Vertically Stacked Conveyor Sorting System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional conveyor-based sorting systems with multiple inputs and outputs face bottlenecks due to a single merge and sort point, limiting throughput and creating a single point of failure, while also occupying excessive space with bulky designs.
Innovation Solution
The system employs vertically stacked conveyors with transfer conveyors connecting them, allowing products to be transferred between conveyors at multiple points, eliminating the need for a single merge point and enhancing throughput by distributing the flow across multiple transfer points.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single merge and sort point is used in conventional conveyor systems, then the system structure is simplified, but the throughput is limited and bottlenecks occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single merge and sort point into multiple merge points and multiple sort points distributed across different conveyor lines. This segmentation allows parallel processing of packages across multiple lines, eliminating the bottleneck at a single point while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-plane conveyor system to a multi-level stacked conveyor configuration. By adding the vertical dimension with multiple stacked conveyor lines, the system increases throughput capacity without proportionally increasing horizontal footprint, effectively resolving the throughput-limiting constraint of single-point merge/sort architecture.
2Device complexity
If a single merge point is used, then the system has fewer components, but it creates a single point of failure that can cause entire system downtime
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the merge and sort functions across multiple independent points and conveyor lines, the patent eliminates the single point of failure. If one merge point or sort point experiences malfunction or requires repair, other lines can continue operating independently, maintaining system availability while using a reasonable number of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-line stacked conveyor design inherently provides redundancy and failover capability. When a malfunction occurs at one point, the system is already configured with alternative paths through other lines, providing beforehand cushioning against complete system downtime and ensuring continued operation.
3Productivity
If a large merge bed is used in conventional systems, then the merge process can handle multiple lines, but the footprint becomes bulky and space utilization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the footprint issue by stacking conveyor lines vertically in multiple levels rather than expanding horizontally. This three-dimensional arrangement maintains high merge capacity across multiple lines while minimizing the horizontal warehouse footprint, optimizing space utilization above and below the sorter.
Solution Approach 2:
The stacked conveyor configuration effectively nests multiple conveyor lines within a compact vertical space. Each conveyor line is positioned at a different vertical level, allowing the system to handle multiple lines with high merge capacity while occupying minimal horizontal area, thus resolving the contradiction between merge capacity and footprint.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for sorting products using conveyors having multiple inputs and multiple outputs include first product conveyors vertically stacked relative to one another, second product conveyors vertically stacked relative to one another, and transfer conveyors connecting the first and second product conveyors. The transfer conveyors permit products travelling on the first product conveyors to be transferred from the first product conveyors onto the second product conveyors by way of the products being first transferred from the first product conveyors onto the transfer conveyors and then from the transfer conveyors onto the second product conveyors.