Method and device for handling articles, piece goods or containers

Abstract

Method for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking and / or palletizing articles (20), piece goods and / or packages, which are fed in the conveying direction (38) to a handling and / or grouping station (52) and there are picked up, rotated and displaced by means of a handling and / or manipulation device (34) within a defined manipulation area (50) and thereby brought into a stackable or palletizable arrangement (46) with respect to one another, which arrangements (46) can then be stacked and / or palletized one above the other to form stacked article, piece goods and / or package layers (60), wherein the stacked article, piece goods and / or package groups (14) transferred to the handling and / or grouping station (52) are arranged in ain particular in a stacking area (64) arranged directly upstream, stacked two or three times on top of each other, and wherein the articles (20), piece goods and / or packages are transferred to the handling and / or grouping station (52) as pairs or triple groups (14) stacked in pairs or three times on top of each other.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and a device for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking and / or palletizing articles, piece goods and / or containers stacked in pairs or multiple times on top of one another, having the features of independent claims 1 and 5 respectively.

[0002] Known packaging or palletizing systems for stacking and palletizing objects such as packages or containers containing multiple items, such as beverage containers, typically feature horizontal conveyor systems with conveyor belts on which the individual items or containers are transported in a continuous or irregular sequence to a handling device. There, individual items or containers are shifted, aligned, and / or rotated to place them in a suitable spatial arrangement, which forms the basis for pushing the items or containers together in downstream grouping stations into stackable layers of items or containers.

[0003] In current filling and packaging lines, various methods are used for rotating containers. These may, for example, include suitable movable stops or two belts with different speeds. Known handling devices can also be equipped with grippers, which can be suspended from a gantry system, for example, and moved within a defined range of motion, rotated, and also moved vertically to lift individual items or containers for rotation and / or movement. The grippers can also be mounted on multi-axis robot arms, for example, positioned laterally on the horizontal conveyors.

[0004] During such handling of piece goods or containers, in practice they are grasped, lifted, and transferred to a desired position or orientation within a grouping for the purpose of relocating and / or aligning them. Numerous gripping devices for this purpose are already known from the prior art, for example from EP 2 388 216 A1. This known gripping device has two gripping arms that are horizontally spaced from one another and arranged on an intermediate carrier via mechanical connections. The gripping arms can be moved towards one another to grasp objects. Furthermore, the gripping arms can be detached from the carrier when a defined force is applied in a vertical direction and against the carrier. At the free end, both gripping arms have clamping jaws that are in surface contact with the respective objects when objects are grasped.

[0005] Another gripping device is shown, for example, in DE 102 04 513 A1. There, several opposing gripping arms are guided in a central section. One gripping arm can be moved relative to another by means of an actuator, allowing both gripping arms to be closed. Gripping sections for gripping packages of building materials are provided at the lower ends of the gripping arms on the sides facing each other.

[0006] In conventional conveyor and handling systems, the containers are transported one after the other. During the subsequent grouping and layering, several containers are often positioned simultaneously, but this is only possible for containers arranged one behind the other. Thus, when creating a palletizable layer, only one layer of containers is ever created. To increase the container throughput of such systems and boost the palletizing speed, the grouping system can stack individual or multiple containers on top of each other in a first step and then position them in a second step.

[0007] From US 5 469 687 A a system for handling and conveying containers is known in which the containers, each consisting of six combined beverage cans, are stacked in pairs on top of each other during their conveying path in order to then feed them to a packaging station.

[0008] Furthermore, DE 10 2013 110 045 A1 discloses a method and system for automatically stacking packages on a base in a predetermined spatial arrangement to form a stack. Sliding plates and pushers are used to move packages. Document DE 296 20 912 U1 shows an arrangement for stacking panels with a conveyor path for bringing a sequence of panels forward and a stacking device. A pre-stacking device is arranged upstream of the stacking device. Document DE 10 2011 080 812 A1 discloses, among other things, a method for layering and / or palletizing packages, piece goods, bundles, or articles, as well as a device for forming flat layers from adjacent articles, piece goods, or bundles.

[0009] The primary objective of the present invention is to accelerate the processing steps involved in conveying, handling, manipulating, and subsequently palletizing articles, piece goods, and / or packages, and to provide a correspondingly modified and improved system for handling articles, packages, groupings, or piece goods that, while being easy to control, enables accelerated throughput for the articles, piece goods, and / or packages to be palletized and / or stacked.

[0010] This object of the invention is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Features of advantageous developments of the invention can be found in the respective dependent claims. To achieve the stated object, the present invention proposes a method for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking and / or palletizing articles, piece goods and / or packages, in which the articles, piece goods and / or packages are fed in the conveying direction to a handling and / or grouping station and there, by means of a handling and / or manipulation device, are picked up, rotated and / or displaced within a defined manipulation area and thereby brought into a stackable or palletizable arrangement. The arrangements prepared one after the other in this way can then be stacked and / or palletized on top of one another to form stacked layers of articles, piece goods and / or packages.However, in the method according to the invention, the articles, piece goods, and / or containers are previously transferred to the handling and / or grouping station as pairs or groups of three stacked on top of each other. This allows the handling throughput and thus also the stacking or palletizing throughput to be almost doubled within a given period of time, provided that the feed devices for providing the articles, piece goods, or containers transported one after the other can be accelerated accordingly. Even the formation of individual pair groups, each with articles, piece goods, and / or containers stacked in pairs, which are made available to the handling and / or manipulation device so that it can rotate, shift, etc., ideally ensures a doubling of throughput.Inevitably, the palletizing of these paired groups of articles, piece goods and / or containers, which are pushed together and / or rotated into double layers, also takes place in almost half the time.

[0011] The stacking of the containers, piece goods, or articles takes place during the container transport using stacking modules, optionally also using several stacking modules connected in series. Ideally, these stacking modules are arranged immediately before the grouping in order to keep the subsequent transport of the stacked containers as short and reliable as possible. By equalizing the "stacking and grouping" process, significantly faster cycle times and thus significantly reduced grouping times are possible. As mentioned, the stacked article, piece goods, and / or container groups transferred to the handling and / or grouping station can be stacked two or three high, preferably in a stacking area upstream of the handling and / or grouping station in the conveying direction, in particular in a stacking area spatially immediately upstream.

[0012] For implementing the method according to the invention, so-called conveyor switches are suitable, for example, with the help of which the stacked groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages can be stacked before they can then be rotated, moved or transferred as stacked groups of articles, piece goods or packages. These optional conveyor switches make it possible to deliver individual articles, piece goods and / or packages at different heights during the conveying process and thus stack them on top of one another. In an alternative variant of the method, the stacked groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages can also be stacked using separate gripping devices arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station, which pick up individual articles, piece goods and / or packages from horizontal conveyor devices or feed devices and place them on top of other articles, piece goods and / or packages, thereby stacking them on top of one another.

[0013] It may also be advantageous if the handling and / or manipulation device of the handling and / or grouping station can grasp the article, piece goods and / or container groups stacked in pairs or three high on top of each other for picking up, turning and / or moving within the manipulation area at variably adjustable heights, since this also allows groups of containers or piece goods to be reliably grasped which have irregular side edges, in particular different outer circumferences at different heights.

[0014] Optionally, the method can also provide that the handling and / or manipulation device of the handling and / or grouping station removes individual articles from groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages stacked in pairs, or pairs of articles from groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages stacked three high, from the article, piece goods or packages or pair of articles, piece goods or packages located underneath them and places them elsewhere within the manipulation area and / or transfers them to the handling and / or grouping station. Furthermore, it can be advantageous if, in a subsequent handling step, the article, piece goods or package or pair of articles, piece goods or packages remaining underneath the removed article, piece goods or package is taken over by the handling and / or manipulation device and transferred to the handling and / or grouping station.

[0015] Furthermore, to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention proposes an arrangement of conveying, handling, and / or palletizing stations following one another in the conveying direction for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking, and / or palletizing articles, piece goods, and / or bundles. This arrangement according to the invention comprises at least one handling and / or grouping station having a handling and / or manipulation device for picking up, rotating, and / or moving the articles, piece goods, and / or bundles within a defined manipulation area. The arrangement further comprises a palletizing station arranged downstream of the handling and / or grouping station in the conveying direction for stacking and / or palletizing arrangements of stackable or palletizable articles, piece goods, and / or bundles.Furthermore, the arrangement according to the invention provides a stacking station arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station in the conveying direction for stacking articles, piece goods, and / or packages in pairs or threes prior to their transfer to the handling and / or grouping station. Preferably, the stacking station is arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station in the conveying direction, in particular, is arranged directly upstream. The stacking station can, for example, be combined with the handling and / or grouping station in an integrated design or in a so-called block design.

[0016] The stacking station can optionally include conveyor systems with conveyor switches for transferring individual items, piece goods, and / or containers at different heights and for stacking them one on top of the other. Optionally, the stacking station can also include separate gripping devices for picking up individual items, piece goods, and / or containers from horizontal conveyor systems or feeders and placing them on other items, piece goods, and / or containers.

[0017] A further embodiment of the arrangement according to the invention can provide that a handling and / or manipulation device of the handling and / or grouping station comprises a displaceable, rotatable, and / or raising and lowering gripping unit with mutually adjustable gripping jaws or bars for gripping and manipulating the groups of articles, piece goods, and / or packages stacked in pairs or threes for picking up, rotating, and / or moving them within the manipulation area. In particular, it can be provided that the mutually adjustable gripping jaws or bars of the gripping unit are each variably adaptable to different contours of the side surfaces of the groups of articles, piece goods, and / or packages to be gripped.Such an adjustable gripper is used to securely grasp double or triple stacks, especially when they have irregular side edges or varying peripheral contours at different heights. Preferably, the gripping jaws or bars of the gripping unit, which can be moved relative to one another, can be articulated and adjustable by horizontal pivot angles within a definable adjustment angle. This enables reliable gripping at variably adjustable heights.

[0018] The arrangement according to the invention can provide a handling and / or manipulation device which comprises a gantry robot which is movable in the region of the handling and / or grouping station in two horizontal axes and has a gripping unit which is adjustable in the vertical axis and / or rotatable about the vertical axis. Alternatively, the arrangement can also provide a handling and / or manipulation device which comprises a parallel kinematic robot which is movable in the region of the handling and / or grouping station and has a rotatable gripping unit. Such parallel kinematic robots are generally also referred to as tripods (with three arms) or (with four arms) as quadpods or also as delta robots. These delta robots or parallel kinematic robots typically have three or four upper arms which are movable about horizontal pivot axes and each have pairs of lower arms articulated thereto, the lower ends of which are connected in movable linkages to a so-called TCP orThe tool center point is connected to the gripping tool arranged thereon, so that the gripping tool can be adjusted spatially and vertically almost arbitrarily and at very high speed by means of variable motorized adjustment movements of the upper arms within a range of motion determined by the dimensions of the arms and the maximum adjustment angle of the upper arms. If the TCP is designed to be rotatable, the gripping tool can also rotate or pivot as desired. As a further alternative, the handling and / or manipulation device can also comprise a movable multi-axis robot that can be pivoted about several axes and has a gripping unit that can be adjusted and / or rotated in space.

[0019] In the following, exemplary embodiments will explain the invention and its advantages in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures. The relative sizes of the individual elements in the figures do not always correspond to the actual sizes, as some shapes are simplified and others are enlarged relative to other elements for better illustration. Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a simple variant of a transport line in which layers are formed from articles transported one after the other, after which the article layers are subsequently palletized on a stacking station. Fig. 2 shows a schematic side view of a variant of a stacking station, which is part of a feed area in the transport line according to Fig. 1 is. Fig. 3 shows a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the stacking station according to Fig. 1. Fig. 4A and Fig. 4B show in two schematic side views useful stacking directions of a third embodiment of the stacking station according to Fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows a schematic representation of an embodiment variant of a handling and / or manipulation device which is part of the stacking station according to Fig. 1 is.

[0020] Identical reference numerals are used for identical or equivalently functioning elements of the invention. Furthermore, for the sake of clarity, only those reference numerals are shown in the individual figures that are necessary for the description of the respective figure. The illustrated embodiments merely represent examples of how the device or method according to the invention can be configured and do not represent a definitive limitation.

[0021] The top view of the Fig. Figure 1 shows, in a very schematic manner, a simple variant of a transport path 10 of a conveying, handling and palletizing station 12 according to the invention, in which a layer formation is to take place from article pairs 14 transported in several rows one behind the other. After passing the transport path 10, the layers 16 formed from the article pairs 14 are palletized on a stacking station 18, which will be explained in more detail below. The Fig. 1, each of the article pairs 14, which are only schematically indicated, consists of two articles 20 of equal size, stacked approximately flush one above the other, which pass through the transport line 10 in this arrangement and are each treated together, manipulated, grouped, and arranged in the regular arrangement required for palletizing or stacking. Normally, the two articles 20 of a stacked article pair 14 are only loosely placed on top of one another; however, they can optionally also be lightly adhered to one another, e.g., by applying an adhesive dot or an adhesive surface to the contact surface between the bottom surface of the upper article 20 and the top surface of the article 20 below.

[0022] When referring solely to "Articles 20" in the context of the description of the exemplary embodiment, this can refer to all types of conveyable, manipulable, groupable, stackable, and / or palletizable packages, piece goods, bundles, or other objects. The term "Articles 20" used here is therefore to be understood comprehensively and equally refers to the aforementioned conveyable, manipulable, groupable, stackable, and / or palletizable packages, piece goods, or bundles.If, in the context of the description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made almost exclusively to article pairs 14, this is by no means to be understood as limiting, but rather, in deviation from the literal meaning of the term "pair," also includes triple stacks of conveyable, manipulable, groupable, stackable, and / or palletizable articles 20, packages, piece goods, bundles, or other objects that can be stacked not only in pairs, but also three high on top of one another. It should therefore be expressly emphasized at this point that the term "article pair 14" in the present context—in deviation from the strict literal meaning of the term "pair"—is to be understood comprehensively, as it equally refers to the aforementioned conveyable, manipulable, groupable, stackable, and / or palletizable triple stacks of articles 20, packages, piece goods, or bundles.

[0023] The transport path 10 of the schematically shown conveying, handling and palletizing station 12 comprises in the embodiment shown the Fig. 1 two parallel transport tracks 26 and 28, generally referred to as feed stations 22 and 24 respectively, on which, in a normal state, uninterrupted rows of article pairs 14 of two articles 20 stacked on top of each other are transported to a grouping table 32, generally referred to as layer formation station 30, and transferred to the grouping table in the area of ​​the feed stations 22 and 24. The grouping table 32 comprises a handling and / or manipulation device 34 for receiving, rotating and / or shifting the article pairs 14 conveyed onto the grouping table 32 and for forming a loose double layer 16 (or triple layer in the case of articles stacked three high on top of one another) from the article pairs 14. The upper or first feed station 22 is understood to be the space or spatial area within which the handling and / or manipulation device 34 can receive and shift and / or rotate an article pair 14 provided there.In the exemplary embodiment shown, the upper or first feed station 22 is formed by the upper transport track 26 and is supplied with article pairs 14. The lower or second feed station 24 is understood to be the space or spatial area within which the handling and / or manipulation device 34 can take over and move and / or rotate an article pair 14 provided there. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the lower or second feed station 24 is formed by the lower transport track 28 and is supplied with article pairs 14. The area at which the handling and / or manipulation device 34 releases the article pairs 14 in the desired position and for the production of a predetermined layer pattern 16 is generally referred to as the release position 36.

[0024] The loose double layer 16 formed by the handling and / or manipulation device 34 by shifting and / or rotating the article pairs 14 is, after being assembled by means of the handling and / or manipulation device 34 and after passing the release position 36, initially pushed in the conveying direction 38 against a stop device 40 which can be formed, for example, by a vertically raiseable and lowerable stop plate which can be raised above the level of the grouping table 32 or layer formation station 30 to push the double layer 16 together and lowered back down again for the further transport of the double layer 16 pushed together without gaps in the conveying direction 38, i.e. below a conveying level on which the article pairs 14 and the double layer 16 move in the conveying direction 38.This double layer 16 is then conveyed to the right in article pairs 14 by means of a suitable horizontal conveyor device 42 to a layer forming table 44, on which a closed double layer 46 is formed from the article pairs 14 by pushing the article pairs 14 of the loose double layer 16 together transversely to the conveying direction 38. For the aforementioned purpose of pushing them together, the layer forming table 44 has suitable pushing devices 48 on both sides of the transport path 10, which can be advanced in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction 38 of the double layers 16 and 46, respectively, in order to be able to push the article pairs 14 of the loose double layer 16 against one another as required until the closed double layer 46 is accordingly. Fig. 1 is created, which largely no longer has any longitudinal and transverse gaps between the adjacent article pairs 14.

[0025] It should be mentioned at this point that the mentioned horizontal conveyor device 42, which is located at least between the layer formation station 30 or the grouping table 32 and the layer formation table 44, can also extend from the layer formation station 30 with the associated handling and / or manipulation device 34 to the layer formation table 44, since the article pairs 14, the loose double layer 16 and the closed double layer 46 are preferably conveyed continuously in the conveying direction 38 to the stacking station 18.

[0026] The grouping table 32, which represents the layer formation station 30, the horizontal conveyor device 42 following or arranged downstream in the conveying direction with the stop device 40, as well as the layer formation table 44 following this horizontal conveyor device 42 or arranged downstream in the conveying direction 38 with the laterally adjustable slide devices 48, together form the manipulation area 50 in the sense of the present invention, since it comprises both the handling station and the grouping station 52, which has a palletizing station 54 in the conveying direction 38 for stacking and / or palletizing the stackable or palletizable article pairs 14, which were combined in the grouping station 52 to form double layers 16 or 46.

[0027] In the context of the present invention, a handling and / or manipulation device 34 is any device that is capable and suitable for displacing the article pairs 14, parcel pairs, piece goods and / or bundle pairs transferred from the transport tracks 26 and 28 or from the feed stations 22 and 24 to the grouping table 32 or layer formation station 30 in a desired direction and / or rotating them about their vertical axis(es) in order to produce a desired layer pattern 16. This layer pattern 16 is, as mentioned above, subsequently compressed by pushing against the stop device 40 and by pushing them laterally against one another by means of the pushing devices 48 in order to reduce the gaps between the article pairs 14 pushed together to form the desired closed layer pattern 46. This process can, for example,in the area of ​​the layer forming table 44, which is arranged downstream of the grouping table 32 with the handling and / or manipulation device 34 assigned to it.

[0028] After the palletizable double layer 46 has been formed on the layer forming table 44, the closed double layer 46 is deposited as a complete double layer 46 on the stacking station 18 by means of a suitable transfer and / or transport device 56, which is indicated here only by the reference number in an arrow and which is part of the palletizing station 54, if necessary by stacking it on top of palletized double layers 46 already lying there. The bottommost layer 46 can in particular be deposited on a pallet 58 or the like. As soon as a defined maximum number of layers 46 have been deposited one above the other on the pallet 58, the complete layer stack 60 thus formed can be transported away for further packaging and / or shipping or storage. If required, a transfer device 62 such as a foldable transfer plate or the like can be arranged between the layer forming table 44 and the transfer and / or transport device 56.be arranged which can support the transfer to a transport facility.

[0029] In contrast to the arrangement shown, the Fig. 1, the manipulation area 50, which is only schematically indicated in FIG. 1, can also comprise more than the modules shown, each of which is arranged one behind the other. For example, two similar grouping tables 32 or layer-forming stations 30 can be arranged directly one behind the other to increase the processing speed in the area of ​​the transport path 10. Likewise, a transfer area or the like can be arranged downstream of the layer-forming table 44, which is equipped with a gripper, such as a louvre gripper head, which can take over complete double layers 46 and spatially displace them in order to stack them one above the other at the stacking station 18 and palletize them there to form a layer stack 60.

[0030] Furthermore, the Fig. 1, the conveying, handling and palletizing station 12 has a stacking station 64 arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station 52 in the conveying direction 38 for stacking the articles 20 sequentially conveyed on the transport tracks 26 and 28 in pairs or threes and for forming the article pairs 14 or triple stacks of articles 20 before their transfer to the handling and / or grouping station 52. In the illustrated embodiment, the stacking station 64 is arranged in the area of ​​the two parallel transport tracks 26 and 28, generally referred to as feed stations 22 and 24, on which uninterrupted rows of articles 20 are first conveyed to the stacking station 64, there stacked in pairs or threes and then in twos (or optionally also three) stacked articles 20, ie as article pairs 14, to the layer forming station 30 orGrouping table 32 and transferred to it in the area of ​​feed stations 22 and 24. As the . Fig. As can be seen in Figure 1, the stacking station 64 is arranged directly upstream of the handling and grouping station 52 in the conveying direction 38. The stacking station 64 can, for example, be combined with the handling and / or grouping station 52 in an integrated design or in a so-called block design.

[0031] The Fig. 2 shows a schematic side view of a first embodiment of the stacking station 64, which is part of the feed area in the transport line 10 according to Fig. 1. The stacking station 64 is located accordingly Fig. 1 in the area of ​​the parallel transport tracks 26 and 28, generally referred to as feed stations 22 and 24, respectively, on which articles 20 are transported at regular intervals in the conveying direction 38. The schematic side view of the Fig. 2 only one of the two transport tracks, in this case the upper or left transport track 26. However, the same arrangement is also found in identical form on the lower or right transport track 28 (cf. Fig. 1). Immediately above the transport track 26 there is a supplementary upper transport track 66, on which articles 20 are also transported at regular intervals in the conveying direction 38. In the area of ​​the end of the upper transport track 66 there is a conveyor switch 68, by means of which articles 20 transported one above the other are stacked to form article pairs 14. The conveyor switch 68 can be formed, as shown, by exactly parallel transport tracks 26 and 66, which are exactly aligned in the conveying direction 38. Alternatively, the conveyor switch 68 can also be formed by diagonally converging transport tracks 26 and 66, in which, for example, the upper transport track 66 is inclined downwards in the conveying direction 38 towards the lower transport track 26. Alternatively, the transport tracks 26 and 66 can also lead to each other laterally, although this is not shown in the illustration of the Fig. 2 cannot be made clear.

[0032] In order to form uniform article pairs 14 at the end of the supplementary upper transport track 66, which ends in the area of ​​the stacking station 64, in which the stacked articles 20 are each exactly aligned with each other, it is important that the positions of the articles 20 transported one above the other on the lower transport track 26 and on the upper transport track 66 in the conveying direction 38 are also as exactly aligned as possible. To achieve this, it is advisable, on the one hand, to synchronize the conveying speeds of the two transport tracks 26 and 66 located one above the other. If necessary, it may also be advisable to use suitable retaining devices 70, formed, for example, by a vertically movable retaining bar corresponding to Fig. 2, to briefly brake the articles 20 on the upper transport track 66 if necessary or to accelerate them briefly, for example by briefly accelerating the upper transport track 66, in order to thereby establish the desired alignment of the upper and lower articles 20 on the tracks 26 and 66.

[0033] As the Fig. 2, the articles 20 are stacked on top of each other at the end of the upper transport track 66 at the conveyor switch 68 by placing the articles 20 on the upper track 66 onto the respective upper sides of the articles 20 of the lower track 26. Without delay or interruption, the article pairs 14 formed in this way are conveyed further on the transport track 26 and conveyed at the feed station 22 to the grouping table 32 acting as a layer formation station 30, where the complete article pairs 14 can then be picked up, moved and / or rotated by means of the handling and / or manipulation device 34, as previously described with reference to the Fig. 1 was described.

[0034] The Fig. 3 shows a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the stacking station 64, which is part of the feed area in the transport line 10 according to Fig. 1. The stacking station 64 is in turn located in the area of ​​the parallel transport tracks 26 and 28, respectively, generally referred to as feed stations 22 and 24, on which articles 20 are transported at regular intervals in the conveying direction 38. The schematic side view of the Fig. 3 only one of the two transport tracks, in this case the upper or left transport track 26. However, the same arrangement is also found in identical form on the lower or right transport track 28 (cf. Fig. 1).

[0035] The Fig. The stacking station 64 shown in Figure 3 provides for stacking of the articles 20 to form the article pairs 14 by means of separate gripping devices 72, which remove individual articles 20 from a supply track (not shown here) and place them on each upper side of the articles 20 conveyed on the transport track 26. The gripping device 72, which is only indicated schematically here, can be part of a handling robot, for example, which can be formed by a robot that is movable in space on multiple axes or by a gantry robot or the like.

[0036] Other variants for the stacking station 64 than those in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are also conceivable. Fig. 4 shows such a further variant of the stacking station 64, in which the articles 20 conveyed on the transport tracks 26 and 28 are each stacked on top of each other by means of a gripping device 72. Shown in the Fig. 4A and Fig. 4B again schematic side views of the upper and left transport tracks 26. The right and lower transport tracks 28 (cf. Fig. 1) is, however, constructed in the same way, so that the stacking station 64 covers both transport tracks 26 and 28 equally. As the Fig. 4A merely indicates, every second article 20 can, for example, be picked up by a gripping, picking up and setting down movement 74 of a gripping device 72 oriented in the conveying direction (cf. Fig. 3) be placed on the article 20 transported in front of it in order to form the desired article pairs 14. It is also conceivable, according to the representation of the Fig. 4B, every second article 20 by a gripping, picking up and setting down movement 74 of the gripping device 72 oriented opposite to the conveying direction 38 (cf. Fig. 3) to be placed on the article 20 conveyed behind it in order to form the desired article pairs 14.

[0037] In the manner shown, it is possible to increase the performance of existing palletizing systems without significantly changing the machine equipment, because the articles 20 stacked in the area of ​​the feed to the layer formation station 30 enable the grouping table 32 to either rotate and / or shift the article pairs 14 at a lower speed or to handle a higher number of individual articles 20 in total per time interval at the same speed, since two articles 20 of an article pair 14 are always moved simultaneously. This grouping of the articles 20 into pairs 14 (or possiblyalso to triple stacks of articles) leads overall to a noticeable increase in the performance of the conveying, handling and palletising station 12, since in the same time, with basically the same transfer and rotation movements of the handling and / or manipulation device 34 of the grouping station 32, approximately twice the number of articles 20 can be moved and grouped into the loose double layer 16 than would be the case with articles 20 not grouped into pairs 14.

[0038] The schematic representation of the Fig. 5 shows a variant of the handling and / or manipulation device 34, which is assigned to the grouping table 32 and, for example, by a gripping unit 76 which can be displaced, rotated and / or raised and lowered by means of a gantry robot and has gripping jaws 78 which can be advanced towards one another for grasping and manipulating the articles 20 stacked in pairs for picking up, rotating and / or displacing them within the manipulation area 50 of the grouping station 32 (cf. Fig. 1) is formed. As the Fig. 5, the mutually adjustable gripping jaws 78 of the gripping unit 76 are each variably adaptable to different contours of the side surfaces of the article pairs 14 to be gripped. Such an adaptable gripper 76 serves to securely grip the double or triple stacks, especially when these have irregular side edges or varying circumferential contours at different heights, as is the case with the Fig. 5 can be seen in a hint.

[0039] The mutually adjustable gripping jaws 78 of the gripping unit 76 can be sensibly mounted in an articulated manner and can be adjustable within a definable adjustment angle by horizontal pivoting angles. In this way, reliable gripping of the article pairs 14 at variably adjustable heights is possible. Since the articles 20 of an article pair 14 are typically only loosely stacked on top of each other, the gripping jaws 78 serve to reliably grasp both articles 20, even if their side walls are irregular or widened in the lower area and in the base area, for example by a lower receiving tray 80 made of a cardboard or plastic tray, as shown in Fig. 5 is indicated for both articles 20. In this case, several individual piece goods of the same size and type are typically combined in the receiving tray 80, so that article 20 would typically be referred to as a bundle with combined and held-together piece goods or articles.

[0040] Optionally, the handling and / or manipulation device 34 can have a position in the area of ​​the handling and / or grouping station 52 (cf. Fig. 1) Gantry robot movable in two horizontal axes with a gripping unit 76 adjustable in the vertical axis and / or rotatable about the vertical axis according to Fig.5. It is also conceivable for the handling and / or manipulation device 34 to comprise a parallel kinematic robot with a rotatable gripping unit 76 that is movable in the region of the handling and / or grouping station 52. Furthermore, it is conceivable for the handling and / or manipulation device 34 to comprise a movable multi-axis robot that can pivot about several axes and has a gripping unit 76 that is spatially adjustable and / or rotatable.

[0041] The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, it is conceivable for a person skilled in the art that modifications or variations of the invention can be made without departing from the scope of the following claims. List of reference symbols 10 Transport route 12 Conveyor, handling and palletizing stations 14 pairs of articles 16 article layers, layer pairs, double layers, loose double layer (from article pairs), layer pattern 18 stacking space 20 articles 22 first feed station, left feed station, upper feed station 24 second feed station, right feed station, lower feed station 26 first transport lane, left transport lane, upper transport lane 28 second transport lane, right transport lane, lower transport lane 30 layer formation area 32 grouping table 34 Handling and / or manipulation device 36 Release position 38 Conveying direction 40 Anchor device 42 Horizontal conveyor device 44 Layer forming table 46 closed double layer, pushed together double layer 48 Slide devices, cross-thrust devices 50 Manipulation area 52 Handling and / or grouping station 54 palletizing station 56 Transfer and / or transport device 58 pallets 60 layer stacks 62 Transfer device, transfer plate 64 stacking station 66 additional transport lane, upper transport lane 68 conveyor switch 70 restraint device 72 gripping device 74 Gripping, picking up and setting down movement, stacking movement 76 grippers, gripping unit 78 gripping jaws 80 recording tray

Claims

[1] Method for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking and / or palletizing articles (20), piece goods and / or packages, which are fed in the conveying direction (38) to a handling and / or grouping station (52) and there are picked up, rotated and displaced by means of a handling and / or manipulation device (34) within a defined manipulation area (50) and thereby brought into a stackable or palletizable arrangement (46) with respect to one another, which arrangements (46) can then be stacked and / or palletized one above the other to form stacked article, piece goods and / or package layers (60), wherein the stacked article, piece goods and / or package groups (14) transferred to the handling and / or grouping station (52) are arranged in ain particular in a stacking area (64) arranged directly upstream, stacked two or three times on top of each other, and wherein the articles (20), piece goods and / or packages are transferred to the handling and / or grouping station (52) as pairs or triple groups (14) stacked in pairs or three times on top of each other. [2] Method according to claim 1, in which the stacked article, piece goods and / or container groups (14) are stacked by means of conveyor switches (68) which deliver individual articles (20), piece goods and / or containers at different heights and thereby stack them on top of one another. [3] Method according to claim 1, in which the stacked article, piece goods and / or bundle groups (14) are stacked by means of separate gripping devices (72) arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station (52), which gripping devices pick up individual articles (20), piece goods and / or bundles from horizontal conveyor devices or feeding devices and place them on other articles (20), piece goods and / or bundles, thereby stacking them on top of one another. [4] Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which the handling and / or manipulation device (34) of the handling and / or grouping station (52) grips the article, piece goods and / or package groups (14) stacked in pairs or three times one above the other for picking up, rotating and / or moving within the manipulation area (50) at variably adjustable heights. [5] Arrangement of conveying, handling and / or palletising stations (12) following one another in the conveying direction (38) for conveying, handling, manipulating, stacking and / or palletising articles (20), piece goods and / or containers, with: - a handling and / or grouping station (52) comprising a handling and / or manipulation device (34) for picking up, rotating and moving the articles (20), piece goods and / or containers within a defined manipulation area (50); - with a palletising station (54) arranged downstream of the handling and / or grouping station (52) in the conveying direction (38) for stacking and / or palletising stackable or palletisable article, piece goods and / or bundle arrangements (46), - and with a stacking station (64) arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station (52) in the conveying direction (38) for stacking articles (20), piece goods and / or containers in pairs or threes on top of each other before they are transferred to the handling and / or grouping station (52). [6] Arrangement according to claim 5, in which the stacking station (64) is arranged upstream of the handling and / or grouping station (52) in the conveying direction (38), in particular spatially immediately upstream. [7] Arrangement according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the stacking station (64) comprises conveyor devices (66) with conveyor switches (68) for transferring individual articles (20), piece goods and / or packages at different heights and for stacking them one on top of the other. [8] Arrangement according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the stacking station (64) comprises separate gripping devices (72) for receiving individual articles (20), piece goods and / or packages from horizontal conveyor devices or feeding devices and for placing them on other articles (20), piece goods and / or packages. [9] Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 8, in which a handling and / or manipulation device (34) of the handling and / or grouping station (52) comprises a displaceable, rotatable and / or raising and lowering gripping unit (76) with gripping jaws (78) or bars that can be advanced towards one another for gripping and manipulating the groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages (14) stacked in pairs or threes on top of one another for receiving, rotating and / or displacing them within the manipulation area (50), wherein the gripping jaws (78) or bars that can be advanced towards one another of the gripping unit (76) are each variably adaptable to different contours of the side surfaces of the groups of articles, piece goods and / or packages (14) to be gripped. [10] Arrangement according to claim 9, in which the gripping jaws (78) or bars of the gripping unit (76) which can be moved towards one another are mounted in an articulated manner and are adjustable by horizontal pivoting angles within a definable adjustment angle. [11] Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 10, in which the handling and / or manipulation device (34) comprises a gantry robot movable in two horizontal axes in the region of the handling and / or grouping station (52) with a gripping unit (76) adjustable in the vertical axis and / or rotatable about the vertical axis. [12] Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 10, wherein the handling and / or manipulation device (34) comprises a parallel kinematic robot with a rotatable gripping unit (76) which is movable in the region of the handling and / or grouping station (52). [13] Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 10, in which the handling and / or manipulation device (34) comprises a movable multi-axis robot which can be pivoted about a plurality of axes and has a gripping unit (76) which can be adjusted in space and / or rotated.

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