Abstract:
A system and method for installing a protective covering onto at least one substantially entire side portion of a stack of products. The system includes an apparatus for automatically, and preferably continuously, robotically moving, positioning and fastening a protective covering to at least one side portion of a stack of products. The side portions of the stack of products can vary in dimensions. The protective covering can also protect a top portion of the stack of products. The stack of products can include stacks of plywood, particleboard, OSB, lumber or other bundles of predetermined sizes.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/051,249, filed on Feb. 3, 2005. Priority of application Ser. No. 11/051,249 is hereby claimed. The contents of application Ser. No. 11/051,249 are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to a system and method for installing a protective covering onto a stack of work pieces, and more particularly, for installing at least one protective covering capable of substantially covering at least one entire side portion of the stack of work pieces.  
         [0003]     U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,925 relates to a machine which employs small bendable plates as edge protection for the use in combination with flexible strapping employed to wrap around a stack of work pieces to maintain the stack in an aligned pile. Other strapping and edge or corner protection application systems are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,271,925; 3,378,987; 3,585,780; 3,620,434; 3,995,409; 4,587,791; 4,700,530; 5,226,280; 5,289,668; 5,535,572; 5,564,254; 5,596,863; and 5,619,838. The following U.S. Patents relate to wrapping work pieces with wrapping materials such as polymeric films or sheets or shrink materials, hermetic bags, etc.: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,394; 4,231,210; 5,657,608; 6,138,438; 6,161,365; 6,279,295; 6,371,292; 6,401,433; 6,460,314; and 6,505,728.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     A system and method is provided for installing a protective covering onto at least one substantially entire side portion of a stack of products. The system comprises at least one protective covering capable of substantially covering at least one side portion, and preferably the entire side portion of the stack of products. Furthermore, the system includes an apparatus for automatically, and preferably continuously, robotically moving and positioning each the protective covering against at least one side portion of the stack of products, and for automatically, and preferably continuously, fastening each protective covering so that it is installed onto a side of the stack of products. Preferably, the apparatus for automatically fastening the protective covering can comprise an apparatus for robotically fastening the protective covering.  
         [0005]     The apparatus for automatically moving and positioning the protective covering preferably comprises a robotic mechanism. The robotic mechanism is preferably supported at a location above the stack of products. The robotic mechanism preferably comprises a robotic arm. Furthermore, the apparatus for automatically fastening the protective covering preferably comprises a robotic mechanism. The robotic mechanism is preferably supported at a location above the stack of products. The robotic mechanism preferably comprises a robotic arm.  
         [0006]     The apparatus for fastening the protective covering preferably comprises a stapling apparatus. The apparatus for automatically moving and positioning the protective covering against the side portion of the stack of products preferably includes an electronic positioning device. The system can further includes a first device to interconnect the apparatus and the protective covering during the automatic moving and positioning of each the protective covering, and second device for fastening the protective covering to the stack of products. The apparatus preferably lifts the protective covering and then moves and positions it against the stack of products.  
         [0007]     Unlike certain prior art devices which are limited to product stacks having a specific dimensional configuration, the side portions of the stack of products of this invention can comprise a plurality of dimensions. Preferably, the stack of products comprises a stack of lignocellulosic products. More preferably, the stack of products comprise plywood, particleboard, OSB, lumber stacks or bundles of predetermined size.  
         [0008]     In the system of the present invention, a plurality of side portions of the stack of products are preferably overlayed by the protective coverings. Each of the protective coverings is preferably installed so as to wrap about the outer edges of the stack of products. Each of the protective covering can be preferably installed so as to wrap about the top of the stack of products. Moreover, the protective covering is preferably fabricated of a non-film material. Preferably, the protective covering is fabricated of a stiff, bendable material. More preferably, the protective covering comprises a cardboard-containing covering.  
         [0009]     The system preferably includes a printing device connected to the robotic mechanism for imprinting indicia onto each the protective covering by inkjet, laser, ink roller or methods of printing. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the robotic product wrapping system according to the invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the product wrapping system of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a detailed perspective view of the product wrapping system of  FIG. 1  showing a protective covering handling tool attached to a robotic arm.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a detailed perspective view of the product wrapping system of  FIG. 1  showing a fastening tool attached to the robotic arm.  
         [0014]      FIGS. 5A-5G  are detailed perspective views of the product wrapping system of  FIG. 1  illustrating a process of positioning and fastening a protective covering to a side of a stack of products.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a control system according to the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a stack of products  22  is loaded onto product carrier  56  at a product load entrance  68  of the system  20  from which the product carrier  56  moves the stack  22  into the operating area  70  of system  20 . The product carrier  56  is preferably a conveyor driven by a 7.5 hp motor and drive. The stack of products can be comprised of a stack of lignocellulosic products including, but not limited to, plywood and particle board. The height of the stack of products  22  can be from about 16 to 38 inches. Typically, these stacks are either about 16 or 38 inches in height representing half packs and full packs of lignocellulosic product. The product itself is conventionally 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, with length being defined as the longitudinal direction parallel to the movement of the stack of products  22  on the product carrier  56 . However, other products of differing dimensions can be accommodated by the system  20 .  
         [0017]     A protective covering  24  to be wrapped around the stack  22  is loaded in a stack on a hydraulic scissor lift  80  that is positioned to one side of the stack of products  22  that has been introduced into the operating area  70  of the system  20 . The protective covering can be a non-film-like material, and is preferably fabricated of a stiff, bendable material with cardboard being a most preferable material. While the protective covering can be one of many materials, for the purposes of illustration, the protective covering and its related components will be referred to as cardboard hereinafter in this description.  
         [0018]     Stacks of cardboard  24  can be loaded into the system  20  on a delivery system  52 . The delivery system  52  provides two loading areas  66 , one on each side of the scissor lift  80 . A cardboard stack conveyor  40  in the delivery system  52  loads a stack of cardboard  24  onto the scissor lift  80 . The conveyor  40  reverses direction to load a stack of cardboard  24  from the other side of the scissor lift  80 .  
         [0019]     The product wrapping system  20  utilizes a robotic arm  26  located above the stack of products  22  in operating area  70  on support  42 . A computerized controller  58  controls the robotic arm  26 . In  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the robotic arm  26  is a Motoman UP50-35 robot and the computerized controller  58  is a Motoman NX 100 controller. The robotic arm can be any six-axis robot with the appropriate reach and torque requirements and the computerized controller can be any suitable 6-axis robotic controller device. The robotic arm  26  has been programmed to remove cardboard sheets  24  from the hydraulic scissor lift  80  using a cardboard handling tool  28  (shown in  FIG. 3 ), move the sheets into an installation position, and then automatically wrap and staple the cardboard  24  onto the stack  22  utilizing a fastening tool  32  (shown in  FIG. 4 ). The height, width, and stopping position of stack  22  within the system  20  are monitored by the controller  58  to allow the robotic arm  26  to automatically adjust placement and stapling positions based on load dimensions and stopped position of the load on the product carrier  56 . After the cardboard  24  is fastened to the stack of products  22 , the product carrier  56  transports that stack through the system to the product load exit  74  and moves the next stack of products  22  from the product load entrance  68  to the operating area  70  of the system  20 . These steps are repeated to provide automatic wrapping and fastening of cardboard  24  to consecutive stacks of products  22 .  
         [0020]     The robotic arm  26  handles sheets of cardboard  24  through the use of a detachable cardboard handling tool  28  which utilizes pneumatic vacuum assist to handle the cardboard  24  (shown in  FIG. 3 ). The robotic arm  26  wraps and fastens the cardboard  24  to the stack of products  22  through the use of a detachable fastening tool  32  (shown in  FIG. 4 ). The system  20  also includes an automatic staple supply delivery system  54  that is used to automatically reload the fastening tool  32  when the fastening tool  32  runs out of staples.  
         [0021]     The perimeter guard fence  38  encloses the product wrapping system  20  while providing interlocked access points. An example of these access points are: a unidirectional safety monitored product load entrance  68 , a unidirectional safety monitored product load exit  74 , operating area access doors  82  to allow personnel entry, and safety monitored cardboard loading zones  66 . The guard fence  38  in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is made of connected sections of steel grating, though other forms of fencing could be used. The perimeter guard fence  38  is configured to ensure manufacturing personnel are unable to come in contact with the robot or system components during operations by stopping and inhibiting the robot arm  26 , peripheral component motion, and pneumatic power if a safety circuit has been interrupted in an unsafe operational condition such as an operator or other person attempting to enter the operation area while the system  20  is in the process of positioning or stapling cardboard  24  to a stack of products  22 .  
         [0022]     The operating access doors  82  are interlocked with the system such that opening an access door  82  will stop and inhibit robot, conveyor, scissor lift, and pneumatic component operation. The interlock can be overridden to allow for operation of the robotic arm  26  in a “teach” mode or operation of the entire system  20  in a “teach” mode. The product load entrance  68  and exit  74  are monitored by unidirectional safety monitoring systems that sense whether an appropriate load is entering or exiting the perimeter guard fencing  38 . If the monitoring sensors sense anything other than an appropriate load entering or exiting during normal operation, the safety system will prohibit operation of the robotic arm  26  and the product carrier  56 . The cardboard loading zone  66  has safety light curtains that prevent improper loading or entry by personnel by shutting down the operation of the conveyor that is part of the cardboard delivery system  52 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the robotic arm  26  is mounted on support  42  such that the robotic arm  26  is positioned above the stack of products  22  in the operating area  70 . In  FIG. 3 , the cardboard handling tool  28  is attached to the end of the robotic arm  26 . The robotic arm  26  maneuvers the detachable cardboard handling tool  28  to pick up, move, and position a piece of cardboard  24  against the side of a stack of products  22 . The cardboard handling tool  28  is pneumatically and electrically connected to the end of the robotic arm  26 . The pneumatic connection allows the tool  28  to pneumatically pick up the cardboard  24  by means of the vacuum cups  62 . The cardboard handling tool  28  is custom-designed for use in the system  20  but utilizes some standard products as components. For example, the vacuum cups  62  in  FIG. 3  are VI-Cas Style N Vacuum Cups referenced as Willamette Valley Co. component part number 5442-04-90-2002. The cardboard handling tool  28  in  FIG. 3  attaches to the robotic arm  26  and operates by means of a QC-41 Tool Plate and a QC-41 R19 Tool Electrical Module, referenced as Willamette Valley Company component numbers 5442-01-90-2016 and 5442-01-90-2027, respectively.  
         [0024]      FIG. 4  shows the robotic arm  26  with the detachable fastening tool  32  attached to the end of the robotic arm  26 . The fastening tool  32  is pneumatically and electrically connected to the robotic arm  26 . The connection allows control of movement of the fastening tool  32  on fastener slide  76 , independent of the movement of robotic arm  26 . The connection also allows for controlling a stapler  78  on the fastening module  32 . The fastening tool  32  is custom designed for use in the system  20  wherein the custom design includes flap pusher  84  that allows the fastening tool  32  to push a flap of cardboard  24  around an edge of a stack of products  22  (shown in  FIGS. 6B and 6C ). In  FIG. 4 , the stapler  78  is a robotic staple gun referenced by Willamette Valley Company component number 5410300 and the fastening tool  32  attaches to the robotic arm  26  utilizing the same QC-41 Tool Plate and QC-41 R19 Tool Electrical Module as used on the cardboard handling tool  28 .  
         [0025]      FIGS. 5A-5G  are detailed perspective views of the product wrapping system  20  illustrating a process of positioning and fastening a piece of cardboard  24  onto one side of a stack of products  22 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 5A  is a detailed perspective view of the product wrapping system  20  showing the piece of cardboard  24  being positioned against one side of the stack of products  22 . The cardboard  24  is positioned against the side of the stack of products  22  by the robotic arm  26  using the cardboard handling tool  28 . The robotic arm  26  pneumatically attaches the cardboard  24  to the cardboard handling tool  28  and presses the cardboard  24  flat against the side of the stack of products  22 .  
         [0027]     In  FIG. 5B , the arms of the electronic positioning devices  30  are then extended toward the cardboard  24  to retain the cardboard  24  pressed against the side of the stack of products  22  after the cardboard handling tool  28  is detached and retracted from the cardboard  24 . The electronic positioning devices  30  are left and right hand cardboard retainers referenced by Willamette Valley Company component numbers 5443-03-11-2001 and 5443-03-11-2000, respectively. The top portion  40  of the cardboard  24  is shown in  FIG. 5B  extending beyond the top edge of the stack of products  22 . The side portions  42  and  44  of the cardboard  24  are also shown extending beyond the front and back sides of the stack of products  22 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 5C  is a detailed perspective view of the product wrapping system  20  showing the side portion  42  of cardboard  24  being bent around the front edge of the stack of products  22  by the flap pusher  84  on the fastening tool  32  on the end of the robotic arm  26 . The side portion  42  of cardboard  24  wrapped around the front edge of the stack of products  22  is stapled to the front edge of the stack of products  22  using the fastening tool  32  by activating stapler  78 . The cardboard  24  can also be fastened to the side of the stack of products  22  by stapling the cardboard to the side of the stack of products  22  prior to bending and stapling of portions  42  and  44  of the cardboard  24 .  
         [0029]      FIG. 5D  shows flap  46  on side portion  42  being bent down onto the top of the stack of products  22 . The fastening tool  32  then staples flap  46  to the top of the stack of products  22 .  
         [0030]      FIG. 5E  shows the process being repeated for side portion  44  of cardboard  24  extending beyond the back edge of the stack of products  22 .  FIG. 5F  shows flap  48  on side portion  44  being bent down onto the top of the stack of products  22  and being stapled by activating the stapler  78 .  
         [0031]      FIG. 5G  shows top portion  40  of the cardboard  24  being bent down onto the top of the stack of products  22 . The fastening tool  32  then staples the top portion  40  to the top of the stack of products  22 .  
         [0032]     The positioning and fastening process is then repeated with another piece of cardboard  24  that is positioned and fastened to the opposite side of the stack of products  22 .  
         [0033]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of an exemplary control system as may be utilized in embodiments of the invention. The invention is not limited to a single computing environment. Moreover, the architecture and functionality of the invention as taught herein and as would be understood by one skilled in the art is extensible to other types of computing environments and embodiments in keeping with the scope and spirit of the invention. The invention provides for various methods, computer-readable mediums containing computer-executable instructions, and apparatus. With this in mind, the embodiments discussed herein should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention; rather, the invention contemplates all embodiments as may come within the scope of the appended claims.  
         [0034]     The present invention includes various operations, which will be described below. The operations, may be performed by hard-wired hardware, or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions that may be used to cause a general purpose or special purpose processor, or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the operations. Alternatively, the operations may be performed by any combination of hard-wired hardware, and software driven hardware.  
         [0035]     The present invention may be provided as a computer program product that may include a machine-readable medium, stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other programmable devices) to perform a series of operations according to the present invention. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROM&#39;s, DVD&#39;s, magno-optical disks, ROM&#39;s, RAM&#39;s, EPROM&#39;s, EEPROM&#39;s, hard drives, magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or any other medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, the present invention may also be downloaded as a computer software product, wherein the software may be transferred between programmable devices by data signals in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g. a modem or a network connection).  
         [0036]      FIG. 7  illustrates an exemplary control system  400  upon which embodiments of the invention may be implemented. For example, an apparatus comprising a machine-readable medium may contain instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to provide a stack of products having a plurality of side portions, provide at least one protective covering capable of substantially covering at least one side portion of the stack of products, position each protective covering against at least one side portion of the stack of products, and fasten each protective covering so that it is installed onto a side of the stack of products. An embodiment may include an apparatus further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to overlay a plurality of side portions of the stack of products without substantially moving or rotating the stack of products. An embodiment apparatus may further comprise instructions that cause a machine to staple the protective covering to the stack of products. Additionally, an apparatus may comprise instructions that cause a machine to install protective coverings on at least a pair of opposite sides of the stack of products. Another example apparatus may further comprise instructions that cause a machine to bendably install the protective covering around edges of the stack of products.  
         [0037]     In  FIG. 7 , control system  400  comprises a bus or other communication means  401  for communicating information, and a processing means such as processor  402  coupled with bus  401  for processing information. Control system  400  further comprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamically-generated storage device  404  (referred to as main memory), coupled to bus  401  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  402 . Main memory  404  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  402 . Control system  400  also comprises a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device  406  coupled to bus  401  for storing static information and instructions for processor  402 .  
         [0038]     A data storage device  407  such as a magnetic disk or optical disk and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to control system  400  for storing information and instructions. Control system  400  can also be coupled via bus  401  to a display device  421 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), for displaying information to an end user. Typically, an alphanumeric input device (keyboard)  422 , including alphanumeric and other keys, may be coupled to bus  401  for communicating information and/or command selections to processor  402 . Another type of user input device is cursor control  423 , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor  402  and for controlling cursor movement on display  421 .  
         [0039]     A communication device  425  is also coupled to bus  401 . The communication device  425  may include a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface devices, such as those used for coupling to Ethernet, token ring, or other types of physical attachment for purposes of providing a communication link to support a local or wide area network, for example. In this manner, the control system  400  may be networked with a number of clients, servers, or other information devices.  
         [0040]     It is appreciated that a lesser or more equipped computer system than the example described above may be desirable for certain implementations. Therefore, the configuration of control system  400  will vary from implementation to implementation depending upon numerous factors, such as price constraints, performance requirements, technological improvements, and/or other circumstances.  
         [0041]     Although a programmed processor, such as processor  402  may perform the operations described herein, in alternative embodiments, the operations may be fully or partially implemented by any programmable or hard coded logic, such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), TTL logic, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), for example. Additionally, the method of the present invention may be performed by any combination of programmed general-purpose computer components and/or custom hardware components. Therefore, nothing disclosed herein should be construed as limiting the present invention to a particular embodiment wherein the recited operations are performed by a specific combination of hardware components.  
         [0042]     Having described and illustrated the principles of the invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, it should be apparent that the invention can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. I claim all modifications and variation coming within the spirit and scope of the following claims.