Items sorting system and method

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items. The system includes an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items and a plurality of gripping means disposed over a conveyor, each gripping means being adapted for gripping an individual laundry item. An identifying means enables the identification of individual laundry item and a plurality of receiving areas for receiving the identified laundry items is provided. Advantageously each gripping means is configured for releasing an identified laundry item into one of the receiving areas.

Description

TITLEITEMS SORTING SYSTEM AND METHODFIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to systems, and methods for sorting a plurality of items of different shapes.

[0002] The invention has been developed primarily for sorting laundry items such as bed sheets, towels, pillowcases, napkins and tablecloths and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use.BACKGROUND

[0003] Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the relevant technical field or art.

[0004] Aged care and medical care facilities as well as the hospitality industry use vast amounts of laundry items such as, but not limited to, bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins and tablecloths. Such laundry items need to be clean regularly and are send in unsorted bundles to industrial laundries for cleaning. However, as the different types of linens may undergo different cleaning processes, the bundles of mixed linens must be processed, thereby separating the different types of linens depending on their size, colour, level of soilage or nature of the textile.

[0005] In most industrial laundries, the sorting process of laundry items is done manually. However, manually sorting all the different types of laundry items is inherently inefficient and highly labour intensive especially when large pieces of laundry items, such as large sheets, are involved, or even hazardous when said laundry items are coming from medical facilities. Therefore, manually sorting laundry items eventually impedes the throughput of industrial laundry facilities.

[0006] Automated solutions have been implemented to alleviate the drawbacks of manual sorting. One example of automated sorting includes patent application WO2019137585A1 which discloses a device and a method for gripping, moving and releasing a piece of cloth with a gripper. Whilst the device and method disclosed in WO2019137585A1 enable extracting a single piece of garment from a disorderly pile of cloth, thereby alleviating the need for manual labour, the throughput remains limited as it involves a single robotic arm for gripping a single piece or garment from an unsorted pile of cloth. Furthermore, the invention disclosed in WO2019137585A1 is inadequate for large laundry items such as sheets because of the limited traveling distance of the robotic arm.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for an improved system or method enabling the identification and sorting of laundry items capable of processing large individual laundry items with a high throughput.OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to overcome and / or alleviate one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art and / or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

[0009] It is an object of some embodiments of the present invention to provide a system and method for sorting individual pieces of laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items with a high throughput compatible with industrial laundry applications.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] In one aspect of the invention, there is provided system for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items, the system comprising:- an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items;- a plurality of gripping means disposed over a conveyor, each gripping means being adapted for gripping an individual laundry item;- an identifying means for identifying said individual laundry item; and- a plurality of receiving areas for receiving said identified laundry items; wherein each gripping means is configured for releasing an identified laundry item into one of said receiving areas.

[0011] Preferably, the untangling means comprises:- a plurality of endless conveyor belts; and- a plurality of protrusions disposed on said plurality of endless conveyor belts and extending outwardly from each endless conveyor belts; wherein said plurality of conveyor belts are configured to move out of phase alternatively forward and backward to untangle said disorderly pile of laundry items.

[0012] Advantageously, the identifying means comprises:- at least one sensor;- a processor; and- a memory; wherein a trained model is stored on said memory and executed by said processor for identifying said individual laundry item based on at least one sensor data produced by the at least one sensor.

[0013] Suitably, the trained model is configured for identifying said individual laundry item based a shape, a colour and or a level of soilage of said individual laundry item, or a combination thereof.

[0014] Advantageously, the at least one sensor is an imaging sensor.

[0015] Preferably, each gripping means comprises a pair of arms hingedly connected at their proximal ends. Advantageously, two gripping means are disposed side by side over said conveyor.

[0016] Advantageously, the arms are resiliently biased in gripping engagement. The arms include gripping formations at their distal ends. Suitably, the arms are hingedly connected by a hinge pin.

[0017] Preferably, a first actuating means is disposed on said conveyor for actuating said resilient bias to release said individual laundry item from said griping engagement.

[0018] Preferably, the system further comprises a second actuating means disposed adjacent to said conveyor for actuating said plurality of griping means from an open configuration to a close configuration for gripping said individual laundry items.

[0019] Preferably, the second actuating means comprises a flange configured to: maintain said plurality of griping means in the open configuration for a predefined amount of time; and gently close said plurality of gripping means to prevent damaging said individual laundry item.

[0020] Advantageously, the identified laundry item once released from said gripping means is directed into one of said receiving areas by gravity.

[0021] Preferably, the system comprises a first repulsing means for pushing said individual laundry item away from said conveyor thereby preventing said individual laundry item from being entangled into said conveyor.

[0022] Preferably, the system comprises a second repulsing means for pushing an unidentified individual laundry item away from any one of the receiving areas.

[0023] Preferably, the system comprises a first and second walls disposed on each side of the conveyor; and a plurality of third repulsing means disposed adjacent to the conveyor and intermediate to each of the plurality of receiving areas for guiding an identified individual laundry item toward any one of said receiving areas.

[0024] Suitably, the first, second and third repulsing means are pressurised gas.

[0025] Suitably, the receiving areas are selected from a list comprising containers, conveyors or other transporting means for transporting the identified laundry items away from the system.

[0026] Preferably, the laundry items are linens selected from the group comprising bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins and tablecloths.

[0027] In another aspect, there is provided a method for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items, the method comprising the step of:- providing said disorderly pile of laundry items to an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items;- gripping said an individual laundry item with a gripping means disposed over a conveyer;- identifying said individual laundry item with an identifying means; and releasing said identified laundry item into a receiving area.

[0028] Preferably, the laundry items are linens selected from the group comprising bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins and tablecloths.

[0029] Further aspects and / or features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description with reference to the drawings.

[0030] Any of the features described herein can be combined in any combination with any one or more of the other features described herein within the scope of the invention.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows:

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a system for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items;

[0033] FIG. 2 shows a top view of the system shown in FIG. 1 ;

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a side view of the system shown in FIG. 1 ;

[0035] FIG. 4 shows a back view of the system shown in FIG. 1 ;

[0036] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items shown in FIG. 1 ;

[0037] FIG. 6 shows a top view of the untangling means shown in FIG. 5;

[0038] FIG. 7 shows a side view of the untangling means shown in FIG. 5;

[0039] FIG. 8 shows a back view of the untangling means shown in FIG. 5;

[0040] FIG. 9 shows a detailed view of the untangling means shown in FIG. 5;

[0041] FIG. 10 shows a side view of a conveyor means shown in FIG. 1 ;

[0042] FIG. 11 shows a bottom view of an identifying means;

[0043] FIG. 12 shows a side view of the identifying means shown in FIG. 11 ;

[0044] FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of a gripping means in a close configuration;

[0045] FIG. 14 shows a perspective view of a gripping means in an open configuration;

[0046] FIG. 15 shows an actuating means for actuating the gripping means from the close configuration as shown in FIGS. 13 to the open configuration as shown in FIG. 14;

[0047] FIG. 16 shows the actuating means disposed over the conveyor means shown in FIG. 10;

[0048] FIG. 17 the gripping means extending toward the untangling means;

[0049] FIG. 18 shows a first repulsing means;

[0050] FIG. 19 shows another configuration of the first repulsing means;

[0051] FIG. 20 shows another configuration of the first repulsing means;

[0052] FIG. 21 depicts the method for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items;

[0053] FIG. 22 shows a flange for actuating the opening and closing of the gripping means;

[0054] FIG. 23 shows the flange shown in FIG. 22 for actuating the opening and closing of the gripping means;

[0055] FIG. 24 shows the flange shown in FIG. 22 for actuating the opening and closing of the gripping means;

[0056] FIG. 25 shows a plurality of third repulsing means disposed adjacent to the conveyor shown in FIG. 10;

[0057] FIG. 26 shows a blower connected to the plurality of third repulsing means shown in FIG. 25;

[0058] FIG. 27 shows a top view of an alternative configuration of the conveyor shown in FIG. 10;

[0059] FIG. 28 shows a top view of another alternative configuration of the conveyor shown in FIG. 10; and

[0060] FIG. 29 shows a side view of the alternative configuration of the conveyor shown in FIG. 28.

[0061] It should be appreciated that the accompanying drawings are provided to illustrate the features of the invention and some other features may have been omitted for the sake of clarity and / or the drawings may be schematic and / or diagrammatic.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0062] The present invention relates to systems and methods for sorting a plurality of items of different shapes and configurations. Elements of the invention are illustrated in concise outline form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary to understanding the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to clutter the disclosure with excessive detail that will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the present description.

[0063] In this patent specification, adjectives such as first and second, left and right, above and below, top and bottom, upper and lower, rises and falls, upward and downward, etc., are used solely to define one element or method step from another element or method step without necessarily requiring a specific relativeposition or sequence that is described by the adjectives. Words such as “comprises” or “includes” are not used to define an exclusive set of elements or method steps. Rather, such words merely define a minimum set of elements or method steps included in a particular embodiment of the present invention.

[0064] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system 100 for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items, as shown in FIGS. 1 -4. The system 100 includes an untangling means 105 for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items, a plurality of gripping means 110 disposed over a conveyor 115, an identifying means 120 for identifying the individual laundry item and a plurality of receiving areas 125 for receiving the identified laundry items. Each gripping means 110 is adapted for gripping an individual laundry item and configured for releasing an identified laundry item into one of the receiving areas 125. The receiving areas could be containers, a plurality of conveyors or other transporting means for transporting the identified laundry items away from the system.

[0065] Turning to FIGS. 5-8, which show details of the untangling means 105, the untangling means includes a plurality of endless conveyor belts 300. The endless conveyor belts 300 can be disposed is series and / or parallel configuration, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7 and are suitably sloped upward. Protrusions 305 are disposed on the endless conveyor belts 300, extending outwardly to further facilitate the untangling of large bundle of laundry items, as shown in FIG. 5. Fencing panels 310 are also disposed on the side edges of the untangling means 105 to prevent spillage of the laundry items undergoing the untangling process. Advantageously, the different endless conveyor belts 300 are operated out of sync, moving alternatively forward and backward to further untangle individual laundry items from large a bundle of mixed laundry items.

[0066] Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the last endless conveyor belts 900 of the untangling means 105 is positioned adjacent to the conveyor 115, thereby enabling the gripping means 110 to grab a single piece of laundry item (no shown). The last endless conveyor belts 900 of the untangling means 105 is conveniently disposed with a downward slope to facilitate the displacement of the laundry items. Part of the identifying means 120 is also disposed adjacent to the last endless conveyor belts 900 and the conveyor 115, for recording the position of the gripping 115.

[0067] Another part of the identifying means 120 is disposed further along the conveyer 115, preferably in the form of an imaging device, such as a CCD camera, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 1 . The imaging device takes a picture of the laundry items grabbed by the gripping means 1 10. The grabbed laundry item is identified as a specific type of linen such as a towel, a sheet, a pillowcase, a napkin or a table cloth by a trained model. The trained model is stored into a computing device including a memory and a processor and can be advantageously configured to identify the aforementioned type of linens based on the size, colour or level of soilage. Other parameters for identifying the type of linen can also be envisioned. The identifying means combined the information related to the position of the gripping means and the type of linen to determine where to open the gripping means thereby releasing the identified laundry item into a dedicated container.

[0068] Now turning to FIGS. 13 and 14 which show the gripping means 110 respectively in a close configuration for grabbing an individual laundry item and an open configuration for releasing an individual laundry item. Conveniently, two gripping means can be positioned side by side over the conveyor 115, as shown in FIGS 13 and 14. The gripping means 110 is disposed over the conveyor 115 and includes a pair of arms 1300 hingedly connected at their proximal ends 1305 with a resiliency biased hinge pin 1310. A gripping formation 1315 is disposed at the distal end of each arm. The gripping means further includes an actuating lever 1320 for interacting an actuating means 1500 shown in FIG. 15. The gripping means could be fabricated by assembling its multiple components or alternatively moulded or 3D printed.

[0069] The actuating means 1500 is disposed in the conveyor and preferably located above one of the designated receiving areas 125, as shown in FIG. 16. Upon identification of the laundry items by the identification means, such as for example a towel, the actuating means located above the container meant to receive towels is activated. In turn, the gripping means travelling over the conveyor which has grabbed the towel will transition from a close configuration to an open configuration when travelling over the designated actuating means thereby releasing the towel into the container meant to receive towels. The actuation of the gripping means can be achieved by displacing the actuating lever 1320 whichchanges the configuration of the gripping means 110 from a close to an open configuration.

[0070] Now turning to FIG. 17, which shows the gripping means 110 in an open configuration for grabbing an individual laundry item. The actuating lever 1320 is pushed by a flange 1700, conveniently positioned on the conveyor 115, for maintaining the gripping means open when traveling in close proximity of the last endless conveyor belt 900 for grabbing an individual laundry item.

[0071] Turning to FIGS. 22 to 24 which show a different configuration of the flange 1700. The flange 1700 is adapted to reduce the risk of damage done the individual laundry item when grabbed by the gripping means 110 and increase the consistency of gripping an individual laundry item. This is achieved by designing a first slope 2200 of the flange 1700, as shown in FIGS. 22 to 24, such that the gripping means 110 remains for a longer period of time thereby increasing the probability of gripping a laundry item. A second slope 2205 of the flange 1700, shown in FIGS. 22 to 24 is also designed so that the gripping means 110 do not abruptly closes which could otherwise result in damaging the laundry item grabbed by the gripping means 110 or inadvertently release the item grabbed by the gripping means 110. This improvement also allows to increase the speed of operation.

[0072] To prevent any laundry items from being entangled into the conveyor and further facilitate the separation of individual laundry items from each other, a first repulsing means 1800 is provided adjacent to the conveyor 110 and the endless conveyor belt 900, as shown in FIG. 17. A second repulsing means (not shown) is positioned on the conveyor 115 for rejecting laundry items grabbed by the gripping means which have not been properly identified by the identifying means. Both the first and second repulsing means can be in the form of a pressurized gas flow sufficient for displacing the individual laundry items.

[0073] Now turning to FIGS. 19 and 20, which show another configuration of the first repulsing means further comprising a pair of side walls 1900 and a bottom surface 1905 surrounding the conveyor 1 15. The bottom surface 1905 comprises a plurality of apertures 1910 which allow for the circulation of a gas flow through the bottom surface 1905. The combination of created air flow through the bottom panel1905 and the disposition of the side walls 1900 prevent the entanglement of laundry items under or in close vicinity to the conveyor 115.

[0074] Now turning to FIG. 25 which depicts a third repulsing means 2500 disposed adjacent to the conveyor 115. Each of the third repulsing means is positioned intermediate the receiving areas 125 and configured to create an air curtain, ideally confined by the side panel 2505, disposed on each side of the conveyor 115. The third repulsing means could be powered by a blower 2600, as shown in FIG. 26, or any other means of providing compressed air or gas such as a compressor. Each created air curtains prevent an identified laundry item, once released by the gripping means 110 to deviate from its downward trajectory thereby ensuring that the released identified laundry item falls in the correct receiving area 125. The implementation of the plurality of third repulsing means improves the sorting of the laundry items, especially at high speed.

[0075] Now turning to FIG. 27 which shows an alternative configuration of the of the conveyor 115.

[0076] Now turning to FIG. 21 which depicts a method for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items. A bundle of disorderly laundry items (not shown) is provided to the untangling means 105 to be separated into individual laundry items 2100. The gripping means 110, disposed over the conveyor 115, grabs a single laundry item. The single laundry item is identified by the identifying means (not shown) which includes at least once sensor for identifying the type of laundry items grabbed by the gripping means and the position of the gripping means. The identifying means designates an actuating means (not shown), preferably disposed on the conveyor 115 above a container 125 meant to receive a specific type of laundry items corresponding to the identify laundry item. When the gripping means 110 reaches the actuating means, the gripping means 110 transitions from a closed configuration to an open configuration, thereby releasing the identified laundry items into a receiving area 125. The second rejecting means (not shown) rejects unidentified laundry items grabbed by the gripping means such that the unidentified laundry items do not fall into any one of the receiving area 125. Alternatively, unidentified laundry items are released into another receiving area for further sorting.

[0077] Now turning to FIGS. 27 to 29 which show alternative configurations of the conveyor 115. The conveyor 115 can be configured to travel above a plurality of receiving areas 125 to increase the density of receiving areas 125 while minimizing the footprint of the system. As discussed above, the receiving areas could be containers which can be subsequently manually or mechanically operated to redirect the sorted laundry items to specific locations within a plant. Alternatively, the receiving areas could be other transporting means such as but not limited to other conveyers to redirect the sorted laundry items to specific locations within a plant.

[0078] Advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include providing a system and a method for untangling and sorting large quantities of laundry items within a short timeframe with minimal manual labour. The system and method also enable the sorting of large laundry items which are otherwise processed manually.

[0079] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that not all of the above advantages are necessarily exhibited by all embodiments of the present invention.

[0080] Any of the features described herein can be combined in any combination with any one or more of the other features described herein within the scope of the present invention and in the context of the specific feature.

[0081] In this specification, the terms, "first", "second" etc. are intended to differentiate between different features of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention to a particular order of implementation unless the context indicates otherwise.

[0082] In this specification, the terms "comprises", "comprising" or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that an apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include those elements solely but may well include other elements not listed.

[0083] Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claims1 . A system for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items, the system comprising:- an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items;- a plurality of gripping means disposed over a conveyor, each gripping means being adapted for gripping an individual laundry item;- an identifying means for identifying said individual laundry item; and- a plurality of receiving areas for receiving said identified laundry items; wherein each gripping means is configured for releasing an identified laundry item into one of said receiving areas.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said untangling means comprises:- a plurality of endless conveyor belts; and- a plurality of protrusions disposed on said plurality of endless conveyor belts and extending outwardly from each endless conveyor belts; wherein said plurality of conveyor belts are configured to move out of phase alternatively forward and backward to untangle said disorderly pile of laundry items.

3. The system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said identifying means comprises:- at least one sensor;- a processor; and- a memory; wherein a trained model is stored on said memory and executed by said processor for identifying said individual laundry item based on at least one sensor data produced by the at least one sensor.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said trained model is configured for identifying said individual laundry item based a shape, a colour and or a level of soilage of said individual laundry item, or a combination thereof.

5. The system according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said at least one sensor is an imaging sensor.

6. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each gripping means includes a pair of arms hingedly connected at their proximal ends.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said arms are resiliently biased in gripping engagement.

8. The system according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein said arms comprise gripping formations at their distal ends.

9. The system according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein said arms are hingedly connected by a hinge pin.

10. The system according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein a first actuating means is disposed on said conveyor for actuating said resilient bias to release said individual laundry item from said griping engagement.11 . The system according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a second actuating means disposed adjacent to said conveyor for actuating said plurality of griping means from an open configuration to a close configuration for gripping said individual laundry items.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the second actuating means comprises a flange configured to: maintain said plurality of griping means in the open configuration for a predefined amount of time; and gently close said plurality of gripping means to prevent damaging said individual laundry item.

13. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein two gripping means are disposed side by side over said conveyor.

14. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said identified laundry item once released from said gripping means is directed into one of said receiving areas by gravity.

15. The system according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a first repulsing means for pushing said individual laundry item away from said conveyor thereby preventing said individual laundry item from being entangled into said conveyor.

16. The system according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a second repulsing means for pushing an unidentified individual laundry item away from any one of said receiving areas.

17. The system according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising: a first and second walls disposed on each side of the conveyor; and a plurality of third repulsing means disposed adjacent to the conveyor and intermediate to each of the plurality of receiving areas for guiding an identified individual laundry item toward any one of said receiving areas.

18. The system according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein said first, second and third repulsing means are pressurised gas.

19. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the receiving areas are selected from a list comprising containers, conveyors or other transporting means for transporting the identified laundry items away from the system.

20. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the21. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said laundry items are linens selected from the group comprising bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins and tablecloths.

22. A method for untangling and sorting laundry items from a disorderly pile of laundry items, the method comprising the step of:- providing said disorderly pile of laundry items to an untangling means for untangling individual laundry items from said disorderly pile of laundry items;- gripping said an individual laundry item with a gripping means disposed over a conveyer;- identifying said individual laundry item with an identifying means; and- releasing said identified laundry item into a receiving area.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said laundry items are linens selected from the group comprising bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins and tablecloths.

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