Roll Container Loading Tongue and Stripping Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
The automatic loading of roll containers is challenging due to their inwardly inclined lattice walls and high stacking height, which complicates the process of picking cargo, especially when the containers are empty and unstable.
Innovation Solution
A device with a picking platform, a lifting and lowering mechanism, a retractable tongue for loading cargo, and stripping means that allow the load to be placed on the tongue and then transferred to the roll container's loading floor, avoiding the lattice walls, enabling reliable and potentially fully automated loading.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the roll container is loaded directly through the mesh walls, then the loading process would be simpler, but the mesh walls are inwardly inclined and unstable when empty, making direct loading difficult and unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tongue as an intermediary loading device that extends into the picking chute. The tongue provides a stable, flat surface for placing goods, which then scrape off onto the roll container's loading floor. This mediator bypasses the problematic mesh walls entirely, allowing reliable loading without requiring the mesh walls to be stable or accessible.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the loading function from the mesh wall area entirely. Instead of loading through or against the mesh walls, the system uses the tongue to deposit goods directly onto the loading floor from a position outside the mesh wall interference zone. This separates the loading operation from the unstable mesh wall structure.
2Productivity
If the picking chute is designed to accommodate the high stacking height of roll containers, then the loading capacity is improved, but the device complexity increases due to the need for adjustable boundary walls and specialized structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a retractable tongue that can extend and retract as needed. The tongue is positioned only when loading is required and retracts when not in use. This dynamic element allows the system to accommodate high stacking heights and various container sizes without requiring permanent, complex structural modifications to the picking chute itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The tongue serves multiple functions: it provides a loading surface, acts as a scraper to transfer goods, and can be positioned to accommodate different container sizes and stacking heights. This multi-functional element reduces the need for specialized structures for each specific loading scenario, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining versatility.
3Ease of operation
If the tongue is used to load goods onto the roll container, then the mesh walls are avoided and loading is simplified, but additional scraping means are required to transfer the load from the tongue to the container floor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the loading and transferring functions into a single integrated action. As the tongue is retracted from the picking chute, the load on the tongue is simultaneously scraped off onto the roll container's loading floor. This merging of the withdrawal and transfer operations eliminates the need for separate loading and unloading steps, and the scraping action is achieved through the tongue's own movement rather than requiring additional active scraping mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a device for picking goods into roll containers, wherein the roll container has a loading floor and at least one side mesh wall, with a picking platform, a picking chute extending on the picking platform to a picking level in which goods are moved during picking, a lifting and lowering device for raising and lowering the roll container in the picking chute, a tongue for loading goods that can be inserted into and removed from the side of the picking chute, a device for gradually lowering the tongue during loading goods so that an upper surface of a last layer of goods placed on the tongue is arranged approximately at the level of the picking level, and scraping means that, at least when the tongue is extended from the picking chute, scrape goods from the upper surface of the tongue onto the loading floor of the roll container.