Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – Condition responsive control means including sensing...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-24
2003-04-08
Hess, Douglas (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
Condition responsive control means including sensing...
C198S367000, C198S437000, C198S442000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06543600
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a conveyor system comprising at least one upstream or infeed conveyor that conveys objects to a pair of downstream conveyors. More specifically, the conveyor system includes a diverter positioned between the upstream conveyor and first and second downstream conveyors that splits or switches a procession of objects conveyed by the upstream conveyor to one of the two downstream conveyors. The upstream or infeed conveyor includes improvements that enable it to monitor the number of objects being conveyed by the conveyor to the diverter and to monitor any spacings occurring between the number of objects to ensure that a predetermined number of objects will remain on the conveyor before the diverter when the gates of the diverter are closed where the number of objects accumulated on the conveyor when the gates are closed will act as a cushion for additional objects being conveyed on the upstream conveyor to impact with and prevent those additional objects from falling over. In addition, the upstream conveyor includes improvements that avoid the falling over of objects as the gate of the diverter is opened to direct a procession of objects held back by the diverter gate to one of the first and second downstream conveyors.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A typical split path conveyor system employs at least one upstream or infeed conveyor and at least two downstream conveyor lanes with a diverter positioned between the upstream conveyor and the downstream conveyor lanes. The diverter selectively directs a procession of objects conveyed by the upstream conveyor to one of the two downstream conveyor lanes. Split path conveyor systems of this type are typically used in conveyor systems that load a plurality of objects onto a rectangular pallet. The conveyor system will employ an upstream conveyor that supplies a procession of objects to the two lanes of the downstream conveyor through a diverter that directs the objects to one of the two lanes of the downstream conveyor, and then could also employ two additional pairs of further downstream conveyor lanes that are supplied with the procession of objects from the pair of downstream conveyor lanes by a pair of diverters. The number of times the path of conveyed objects is split is usually determined by the number of rows of objects that are ultimately directed to the pallet being loaded with the objects. For example, if the pallet is loaded with four rows of objects, then the upstream conveyor will be split through a diverter to a pair of downstream conveyor lanes, and then each of the downstream conveyor lanes of the pair will be split by an additional pair of diverters to two pairs of further downstream conveyor lanes, resulting in four conveyor lanes conveying four rows of objects to the pallet being loaded.
In a belt conveyor slit path conveying system, the upstream conveyor typically comprises a belt conveyor that conveys objects in upright orientations in single file between pairs of guide rails that are positioned above the belt conveyor and extend the length of the belt conveyor. The upstream conveyor conveys the procession of objects between the guide rails to a diverter that selectively directs the procession of objects received from the upstream conveyor to one of at least two downstream conveyor lanes. Like the upstream conveyors, the downstream conveyor lanes, for example a first and second downstream conveyor lane, will continue to convey the objects in their upright orientations between a pair of guide rails positioned above a conveyor belt and extending along the length of the conveyor belt. In prior art split path belt conveyors, the pair of downstream conveyor lanes defined by the pair of guide rails would include sideby-side belts driven by the same motive source at the same speed, or would include a single wide belt that would have the two pairs of guide rails defining the two downstream conveyor lanes positioned above the single wider belt. This same wider belt would convey the objects delivered from the diverter down the lengths of both of the first and second downstream conveyor lanes depending upon which of the two pairs of guide rails the diverter directed the procession of objects to from the upstream conveyor.
In split path conveying systems comprising an upstream conveyor supplying a procession of objects to at least two downstream conveyor lanes through a diverter, each of the downstream conveyor lanes would typically employ some type of sensor along its length that would communicate with the diverter and control the operation of the diverter to direct the procession of objects conveyed by the upstream conveyor to one of the downstream conveyor lanes. For example, in a split path conveyor having first and second downstream conveyor lanes, a low sensor, either a mechanical sensor or an electric sensor, would be positioned toward the outlet end of each of the first and second downstream conveyor lanes of the pair to sense the presence or absence of objects on each of the first and second downstream conveyor lanes toward their outlet ends. In addition, each downstream conveyor lane would have a full sensor adjacent its inlet end and a midway sensor positioned along the length of the conveyor between its low sensor and full sensor. These three sensors positioned along each of the downstream conveyor lanes would give some indication as to the number of objects accumulated on each of the conveyor lanes that were available to be conveyed further down the conveyor system. The sensors would also provide signals to a central processing unit CPU of the conveyor system that would control the operation of the diverter to replenish or accumulate additional objects on each of the downstream conveyor lanes in response to signals of the sensors. When the low sensor of the first downstream conveyor lane would sense the absence of conveyed objects on the first downstream conveyor lane indicating a low number of conveyed objects accumulated in the first downstream conveyor lane, it would send a signal to the CPU that in turn would control the diverter causing the diverter to switch to direct objects conveyed by the upstream conveyor to the first downstream conveyor lane and then causing the gates of the diverter holding back objects on the upstream conveyor to open. The diverter would include a sensor that would count objects conveyed through the diverter and the gate of the diverter would remain open until a number of objects was counted that would fill the space between the low sensor and the diverter. In a like manner, when the midway sensor or the full sensor of the first downstream conveyor lane would sense the absence of conveyed objects in the first downstream conveyor lane adjacent the sensor, it would send a signal to the CPU that would again control the diverter to direct a number of bottles to the first conveyor lane to fill the space between the midway sensor or the full sensor and the diverter, depending on which sensor signals were received by the CPU. After each cycle of the upstream conveyor supplying a number of bottles to either the first or second downstream conveyor lanes, the sensors and the CPU would then control the diverter to direct bottles to the downstream conveyor lane having the fewest accumulated bottles.
In conveyor systems of the type describe above, the efficiency of the conveyor system is dependent on the speed in which it conveys objects through the conveyor system. In a split path conveyor system of the type described above, the switching of the diverter between the first and second downstream conveyor lanes would detract from the efficiency of the conveyor system. In the switching of the diverter the gate of the diverter is first closed holding back objects on the upstream conveyor as the diverter switches from the first to the second downstream conveyor lane or from the second to the first downstream conveyor lane. When the switching operation is near completion the gates of the diverter are opened all
Hess Douglas
Ouellette Machinery Systems, Inc.
Thompson & Coburn LLP
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