Intelligent boxing method, device and system

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of carton packaging, and provides an intelligent boxing method, device and system.The intelligent boxing method comprises the steps that S1, boxing data are obtained, and the boxing data comprise the carton filling frequency a, 1 lt; a; s2, the two cartons which are arranged on the conveying belt in a spaced mode are synchronously boxed for b times, and 0 lt; blt; a; s3, the conveying belt is stepped by a carton distance, and the two cartons are synchronously boxed for a-b times; s4, the conveying belt is stepped by the distance of one carton, and the two cartons are synchronously boxed for b times; and S5, the steps S3-S4 are repeatedly executed, and synchronous boxing of the two cartons is completed. According to the scheme, when two front and back adjacent cartons on the conveying belt are simultaneously encased, and the conveying belt only advances by the distance of one carton each time, the cartons can be effectively prevented from being paused at the encasing station to wait for full filling, it is guaranteed that the front and back cartons are simultaneously filled in the running process, and the overall encasing efficiency is effectively improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of cardboard packaging technology, and in particular to an intelligent packing method, packing device and packing system. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, material packing production lines typically use robotic arms to pick up and place materials into cartons. During the packing process, one or more robotic arms place materials into cartons at once or in multiple batches. When multiple batches are needed to fill a carton, the traditional solution is to use a single robotic arm for each carton. The robotic arm completes the packing by repeatedly picking up and placing materials, and the same conveyor belt only moves the distance of one carton at a time. This means that the conveyor belt can only pack one carton at a time, causing cartons to wait in place until they are full before moving forward another carton. This not only slows down the packing speed but also slows down the conveyor belt's stepping speed, resulting in a slower production rhythm, lower production efficiency, and lower capacity for the entire production line. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to solve at least one technical problem in the background art and to provide an intelligent packing method, packing device and packing system.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an intelligent packing method, comprising: Step S1. Obtain packing data, where the packing data includes the number of times the carton is filled, 'a', where 1 <a; Step S2. Synchronously pack two cartons that are spaced apart on the conveyor belt, repeating the packing process b times, where 0 <b<a; Step S3. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, and two cartons are packed synchronously, repeating the packing process ab times; Step S4. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, simultaneously packing two cartons, repeating this process b times; Step S5. Repeat steps S3-S4 to complete the simultaneous packing of the two cartons.

[0005] According to one aspect of the invention, b is an integer closest to half of a.

[0006] According to one aspect of the invention, b is an integer less than and closest to half of a.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, after performing step S2, the first carton in the forward direction is removed before performing step S3.

[0008] According to one aspect of the invention, the method further includes: repeatedly performing the following steps before performing step S2 and during performing steps S2 to S5: Material handling involves conveying various materials to material trays arranged at equal intervals; Material picking: Based on the required quantity of materials for each packing, the robotic arm identifies and picks up the corresponding quantity of materials.

[0009] According to one aspect of the invention, the food ingredients comprise: Multiple materials are transported via the first conveyor belt; The second conveyor belt receives multiple materials conveyed by the first conveyor belt and continues to convey them until each material is conveyed to its corresponding material pallet. The conveying speed of the second conveyor belt is greater than that of the first conveyor belt.

[0010] According to one aspect of the invention, the food ingredients further include: The distance between materials on the second conveyor belt is detected. When the distance between two materials is less than the preset distance, the material behind it is rejected.

[0011] According to one aspect of the invention, the material picking includes: The material tray and the materials on it are identified by the picking end of the robotic arm; The robotic arm's picking end moves above the material tray and faces the corresponding quantity of material to be picked up; The system controls the picking end to pick up materials and visually detects whether the picking posture of the picked materials is accurate. If so, it waits to execute the corresponding packing steps. If not, it alarms and re-executes the material picking.

[0012] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a packing apparatus for implementing the above-described intelligent packing method, comprising: a carton conveying mechanism, a material conveying and sorting mechanism, and a material picking and placing mechanism. The carton conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying cartons, the material conveying and sorting mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying materials and a receiving structure for receiving and temporarily placing materials conveyed by the conveyor belt, the material receiving structure includes a material conveyor belt and a material tray supported on the material conveyor belt, and the material picking and placing mechanism includes a robotic arm and a vision camera disposed at the picking end of the robotic arm.

[0013] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a carton packing system, including the above-mentioned carton packing device, and further including a carton detection and rejection device for detecting and rejecting cartons conveyed by the carton packing device. The carton detection and rejection device includes a carton conveyor belt, and the conveying speed of the carton conveyor belt is greater than the conveying speed of the conveyor belt in the carton packing device.

[0014] According to an aspect of the present invention, in step S1, packing data is obtained. The packing data includes the number of times a that a cardboard box is filled, where 1 < a. In step S2, two cardboard boxes arranged at intervals on a conveyor belt are synchronously packed b times, where 0 < b < a. In step S3, the conveyor belt advances a distance equal to the length of one cardboard box, and the two cardboard boxes are synchronously packed a - b times. In step S4, the conveyor belt advances a distance equal to the length of one cardboard box, and the two cardboard boxes are synchronously packed b times. In step S5, steps S3 - S4 are repeatedly executed to complete the synchronous packing of the two cardboard boxes. With such a solution, during the transportation of the two cardboard boxes by the conveyor belt, each time the conveyor belt advances a distance equal to the length of one cardboard box, the two cardboard boxes can be synchronously packed the same number of times, and it can be ensured that the two cardboard boxes are synchronously filled when the conveyor belt advances rapidly, effectively avoiding the situation where the cardboard boxes on the conveyor belt pause at a packing station for a long time waiting to be filled, and effectively improving the packing efficiency.

[0015] According to an aspect of the present invention, after step S2 is completed, the first cardboard box is removed and then step S3 is executed. This can ensure that all the cardboard boxes transported to the next non - packing station are qualified cardboard boxes filled with materials, ensuring the efficient operation of the production line and effectively improving the yield.

[0016] According to an aspect of the present invention, the number of packing times b is an integer closest to half of the number of packing times a. With such a setting, when synchronously packing the two cardboard boxes, each time the conveyor belt moves a distance equal to the length of one cardboard box, the front and rear packing times for filling the cardboard boxes are close, ensuring that the operation logic of the production line is simple, the packing actions are unified, and the packing rate is guaranteed.

[0017] According to an aspect of the present invention, the number of packing times b is an integer less than and closest to half of the number of packing times a. With such a setting, while ensuring the above - mentioned effects, it can also make the first cardboard box removed have less materials inside, avoiding waste of resources, saving resources on the production line, and improving the yield of good products.

[0018] According to an aspect of the present invention, the steps of material sorting and material picking are corresponding to the steps of step - by - step packing. That is, when the conveyor belt advances a distance equal to the length of one cardboard box and fills, for example, two cardboard boxes, then when performing material sorting and material picking, it corresponds to the materials for two cardboard boxes. This can ensure that after filling the cardboard boxes at two stations, when the subsequent two cardboard boxes are in place, they can be immediately packed, achieving continuous and uninterrupted packing, ensuring the material supply speed, ensuring the continuous and stable operation of the production line, and ensuring the packing efficiency.

[0019] According to one aspect of the present invention, the steps of material handling and material picking are faster than the steps of stepping and packing. That is, when the conveyor belt steps one carton distance and fills, for example, two cartons, the material handling and material picking steps are for materials larger than two cartons. This ensures that there is always a sufficient supply of materials during the packing process, and that the packing action is not interrupted due to untimely material supply, thus ensuring packing efficiency.

[0020] According to one aspect of the present invention, the material handling process includes: conveying multiple materials via a first conveyor belt; receiving the multiple materials conveyed by the first conveyor belt via a second conveyor belt and continuing to convey them until each material is conveyed into its corresponding material tray; wherein the conveying speed of the second conveyor belt is greater than the conveying speed of the first conveyor belt. This approach increases the distance between two adjacent materials by utilizing the speed difference, allowing adjacent materials to smoothly enter their respective material trays.

[0021] According to one aspect of the present invention, the material handling further includes: detecting the distance between materials on the second conveyor belt; when the distance between two detected materials is less than a preset distance, the subsequent material is rejected. This approach ensures that the distance between two adjacent materials is not too small, preventing subsequent materials from crowding into the material tray into which the preceding material enters, or preventing subsequent materials from failing to accurately enter their corresponding material trays.

[0022] According to one aspect of the present invention, material picking includes: identifying a material tray and the materials on it using the picking end of a robotic arm; moving the picking end of the robotic arm above the material tray and facing the corresponding quantity of materials to be picked; controlling the picking end to pick up the materials and visually detecting whether the picking posture of the picked materials is entirely accurate; if so, waiting to execute the corresponding step of packing; if not, an alarm is triggered and the material picking is re-executed. This approach effectively avoids problems such as materials falling off or being misplaced during packing, ensuring that materials are accurately and stably placed in the carton during packing, thus guaranteeing the packing speed.

[0023] According to one aspect of the present invention, the packing device includes: a carton conveying mechanism, a material conveying and sorting mechanism, and a material picking and placing mechanism, wherein the carton conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying cartons, the material conveying and sorting mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying materials and a receiving structure for receiving and temporarily placing materials conveyed by the conveyor belt, the material receiving structure includes a material conveyor belt and a material tray supported on the material conveyor belt, and the material picking and placing mechanism includes a robot and a vision camera disposed at the picking end of the robot. This setup allows for the transport of two cartons via a conveyor belt, the delivery of materials via a conveyor belt, and the receipt of materials from the conveyor belt by a material conveyor belt and a material pallet. Then, a vision camera and a robotic arm identify and grasp the materials in the material pallet and load them into the two cartons on the conveyor belt. Combining the logical steps of the aforementioned intelligent packing method, both cartons can be packed synchronously and the same number of times each carton is moved forward. Furthermore, it ensures that both cartons are filled simultaneously even as the conveyor belt moves rapidly, effectively avoiding the long pauses at a single packing station while waiting to be filled, thus significantly improving packing efficiency.

[0024] According to one aspect of the present invention, a carton packing system includes a carton packing device and a carton detection and rejection device for detecting and rejecting cartons conveyed by the carton packing device. The carton detection and rejection device includes a carton conveyor belt, the conveying speed of which is greater than the conveying speed of the conveyor belt in the carton packing device. This arrangement allows cartons conveyed by the carton packing device to be quickly detected; those that pass inspection immediately proceed to the next station, while those that fail are immediately rejected. This ensures that cartons conveyed by the carton packing device do not accumulate in the carton detection and rejection device, thus guaranteeing the operating efficiency of the production line.

[0025] According to the present invention, when the method, apparatus and system of the present invention simultaneously pack two adjacent cartons on a conveyor belt, the conveyor belt can only advance the distance of one carton at a time (the same conveyor belt is only allowed to advance one station at a time), which can effectively avoid the cartons pausing and waiting to be filled at the packing station, and ensure that the two cartons are filled at the same time during the operation, thus effectively improving the overall packing efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating an embodiment of an intelligent packing method according to the present invention; Figure 2 This schematic diagram illustrates the structural arrangement of a packing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The invention will now be discussed with reference to exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely intended to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and thus implement the invention, and are not intended to imply any limitation on the scope of the invention.

[0028] As used herein, the term "comprising" and its variations are to be interpreted as open-ended terms meaning "including but not limited to". The term "based on" is to be interpreted as "at least partially based on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" are to be interpreted as "at least one embodiment".

[0029] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating an intelligent packing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, such as... Figure 1 As shown, in this embodiment, the intelligent packing method according to the present invention includes the following steps: Step S1. Obtain packing data, where the packing data includes the number of times the carton is filled, 'a', where 1 <a; Step S2. Synchronously pack two cartons that are spaced apart on the conveyor belt, repeating the packing process b times, where 0 <b<a; Step S3. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, and two cartons are packed synchronously, repeating the packing process ab times; Step S4. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, simultaneously packing two cartons, repeating this process b times; Step S5. Repeat steps S3-S4 to complete the simultaneous packing of the two cartons.

[0030] This solution allows for simultaneous and repeated packing of two cartons (e.g., two cartons in front and behind each other) during the transport of two cartons by the conveyor belt, with each step covering one carton distance. It also ensures that both cartons are filled simultaneously even as the conveyor belt moves rapidly, effectively preventing cartons from pausing for extended periods at a packing station to wait for full packing, thus significantly improving packing efficiency.

[0031] According to one embodiment of the present invention, after performing step S2, the first carton in the forward direction is removed before performing step S3. This approach is because the cartons after packing b times are not yet full. If the conveyor belt directly advances the distance of one carton, the first unfilled carton on the conveyor belt will move to the next non-packing station (e.g., an inspection station), resulting in unqualified cartons. Therefore, in this embodiment, after performing step S2, the first carton is removed before performing step S3. This ensures that all cartons moving to the next non-packing station are fully filled and qualified, guaranteeing efficient operation of the production line and effectively improving the yield rate.

[0032] Of course, according to another embodiment of the present invention, step S3 and subsequent steps can be executed directly after step S2. Then, when each carton is filled and enters the next non-packing station, a detection process to check whether the carton is full can be added, as long as it can be ensured that all the cartons entering the next non-packing station are filled.

[0033] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the number of packing times b is an integer closest to half the number of packing times a (for example, a is an odd number, a=5 in this embodiment) (i.e., b=2 or 3). This setting ensures that when packing two cartons synchronously, the time for the two packing segments to fill the cartons is close when the conveyor belt travels one carton distance, thus ensuring a simple production line operation logic, uniform packing actions, and guaranteed packing speed.

[0034] Preferably, the number of packing times b is an integer less than and closest to half the number of packing times a (i.e., b=2). This setting ensures the above-mentioned effects while also minimizing the amount of material in the first rejected carton, avoiding resource waste, saving resources on the production line, and improving the yield rate.

[0035] Furthermore, the intelligent packing method according to the present invention further includes: repeating the following steps before performing step S2 and during performing steps S2 to S5: Material handling involves conveying various materials to material trays arranged at equal intervals; Material picking: Based on the required quantity of materials for each packing, the robotic arm identifies and picks up the corresponding quantity of materials.

[0036] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the steps of material handling and material picking correspond to the steps of step-packing described above. That is, when the conveyor belt steps one carton distance and fills, for example, two cartons, the material handling and material picking steps correspond to the materials in the two cartons. This ensures that after the cartons at two workstations are filled, the subsequent two cartons can be packed immediately when they are in place, achieving continuous and uninterrupted packing, ensuring material supply speed, ensuring the continuous and stable operation of the production line, and ensuring packing efficiency.

[0037] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the steps of material handling and material picking are faster than the steps of step packing described above. That is, when the conveyor belt steps one carton distance and fills, for example, two cartons, the material handling and material picking steps are for materials larger than two cartons. This ensures that there is always a sufficient supply of materials during the packing process, and that the packing action is not interrupted due to untimely material supply, thus ensuring packing efficiency.

[0038] Furthermore, based on the above solution, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the food ingredients include: Multiple materials are transported via the first conveyor belt; The second conveyor belt receives multiple materials conveyed by the first conveyor belt and continues to convey them until each material is conveyed to its corresponding material pallet. The conveying speed of the second conveyor belt is greater than that of the first conveyor belt.

[0039] This scheme increases the distance between two adjacent materials by using speed differences, allowing two adjacent materials to smoothly enter their respective material trays.

[0040] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the material handling also includes: detecting the distance between materials on the second conveyor belt; when the distance between two materials is less than a preset distance, the material behind is rejected (for example, by using pressurized gas to blow the material behind out of the conveyor belt). This solution ensures that the distance between two adjacent materials is not too small, preventing the material behind from being squeezed into the material tray of the material in front or preventing the material behind from failing to accurately enter the corresponding material tray.

[0041] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, material picking includes: The robotic arm identifies the material tray and the materials on it through its picking end. The robotic arm's picking end moves above the material tray and faces the corresponding quantity of material to be picked up; The system controls the picking end to pick up materials and visually detects whether the picking posture of the materials is accurate. If so, it waits to execute the corresponding packing steps; otherwise, it alarms and re-executes the material picking process. This solution effectively avoids problems such as materials falling off or being misplaced during packing, ensuring that materials are accurately and stably placed in the carton and guaranteeing packing speed.

[0042] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a packing apparatus for implementing the above-described intelligent packing method. Figure 2 This schematic diagram illustrates the structural arrangement of a packing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2As shown, the packing device according to the present invention includes: a carton conveying mechanism 1, a material conveying and sorting mechanism 2, and a material picking and placing mechanism 3. The carton conveying mechanism 1 includes a conveyor belt 101 for conveying cartons, the material conveying and sorting mechanism 2 includes a conveyor belt 201 for conveying materials and a material receiving structure 202 for receiving and temporarily placing materials conveyed by the conveyor belt 201. The material receiving structure 202 includes a material conveyor belt 2021 and a material tray 2022 supported on the material conveyor belt 2021. The material picking and placing mechanism 3 includes a robot arm 301 and a vision camera disposed at the picking end of the robot arm. With this setup, multiple cartons can be transported via conveyor belt 101, materials can be transported via conveyor belt 201, and the materials transported from conveyor belt 201 can be received via material conveyor belt 2021 and material pallet 2022. Then, the materials in material pallet 2022 are identified and grasped by vision camera and robotic arm 301 and loaded into two cartons on conveyor belt 101. Combining the logical steps of the above-mentioned intelligent packing method, two cartons can be packed synchronously and the same number of times when each carton is moved one carton distance. Moreover, it can ensure that two cartons are filled synchronously when the conveyor belt moves rapidly. This can effectively avoid the cartons on the conveyor belt pausing for a long time at a packing station to wait for them to be filled, thus effectively improving packing efficiency.

[0043] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a carton packing system, including the aforementioned carton packing device, and further including a carton detection and rejection device for detecting and rejecting cartons conveyed by the carton packing device. The carton detection and rejection device includes a carton conveyor belt, the conveying speed of which is greater than the conveying speed of the conveyor belt in the carton packing device. This configuration allows cartons conveyed by the carton packing device to be quickly detected; those that pass inspection immediately proceed to the next workstation, while those that fail are immediately rejected, ensuring that cartons conveyed by the carton packing device do not accumulate in the carton detection and rejection device, thus guaranteeing the operating efficiency of the production line.

[0044] According to the above-described solution of the present invention, when two adjacent cartons on the conveyor belt are packed simultaneously, the conveyor belt can only advance the distance of one carton at a time (the same conveyor belt is only allowed to advance one station at a time). This can effectively prevent the cartons from pausing at the packing station to wait for them to be filled, ensuring that the two cartons are filled simultaneously during operation, thus effectively improving the overall packing efficiency.

[0045] Finally, it should be noted that the above preferred embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail through the above preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that various changes can be made to it in form and detail without departing from the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent packing method, characterized in that, include: Step S1. Obtain packing data, where the packing data includes the number of times the carton is filled, 'a', where 1 <a; Step S2. Synchronously pack two cartons that are spaced apart on the conveyor belt, repeating the packing process b times, where 0 <b<a; Step S3. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, and two cartons are packed synchronously, repeating the packing process ab times; Step S4. The conveyor belt advances one carton distance, simultaneously packing two cartons, repeating this process b times; Step S5. Repeat steps S3-S4 to complete the simultaneous packing of the two cartons.

2. The intelligent packing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, b is the integer closest to half of a.

3. The intelligent packing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, b is an integer less than and closest to half of a.

4. The intelligent packing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After performing step S2, remove the first carton in the forward direction and then perform step S3.

5. The intelligent packing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The following steps are repeated before and during the execution of steps S2 to S5: Material handling involves conveying various materials to material trays arranged at equal intervals; Material picking: Based on the required quantity of materials for each packing, the robotic arm identifies and picks up the corresponding quantity of materials.

6. The intelligent packing method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The food ingredients include: Multiple materials are transported via the first conveyor belt; The second conveyor belt receives multiple materials conveyed by the first conveyor belt and continues to convey them until each material is conveyed to its corresponding material pallet. The conveying speed of the second conveyor belt is greater than that of the first conveyor belt.

7. The intelligent packing method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The food ingredients also include: The distance between materials on the second conveyor belt is detected. When the distance between two materials is less than the preset distance, the material behind it is rejected.

8. The intelligent packing method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The material picking includes: The material tray and the materials on it are identified by the picking end of the robotic arm; The robotic arm's picking end moves above the material tray and faces the corresponding quantity of material to be picked up; The system controls the picking end to pick up materials and visually detects whether the picking posture of the picked materials is accurate. If so, it waits to execute the corresponding packing steps. If not, it alarms and re-executes the material picking.

9. A packing apparatus for implementing the intelligent packing method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, include: The system includes a carton conveying mechanism, a material conveying and sorting mechanism, and a material picking and placing mechanism. The carton conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying cartons. The material conveying and sorting mechanism includes a conveyor belt for conveying materials and a receiving structure for receiving and temporarily placing materials conveyed by the conveyor belt. The material receiving structure includes a material conveyor belt and a material tray supported on the material conveyor belt. The material picking and placing mechanism includes a robotic arm and a vision camera disposed at the picking end of the robotic arm.

10. A packing system, characterized in that, The packing apparatus of claim 9 further includes a carton detection and rejection device for detecting cartons transported by the packing apparatus, the carton detection and rejection device including a carton conveyor belt, the conveying speed of the carton conveyor belt being greater than the conveying speed of the conveyor belt in the packing apparatus.

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