Assembly and method for depalletizing individual piece goods from a group of piece goods

Abstract

The invention relates to an assembly for depalletizing individual piece goods from a group of piece goods, said group providing a plurality of piece goods, comprising at least two gripping units designed in the form of container grippers, each gripping unit having two container gripper rails which are oriented parallel to each other, on which piece goods can be individually received, and the mutual rail distance of which is variably adjustable, said gripping units being arrangeable relative to the group of piece goods such that the at least two gripping units remove piece goods from the group of piece goods simultaneously and separately from each other.

Description

[0001] Arrangement and method for depalletizing individual piece goods from a group of piece goods

[0002] Technical area

[0003] An arrangement and a method for depalletizing individual piece goods from a group of piece goods are described.

[0004] State of the art

[0005] Depalletizing processes are often performed manually by humans, not least due to high processing speeds. The processes of gripping, separating, and moving individual piece goods from a group of piece goods can be carried out quickly and safely by humans due to their cognitive abilities. To minimize the physical strain on the operator, piece goods depalletizing stations are known in which a stack of piece goods is arranged so that it can be positioned vertically, so that the topmost stacking level of a piece goods stack is flush with the level of a distribution table, via which the piece goods to be separated can be fed to different distribution paths (see, for example, document EP 2 918 524 A1).In this way, lifting and unlifting of the piece goods from the stack of pieces can be avoided, since the above depalletizing processes are carried out simply by moving the piece goods sideways from the stack of pieces.

[0006] Document DE 10 2013 021 532 A1 discloses a device for loading and unloading a pallet, comprising a gripping device for gripping piece goods to be stacked on the pallet. The gripping device is arranged on a multi-axis manipulator, the base of which is movable along a guide track arranged near the floor, and at least one loading track extending close to the guide track for feeding and removing a load carrier to or from a loading station. Part of the loading track is formed by a carriage, which is movable along the guide track of the manipulator and extends at least partially above the guide track.

[0007] The document US 2013 / 0115040 A1 discloses an arrangement for palletizing and depalletizing a stack of piece goods with the aid of two 6- or 7-axis industrial robot grippers, which can grasp individual piece goods from a stack of piece goods and transfer them onto a conveyor belt assigned to the industrial robot gripper and vice versa.

[0008] Description of the invention

[0009] The invention is based on the object of optimizing the aforementioned depalletizing process in terms of efficiency and economical processing capacity, and of reducing costs and technical complexity. In particular, it is intended to provide an arrangement for depalletizing individual piece goods from a group of piece goods that can automatically perform a depalletizing process while avoiding the need for human support, and that can achieve at least comparable, but in particular faster, processing speeds than previously achieved.

[0010] The solution to the problem underlying the invention is defined in claims 1 and 7. Claims 13 and 16 each relate to a depalletizing method according to the solution. The inventive concept with advantageous features can be found in the dependent claims and in the description, particularly with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

[0011] The use of gripping units, especially roll-on grippers, for depalletizing a group of unit loads is well known. However, the individual processes of grasping and gripping individual unit loads in and out of the group of unit loads, as well as their subsequent transport, cannot currently be performed at the processing speeds that humans are capable of.

[0012] The idea underlying the invention according to claim 1 utilizes the concept of parallel processing to optimize the processing speed for depalletizing, i.e., more than one gripping unit removes piece goods from the piece goods cluster. In this way, the depalletizing time can be reduced largely linearly with the number of gripping units involved in depalletizing.

[0013] According to the solution, an arrangement for depalletizing individual piece goods from a multi-unit load assembly comprising a plurality of piece goods comprises at least two gripping units designed as bundle grippers, each of which has at least two bundle gripper rails oriented parallel to one another, onto which the piece goods can be picked up individually, and whose mutual rail spacing is variably adjustable. The at least two gripping units can be arranged relative to the bundle of piece goods in such a way that they can remove piece goods from the bundle of piece goods simultaneously and separately from one another.

[0014] The use of at least two container grippers, each of which has at least two parallel container gripper rails on which piece goods can be picked up individually and whose mutual rail spacing is variably adjustable, significantly reduces the technical and fiscal effort compared to industrial robot systems, whereby the solution-based arrangement has a very high potential for high market penetration, especially in small and medium-sized companies.

[0015] In order to ensure that the at least two gripping units can work on a piece goods combination without collision, the piece goods combination is divided into at least two non-overlapping spatial areas in a preferred exemplary embodiment, wherein the at least two gripping units are arranged and designed relative to the piece goods combination such that each of the gripping units removes piece goods from only one spatial area of ​​the piece goods combination. Both spatial areas do not necessarily have to be the same size. Gripping units of the above type that are of different sizes and / or work at different speeds and / or are designed differently can also be used, so that the dimensions and spatial positions of the spatial areas are selected depending on the individual gripping properties of the gripping units.

[0016] Alternatively, or in combination with the aforementioned spatial area division on a piece goods combination to be depalletized for the purpose of avoiding collisions between the at least two gripping units, a further embodiment of the arrangement according to the solution provides a control unit which controls the at least two gripping units in a coordinated manner such that the removal of the piece goods from the piece goods combination takes place without collisions.

[0017] With at least one of the above collision avoidance measures, the at least two gripping units can, in principle, be arranged in any desired manner relative to the piece goods assembly. Preferably, the at least two gripping units are arranged along different sides of the piece goods assembly, preferably on opposite sides of the piece goods assembly.

[0018] A further additional measure for optimising the depalletising speed provides for a basic division of tasks. In a manner known per se, one gripping unit carries out all depalletising processes, which are referred to as "pick and place processes". In particular, the transfer and positioning of individual piece goods to a storage location costs time, which is lost to the gripping unit for the "pick process". A further preferred embodiment solves this time problem in that each of the at least two gripping units is assigned a piece goods manipulator, which removes a piece goods removed from the piece goods group by one of the gripping units from the gripping unit and transfers it to a storage location. In this way, the "pick and place process" per gripping unit is divided between two units, which work in the same way in parallel, i.e. simultaneously, and accelerate the depalletising process.

[0019] A preferred embodiment provides that each of the at least two gripping units is assigned or followed by a conveyor line which receives a piece of goods removed from the piece goods combination by one of the gripping units from the gripping unit and transfers it to a storage location.

[0020] An alternative arrangement according to the invention for depalletizing individual piece goods from a piece goods combination comprising a plurality of piece goods comprises at least one gripping unit designed as a bundle gripper, which has at least two bundle gripper rails oriented parallel to one another, onto which piece goods can be picked up individually and whose mutual rail spacing is variably adjustable, and which can be arranged relative to the piece goods combination such that the at least one gripping unit can individually remove piece goods from the piece goods combination. In addition, a piece goods manipulator and / or a conveyor line is assigned to the at least one gripping unit, which removes a piece goods removed from the piece goods combination by the gripping unit and transfers it to a storage location.

[0021] The alternative arrangement according to the solution takes up the idea described above of dividing the functions of the “pick-and-place process” into two separate units, wherein the at least one gripping unit exclusively carries out the “pick process” and the additional piece goods manipulator and / or the additional conveyor line exclusively carries out the “place process”.

[0022] The following manipulators are particularly suitable for handling piece goods: fork grippers, grid grippers, belt grippers, roller grippers, clamp grippers, sliding grippers, vacuum grippers, and adhesion grippers.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the piece goods manipulator is arranged in the region of the gripping unit and picks up a piece goods picked up by the gripping unit and moves the piece goods to a storage location, preferably transversely to the longitudinal orientation of the rolling gripper rails.

[0024] In the case of a conveyor line downstream of the gripping unit, the piece goods picked up by the gripping unit are transferred to a storage location along the longitudinal direction of the roller gripper rails. Conveyor lines are preferably belt, roller, or chain conveyors.

[0025] Particularly suitable gripping units for carrying out the depalletizing process are roller grippers which have at least two roller gripper rails whose mutual rail spacing can be variably adjusted. An endless conveyor belt is arranged around each of the individual rails and rotates around two rollers in a motor-controlled manner, see for example DE 10 2012 009 649 B4 or DE 10 2016 218 319 A1. To pick up piece goods, the gripping unit is positioned vertically to the top stacking level and opposite a piece of goods to be picked up. Positioning can be achieved either by positioning the gripping unit relative to a stationary piece of goods combination, for example by means of suitable robot kinematics to which the gripping unit is spatially, preferably freely, positionable and / or the piece of goods combination can be lifted at least vertically or positioned on a lifting kinematics, e.g.on a lifting table, so that the at least one gripping unit is mounted so that it can only be deflected horizontally.

[0026] The piece goods stack can be configured as a single or mixed pallet stack. Typically, such piece goods stacks are arranged on standardized-size pallets as supports and each comprise a plurality of individual piece goods layers arranged in vertical stacks, from which at least one gripping unit removes the piece goods one after the other. In the case of mixed pallets, due to the different container sizes of the individual piece goods, ordering patterns can arise in the piece goods stack in which the individual piece goods are not arranged next to and behind one another along individual stack layers. Rather, in these cases, the individual piece goods can be arranged next to, behind, and / or on top of one another in any block-like or prism-like arrangement to form a piece goods stack.In these cases, the at least one gripping unit is attached to a suitable kinematics, preferably an industrial robot, for free spatial positioning, which individually navigates the gripping unit relative to the individual piece goods of the stationary piece goods combination.

[0027] The arrangement according to the solution is based on the process concept according to the solution that either at least two container grippers simultaneously remove piece goods from the piece goods combination or that a first gripping unit grips and removes a piece goods from the piece goods combination, and that a second gripping or conveying unit takes over the removed piece goods from the first gripping unit and transports the piece goods to a storage location.

[0028] In the first case, the depalletizing speed is increased by scaling the gripping units involved in the depalletizing process. In the second case, the concept of dividing the workload for the picking and placing processes between two suitable handling systems serves to optimize the depalletizing process. Of course, both solution concepts can also be combined.

[0029] Brief description of the invention

[0030] The invention is described below, without limiting the general inventive concept, using exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings. They show:

[0031] Fig. 1 Arrangement with two gripping units arranged along opposite sides of a piece goods assembly,

[0032] Fig. 2 Arrangement with two gripping units arranged along one side of a piece goods combination, Fig. 3 Arrangement with six gripping units arranged next to a piece goods combination,

[0033] Fig. 4 Arrangement with a piece goods manipulator

[0034] Fig. 5 Alternative arrangement with a piece goods manipulator and.

[0035] Fig. 6 ad telescopic container gripper rail.

[0036] Ways of implementing the invention, industrial applicability

[0037] Figure 1 shows a vertical plan view of an arrangement for depalletizing a piece goods assembly 1. In the illustrated case, the piece goods assembly 1 is designed as a stack of piece goods with stacking levels arranged one above the other, in each of which a plurality of piece goods 2 are arranged one behind the other and next to the other. It is assumed that the piece goods assembly 1 is mounted on a pallet, which can be lifted vertically by means of a lifting kinematics, together with the piece goods assembly 1 located thereon.

[0038] A gripping unit 3 is arranged laterally along each of two opposite sides of the piece goods combination 1. Both gripping units 3 are mounted so as to be longitudinally movable relative to the sides of the piece goods combination 1 and are preferably designed as roll-on grippers with two gripper rails 4, the mutual rail spacing of which is variably adjustable. The end face of one of the gripping units 3 facing the piece goods combination 1 is located in the uppermost stacking level of the piece goods combination 1 for picking up the piece goods. For this purpose, the piece goods combination 1 is positioned at the height of the gripping units 3. For picking up the piece goods, the spacing of the gripper rails 4 is selected according to the size of the piece goods 2 to be picked up in order to be able to pick up the piece goods 2 safely and stably. The gripping unit 3 is then moved linearly in the direction of the piece goods 2 to be picked up.Both gripper rails 4 are equipped with a motor-driven endless conveyor belt that moves around two deflection rollers in order to be able to convey the picked-up piece goods 2 linearly away from the piece goods combination 1.

[0039] Directly in the discharge direction, each of the two gripping units 3 is followed by a conveyor line 5, preferably in the form of a belt conveyor, through which the piece goods 2 can be transported to a storage location 6. The conveyor line 5 is also designed as a conveyor belt-rail pair, which directly adjoins the gripper rail pair 4.

[0040] As an alternative to providing a conveyor section 5 connected to the end of each gripper rail 4, which is moved kinematically together with the gripper rail 4, it is possible to use a modified gripper rail 4' with a telescopic mechanism, which is shown in Figures 6a to d. Figures 6a and b show longitudinal sections of a modified gripper rail 4' in a retracted state, and Figures 6c and d show longitudinal sections of the modified gripper rail 4' in the extended state. The further description refers to all Figures 5a to d. The telescopic gripper rail 4' has two rail supports 12 and 13 that are mounted for linear movement relative to one another, of which the front rail support 12 is mounted for deflection relative to the rear rail support 13, comparable to a drawer mechanism.For this purpose, the endless conveyor belt 14 runs around at least three deflection rollers 15, 16, 17 which implement the telescopic mechanism, two of which deflection rollers 15, 16 are fixedly mounted on the rear rail support 12 and the third deflection roller 17 is mounted longitudinally movable on the front rail support 12.

[0041] Preferably, a deflection roller (not shown) provided at the front end 18 of the rail support 12, which is preferably motor-driven, serves as a rolling roller around which the endless conveyor belt 14 rotates. Furthermore, a further deflection roller 19 is arranged on the front rail support 12 for transferring the endless conveyor belt 14 in the horizontal conveying direction.

[0042] The design and use of a gripping unit 3 with at least two telescopic container gripper rails 4' oriented parallel to one another makes it possible to avoid an additional conveying path, especially since the rear end 20 of the rear rail support 13 rests relative to the storage area 6 during container pickup, for which only the front rail support extends and retracts like a drawer.

[0043] In order to ensure collision-free depalletizing of the piece goods combination 1 with the two gripping units 3, which both simultaneously remove piece goods 2 from a common stacking level of the piece goods combination 1, it is advisable to divide the piece goods combination into two non-overlapping spatial areas I and II, see dashed dividing line, in each of which only one gripping unit 3 can remove piece goods 2 from the piece goods combination 1.

[0044] Alternatively or additionally, a control unit 7 is provided, via which both gripping units 3 are controlled in a coordinated manner with the aim of achieving collision-free de-apletting of the piece goods combination 1.

[0045] Figure 2 shows an alternative arrangement for depalletizing a piece goods assembly 1 with two gripping units 3 arranged along one side of the piece goods assembly 1. Reference is made to the above description with regard to the reference numerals already explained in Figure 2. The illustrated embodiment is intended to clarify that the at least two gripping units 3 can be arranged in any spatial arrangement on and around the piece goods assembly 1 for its depalletizing. Furthermore, Figure 2 shows a piece goods assembly 1 with two differently arranged piece goods 2 within a stacking level. Thus, the gripping unit 3 on the left in Figure 2 removes piece goods 2 from each of its narrow sides, which is why the gripper rails 4 are closely spaced from one another. The rail spacing on the conveyor line 5 is correspondingly narrow.In contrast, the right gripping unit 3 removes piece goods 2 via its broad side, which is why the gripper rails 4 and thus also the pair of rails of the subsequent conveyor line 5 have a greater mutual distance in this case.

[0046] Figure 3 shows an arrangement with six gripping units 3 arranged on or around a piece goods assembly 1, all of which coordinate with one another to carry out the depalletizing process on a piece goods assembly 1. Reference is made to the above description for the reference numerals already explained in the preceding figures.

[0047] Figure 4 shows the depalletizing of piece goods 2 that are arranged in the lowest stacking level of a piece goods assembly 1, i.e., resting directly on the pallet 8, which is arranged on a lifting table 9. For depalletizing, two gripping units 3 are arranged along the same pallet side. In addition to the two gripping units 3, which pick up the piece goods, a piece goods manipulator 10 in the form of a belt gripper is provided, which, in the case shown, picks up the piece goods 2 from the front gripping unit 3 in Figure 4 and then transports it to a storage location, while gripping unit 3 picks up the next piece goods.

[0048] In principle, it is conceivable to use a piece goods manipulator 10 for two or more gripping units 3 in order to pick up one or more piece goods 2 and transport them to a storage location. In the illustrated case, it is assumed that the piece goods manipulator 10 assigned to the rear gripping unit 3 (not shown) transports an already picked piece goods to a storage location. For this purpose, the respective piece goods manipulator 10 is attached to a movement kinematics, e.g., to an industrial robot. Figure 5 illustrates an alternative design and arrangement for a piece goods manipulator 10, which is designed in the form of a lattice fork gripper and arranged laterally next to a gripping unit 3.The gripper rails 4 of the gripping unit 3 have a rail section with groove-shaped recesses into which the grid-shaped carrying forks 11 of the piece goods manipulator 10 engage, so that a piece of goods 2 can be lifted vertically upwards from the gripping unit 3 without hindrance by the carrying forks 11 of the piece goods manipulator 10 and can be brought to a storage location.

[0049] All components shown in Figures 1 to 6 above can be combined with one another in any way so that the depalletizing of a piece goods combination 1 can be carried out fully automatically in the shortest possible time.

[0050] List of reference symbols

[0051] General cargo network

[0052] General cargo

[0053] gripping unit

[0054] gripper rail

[0055] Conveyor line

[0056] Storage location

[0057] Control unit

[0058] range

[0059] lifting table

[0060] General cargo manipulator

[0061] Support fork front rail support rear rail support

[0062] Endless conveyor belt

[0063] Deflection pulleys front end of the front rail support

[0064] pulley rear end of the rear rail support

Claims

Patent claims 1 . Arrangement for depalletizing individual piece goods (2) from a piece goods combination (1) which provides a plurality of piece goods (2), with at least two gripping units (3) designed as bundle grippers, which each have at least two bundle gripper rails (4) oriented parallel to one another, onto which piece goods (2) can be picked up individually and whose mutual rail spacing is variably adjustable, and can be arranged relative to the piece goods combination (1) in such a way that the at least two gripping units (3) remove piece goods (2) from the piece goods combination (1) simultaneously and separately from one another.

2. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the piece goods combination (1) can be divided into at least two non-overlapping spatial areas, and in that the at least two gripping units (3) are arranged and designed relative to the piece goods combination (1) in such a way that each of the gripping units (3) removes piece goods (2) from only one spatial area of ​​the piece goods combination (1).

3. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that a control unit (7) is provided which controls the at least two gripping units (3) in a coordinated manner such that the removal of the piece goods (2) from the piece goods combination (1) takes place without collision.

4. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the at least two gripping units (3) are arranged along different sides of the piece goods combination (1), preferably on opposite sides of the piece goods combination.

5. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each of the at least two gripping units (3) is assigned a piece goods manipulator (10), which in each case has a piece goods manipulator (10) which is (3) removes the piece goods (2) removed from the piece goods combination (1) from the gripping unit (3) and transfers them to a storage location (6).

6. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that each of the at least two gripping units (3) is assigned or downstream of a conveyor line (5) which receives a piece of goods (2) removed from the piece goods combination (1) by one of the gripping units (3) from the gripping unit (3) and transfers it to a storage location (6).

7. Arrangement for depalletizing individual piece goods (2) from a piece goods combination (1) which provides a plurality of piece goods (2), with at least one gripping unit (3) designed as a bundle gripper, which has at least two gripper rails (4) oriented parallel to one another, onto which piece goods (2) can be picked up individually and whose mutual rail spacing is variably adjustable, and can be arranged relative to the piece goods combination (1) in such a way that the at least one gripping unit (3) removes piece goods (2) individually from the piece goods combination (1), and with a piece goods manipulator (10) and / or a conveyor line (5) which removes a piece goods (2) removed by the gripping unit (3) from the piece goods combination (1) from the gripping unit (3) and transfers it to a deposit location (6).

8. Arrangement according to claim 5 or 7, characterized in that the piece goods manipulator (10) is arranged in the region of the gripping unit (3) and receives a piece goods (2) picked up by the gripping unit (3) and transversely to or in the longitudinal orientation of the gripper rails (4) to the storage location (6).

9. Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the piece goods manipulator (10) has at least one of the following manipulators: conveyor line, fork gripper, grid gripper, belt gripper, roller gripper, clamping gripper, sliding gripper, vacuum gripper, adhesion gripper, rolling gripper.

10. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the at least one gripping unit (3) is designed as a rolling gripper, with two rolling gripper rails, the mutual rail spacing of which is variably adjustable. 11 . Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the piece goods combination (1) is designed as a mono or mixed pallet stack.

12. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the at least one gripping unit (3) and / or the piece goods combination (1) are arranged in such a way that they can be spatially positioned such that the at least one gripping unit (3) can be positioned relative to a piece goods (2) to be picked up from the piece goods combination (1).

13. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the gripper rails (4') are telescopic and have at least two rail supports (12, 13) which can be deflected linearly relative to one another.

14. Arrangement according to claim 12, characterized in that an endless conveyor belt runs around the telescopic gripper rails (4').

15. Method for depalletizing individual piece goods (2) from a piece goods combination (1) which provides a plurality of piece goods (2), using an arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that at least two gripping units (3) simultaneously and separately from one another remove piece goods (2) from the piece goods combination (1).

16. Method according to claim 15, characterized in that the spatial area of ​​the piece goods combination (1) is divided into at least two non-overlapping spatial areas, and in that each gripping unit (3) removes piece goods (2) from the piece goods combination (1) exclusively in one spatial area.

17. Method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that the at least two gripping units (3) are controlled by a control unit (7) for collision-free depalletizing.

18. Method according to the preamble of claim 15 or according to one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that a first gripping unit (3) grips and removes a piece of goods (2) from the piece goods combination (1), and in that at least one second gripping or conveying unit (3) takes over the removed piece of goods (2) from the first gripping unit (3) and brings the piece of goods (2) to a storage location (6).

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