Patent Description:
The present disclosure relates to a shipment sorting system.

Sorting shipments by self-navigation trolleys, i.e., robots, has been widely used in some situations.

For example, online retailers have a lot of commodities sold on the Internet, and in the process of online shopping, users will choose different commodities to place orders. When the retailers receive orders, they need to select these commodities from their warehouses one by one, package them uniformly, and deliver them to the users. If the distribution of shipments is completely manual, the cost will be increased significantly, and the selection of all-machine sorting or the combination of manual and machine can meet various requirements.

<CIT> discloses a system according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

The present disclosure provides a multi-cycle shipment sorting system according to claim <NUM> and a control method according to claim <NUM>.

According to the invention, the multi-cycle shipment sorting system includes:.

Optionally, the self-navigation trolleys are capable of running in multiple cycles on the cyclic section.

Optionally, the cycle can be a clockwise or counterclockwise single-direction cycle.

Optionally, the self-navigation trolleys are capable of passing through the loading port several times to be loaded.

Optionally, the identification device can be a bar code, a QR code, a graphic mark, a color mark, a size mark, or an RFID tag, and correspondingly, the identifier is a camera or an RFID card reader.

According to the invention, the shipment-carrying device further includes:
a displayer and/or a sound player, wherein the displayer and/or the sound player are electrically connected to the server, and the shipments are loaded manually according to prompts of the displayer and/or the sound player.

Optionally, the delivery device can be a drum conveyor, the shipment boxes are placed on the drum conveyor to be conveyed, and the drum conveyor is electrically connected to the server.

Optionally, the drum conveyor is U-shaped.

Optionally, the delivery device can be the self-navigation trolleys, the self-navigation trolleys are connected to the server in a wireless manner, and the positioning device for running of the self-navigation trolleys is installed on the delivery platform.

Optionally, the delivery entrance and the delivery outlet are connected to warehouse, and the delivery device is connected to the warehouse that delivers the shipments; the server can obtain information of the shipments through scanning QR codes of the shipments by a code scanner, and obtain information of the shipment boxes through the identification devices of the identifier; and
the sorting entrance and the sorting outlet can be connected to a packaging place.

Optionally, a plurality of bar codes, QR codes, graphic marks, color marks, size marks, or RIFD tags can be selected for the positioning device to be pasted on the platform, and cameras are installed on the self-navigation trolleys.

A control method according to the invention and as defined in claim <NUM> for a multi-cycle shipment sorting system, includes the following steps:.

The present disclosure has at least the following advantages:
The delivery platform and the delivery device may adopt drum conveyor to convey the shipments. Compared with the self-navigation trolleys, the drum conveyor has low cost and large shipment load. Even if self-navigation trolleys are adopted, they may be arranged in a line, and although the cost is slightly higher, the shipment load is also very large.

The shipment-carrying device may be used by a human or robot. When the shipment-carrying device is used by a human, as the action thereof is a single repeated action that is not easy to make mistakes, the efficiency is very high, and the cost is relatively low. When carrying a plurality of shipments in the same shipment box, the efficiency is even significantly higher than a robot;
The self-navigation trolleys are very flexible in the running process. For the self-navigation trolleys that only carry only one shipment, they run out directly after passing through the cyclic section, thus making the road unblocked. For the self-navigation trolleys that need to carry a plurality of shipments, they enter the cyclic section to queue up and wait, and the waiting may be mobile; therefore, it is very flexible, and the waiting time for the self-navigation trolleys may be relatively short, resulting in a very high loading efficiency.

The present disclosure at least has the beneficial effects of a reasonable structure, a low cost, a small sorting site, a convenient distribution of shipments, and a high sorting efficiency.

The present disclosure is further explained in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:
As shown in <FIG>, a multi-cycle shipment sorting system includes:.

The delivery platform <NUM> and the sorting platform <NUM> of the present disclosure may be arranged in parallel or at an angle, and they may also be arranged in a line. The installation is flexible, the site utilization rate is very high, and the carry may be performed manually or by the robot <NUM>.

It should be noted that, loading of shipments into the shipment boxes <NUM> are completed before entering the delivery entrance <NUM>. Generally, the information of shipments are obtained by the server through scanning QR codes of the shipments via a QR code scanner, and the information of the shipment boxes <NUM> are obtained through identifying the identification devices of the shipment boxes <NUM> via the identifier, so as to facilitate the server to arrange schedules in advance.

It should be also noted that, the delivery platform <NUM> and the delivery device mainly complete picking up and unloading shipments from a warehouse, while the ranking of shipment boxes <NUM> is basically fixed. The sorting platform <NUM> and the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> mainly complete sorting, loading, and unloading at terminals, the ranking of self-navigation trolleys <NUM> is set according to the positions of shipments. The two routes do not interfere with each other, so that the sorting effect may be significantly improved when the sorting site is small.

Optionally, for the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> which need to be loaded again, they are capable of running in multiple cycles on the cyclic section <NUM>.

It should be noted that running in cycles may be running in cycles for a short path or a long path. Through calculation by software of the server, the arrangement is flexible, and even if the shipments are not loaded for the time being, in order to give ways to other self-navigation trolleys <NUM>, they may also run for one more cycle, and the cycle is mainly in one direction such as clockwise or counterclockwise.

It should also be noted that, the sorting platform <NUM> of the present disclosure is only capable of accommodating two rows of the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> to run.

The sorting entrance <NUM> is located in one of the two rows, and the sorting outlet <NUM> is located in the other row, and at this time, the platform occupies the smallest land area and has the highest utilization rate.

When the same owner has a plurality of different shipments, the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> are capable of passing through the loading part <NUM> and loading for multiple times.

Optionally, the identification device of the shipment box is a bar code, a QR code, a graphic mark, a color mark, a size mark, or an RFID tag, and correspondingly, the identifier is a camera or an RFID card reader.

Optionally, the shipment-carrying device further includes:
a displayer <NUM> and/or a sound player, wherein the displayer <NUM> and/or the sound player are electrically connected to the server, and workers load the shipments manually according to the prompts of the displayer and/or the sound player. When a plurality of the same shipments are loaded on the same self-navigation trolley <NUM>, the efficiency of manual labor is higher than the loading efficiency of the robot <NUM>.

It should be noted that, it is possible that the shipments contained in a shipment box <NUM> belong to two owners, and at this time, it is prompted by the displayer <NUM> and/or the sound player that how many pieces are installed, and the remaining shipments will be loaded by the next self-navigation trolley <NUM>.

Preferably, the delivery device is a drum conveyor, wherein the shipment boxes <NUM> are placed on the drum conveyor to be conveyed, and the drum conveyor is electrically connected to the server. The drum conveyor may adopt existing products, which have the characteristics of a relatively low cost and a large shipment load.

Preferably, the drum conveyor is U-shaped. The U-shaped refers to the route of conveying, and the U-shaped drum conveyor can save the site.

As another embodiment, the delivery device are the self-navigation trolleys, the self-navigation trolleys are connected to the server in a wireless manner, and a positioning device for running of the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> is installed on the delivery platform <NUM>.

When the delivery device adopts the self-navigation trolleys, the self-navigation trolleys are relatively flexible during the loading of the shipments.

Optionally, the delivery entrance <NUM> and the delivery outlet <NUM> are connected to a warehouse, and the delivery device is connected to the warehouse that delivers the shipments; information of the shipments are obtained by the server through scanning OR codes of the shipments via the code scanner, and information of the shipment boxes <NUM> are obtained through identifying the identification devices of the shipment boxes <NUM> via the identifier; and
the sorting entrance <NUM> and the sorting outlet <NUM> are connected to a packaging place, and the self-navigation trolleys <NUM> may perform sorting in cycles.

The technical solution consists of a complete system from delivering, sorting to packaging.

The positioning device for the running of self-navigation trolleys <NUM> is relevant technology. The positioning device may adopt a plurality of bar codes, QR codes, graphic marks, size marks, or RFID tags to be pasted on the platform. Correspondingly, cameras are installed on the self-navigation trolleys <NUM>.

A control method for a multi-cycle shipment sorting system includes the following steps:.

Steps S4 and S5 are several specific methods of ranking, and specific embodiments of ranking are introduced here:.

When there is only one shipment in a shipment box, and its owner only has that shipment, any self-navigation trolley may be arranged, generally, a self-navigation trolley that stays at the loading port is arranged for loading.

When the same owner needs two pieces of different shipments, as shown in <FIG>, for example, the first shipment is in No. <NUM> shipment box and the second shipment is in No. <NUM> shipment box, at this time, the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley immediately queued up, after completing loading of the shipment, behind the No.<NUM> self-navigation trolley through the cyclic section. After the shipment in the No. <NUM> shipment box is loaded on the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley, the shipment in the No. <NUM> shipment box is loaded on the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley, and so on.

When two pieces of shipment from different owners are installed in the same shipment box, as shown in <FIG>, for example, the No. <NUM> shipment box contains two pieces of the same shipment, at this time, after the first piece of shipment in the No.<NUM> shipment box is loaded on the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley, the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley queued up in advance behind the No.<NUM> self-navigation trolley, and then loads the second piece of the shipment on the No. <NUM> self-navigation trolley, and so on.

The present disclosure has the beneficial effects of a small sorting site, convenient distribution of shipments, and a high sorting efficiency.

Claim 1:
A multi-cycle shipment sorting system, comprising
a delivery platform (<NUM>), provided with a delivery entrance (<NUM>), a delivery outlet (<NUM>), and an unloading port (<NUM>);
a delivery device, capable of delivering a plurality of shipment boxes (<NUM>) in sequence from the delivery entrance (<NUM>) to the unloading port (<NUM>), and outputting, after unloading, a plurality of the shipment boxes (<NUM>) from the delivery outlet (<NUM>), wherein more than one piece of a same kind of shipment is contained in each of the shipment boxes (<NUM>), different shipment boxes (<NUM>) are capable of containing same or different shipments, and each of the shipment boxes (<NUM>) is installed with an identification device;
characterized by comprising:
a sorting platform (<NUM>), provided with a sorting entrance (<NUM>), a sorting outlet (<NUM>), and a cyclic section (<NUM>), wherein the cyclic section (<NUM>) is provided with a loading port (<NUM>);
plural self-navigation trolleys (<NUM>), wherein the self-navigation trolleys enter from the sorting entrance (<NUM>), and are ranked, when passing through the cyclic section (<NUM>), according to positions of shipments delivered by the delivery device, then run out of the sorting outlet (<NUM>) after loading at the loading port (<NUM>);
a positioning device, configured for performing positioning when the self-navigation trolleys (<NUM>) are running;
a shipment-carrying device, provided with an identifier that can read the identification devices of the shipment boxes (<NUM>), wherein the identifier is fixed close to the unloading port (<NUM>), and the shipments in the shipment boxes (<NUM>) can be taken out and loaded on the self-navigation trolleys (<NUM>) located at the loading port (<NUM>) manually or by a robot (<NUM>);
a server, wherein the server is connected to the self-navigation trolleys (<NUM>) in a wireless manner, and is connected to the identifier, the delivery device, and the robot in a wired or wireless manner, respectively; and
wherein the shipment-carrying device further comprises a displayer (<NUM>) and/or a sound player, wherein the displayer and/or the sound player is electrically connected to the server, and workers load the shipments manually according to prompts of the displayer and/or the sound player.