Conveyor for conveying hanging objects

A conveyor for conveying hanging objects has a first rail profile with an upper track and a another track arranged below the upper track, a conveyor chain movable in the first track, holding adapters for holding objects to be conveyed, wherein the holding adapters can be coupled and decoupled from the conveyor chain during movement of the conveyor chain, the first rail profile having a sorting section with a separation unit and a switch following in conveying direction, the second track in the region of the sorting section being configured as downward slope in conveying direction, in which the distance between the upper track and the other track increases so that the holding adapters and the conveyor chain are decoupled from each other, wherein the separation unit and the switch are arranged in a region of the sorting section at which the holding adapters are decoupled from the conveyor chain.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of European Patent Application, Serial No. 13 199 375.0, filed Dec. 23, 2013, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a conveyor for conveying hanging objects.

Generic conveyers which serve for conveying hanging objects and are also referred to as overhead twin rail chain conveyors or power and free conveyers, essentially are formed by a rail profile, in which a conveyor chain is guided in an upper track, and a second track which is arranged below this upper track and in which holding adapters are guided which are carried along by the conveyor chain in conveying direction.

In order to stop an object to be conveyed in such a conveyor, it is not the conveyor chain that is stopped but rather the holding adapter for example by means of a stopping device, and is thereby decoupled from the conveyor chain, wherein the conveyer chain continues to move.

In order to select (sort out) individual objects hanging on the holding adapters, from such a conveyor, all holding adapters with objects hanging thereon have to be transferred into a sorting conveyor in which the holding adapters, and with this the objects to be conveyed, are coupled at defined distances to each other. In the sorting conveyor the objects to be sorted out are then identified and are conveyed out of the sorting conveyor to a packing site or the like. While hanging on the holding adapters, the remaining objects are subsequently conveyed back again into the overhead twin rail chain conveyor which is used as storage circle, rendering sorting out of desired objects very time consuming. In particular, depending on the circumstance, the objects to be sorted out have to be moved through the overhead twin rail chain conveyor which is used as storage circle, in order to reach the site of the conveyor at which the object can be transferred into a sorting conveyor.

It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved conveyor in which residence time in the conveyor is decreased and with this individual conveyed objects can be sorted significantly faster.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, a conveyor for conveying hanging objects includes a first rail profile having an upper first track, a second track arranged below the first track, and a sorting section with a separation unit and a switch, wherein the switch follows the separation unit in a conveying direction; a conveyor chain constructed for continuous movement in the first track of the first rail profile in the conveying direction; holding adapters for holding objects to be conveyed, each holding adapter having a head part rollably supported in the second track of the first rail profile, each holding adapter is constructed for being coupled and decoupled from the conveyor chain during movement of the conveyor chain, wherein the second track in a region of the sorting section is configured as downward slope in the conveying direction, wherein in the downward slope a distance between the first track and the second track increases to a degree at which the holding adapters and the conveyor chain are decoupled from each other, and wherein the separation unit and the switch are arranged in a region of the sorting section at which the holding adapters are decoupled from the conveyor chain.

With such a conveyor, a sorting section can be integrated into a conveyor which is configured as overhead twin rail chain conveyor, which is made possible by the fact that the holding adapters pass through the sorting section in a state of being decoupled from the conveying chain, without impeding, in particular without slowing down, the circulation of the remaining holding adapters which are guided in the conveying device, and with this the objects conveyed on the holding adapters.

The sorting out of individual objects hanging on the holding adapters is thus possible in a significantly shorter time than in conventional conveyors in which the objects to be sorted out first have to be transferred out of an overhead twin rail chain conveyor, which serves as buffer storage, into a sorting circuit in which the objects or respectively the holding adapters are engaged in the conveyor chain at defined distances to each other, in order to read out the information which is for example arranged on a holding adapter at relates to the object conveyed on the holding adapter, to switch the subsequent switch correspondingly and in this way be able to sort out the desired objects or return the desired objects back into the buffer circuit.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the first rail profile can be configured as closed circuit profile, wherein a second rail profile and a third rail profile follow in conveying direction behind the switch, wherein the second rail profile with a track for receiving and conveying the holding adapters follows the second track of the first rail profile and leads into a reintegration section of the first rail profile, and wherein the third rail profile follows the second track of the first rail profile for conveying the holding adapters to a further conveyor.

Providing such a second track for returning the holding adapters into the first rail profile, enables a reliable and backlog-avoiding return of the holding adapters into the first rail profile which preferably extends in a plane.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the second track can be configured in the region of the reintegration section as incline in conveying direction, wherein in the reintegration section the distance between the first track and the second track of the first rail profile decreases from a degree where the holding adapters and the conveying chain are not coupled with each other to a degree where the holding adapters and the conveying chain can be coupled with each other.

For conveying the holding adapters in the second rail profile, a further conveyor is provided parallel to the second rail profile in a further embodiment of the invention, which further conveyor is in particular provided as chain drive with fingers which engage in the head of the holding adapters for conveying the holding adapters in the further conveyor.

These fingers of the further conveyor are preferably configured elastic. This makes it possible that even when a finger accidentally impacts a side region of the holding adapter, the finger is deflected elastically to the left or right hand side in order to thereby, depending on the direction of deflection, either engages behind the respective holding adapter and further conveys this holding adapter or is deflected in conveying direction before the holding adapter so that the holding adapter is carried along by the next finger of the conveyor.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, a speed control section adjoins in conveying direction before the stopping device, with an detection device for detecting a number of adapters present in the speed control section, wherein when the number of adapters falls below a predetermined number the detection device outputs a control signal to a drive unit of the conveying chain for increasing the conveying speed of the conveyor chain. This enables a capacity controlled speed control of the conveyor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description of the Figures the terms up, down, left, right, front, rear etc, exclusively refer to the exemplary representation and position of the conveyor, rail profile, track, conveyor chain, holding adapter and the like chosen in the Figures. These terms are not to be understood as limiting, i.e., the relationships may change as a result of different operating positions or the mirror symmetrical layout or the like.

InFIG. 1reference numeral1designates a first rail profile of a conveyor for conveying hanging objects. In this first rail profile1a conveyor chain7is guided in a first upper track11. The conveyor chain7is configured as so called Power and Free chain, with a thrust body63which is vertically elastically arranged below a base body62of a respective chain link, which thrust body has at least one recess for form fittingly receiving a coupling member of a head part61of a holding adapter6. The base body is provided with lateral friction roller abutment surfaces, onto which the (not shown) friction rollers can be pushed for driving the conveyor chain7, in order to move the conveyor chain7in a conveying direction x1in the rail profile1. The construction of such a conveyor chain7is described in the German patent application DE 10 2013 100 132, to which reference is made here.

The hanging objects to be conveyed are for example conveyed by means of a bracket which is engaged in a holding adapter6. The holding adapters6have in a second track12of the first rail profile1a head part61which is supported for rolling movement, wherein the head part61is shaped so that it can be coupled and decoupled from the conveyor chain7while the conveyor chain is moving.

In order to sort out individual objects which hang on a particular holding adapter6out of the first rail profile1, the first rail profile1has a sorting section13with a separation unit4and a switch8which follows in conveying direction x1, as shown in the view from the bottom onto the first rail profile1, shown inFIG. 3. Preferably, a stopping device5is provided on the first rail profile1before the sorting section13of the first rail profile1, in order to only allow a predetermined number of holding adapters6to enter immediately downstream of the sorting section13.

“Behind” the sorting section13means a section through which an adapter6passes in conveying direction x1, before it reaches the sorting section13. Correspondingly “before” the sorting section13means a section through which an adapter6passes in conveying direction x1after the adapter6has passed the sorting section13.

The stopping device5has essentially an electrically controllable blocking bar51, which is controlled by a detection device52, for example a light barrier, wherein the detection device52determines whether a holding adapter6is present at a predetermined position after the detection device52or not. When a holding adapter is recognized, the detection device outputs a signal to the stopping device5, by which the blocking bar51of the stopping device5is moved into the path of movement of the holding adapter6and thus blocks further movement of the holding adapters6which approach in conveying direction x1before the stopping device5.

The second track12is configured in the region of the sorting section13as downward slope121in conveying direction, shown inFIG. 7, in which the distance D between the first track11and the second track12increases to a degree at which the holding adapters6and the conveyor chain7are decoupled from each other.

Due to the downward slope121the holding adapters6thus move further in conveying direction x1while being decoupled from the conveyor chain7. Subsequently the holding adapters6move through a reading device, which reads data out of a data storage provided on the holding adapter6, for example an RFID chip or the like. This enables recognizing whether the switch provided before the reading unit guides the holding adapter6out of the rail profile1into a rail profile3via which the holding adapter6and the object hanging on the holding adapter is further guided into a further conveyor. This third rail profile3is preferably configured as downward slope so that the adapter with the objects hanging thereon is further conveyed along the third rail profile3due to gravity.

When the holding adapter6is not to be sorted out of the first rail profile1, the switch8switches and transfers the holding adapter6into a second rail profile2which adjoins the second12of the first rail profile1with a track21for receiving and further conveying the holding adapter6, and leads into a reintegration section14of the first rail profile1.

Immediately after the switch8, a further detection device10is provided on both rail profiles2,3, for example a light barrier, which controls the separation unit4so that when an adapter is recognized to pass the detection device10the next adapter which is stopped by the separation unit4is released and moves toward the switch8in the downward slope121.

The second track12of the first rail profile1is configured in the region of the reintegration section14preferably as incline122in conveying direction x1, as shown inFIG. 5.

In the reintegration section14the distance D between the first track11and the second track12of the first rail profile1decreases from a degree at which the holding adapters6and the conveyor chain7cannot be coupled with each other to a degree at which the holding adapters and the conveyor chain can be coupled with each other, so that the holding adapters6after passing through the incline122are received again by or coupled again to conveyor chain7and thus are further conveyed in the first rail profile1.

Likewise, other configurations of the reintegration section14are conceivable, for example in the form of a horizontally oriented second track12of the first rail profile1, wherein the first track11, which receives the conveyor chain7, is configured as downward slope or also in the form of a lateral feed ramp.

The first rail profile1is preferably configured as circumferential rail profile1, so that the holding adapters6, which are reintegrated into the second track12in the reintegration section14, eventually arrive again before the sorting section13of the first rail profile.

In order to further convey the holding adapters6between the sorting section13and the reintegration section14, a conveyor9for further conveying the holding adapters6in conveying direction x1is provided parallel to the second rail profile2. This conveyor9, for example shown in theFIGS. 1 to 3, is preferably configured as chain drive with fingers93for further conveyance of the holding adapters6in conveying direction x2. These fingers93are fastened to holding parts92which are fixed underneath the chain95of the conveyor9.

The fingers93, as can be seen inFIGS. 1 to 3, protrude perpendicularly relative to the conveying direction x2in the direction of the second rail profile2and engage for the purpose of conveyance behind the holding adapters6and push the holding adapters in conveying direction x1in the direction toward the reintegration section14of the first rail profile1.

Particularly preferably the fingers93are configured elastic. This ensures that even when a finger93accidentally collides with a holding adapter6, whereby surfaces of the holding adapter6and the finger93contact each other, which surfaces are oriented parallel relative to the conveying direction, the finger93can be elastically bent and thus can be deflected before or behind the holding adapter6and thereby when being deflected in conveying direction behind the holding adapter6further convey the holding adapter6, or when being deflected before the holding adapter the next finger93further conveys the holding adapter6to the reintegration section14.

As also shown inFIG. 1, according to a further preferred embodiment, a speed control section15is provided in conveying direction x1before the stopping device5, which speed control section15is equipped with a further (here not shown) detection device for identifying a number of adapters6present in the speed control section15. With this, a capacity-controlled speed control of the conveyor is possible.

Thus when less than a predetermined number of adapters6are detected in the speed control section15, a control signal is outputted by the detection device to the drive unit of the conveyor chain7for increasing the conveying speed of the conveyor chain7. With this, regions of the conveyor in which only few adapters6are present, can be passed through in a shorter time and with the adapters conducted to the sorting section13faster and with this the sorting out of desired objects from the conveyor further be shortened.

Correspondingly, according to an embodiment it is provided that when exceeding a predetermined number of adapters6a control signal is outputted to the drive unit of the conveyor chain7for lowering the conveying speed of the conveyor chain7. Such an exceeding of the predetermined number can for example occur when in another region of the conveyor a large number of adapters and objects hanging thereon are introduced and/or back up and are then further transported in a tightly packed state.

By lowering or increasing the conveying speed a more uniform distribution of the objects to be conveyed on the conveyor is achieved. This also has the result that the jam pressure of the adapters6behind the sorting section13due to the almost constant number of adapters6remains approximately the same.

The lowering or increasing of the conveying speed also ensures that due to the constant conveying speed of the second conveyor9the average distance of the adapters6to each other is correspondingly smaller or greater and with this an optimal utilization of the conveyor can be achieved. Thus when the speed of the conveyor chain7is reduced, the adapters6are urged tighter together in the reintegration section14and correspondingly when the speed of the conveyor chain is increased in the reintegration section14the adapters6are integrated into the second track12further spaced apart from each other.