Mixed-Case Palletizing with Transfer Cart and Pusher Bank
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current automatic palletizing systems face challenges in efficiently stacking packages of varying sizes and shapes without manual intervention, as they struggle with stability, packing density, and optimal unloading sequences, especially when dealing with mixed-case palletizing where packages have different characteristics.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a transfer cart with a C-shaped frame and movable stop, combined with a pusher bank and sliding plates, allows for flexible and high-throughput mixed-case stacking by precisely positioning packages on a carrier, enabling simultaneous or near-simultaneous placement of multiple packages and stabilization through film wrapping or other means.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If packages of different characteristics are stacked manually to achieve stability and optimal unloading sequence, then stacking quality and stack stability are improved, but productivity and automation level deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The device segments the stacking process into distinct functional zones: a positioning conveyor for precise package placement, a pusher bank for controlled package movement, and a stacking location for assembly. This segmentation allows automated handling while maintaining the quality control previously requiring manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between automation and stacking reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning conveyor acts as an intermediary between the package supply and the stacking location. It receives packages, positions them precisely according to the predetermined arrangement, and delivers them to the stacking location. This intermediary component enables automated systems to achieve the precise placement control that manually stacked packages exhibited, thereby maintaining stack stability while improving productivity.
2Measurement precision
If displacement on the packing table is used to position packages, then positioning capability is improved, but processing time increases and throughput deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Packages are positioned on the positioning conveyor before reaching the stacking location. The positioning conveyor pre-arranges packages in the correct sequence and orientation, so that when they reach the stacking location, they are already in the desired positions. This preliminary positioning action eliminates the need for time-consuming displacement operations during the stacking process itself, thereby maintaining positioning precision while reducing processing time and increasing throughput.
3Manufacturing precision
If sequential processing of single packages is used, then positioning accuracy is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to restricted accessibility
Solution Approach 1:
The pusher bank is segmented into multiple independent pushers that can operate simultaneously or in coordinated sequences. Each pusher can handle a package independently, allowing parallel processing of multiple packages. This segmentation transforms the sequential single-package processing into a parallel multi-package system, maintaining placement accuracy through controlled individual pusher actions while dramatically increasing stacking throughput by eliminating the bottleneck of sequential handling.
Solution Approach 2:
The pushers are designed to be movable and adjustable, allowing dynamic adaptation to different package sizes, shapes, and stacking requirements. The pusher bank can reconfigure its operation mode based on the specific stacking task, switching between simultaneous and sequential package handling as needed. This dynamic capability enables the system to maintain high precision for complex placements while achieving high throughput through parallel processing for simpler configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for automatically stacking packages on a support comprising at least one feeding conveyor; a lifting and lowering unit for lifting and lowering a pallet; a position conveyor embodied as a travel container, which is arranged horizontally and longitudinally to one side of the storage place, in order to position the packages in the X-direction; at least one sliding plate and a pusher in order to transport the packages from the travel path in the Z-direction to the predetermined position in the stack. The at least one sliding plate may comprise a flat, strip-like plate that can move horizontally and longitudinally on the side of the storage place and transversally thereto, in order to remove packages from the positioning conveyor in the X direction when pushed by the pusher and arranging on the pallet in the Z-direction. The travel container contains pivotable stops and can be moved on rails.