Automated Product Sorting via V-Shaped Conveying and Optical Scanning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for verifying the correct composition of customer orders in warehouses are unreliable and costly, particularly when products have similar weights, and manual scanning of bar codes is expensive and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A device with a V-shaped conveying track and multiple scanners allows for rapid, reliable three-dimensional scanning and sorting of individually packaged products, using a driven conveyor belt and a stationary sliding plate to align products for efficient scanning, and a central computer to manage the sorting process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If products are provided with bar codes and manually scanned, then product identification is achieved, but the process becomes expensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical scanning with an automated optical scanning system. Multiple scanners (including camera-based scanners) automatically capture and read bar codes on products as they move along the conveying track, eliminating the need for manual scanning operations while maintaining high identification accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous automated scanning as products move along the conveying track. Instead of discrete manual scanning operations, the automated system continuously captures and processes bar code information, significantly reducing total scanning time while maintaining accuracy through multiple scanning points.
2Productivity
If weighing method is used to verify order composition, then verification is performed, but reliability is insufficient when products have similar weights
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces bar codes as an intermediary identification mechanism. Instead of directly weighing products to identify them (which fails when weights are similar), the system uses bar codes as a reliable intermediary that provides unique product identification, thereby ensuring accurate order composition verification regardless of weight similarities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the weighing-based verification method with bar code reading technology. This substitution eliminates the fundamental limitation of weight-based identification (inability to distinguish products with similar weights) while maintaining high verification speed through automated optical scanning.
3Reliability
If multiple scanners are used for three-dimensional scanning, then scanning reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the scanning function into multiple independent scanner units positioned at different locations and angles along the conveying track. Each scanner handles a specific scanning task (front, back, or side views), and the system integrates their data to achieve complete three-dimensional scanning. This segmentation improves reliability through redundancy while managing complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses multiple scanners that can serve multiple functions: individual scanners capture different views of products, and collectively they provide comprehensive three-dimensional scanning capability. This multi-functionality approach achieves high scanning reliability without requiring each scanner to be overly complex, as each unit performs a specialized but simple scanning task.
4Productivity
If products slide through a V-shaped chute for scanning, then throughput is increased, but centering reliability and scanning accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary centering actions before products enter the scanning zone. The V-shaped conveying track is designed with specific geometric parameters and surface characteristics that automatically guide and center products as they move along the track, ensuring proper positioning is achieved before scanning occurs, thereby maintaining both high throughput and accurate centering.
Solution Approach 2:
The system optimizes parameters of the V-shaped conveying track (angle, surface friction, curvature) to achieve the desired balance between throughput and centering accuracy. By carefully controlling these physical parameters, the track naturally guides products into proper scanning position without requiring additional centering mechanisms, thus maintaining high speed while improving centering reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
An arrangement (1) and to a method is for detecting and controlling piece goods (2), having a code, in a commissioning system. The piece goods are fed on a conveyor line (3) through a scanning device (15), and are identified as actual data and are compared or captured to target data of the piece goods quantity stored in a central computer. The piece goods are separated out if the target data do not match the actual data. The invention proposes that a plurality of ejection devices (13) are provided. Each of the ejection devices (13) fills a positioned order container (25) of a particular commissioning order with piece goods, and piece goods that are not detected or sorted out are discharged to the longitudinal end of the conveyor line (3). The piece goods of various commissioning orders are randomly distributed on the central belt (27) of an automated commissioning machine and fed to the arrangement (1).