Pallet Picking Chute Tongue and Roller Shutter Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for picking cargo onto pallets lack efficiency and flexibility, particularly in allowing automatic loading and unloading, especially when pallet side walls interfere with the loading process or when varying heights are required.
Innovation Solution
A device with a retractable tongue and a lifting mechanism, combined with a movable stop and roller shutters, allows for automatic loading and unloading by ensuring the tongue's upper layer is at the picking level, enabling flexible stripping and preventing cargo from falling, while slot-like guides secure the side walls and prevent interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the boundary walls of the picking chute extend beyond the picking level to contain cargo, then cargo containment is improved, but accessibility of the picking level deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The boundary wall is made movable through a roller shutter mechanism that can dynamically adjust its position. The roller shutter can be extended to contain cargo during loading operations, then retracted to expose the picking level for robotic access, and extended again during cargo removal. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by providing both containment and accessibility at different operational stages.
2Manufacturing precision
If a tongue is used to load goods layer by layer, then loading precision is improved, but device complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tongue is extracted as a separate, movable component that can be inserted into and removed from the picking chute. This allows the tongue to perform the precise layer-by-layer loading function independently, while the main picking chute structure remains simple. The tongue carries the cargo layers precisely to the picking level, then is removed to allow the roller shutter to contain the loaded cargo, separating the precision loading function from the containment function.
3Manufacturing precision
If the tongue is lowered gradually during loading, then cargo stacking accuracy is improved, but control complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tongue lowering mechanism operates in periodic cycles synchronized with the layer loading process. The tongue is lowered by a predetermined amount corresponding to one cargo layer height, then stopped while the robot loads the next layer. This periodic, stepwise motion continues until the desired stacking height is reached. The roller shutter is extended at each cycle to contain the stacked cargo, providing visual and physical feedback that simplifies control compared to continuous positioning.
Data Source
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AI summary
Device for picking goods on pallets (14), wherein the pallets (14) have a loading base (16) and at least two side walls (18, 20), with a picking chute (28) extending to a picking level (30) in which goods are moved during picking, a lifting and lowering device (46) for raising and lowering the pallet (14) in the picking chute (28), a tongue (34) that can be inserted into and removed from the side of the picking chute (28) for loading goods, a device for gradually lowering the tongue (34) during loading so that the upper side of a layer of goods last placed on the tongue (34) is located approximately at the level of the picking level (30), and scraping means that, at least when the tongue (34) is extended out of the picking chute (28), remove goods from the upper side of the tongue (34) onto the Remove the loading floor (16) from the pallet (14),wherein the boundary walls of the picking shaft (28) end at the level of the picking level (30) or only one boundary wall of the picking shaft (28) extends beyond the picking level (30).