EP4673387A1 - Procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur - Google Patents

Procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur

Info

Publication number
EP4673387A1
EP4673387A1 EP24706753.1A EP24706753A EP4673387A1 EP 4673387 A1 EP4673387 A1 EP 4673387A1 EP 24706753 A EP24706753 A EP 24706753A EP 4673387 A1 EP4673387 A1 EP 4673387A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
conveyor
conveyor arrangement
working space
roller
human
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
EP24706753.1A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Christian ÖHM
Christian HAGMAIER
Hubertus MARX
Christian Ripperda
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Interroll Holding AG
Original Assignee
Interroll Holding AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Interroll Holding AG filed Critical Interroll Holding AG
Publication of EP4673387A1 publication Critical patent/EP4673387A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F30/00—Computer-aided design [CAD]
    • G06F30/10—Geometric CAD
    • G06F30/12—Geometric CAD characterised by design entry means specially adapted for CAD, e.g. graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for CAD
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G13/00—Roller-ways
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G21/00—Supporting or protective framework or housings for endless load-carriers or traction elements of belt or chain conveyors
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G43/00—Control devices, e.g. for safety, warning or fault-correcting
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2111/00—Details relating to CAD techniques
    • G06F2111/20—Configuration CAD, e.g. designing by assembling or positioning modules selected from libraries of predesigned modules

Definitions

  • the invention refers to a method of planning conveyor arrangement.
  • EP 3222 564 B1 discloses a conveyor for conveying an object from a start position to a target place.
  • the conveyor comprises a plurality of zones into which the conveyor is divided, the object being conveyed across the zones; each of the zones comprising: a linear conveyor zone that linearly conveys the object; a conveying direction changing zone selecting a conveying direction of the object to send out the object in the selected conveying direction; a conveyance destination storage unit that is configured to store the conveyance destination information temporarily; an information receiving unit that is configured to receive the conveyance destination information from an upstream zone; and an information transmitting unit that is configured to transmit the conveyance destination information to a downstream zone.
  • the conveyor transfers the conveyance destination information from the upstream zone to the downstream zone with the movement of the object across the zones.
  • WO 2021/048042 A1 also published as EP 3 792 206 A1 , discloses a virtual layouter tool.
  • a conveyor arrangement can be created in the virtual world using 3D data of individual conveyor modules.
  • the 3D data of the conveyor devices are arranged in a spatial relation to each other which conforms a possible relation of the relating real module devices in the real world.
  • the created conveyor arrangement in the virtual world can be used in a simulation mode for predicting an efficient use and configuring a sufficient capacity of the conveyor arrangement.
  • a tool machine is surrounded by a fence, which has the purpose, to keep people away from the machine. Separate to the fence, a plurality of human working spaces are visible, where a human is in immediate contact to the objects conveyed with the conveyor arrangement. Any human interactions related to the conveyed objects, e.g. loading or unloading of objects on the conveyor happen outside of the zone guarded by the fence.
  • the fence does not provide any safety in relation to the interaction of humans with objects located on the conveyor.
  • WO 2018/191122 A1 refers to the field of transfer guards providing a smooth transition to support objects traveling across a gap between two conveyor surfaces, such as two pulleys of separate belts, and to prevent objects from falling into the gap. Any topics related to a user interaction during normal operation are not part of the disclosure.
  • US 2022/009722 A1 discloses a roller having a drive unit, which is arranged with a roller body and adapted to generate a torque between an axle element and the roller body.
  • a sensor function unit is arranged within the roller body and which is designed to detect a conveyed material for conveying by means of the motor-operated conveying roller.
  • a control unit is connected to the sensor function unit, wherein the control unit is designed to receive a sensor signal from the sensor function unit and to transmit a control signal to the drive unit n a manner dependent on the sensor signal, wherein the control signal comprises data for the drive of the motor operated conveying roller with a characteristic profile which is predetermined by the control signal, in a conveying operating mode. It is an object of the invention to improve the safety for humans handling objects located on the conveyor in a human working space.
  • the invention comprises a method and a conveyor arrangement according to the main claims; embodiments are subject of the subclaims and the description.
  • the conveyor arrangement to be planned with the help of the inventive method is adapted to convey an object from at least one first location to at least one second location.
  • a first location may be a feed in station; a second location may be a destination.
  • An user may get in interaction with the object to be conveyed.
  • the inventive method comprises the step of providing an IT planning tool for usage by an user; wherein by using the IT planning tool, representations of a plurality of conveyor components, in particular conveyor zones, are arranged in a manner to form a representation of said conveyor arrangement; the IT planning tool is adapted to distinguish the areas of the conveyor arrangement between non-human working spaces and human working spaces.
  • the IT planning tool may be adapted to add a human working space definition and/or withdraw said human working space definition to I from a conveyor area.
  • the method enables to automate several steps during planning, which are dependent on the later usage.
  • an operator gets in interaction with the objects within the human working space . Due to this interaction there is an increased risk for the operator to get also in contact with moving components of the conveyor. Due to the definition the IT planning tool can support the user in planning a safe conveyor arrangement.
  • the IT planning tool based on an input, in particular an user interaction, adds or withdraws said human working space definition to I from said conveyor area.
  • user interaction is to be understood broadly.
  • the IT planning tool can derive the fact from any other suitable information.
  • certain components may be inherent to interact with an operator, such as a terminal chute or a manual picking location.
  • the user provides an explicit interaction, so that the pure provision of such a component is considered as the triggering input.
  • the user is a person who is handling the IT tool during planning.
  • the operator is a person which gets in interaction with the objects to be conveyed during the intended usage of the planned conveyor arrangement.
  • the claimed conveyor arrangement comprises a motorized roller with can be operated based on a setpoint values limiting the maximum drive torque provided by the motorized roller. By limiting the maximum torque, the risk of injuries can be reduced, since crushing forces are reduced.
  • the setpoint values limiting the maximum torque is provided to the motorized roller from outside of the motorized roller, so that the motorized roller can be switched between different modes of operation.
  • the modes of operation differs from each other in the amount of the set point value or in the fact that one mode of operation does not consider such a torque limitation at all.
  • upstream and downstream refer to the direction of travel.
  • FIG. 1 a conventional conveyor zone in perspective view
  • fig. 2 a conventional basic conveyor arrangement
  • fig. 3 schematic representations of different conveyor zones
  • fig. 4 principal sketch of a conveyor arrangement
  • fig. 5 a personal computer on which the IT planning tool is running in an initial planning step
  • fig. 6 -11 the personal computer of fig. 5 in subsequent planning steps
  • fig. 12 a longitudinal section through motorized conveyor roller according to the invention.
  • FIG. 1 shows an exemplary conveyor zone 2, comprising several conveyor rollers 3 mounted on a common support frame 4.
  • the conveyor rollers 3s are driven together by a common motor.
  • one of the conveyor rollers 3 is designed as a motorized conveyor roller 3M.
  • the motorized conveyor roller 3M is driven in particular by a three-phase motor arranged within the conveyor roller.
  • Via one or more drive connectors 31 e.g. a drive belt, the conveyor rollers 3 of a conveyor zone 2 are drive-connected to each other and are jointly driven by the motorized conveyor roller 3M.
  • An upper side of the rollers form a conveyor surface Sc, on which an object 9 is in particular linearly conveyed from an inlet I to an outlet O along a conveying direction d.
  • a conveyor belt is used instead of rollers; accordingly the conveyor surface Sc is formed by an upper side of the conveyor belt (not shown in figure 1 and 2).
  • the presence of a conveyed object 9 arranged on the conveyor zone 2 can be determined as soon as the object comes into the field of view of the sensor 5.
  • the motorized conveyor rollers 3M are each controlled by at least one or a plurality of zone controllers 11 (figure 2).
  • a local zone controller 11 can control the motorized conveyor rollers 3M of several conveyor zones 2.
  • a plurality of zone controllers 11 are arranged in a conveyor arrangement 1 , which communicate with each other via a bus connection 13.
  • Figure 2 shows a basic conveyor arrangement 1 , where conveyor zones 2a..e as described previously are used.
  • a plurality of zone controllers 11 control the operation of the conveyor zones 2.
  • a PLC 12 programmable logic control
  • a PLC 12 may be provided to control the overall operation of the conveyor arrangement 1.
  • Scanners may be arranged along the zones and provide identification data relating to objects 9a..c passing the scanner in the zones. These identification data are sent via bus connection 13 to the PLC 12.
  • the PLC 12 has access to an object data base (not shown), which provides destination data based in the identification of the objects 9. Based on the acquired data the PLC 12 provides operation instruction to a local zone controller 11, how to handle the object 9, i.e. to which of the outlets O said object 9 is to be conveyed.
  • no PLC or similar is required.
  • the zone controllers are connected to a common higher-level object data broker, in particular via the bus connection, with which the zone controllers are also connected to one another.
  • the data broker provides destination data related to the identified objects and the zone controllers are adapted to control operation of the zones based on the provided destination data.
  • the zone controllers 11 control the motorized conveyor rollers 3M in such a way that the successively approaching conveyed objects 9 do not collide with each other, which is usually called “zero pressure accumulation”.
  • the control takes place in such a way that essentially only one conveyed object 9 is present per conveyor zone 2.
  • slight overlaps may occur.
  • an upstream object 9b located on an upstream conveyor zone 2c may already enter a downstream conveyor zone 2d even though the downstream object 9a has not yet left this downstream conveyor zone 2d completely.
  • the sensor signals of the presence sensors 5 serve as input variables here, although it is ensured that the two conveyed objects 9 do not touch and thus do not damage each other.
  • All conveyor zones 2 are controlled by a zone controller 11 as shown in figure 1 or 2, in particular wherein one zone controller 11 may be adapted to control the operation of more than one zone 2.
  • a zone controller 11 may be adapted to control the operation of more than one zone 2.
  • the layouter 81 For defining said human working space I SA the layouter 81 provides a human working space definition box 84.
  • the torque provided can be larger than the first set point value Tmax.
  • the motorized roller 3M is adapted to be switched between the two modes of operation.
  • a switching command can be the set of parameters 311, when the parameter setpoint value has been changed to a previous value.
  • the motorized roller is switched from one mode into the another mode of operation. List of reference signs
  • safety feature selection box C conveyor as an example of a conveyor area d conveying direction D destination as an example of a conveyor area F feed in station as an example of a conveyor area

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Geometry (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • Computational Mathematics (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Mathematical Analysis (AREA)
  • Mathematical Optimization (AREA)
  • Pure & Applied Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Evolutionary Computation (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Control Of Conveyors (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur (1), l'agencement de convoyeur étant conçu pour transporter un objet (9) d'au moins un premier emplacement (F) à au moins un second emplacement (D); pendant l'utilisation prévue de l'opération, un opérateur interagit avec ledit objet (9) situé à l'intérieur de l'agencement de convoyeur (1) dans un espace de travail humain (SA); le procédé comprenant l'étape consistant à fournir un outil de planification IT (8) destiné à être utilisé par un utilisateur; à l'aide de l'outil de planification IT (8), des représentations (83) d'une pluralité de composants de convoyeur, en particulier des zones de convoyeur (2), étant agencées de manière à former une représentation dudit agencement de convoyeur (1); l'outil de planification IT (8) étant conçu pour distinguer les zones (C, D, F) de l'agencement de convoyeur (1) entre des espaces de travail non humains et un espace de travail humain (SA).
EP24706753.1A 2023-02-27 2024-02-26 Procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur Pending EP4673387A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP23158862 2023-02-27
PCT/EP2024/054744 WO2024179954A1 (fr) 2023-02-27 2024-02-26 Procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP4673387A1 true EP4673387A1 (fr) 2026-01-07

Family

ID=85410243

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP24706753.1A Pending EP4673387A1 (fr) 2023-02-27 2024-02-26 Procédé de planification d'un agencement de convoyeur

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP4673387A1 (fr)
CN (1) CN120752189A (fr)
WO (1) WO2024179954A1 (fr)

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3942338A (en) * 1974-03-04 1976-03-09 Excel Corporation Torque limiting coupling
US10322883B2 (en) 2014-11-18 2019-06-18 Itoh Denki Co. Conveyor device, conveyor system, zone controller, CAD device, and method for manufacturing conveyor device
KR20240128141A (ko) 2017-04-10 2024-08-23 후렉크시불스티일레이싱캄파니 이송 가드 시스템, 이송 시스템 및 이송 시스템의 설치 방법
DE102018133481A1 (de) 2018-12-21 2020-06-25 Interroll Holding Ag Förderanordnung mit integrierter Sensorfunktionseinheit
EP3792206B1 (fr) 2019-09-11 2025-05-14 Interroll Holding AG Dispositif de transport et procédé de configuration d'un dispositif de transport
WO2023247237A1 (fr) 2022-06-22 2023-12-28 Interroll Holding Ag Agencement de transporteur intralogistique

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CN120752189A (zh) 2025-10-03
WO2024179954A1 (fr) 2024-09-06

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