Pre-angling Articles for Diagonal Sortation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In existing positive displacement sorters, articles are often diverted at a leading edge, causing rotational momentum that can misalign them with the take-away lane, potentially leading to incorrect sorting and collisions.
Innovation Solution
Articles are pre-oriented at an angle matching the diagonal diverting path before reaching the diverting station, allowing pusher shoes to engage uniformly and minimize rotational impact, ensuring accurate diversion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If articles are diverted at the leading edge in existing positive displacement sorters, then the diverting action can be completed quickly, but rotational momentum is generated that misaligns articles with the take-away lane
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-angles articles to match the diagonal diverting path before they reach the diverting station. This preliminary orientation ensures that when pusher shoes engage the articles for diversion, the articles are already aligned with the intended diagonal path, eliminating rotational momentum and ensuring accurate alignment with the take-away lane while maintaining quick diverting action
2Device complexity
If articles are diverted without pre-orientation, then the diverting mechanism operates simply, but articles may collide with each other due to misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The orienting mechanism pre-angles articles to match the diagonal diverting path before diversion. This preliminary action ensures articles are properly aligned, preventing collisions and improving sorting reliability while adding only moderate complexity through the inclusion of an orienting mechanism upstream of the diverting station
Data Source
AI summary
A method of sorting articles using a positive displacement sorter having a plurality of slats arranged in parallel to define a conveying surface moving in a longitudinal direction, a plurality of pusher shoes, each of said shoes travelling laterally along at least one of said slat and a diverting station comprising at least one diverting rail arranged diagonally under said conveying surface and at least one diverting switch for selectively diverting at least two pusher shoes to the diverting rail whereby the pusher shoes travel laterally across said conveying surface in a diagonal path in order to divert an article to a take-away lane includes pre-orienting articles prior to the diverting station wherein a side of each article is oriented at approximately a same orientation as the diagonal path and operating the at least one diverting switch and diverting at least one article that is pre-oriented.