes that can be fed at the buffer station is determined by the width occupied by the current feeding posture of the material box and the available horizontal width of the buffer station. When the width occupied by the material box is large, the number of material boxes that can be buffered decreases, and vice versa.

[0038] Figure 3 In the embodiment shown, the feeding position of the buffer station is arranged in the middle, but the feeding position can be set on one side of the buffer station.

[0039] Step 5: Output the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction from the buffer station forward to the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0040] In this embodiment, when the lifting palletizing platform completes the previous palletizing action and is ready to receive the next batch of boxes, the buffer station can quickly and continuously feed multiple buffered boxes into the lifting palletizing platform. This process aims to efficiently empty the buffer station, freeing up buffer space for new boxes output from the attitude adjustment station, while saving the palletizing platform's feeding time and achieving continuity of the incoming box flow. For example, assuming two boxes are fed each time, compared to feeding one box at a time, the palletizing platform's feeding time is reduced by 50%.

[0041] In addition, the entire row of bins is composed of multiple bins combined in parallel. Therefore, the palletizing platform has the function of forward conveying of bins and lateral conveying of bins, so that after the bin group enters, it can make room for the next bin group to enter.

[0042] Preferably, before step 5, the method further includes the steps of: raising and lowering the lifting palletizing platform to be flush with the output plane of the buffer station; and / or adjusting the width of the lifting palletizing platform along the second direction according to the target car body width. The lifting palletizing function is implemented by a palletizing platform and a mechanism that drives the pre-palletizing platform to rise and fall within a palletizing height range. The palletizing platform can be a palletizing platform with a variable distance in the lateral width direction to adapt to palletizing under different car body width dimensions.

[0043] In some preferred embodiments, step 5 may include: Step 51: Output the entire stack of material boxes from the foremost last-level buffer station in the first direction forward to the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform. At the same time, output the entire stack of material boxes from other buffer stations forward to the front buffer station of each level. Step 52: Move the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform to the left / right, or divide the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform into two parts, left and right, and then move them to the left and right sides in opposite directions at the same time. After the translation is completed, return to step 51 until the number of material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform reaches the preset number, then block the output of material boxes from the buffer station to the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0044] In these embodiments, the feeding position of the palletizing platform is arranged in the middle. The advantage of this arrangement is that when the width of the palletizing platform is variable, the buffer station does not need to change its width accordingly, thus reducing the complexity of the equipment. Each time a group of tin boxes enters the palletizing platform, it first enters a position slightly towards the middle of the palletizing platform. The entering tin box group moves to the side to make room for feeding before the next item enters.

[0045] Step 6: Raise the lifting and palletizing platform to the target palletizing position, and then stack the material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform in a row.

[0046] In this embodiment, after the pre-arrangement of the entire row of boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform is completed, the channel for the boxes to enter the lifting and palletizing platform is immediately blocked, and the lifting and palletizing platform is used to lift the entire row of boxes to the target palletizing height position to perform the palletizing operation (such as stacking or placing them into a pallet / carriage).

[0047] Preferably, the method provided by the present invention also has a buffer continuation function. During the lifting and palletizing operation of the lifting and palletizing platform, newly input boxes continuously enter the buffer station for caching. That is, while step 6 is being executed, the next round of step 4 is being executed. The buffer station uses the time window of the palletizing platform operation to complete the accumulation of a new batch of boxes.

[0048] In this field, when conveying box-shaped materials, the incoming material posture is generally uniform. Let's assume the initial incoming material posture is... Figure 1As shown in posture 1, when the final palletizing requires posture 3, the conventional method in the prior art is to flip the incoming material in posture 1 90° forward and backward and then rotate it horizontally by 90°, or first rotate it horizontally by 90° and then flip it forward and backward by 90°. Obviously, this requires two actions to achieve the required posture. If each action takes 3 seconds, then 6 seconds are needed for posture adjustment per piece. At this time, the upper limit of the entire loading cycle is limited to 6 seconds per piece. In addition, the feeding and unfeeding of the material box during the action is further reduced. In this embodiment, after the material box is conveyed along the first direction to the preset diversion point in the target carriage, a rapid diversion action divides the material box into the starting points of multiple different posture adjustment channels. Subsequently, posture adjustment is performed within each of these channels. When two parallel adjustment stations are set up, in the example of adjusting posture 1 to posture 3, although the cycle time for each channel's posture adjustment is 6 seconds per piece, multiple parallel posture adjustment channels adjust simultaneously within these 6 seconds. This allows the posture adjustment of multiple material boxes to be completed within 6 seconds, eliminating the time consumption of the posture adjustment action as a bottleneck to the overall process efficiency. For example, in the above example, when more than two parallel posture adjustment channels are set up, the overall cycle time is less than 3 seconds per piece, becoming the cycle time leader. The prerequisite for this method to achieve its benefits is ensuring that the diverter's cycle time is fast enough. Furthermore, diversion can be easily and quickly achieved through simple tossing or pushing, ensuring that the method achieves its designed benefits.

[0049] Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, the hopper in posture 1 is transported along the first direction to the preset diversion point 10 in the target carriage. After the preset diversion point 10, there are three parallel first posture adjustment channels 20, second posture adjustment channel 30, and third posture adjustment channel 40. The first posture adjustment channel 20 and the third posture adjustment channel 40 can adjust the initial posture of the hopper in posture 1 to posture 3 through two actions, and the second posture adjustment channel 30 can adjust the initial posture of the hopper in posture 1 to posture 2 through one action.

[0050] Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, when the required output posture of the hopper is posture 3, the preset diversion point 10 diverts the incoming individual hoppers into the parallel first posture adjustment channel 20 and the third posture adjustment channel 40 in turn. After the posture adjustment is completed, the hoppers are orderly merged into a hopper flow conveyed along the first direction through the converging conveying station 5; then the hoppers are quickly sent to the downstream buffer station, thereby improving the cycle efficiency of the parallel processing with a slow posture adjustment cycle. Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, when the required output posture of the hopper is Figure 1When the specified posture is 2, the preset diversion point 10 directly diverts the incoming single hopper into the second posture adjustment channel 30. The second posture adjustment channel 30 can quickly divert the hopper by performing a back-and-forth flipping motion. Figure 1 The material bin in posture 1 flips to posture 2, and the next material bin can be continuously fed in during the material feeding process. This posture adjustment process can maintain a relatively fast cycle speed, ensuring that the loading efficiency is not affected.

[0051] Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, when the attitude adjustment channels are arranged horizontally and in parallel, the material bins with preset diversion points can quickly achieve diversion by pushing or turning. Based on the speed of the attitude adjustment action, two attitude adjustment stations with a slow pace are set up, and one attitude adjustment station with a fast pace is set up, simplifying the structural layout. Similarly, the layout can be adjusted according to the characteristics of the material bins to achieve a balance between complexity and practicality.

[0052] Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, after parallel attitude adjustment, a converging conveying station 50 can be optionally connected in series. The converging conveying station 50 can quickly transfer the material box with the attitude adjusted to the buffer station, realizing the series connection between the two stations.

[0053] In the method provided by the present invention, more preferably, the buffer station includes: at least two levels of buffer stations arranged serially in the first direction; then in step 4 above, the multiple material boxes output by the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into the buffer stations at each level, so that the buffer stations at each level buffer at least one material box, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction on each level of buffer station.

[0054] Figure 3 The caching method embodiment shown only illustrates the caching steps of a single caching station. When at least two levels of caching stations are arranged serially in the first direction, in Figure 3 The cache station shown is the previous cache station (located in the first direction) Figure 3 There are three caching methods for the adjacent cache station in front of the cache station shown: (1) In Figure 3 Once the cache station shown is full, Figure 3 (1) The entire set of material boxes cached at the cache station shown is sent to the next level cache station; (2) Each material box input from the rear is not cached at the rear cache station, but is instead sent forward to the front cache station where the material box is not yet full. The caching method can be found in [reference]. Figure 3In this way, the multi-level cache stations in the first direction are filled sequentially from front to back; (3) Each piece of material box input from the back is not cached at the cache station at the back, but is first transported forward to the next level cache station of the cache station at the front that is not yet full of material boxes to cache M (M is less than the number of missing material boxes at the current cache station at the front that is not yet full of material boxes) pieces of material boxes, and then these M pieces of material boxes are transported in a row to the current cache station at the front that is not yet full of material boxes. In this way, at least 2 pieces of material boxes are sent in multiple times through the next level cache station, and finally the current cache station at the front that is not yet full of material boxes is filled (or stored to the preset number).

[0055] The following describes in detail the first two methods for orderly merging of multiple material boxes output from at least two attitude adjustment channels into the buffer stations at each level.

[0056] In one embodiment of the buffer station buffer bins of the present invention, the method for orderly merging multiple bins output from at least two attitude adjustment channels into buffer stations at each level includes: Step A1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step A2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m n The parts bin is input to the buffer station at the last end of the first direction, and the parts bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, in each round of material unloading process, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; The total number of boxes that the lifting palletizing platform needs to load in each round is predetermined. For example, assuming the lifting palletizing platform needs to load 10 boxes each time, the total number of boxes that the lifting palletizing platform needs to load in each round is 10. The total number of feeding operations and the quantity of each feeding operation are determined by the feeding strategy of the lifting palletizing platform. For example, assuming the total number of boxes that the lifting palletizing platform needs to load in each round is 10, the feeding strategy is to input 4 boxes, 4 boxes, and 2 boxes sequentially from the buffer station. n =3, m 1 = 4 m 2=4, m 3=2; or, if the feeding strategy is to input 4 pieces, 3 pieces, 2 pieces, and 1 piece sequentially from the buffer station, then n =4, m 1 = 4 m 2=3, m 3=2, m 4 = 1.

[0057] Step A3: Each buffer station determines whether the next-adjacent buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged along the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next-level buffer station. Otherwise, return to step A3.

[0058] Specifically, for the foremost buffer station in the first direction, it will jump to step 5 and output the entire row of material boxes to the lifting and palletizing platform only when it confirms that the lifting and palletizing platform allows feeding (for example, the lifting and palletizing platform can notify the foremost buffer station in the first direction to allow feeding by sending a notification message or instruction).

[0059] Step A4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step A2; otherwise, let... n After =1, return to step A2; where, N This refers to the total number of feeding operations required during each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0060] For example: Assuming the total number of buffer stations arranged serially in the first direction is 2, and the level numbers of each level of buffer station arranged serially in the first direction increase sequentially from back to front, and the current lifting palletizing platform requires 10 pieces of material in one palletizing posture 3, and the maximum number of pieces of material in posture 3 that each level of buffer station can buffer is 4, then as follows: Figure 5 As shown, the required 10 boxes are divided into 3 batches. N= 3) Input the number of material boxes into the lifting and palletizing platform, and input the number of material boxes three times in sequence. m 1 = 4 items m 2 = 4 items m 3 = 2 pieces; therefore, initially, 4 material boxes are continuously input into the first-level buffer station and arranged along the second direction. Then, in step A3, the first-level buffer station determines and confirms that the second-level buffer station in front of it allows feeding. The 4 material boxes on the first-level buffer station are then output forward in a row to the second-level buffer station, and the first-level buffer station becomes empty. Then, the current... n= 1 less than N= 3, then let n =2, when returning to step A2, it can be determined that in step A2 of this round, m2=4. Four boxes are continuously input into the first-level buffer station and arranged along the second direction. Then, in step A3, the first-level buffer station (second level) needs to confirm that the lifting and palletizing platform allows feeding before proceeding to step 5 to output the entire row of four materials. Otherwise, since the second-level buffer station is full and feeding is not allowed, step A4 will not continue until the lifting and palletizing platform allows feeding. Afterward, the second-level buffer station outputs the four buffered boxes to the lifting and palletizing platform and sends a feeding permission notification to the first-level buffer station. Then, the four boxes from the first-level buffer station are output forward to the second-level buffer station, freeing up the first-level buffer station. Then, the current... n= 2 less than N= 3, then let n =3, when returning to step A2 m 3=2. Input two material boxes consecutively into the first-level buffer station and arrange them along the second direction. At this point, the three feeding cycles of the lifting and palletizing platform have been buffered. When proceeding to step A4, because... n= 3= N， make n After =1, return to step A2 to start the next round of graded caching of the material bins required by the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0061] Figure 5 The diagram shows the feeding of 10 material bins required by the lifting and palletizing platform in three stages. Figure 5 The feeding and stacking steps for 10 tin boxes are shown in the image. S21: The lifting and palletizing platform receives the first set of 4-piece bins from the frontmost buffer station in the first direction; It is worth noting that if there are 3 levels of buffer stations, when the 3rd level buffer station inputs the first set of 4-piece boxes into the lifting and palletizing platform, the 2nd level buffer station and the 1st level buffer station can simultaneously convey forward. The 2nd level buffer station inputs the second set of 4-piece boxes into the 3rd level buffer station, and the 1st level buffer station inputs the third set of 2-piece boxes into the 2nd level buffer station. S22: The lifting and palletizing platform will move the first group of 4-piece boxes to the left to make room for the middle entry space; S23: The lifting and palletizing platform receives the second set of 4-piece bins from the 3rd level buffer station; It is worth noting that while the third-level buffer station is feeding the second set of 4-piece boxes into the lifting and palletizing platform, the second-level buffer station is simultaneously feeding the third set of 2-piece boxes forward. S24: The lifting and palletizing platform will move the second set of 4-piece bins to the right to make room for the middle entry space; S25: The lifting and palletizing platform receives the third group of 2-piece bins from the 3rd level buffer station, forming a row of 10-piece stackable bins. S26: After the lifting and palletizing platform is raised to the target palletizing height, the entire row of material boxes will be stacked into the target carriage.

[0062] In the second embodiment of the buffer station buffer bin of the present invention, the multiple bins output from at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into buffer stations at each level, including: Step B1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step B2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m n The part bin is input to the buffer station at the very front of the first direction where there is no buffered part bin, and the part bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, in each round of material unloading process, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; Step B3: Each level of buffer station determines whether the next level of buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next level of buffer station. Otherwise, return to step B3. Step B4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step B2; otherwise, let... n After =1, return to step B2; where, N This represents the total number of feeding operations required for each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

[0063] In this embodiment, the material bins are directly conveyed forward in the first direction. Starting from the foremost buffer station, the material is buffered sequentially from front to back according to the required quantity of material fed in each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform. Then, step 5 is executed. The palletizing method in step 5 can be similar to... Figure 5 or Figure 6 The method shown is executed.

[0064] Figure 5 The stacking method shown involves horizontally shifting the bin groups that are successively fed into the lifting and stacking platform in opposite directions to make room for the middle feeding position. Obviously, after each bin group enters the middle position of the lifting and stacking platform, the bin group can be divided into left and right parts, and the left and right parts can be simultaneously shifted to the left and right sides to make room for feeding. Then the next bin group can be fed in, until the lifting and stacking platform is filled with the entire row of bin groups.

[0065] Figure 6 The image shows the feeding and stacking steps when the material bins occupy a large width and the entire row consists of 4 material bins: S31: The lifting and palletizing platform receives the first set of 2-piece material boxes from the buffer station; S32: The lifting and palletizing platform will move one of the two boxes on the left to the left and the one on the right to the right in the first group of two boxes to make room in the middle so that the next group of boxes can enter. S33: The lifting and palletizing platform receives the second set of 2 material boxes from the buffer station, forming a row of 4 palletizable material boxes, and then stacks the row of 4 material boxes into the target carriage.

[0066] Preferably, when the tin box is delivered from the last-level buffer station (the buffer station closest to the lifting and palletizing platform), the most common pushing or conveying method is used. In order to enable multiple tin boxes to adjust the delivery position of the tin boxes according to the space that the palletizing platform can access, the last-level buffer station needs to have the function of organizing the position of the tin boxes. Figure 5 and Figure 6 In the embodiment shown, before each batch of bins is sent from the last-level buffer station to the palletizing platform, the last-level buffer station adjusts the position of the buffered bins according to the current width of the buffered bins and the position of the palletizing platform entrance, so as to ensure that they can enter the palletizing platform smoothly without interfering with or colliding with the bins that entered previously.

[0067] It should be noted that in this paper, relational terms such as first and second are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations.

[0068] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the processes in the above embodiments can be implemented by a computer program instructing related hardware. The program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above methods. The storage medium can be a magnetic disk, optical disk, read-only memory (ROM), or random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0069] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for conveying and stacking box-type materials, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step 1: Convey the material bin along the first direction to the preset diversion point in the target carriage; the first direction is the direction from the rear end of the target carriage to the front end; Step 2: Orderly divert the continuously input material bins at the preset diversion points to at least two different positions within a first plane that are different from the preset diversion points; wherein, the first plane is a plane that is not parallel to the first direction; Step 3: Perform parallel attitude adjustment on the material bins in at least two attitude adjustment channels and then output the material; wherein, the at least two attitude adjustment channels are respectively starting from at least two different positions in the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point; Step 4: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into the buffer station for buffering, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction; Step 5: Output the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction from the buffer station forward to the lifting and palletizing platform; Step 6: Raise the lifting and palletizing platform to the target palletizing position, and then stack the material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform in a row. Step 3, which describes performing parallel attitude adjustment on the bins in at least two attitude adjustment channels, includes: when the number of attitude adjustment channels is 2, performing a first attitude adjustment on the bins in parallel in two attitude adjustment channels; when the number of attitude adjustment channels is greater than 2, performing the first attitude adjustment on the bins in parallel in at least two attitude adjustment channels, and performing other attitude adjustments different from the first attitude on the bins in parallel in other attitude adjustment channels; wherein, the first attitude is the attitude of the bin with the largest number of bins to be stacked in this operation; The second direction is a horizontal direction perpendicular to the first direction; step 4 further includes: moving the material box input to the buffer station along the second direction in the buffer station, so that the buffer station buffers the material box group arranged in rows along the second direction; The buffer station includes at least two levels of buffer stations arranged serially in the first direction; step 4 further includes: orderly merging multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels into each level of buffer station, so that each level of buffer station buffers at least one material box, resulting in a group of material boxes arranged in rows along the second direction on each level of buffer station.

2. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first direction is a horizontal direction pointing from the rear end to the front end of the target carriage, and the first plane is perpendicular to the first direction; In step 2, at least two different locations within the first plane that are different from the preset diversion point include: at least two different locations in a third direction and / or a fourth direction within the first plane; wherein, the third direction is the horizontal direction within the first plane, and the fourth direction is the vertical direction within the first plane.

3. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 4, which involves orderly merging the multiple material bins output from at least two attitude adjustment channels into the various levels of buffer stations, includes: Step A1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step A2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m n The parts bin is input to the buffer station at the last end of the first direction, and the parts bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For each round of material unloading by the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; Step A3: Each level of buffer station determines whether the next level of buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next level of buffer station. Otherwise, return to step A3. Step A4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step A2; otherwise, let... n After =1, return to step A2; where, N This refers to the total number of feeding operations required during each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

4. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 4, which involves orderly merging the multiple material bins output from at least two attitude adjustment channels into the various levels of buffer stations, includes: Step B1: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction; Step B2: Move the front end of the current hopper flow... m n The part bin is input to the buffer station at the very front of the first direction where there is no buffered part bin, and the part bin is... m n The parts bins are arranged in rows along the second direction at this buffer station; among them... m n For each round of material unloading by the pre-set lifting and palletizing platform, the first... n Quantity of each feed. n The initial value is 1; Step B3: Each level of buffer station determines whether the next level of buffer station in front of it allows feeding. If so, the entire row of material boxes arranged in the second direction in its own buffer is output forward to the next level of buffer station. Otherwise, return to step B3. Step B4: Determine n Is it less than N If so, then let n = n After incrementing by 1, return to step B2; otherwise, let... n After =1, return to step B2; where, N This refers to the total number of feeding operations required during each round of material feeding by the lifting and palletizing platform.

5. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 4 includes: The multiple material boxes output from the at least two attitude adjustment channels are orderly merged into a material box flow conveyed along the first direction through the converging conveying station; The material box flow output from the confluence conveying station is output to the buffer station for buffering, resulting in a material box group arranged in rows along the second direction.

6. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before step 5, the following steps are also included: Raise the lifting palletizing platform to be flush with the output plane of the buffer station; and / or Adjust the width of the lifting and palletizing platform along the second direction according to the target carriage width.

7. The box-type material conveying and palletizing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step 5 includes: Step 51: Output the entire stack of material boxes from the foremost last-level buffer station in the first direction forward to the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform. At the same time, output the entire stack of material boxes from other buffer stations forward to the front buffer station of each level. Step 52: Move the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform to the left / right, or divide the currently input material box group in the middle of the lifting and palletizing platform into two parts, left and right, and then move them to the left and right sides in opposite directions at the same time. After the translation is completed, return to step 51 until the number of material boxes on the lifting and palletizing platform reaches the preset number, then block the output of material boxes from the buffer station to the lifting and palletizing platform.

Images