Device for capturing fabric products and method for operating this device

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (1) for capturing selected portions of clean or soiled laundry, in particular linen or towel products. The device comprises a first conveyor belt (10) and a second conveyor belt (50) which are separated from each other by an elongated gap (80) and are configured to convey the laundry (2) in a first direction (P) across the gap (80), and a gripper (100) arranged to capture the selected portions (3, 3', 3'') from above and / or below as the selected portions (3, 3', 3'') pass through the gap (80), the gripper (100) being movable to remove the laundry (2) captured by the gripper (100) from the second conveyor belt (50), and a controller (C) configured to activate the gripper (100) for capturing as the selected portions (3, 3', 3'') pass through the gap (80) and for the movement of the gripper (100).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a device for capturing a selected portion of a fabric product / fabric scrap, such as a clean or soiled laundry item, especially a linen or towel product.

Background Art

[0002] U.S. Patent No. 9,908,152 and U.S. Patent No. 9,920,470 disclose a device comprising a fastener having a pivotally coupled jaw for capturing laundry by butting against a straight fold or the opposite side of a pleat of the laundry.

[0003] The present invention aims to provide a simplified device for capturing a part of a fabric product.

Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this object, there is provided a device for capturing a selected portion of a fabric product, such as a clean or soiled laundry item, especially a linen or towel product. The device includes a first conveyor belt and a second conveyor belt that are separated from each other by an elongated gap and are configured to convey the fabric product in a first direction across the gap, and a gripper arranged to capture the selected portion from above and / or below as the selected portion passes through the gap, preferably movable to remove the fabric product from the second conveyor belt by pulling / dragging the fabric product captured by the gripper laterally from the second conveyor belt, and a controller configured to activate the gripper for capturing when the selected portion passes through the gap and for the movement of the gripper.

[0005] Accordingly, according to the present invention, by engaging the gripper with the upper surface and / or the opposite lower surface of the selected portion of the fabric product, efficient clamping of the selected portion of the fabric product can be achieved. In one embodiment, the gripper has a first capture portion that acts like a piston by including a linear movement pin with a free end that defines a head that contacts the selected portion, and the capture is performed by clamping the selected portion between the head and a second capture portion of the gripper.

[0006] In one embodiment, 2D (two-dimensional) image analysis is performed to select the portion of the fabric product to be captured. In another embodiment, 3D image analysis can be performed to select the portion to be captured.

[0007] Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a device for capturing a selected portion of a fabric product, such as clean or soiled laundry, etc., especially a fabric product such as a linen or towel product, advanced by a conveyor belt. This device includes a gripper for capturing the selected portion by suction, which is movable from a capture position above the conveyor belt to a position along the side of the conveyor belt, thereby removing the fabric product captured by the gripper from the conveyor belt, a controller configured to activate the gripper for capturing when the selected portion moved by the conveyor belt passes through the capture position and for moving the gripper to a position along the side of the conveyor belt by moving the gripper to a capture position corresponding to the expected movement path of the selected portion below the gripper, and a device for registering an image of the fabric product on the conveyor belt, preferably a 2D image, as viewed from above the conveyor belt and communicating with the controller. The controller is configured to process the image to select the portion to be captured from among the corresponding portions of the image showing a tapered shape with a tip.

[0008] Preferably, the device includes a cloth product contour and / or shape detector such as a camera. The detector communicates with a controller, which is configured to select a candidate portion for capture from the corresponding portion of the image that shows a tapered shape with a tip based on a 2D image of the cloth product. The controller can be configured to select, as the portion to be captured, the rearmost portion of the cloth product, i.e., the portion that is the furthest back on the conveyor belt, among the selected candidate portions. Alternatively, it is also possible to perform 3D image analysis to select the portion to be captured.

[0009] Another preferred embodiment is defined in the dependent claims.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to presently preferred embodiments used in relation to laundry items.

[0012] Figure 1 shows a device 1 of the present invention configured to capture a selected portion of a fabric product shown as clean or soiled laundry 2, in particular a part of a rectangular linen product or a rectangular towel product having four corners.

[0013] The laundry 2 shown is placed in a generally spread-out form on a first or upstream conveyor belt 10. The first conveyor belt 10 moves the laundry 2 in a first direction P from a laundry receiving end or laundry receiving portion 12 of this first conveyor belt 10. Also shown is a downstream second conveyor belt 50, which also operates to move the laundry in the first direction P. An elongated gap 80 separates the downstream end of the first conveyor belt 10 from an upstream end or upstream portion 52' of the second conveyor belt 50.

[0014] The elongated gap 80 has a relatively small width, which is selected such that the laundry 2 moved by the first conveyor belt 10 can pass over / cross the gap 80 and reach the second conveyor 50, and such that the gripper 100 can continue to grip and hold the selected portion of the laundry 2 as that selected portion passes over / crosses the gap 80.

[0015] In the illustrated embodiment, the gripper 100 has an upper capture portion 110 and a lower capture portion 150, both of which are supported by a frame F arranged to reciprocate transversely with respect to the first direction P as indicated by arrow A. At least one of the upper and lower capture portions 110, 150 is movable from a non-capture position along the illustrated upright direction B towards the other capture portion 110, 150 and contacts the other capture portion at a capture position within or slightly above the gap 80 as shown in FIG. 4. The capture position may in principle be at any location along the length of the gap 80, following the position along the gap 80 where the frame F has been moved transversely in direction A. In the non-capture position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the laundry 2 can move onto the second conveyor 50 without being obstructed.

[0016] At the capture position, the upper and lower capture portions 110 and 150 apply a clamping force to the upper surface and the opposite lower surface of the selected portion of the laundry 2, respectively, so that the selected portion of the laundry 2 passing over the gap 80 / crossing the gap 80 can be captured and held between the upper capture portion 110 and the lower capture portion 150.

[0017] In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the upper capture portion 110 includes a vertically movable pin having a free end that defines a head. This pin moves toward the lower capture portion 150 defined by an abutment surface fixed to the frame F, engages the selected portion of the laundry 2 from above, and presses it against the abutment surface. As a mere example, a hydraulic or pneumatic linear actuator can be used to move the pin. This pin forms an extension of the piston rod and thus moves linearly. By using a pin with a relatively small area free end, the gripper 100 can pierce a relatively small portion of the laundry 2 and apply a relatively high clamping pressure to the laundry 2.

[0018] Also shown in FIG. 1 is a controller C including a computer with a data storage device / memory. The controller C is configured to: i) receive data from the sensors and cameras 200, 300; ii) analyze the data and select a portion of the laundry 2 to be captured based on the stored data; iii) activate the gripper 100 for the above-described capture when the selected portion passes over the gap 80; and iv) control the movement of the gripper 100 along the lateral direction A.

[0019] Figure 2 is a top view of device 1, showing two items of laundry 2 that are placed overlapping on the first conveyor belt 10. To provide a generally continuous flow of laundry 2, 2', the items of laundry 2 may be dropped or placed on the first conveyor belt 10 in a generally random manner, not specified, either manually or from a supply device which may be a chute. The individual items of laundry 2 may be placed in a folded state, separated from each other on the first conveyor belt 10, or have an overlap shown by a dashed line such that an upstream item of laundry 2 may overlap with the rearmost part of another downstream item of laundry 2'.

[0020] Generally, the individual items of laundry 2, 2' placed individually or together on the moving conveyor belt have distinguishable parts indicated by the numbers 3, 3', 3'' in Figure 2. These distinguishable parts are "free" in the sense that they are not covered by another item of laundry 2'. Through experience, some of these free parts 3, 3', 3'' often have a generally pointed shape when viewed from above as schematically shown in Figure 2, and it has been found that these particular free parts are likely to correspond to the corners 4 of an item of laundry 2 in the form of a single rectangular linen or towel.

[0021] Using the very simple device 1 of the present invention, by capturing the parts 3, 3', 3'' of the item of laundry 2 that are likely to correspond to the corners 4 of the item of laundry 2 from its shape, such captured items of laundry 2 can then be processed in a downstream machine of the type where the leading edge of the item of laundry 2 is fed first while holding the item of laundry 2 by the captured corner 4 and the adjacent corner. Such a downstream machine may be, for example, a laundry iron or a laundry folder.

[0022] For the operation of Device 1, the controller C is configured to move the gripper 100, together with the captured laundry 2, in the lateral direction A parallel to the gap 80 to a release position outside the gap 80 away from the first and second conveyor belts 10, 50. This is shown on the right side of FIG. 2 and FIGS. 5 to 6. In this process, the selected laundry 2 is pulled laterally to the side of the second conveyor belt 50 on which the selected laundry 2 was partially loaded and conveyed.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, at the release position where the laundry 2 hangs down from the gripper 100, the capture portions 3, 3’, 3’’, 3’’’ that are most likely to correspond to the corner 4 of the laundry 2 can be transferred to another gripper G, and in this process, the two capture portions 110, 150 can be moved away from each other. At this point, the laundry 2 with the corner 4 hanging down from another gripper G is then transferred to dedicated equipment for locating and gripping the adjacent corner of the laundry 2 described above, and then the leading edge of the laundry 2 can be directly moved and supplied to an iron and / or folding machine, or the laundry 2 can be moved and supplied to a conveyor that advances the laundry 2 to such a machine.

[0024] It should be noted that by analyzing the digital image of each laundry 2 generated by the camera 300 with the controller C, the contour and / or shape of the laundry 2 placed on the first conveyor belt 10 can be determined, for example, based on the difference between the color of the laundry 2 and the color of the conveyor belt 10. This can avoid the need for equipment that performs 3D image analysis as simple 2D image analysis.

[0025] As can be understood from the above, in the case of the laundry 2 partially covering the downstream laundry 2' shown in FIG. 2, the controller C can select the rearmost portion 3 of the laundry 2 having such a pointed shape among the pointed portions 3, 3', 3'' as the suitable hook 4 of the laundry 2 to be captured. Then, when the laundry 2 other than the selected portion 3 moves across the gap 80 onto the second conveyor 50, the controller C activates the gripper 100. When the selected portion 3 passes across the gap 80, it captures the selected portion 3, then moves the frame F of the gripper 100 laterally along the direction A, and then pulls the laundry 2 laterally to completely separate it from the second conveyor 50, thereby separating the selected laundry 2 from the flow of the laundry on the two conveyors 10, 50. If necessary, side rails (not shown) may be provided to prevent other laundry entangled with the captured laundry 2 from falling beside the conveyor belts 10, 50.

[0026] By pulling the captured laundry 2 laterally away from the conveyor belts 10, 50, the high-speed operation of the device 1 can be enabled, minimizing the disturbance of the flow of the laundry placed on the first conveyor belt 10, and also enabling the laundry 2 on the first conveyor belt 10 immediately behind the pulled laundry 2 to be properly processed as described above, that is, to be analyzed to determine the portion to be selected and pulled laterally.

[0027] As described above, for capturing, the gripper 100 is movable to the correct position along the length of the gap 80. For this purpose, the controller C preferably determines, based on the signal from the upper position sensor 200 and the speed of the conveyor belt, a) the predicted arrival positions of the selected portions 3, 3', 3'' of the laundry 2 along the length of the gap 80, and b) the arrival times of the selected portions 3, 3', 3'' at the gap 80, and further moves the gripper 100 to the determined predicted arrival positions so that the selected portions 3, 3', 3'' are configured to be clamped between the upper capture part 110 and the lower capture part 150. Also, when the gripper 100 reaches the release position adjacent to the gap 80, the controller C is configured to release the captured selected portions 3, 3', 3'' in order to move the rod 4 to the gripper G.

[0028] The downstream portion 52'' of the second conveyor belt 50 defines an alternative discharge route for the laundry 2 for returning the non-captured laundry 2' to the laundry receiving portion 12 of the device 1. The reason for not capturing in this way may be, for example, that due to the placement of the laundry 2 on the first conveyor 10, it was not possible to determine from the image of the laundry 2 that any of the portions 3, 3', 3'' was suitable for selection.

[0029] FIG. 7 shows that the gripper G moves in the direction P2 away from the release position and conveys the suspended laundry 2 with the rod 4. For simplicity, the gripper 100 is not shown in FIG. 7.

[0030] In the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 8, it should be noted that after the single capture part 110 of the gripper 100 moves downward toward the selected portion 3 of the laundry 2 placed on the conveyor belt 10 shown, the selected portions 3, 3', 3'' can be configured to be captured by applying a suction force using an air pump (not shown). Then, by the above-described lateral movement in the direction A, the selected laundry 2 can be pulled across the conveyor belt 10 to the laundry release position along the side surface S of the conveyor belt 10. It is not necessary to provide the above-described gap 80.

[0031] The gripper 100 illustrated and described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 is currently preferably only linearly movable along the illustrated lateral direction A. However, in order to remove the selected laundry 2, upward movement of the gripper 100 combined with the illustrated lateral movement A may also be expected in some cases.

Claims

**Claim 1** A device (1) for capturing a selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of a fabric product, such as clean or soiled laundry (2), especially a linen or towel product (2), comprising: A first conveyor belt (10) and a second conveyor belt (50) separated from each other by an elongated gap (80) and configured to convey the product (2) in a first direction (P) across the gap (80); A gripper (100) arranged to capture the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') from above and / or below as the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') passes through the gap (80), the gripper (100) being movable to remove the fabric product (2) captured by the gripper (100) from the second conveyor belt (50); A controller (C) configured to activate the gripper (100) for the capture as the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') passes through the gap (80) and for the movement of the gripper (100); The device (1) comprising the above components. **Claim 2** The device according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the gripper (100) is lateral to the first direction (P) and is carried out to a position adjacent to the gap (80). **Claim 3** The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gripper (100) includes a capture portion (110) operative to apply a suction force for capturing the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') as it passes through the gap (80). **Claim 4** The gripper (100) comprises an upper capture portion (110) and a lower capture portion (150) disposed below the upper capture portion (110). At least one of the upper and lower capture portions (110, 150) is movable, preferably linearly, towards the other capture portion (110, 150) to capture the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') between the upper and lower capture portions (110, 150) as the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') passes through the gap (80), whereby the upper and lower capture portions (110, 150) apply a clamping force to the upper and lower surfaces of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') as it passes through the gap (80). The device according to claim 1 or 2. **Claim 5** The gripper (100) is movable along the gap (80) to a plurality of positions along the length of the gap (80). The controller (C) is configured to determine the arrival position along the length of the gap (80) of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the conveyed fabric product (2), and to move the gripper (100) to the determined arrival position. The device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The second conveyor belt (50) defines a first downstream portion (52') from which the fabric product (2) can be removed by the gripper (100) moving to the outer position adjacent to the gap (80), and a second downstream portion (52'') that defines an alternative discharge route for the fabric product (2) from the second conveyor (50). The alternative discharge route optionally returns the fabric product (2) to the fabric product receiving portion (12) of the device (1). The device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The controller (C) is configured to release the captured selected portion (3, 3', 3'') from the at least one capture portion (110, 150) when the fabric product (2) is removed from the second conveyor belt (50). The device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The controller (C) is configured to determine the arrival time of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') at the gap (80), and / or The controller (C) is configured to receive a signal indicating the arrival of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') at the gap (80). The device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. Including a fabric product (2) identifier (200) for identifying individual fabric products (2) conveyed from the receiving portion (12). The fabric product (2) identifier (200) communicates with the controller (C). The controller (C) is configured to select a fabric product (2) to be captured based at least on data from the identifier (200). The device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. Including a fabric product (2) contour and / or shape detector (300) such as a camera. The detector (300) communicates with the controller (C). The controller (C) is configured to select the portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) to be captured, preferably based on data from at least the detector (300), and preferably based on a 2D image of the fabric product (2), for the device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. The selected portion (3, 3', 3'') is the rearmost portion (3) of the fabric product (2), for the device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A method of using the device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11 to capture a selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of a fabric product (2) and then provide the fabric product (2) in a suspended form for further processing, comprising: placing the fabric product (2) or a plurality of such fabric products (2) on the receiving portion (12) of the first conveyor (100); conveying the one or more fabric products (2) by the first conveyor (100) towards the gap (80); selecting a portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) to be captured; determining or registering the arrival time of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) being conveyed towards the gap (80) by the first conveyor (100) at the gap (80); determining or registering the arrival position of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) at the gap (80); activating the gripper (100) to move to the determined or registered arrival position of the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) and to capture the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) at the determined or registered arrival time; moving the gripper (100) with the captured selected portion (3, 3', 3'') of the fabric product (2) to the position adjacent to the gap (80) and pulling the fabric product (2) across the second conveyor belt (50); A method, including.

13. The selected portion, when viewed from above the first conveyor belt (10), has a tapered shape with a tip, and is considered to be the hem portion of the fabric product (2), for the method according to claim 12.

14. including another step of moving the selected portion (3, 3', 3'') to another gripper (G); This further step is carried out by first moving said further gripper (G) in a direction (P2) generally directed from said receiving part (12), preferably in a direction (P2) generally parallel to said first direction (P). The method according to claim 12 or 13.

15. A device (1) for capturing a selected part (3, 3', 3'') of a fabric product (2), in particular a linen or towel product (2), such as a clean or soiled laundry item (2), advanced by a conveyor belt (10), A gripper (100) for capturing said selected part (3, 3', 3'') by suction, movable from a capture position above said conveyor belt (10) to a position along a side surface (S) of said conveyor belt (10), whereby said fabric product (2) captured by said gripper (100) is removed from said conveyor belt (10). The gripper (100) and, A controller (C) configured to activate said gripper (100) for said capture when said selected part (3, 3', 3'') moved by said conveyor belt (10) passes through said capture position, and for said movement of said gripper (100) to said position along said side surface (S) of said conveyor belt (10), by moving said gripper (100) to said capture position corresponding to a predicted movement path of said selected part (3, 3', 3'') below said gripper (100). Including a device (200, 300) for registering an image of said fabric product (2) on said conveyor belt (10) as seen from above said conveyor belt (10), in communication with said controller (C). Said controller (C) processes said image to select said part (3) to be captured from among corresponding parts of said image showing a tapered shape with a tip. The device (1).

Images