Patent ID: 8342791

Claim:
A depalletizing device for removing an object from a pallet, the depalletizing device comprising: a carriage; a friction roller attached to the carriage, and rotatable about a horizontal rotation axis, a friction roller drive configured to rotate the friction roller, the carriage configured to be movable to and fro in a direction at right angles to the rotation axis of the friction roller and a carriage drive with variable driving power configured move the carriage and push the friction roller against a side of an object on the pallet in such a manner that the rotating friction roller exerts an upward friction force on the object, as a result of which the object is raised on that side, the carriage drive comprising a detection device and a control unit coupled to the detection device in order to control the driving power of the drive, the detection device configured to detect engagement of the rotating friction roller on the side of the object, and to detect that the object has been raised sufficiently high for the friction roller to pass underneath said object after the latter has been raised, the control unit configured so that, when the carriage is moved by the carriage drive in a direction at right angles to the rotation axis of the friction roller towards the side of the object, the driving power of the drive is controlled at a base value, and that, when it is detected by the detection device that the friction roller engages on the side of the object, the driving power of the carriage drive is increased from that base value thereby pushing the friction roller against the side of the object with greater force in order to increase the upward friction force on the object by the rotating friction roller, and that, the driving power of the carriage drive is immediately reduced when the detection device detects that the object has been raised sufficiently high for the friction roller to pass underneath said object after the latter has been raised.