JPH0478525B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an article sorting device for sorting transported articles, and more particularly to an article sorting device for detecting fullness at a sorting location and outputting details of contents.

[Conventional technology]

Automatic sorting machines automatically sort articles based on sorting information, and one of them is a so-called tilt tray sorter. This consists of a chain conveyor with a tiltable tray attached to the top surface, an input port into which articles are input from the upper side, and multiple sorting areas each having a falling chute. Tilt the tray and drop it into the case placed in the sorting area to sort it. When the sorted case was full, it was removed, the contents were checked one by one, a detailed statement was made, and the next case was placed in the sorting area.

Conventional fullness detection at sorting locations involves installing a photoelectric detector at the upper end of the case, and determining that the case is full when the photoelectric detector is continuously blocked from light by full items.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when articles are continuously sorted and the photoelectric detection device is continuously shielded from light, the conventional photoelectric detection device may incorrectly determine that the product is full even though it is not full. Also, I didn't know what the items were sorted into the cases,
When creating a detailed description of the items, such as their type and number, it is necessary to check each item in the case again one by one, which takes a long time and can lead to confirmation errors.

On the other hand, it is conceivable to move information about the goods, such as order number, product code, price, etc., along with the goods in order to detect fullness and output details of contents, but the above information needs to be at least 30 digits, and it is possible to
When shifting sequentially at 600 msec from 24 input ports, 24 x 30 = 720 data must be communicated in 600 msec, and the communication speed (baud rate)
becomes (24 x 30 x 8 x 1.2) / 0.6 = 14400, and if you consider 3 round trip retries, it becomes 14400 x 6
= 86400 baud was required, making the baud rate too high to be practical.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and includes shifting and tracking volume information regarding the volume of the product based on sorting information regarding the sorting location of the product, and accumulating the volume information for each sorting location. By detecting the fullness of each sorting place based on the accumulated sum value and outputting the details of the sorting place at a predetermined request based on the sorting order, a device for detecting fullness is not required, and a small amount of data can be transferred. In addition to being able to detect fullness with high accuracy,
To provide an article sorting device which, when a predetermined request is made, immediately outputs the details of the contents without any manual effort and can detect fullness and create the details of contents with high efficiency.

[Means to solve the problem]

An article sorting device according to a first aspect of the present invention is an article sorting device that sorts articles received to be sorted into a plurality of sorting locations each having a predetermined volume according to sorting information. , means for tracking in relation to the article based on the sorting information; means for accumulating the volume information each time the article is sorted to each sorting location based on the sorting information; The article sorting device according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized by comprising a fullness detection means for detecting whether a place is full. In an article sorting device that sorts articles into locations, means for storing the details of the articles for each sorting location, means for rearranging the stored details of the articles in the order of sorting at the sorting locations, and means for storing the rearranged details in a predetermined manner. The present invention is characterized by comprising means for dividing according to a request and outputting the details at each sorting location in the order of sorting.

[Effect]

In the present invention, when the article moves to the sorting place, volume information is tracked based on the sorting information, and when the article arrives at the sorting place, the volume information is accumulated, and the cumulative sum value is compared with the volume of the sorting place, Based on the comparison results, it is detected whether each sorting location is full, and the details of the received articles are stored for each sorting location, and the stored details are separated by predetermined requests and output in the order of sorting.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on drawings showing embodiments thereof. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an article sorting device according to the present invention. This article sorting device uses a tilt tray type sorter to sort a plurality of types of products placed into the sorter for each store. In the figure, 3 is a tilt tray type sorter, and the tray 3 is mounted on a chain conveyor that is oval in plan view.
650 pieces of 1, 31... are installed, and tray 31,
31... are given serial numbers. This serial number does not return to 0 after one revolution of the sorter 3, but continues to be added until one sorting operation is completed. Sorter 3
moves in the direction indicated by the arrow once every 600 msec at the mounting pitch of the trays 31, 31.... 24 product input ports 32, 32... are provided on one long side of the sorter 3, and each input port 32, 32... is equipped with a hand scanner 3 that reads product information of the products inserted.
6, 36... and photoelectric sensors 37, 37... for detecting the insertion of a product. Further, on the other long side of the sorter 3, 30 chutes 33, 33, . . . for sorting products are provided. Each chute 33, 33... is assigned to each store, cases 34, 34... are placed there, and the products sorted by the chute 33, 33... are placed in case 3.
It will be put in within 4.34. A take-out device 35, 35... using an air cylinder is provided at a position corresponding to each chute 33, 33... of the sorter 3, and the chute 33, 35... is provided on the tray 31, 31...
33..., when there are products to be sorted, the trays 31, 31... are tilted by the take-out devices 35, 35..., and the products are thrown into the cases 34, 34... via the chute 33, 33....

The sorter 3 is controlled by the sorter control section 2, and when products are put into the input ports 32, 32..., the photoelectric sensors 37, 37... detect it, and each time the product is sent to the distribution processing section 1, which will be described later. Output No. request. The distribution processing unit 1 performs various distribution processes and outputs the breakdown details for each case 34, 34, etc., and it sends the chute number and its virtual volume to the sorter control unit 2 based on the product information from the hand scanners 36, 36, etc. Output. In response to this, the sorter control unit 2 controls the products loaded on the trays 31, 31, . . . of the sorter 3 to be transported to a predetermined chute 33, 33, .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the logistics processing section 1. The logistics processing section 1 includes a host computer 4.
Sorting information, store-shoot correspondence information, and virtual volume information are sent in advance from the store. Here, the sorting information is information indicating how many individual products are allocated to which store, and the store-shoot correspondence information is information indicating which shoot 33, 33... each store is allocated to. The virtual volume information indicates the virtual volume of each product. Also, the virtual volume of each chute 33,
The reciprocal of the number of products that will fit into cases 34, 34... placed in 33... and cases 34, 34...
For example, the virtual volume of 25 products that can fit into cases 34, 34, etc. with an internal volume of "50" is
50×1/25=2. Sorting information sent from the host computer 4 is stored in the sorting information storage section 10a, store-shoot correspondence information is stored in the shooting information storage section 10b, and virtual volume information for each product is stored in the volume information storage section 10c. .

The sorting information stored in the sorting information storage unit 10a and the virtual volume information stored in the volumetric information storage unit 10c are as follows: When product information is input to the sorting information search unit 12 by the hand scanner 36, each piece of information related to it is sorted. The information search unit 12 searches and outputs the searched sorting information and virtual volume information to the sorting data processing unit 13. Sorting data processing section 13
When a product is put into the input ports 32, 32, etc., and the photoelectric sensors 37, 37 detect it, a shoot number request is given from the sorter control unit 2, and when it is given, the shoot information is sent based on the sorting information. The storage unit 10b is searched for the shoot number of the store with the sorting information, and the shoot number and virtual volume information of the product are returned to the sorter control unit 2.

In addition, the sorting data processing unit 13 stores the product in the input slot 3.
2, 32..., the serial numbers of the trays 31, 31... passing through at that time are recorded in the input ports 32, 32.
..., and add it to the product information, and send the product information, virtual volume, and fall order number to the shoot 33,
33... is stored in the product information storage unit 10d. The data stored in the product information storage section 10d is given to the sorting section 14 after the sorting is completed, and the falling order numbers are sorted in ascending order for each shoot number to generate information regarding the sorting order. The data including product information sorted in sorting order is given to the separator 15, and is separated into cases 34, 34, etc. based on the chute number and its volume sent from the sorter control unit 2 when full is detected. The details of the contents in sorting order for each case are output from the statement output unit 16.

Next, the configuration of the sorter control section 2 will be explained.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sorter control section 2. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes photoelectric sensors 37, 37.
It is a data processing unit which is given the output of... and requests the logistics processing unit 1 for the shoot number which is the sorting location, and the data processing unit 21 is the logistics processing unit that responds to the shoot number request. It receives the shoot number and virtual volume from 1 and sends it to the data shift section 22. The data shift unit 22 counts the movement steps of the trays 31, 31... based on the sent shoot number, sequentially shifts and tracks the virtual volume, and moves the trays 31, 31... to a predetermined shoot 33 based on the count value. , 33..., the virtual volume is sent to the volume adding unit 23, which accumulates the virtual volume of each chute 33, 33..., drives the take-out device 35 of the corresponding chute 33, and transfers the product to the chute 33. and then put it into the case 34. The cumulative value is the fullness detection unit 24
is compared with the full volume of each case 34, 34, . 15.

Next, the operation of the article sorting apparatus of the present invention configured as described above will be explained. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the fullness detection procedure of the sorter control section 2. When the product is inputted from the input ports 32, 32... (step #10), the photoelectric sensor 37,
37..., and the data processing section 21 of the sorter control section 2 requests the sorting data processing section 13 of the distribution processing section 1 for the chute number, which is the sorting location of the input product (step #11). When the request arrives at the sorting data processing section 13, the sorting data processing section 13 transmits the shoot number and virtual volume to the data processing section 21 (step #12). When the data processing unit 21 receives these, it sends them to the data shift unit 22,
Here, the movement steps of the trays 31, 31, . . . are counted, and the virtual volume is sequentially shifted according to the movement steps (step #13). When it is determined from the count value that the trays 31, 31 have arrived at the predetermined chute 33, the virtual volume is added to the volume adding unit 23.
are added, and the cumulative sum is calculated. Further, the air cylinder of the take-out device 35 is raised, the tray 31 that has arrived at the chute is tilted, and the placed products slide down the chute 33 and are thrown into the case 34 (step #14). The accumulated value is then sent to the fullness detection unit 24, which detects whether the case 34 is full or not. If it is not full, the process returns to step #10, and if it is full, the chute number and full volume are sent to the distribution processing unit. The data is sent to the delimiter 15 of No. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure for outputting a breakdown statement by the physical distribution processing department. When a product is read by the hand scanners 36, 36, etc. and product information such as the product number and product name is input to the sorting information search unit 12 of the logistics processing unit 1 (step #20), the sorting information and virtual When the volume is searched and there is a shoot number request from the sorter control unit 2 (step #22), the shoot number is retrieved as virtual volume and sorting information.
and is sent to the sorter control unit 2. Further, the product number, serial number and virtual volume of the trays 31, 31, . . . on which the products are placed are stored in the product information storage section 10d (step #24). These steps are repeated until the sorting work is completed (step #25), and when the sorting work is completed, the serial numbers are sorted in ascending order for each shoot number to create sorting order information (step #26). Each chute is separated by the chute number and full volume from the control unit 2 (step #27), a breakdown statement is created for each case (step #28), and the process is finished. Here, sorting of serial numbers will be explained. In Figure 6, the input port 32 is 3.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the order of data arrangement before and after sorting. The numbers in the figure indicate the serial numbers of the trays 31, 31, . . . . From the three input ports 32, 32, 32, products A ₁ , A ₂ , A ₃ , products B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₃ , products C ₁ , C ₂ , C ₃ are simultaneously transferred to A ₁ , B ₁ , C ₁ . When input, the serial number (=7) of the product input from the upstream input port 32 (for example, C ₁ ) is higher than the product input into the downstream input port 32 at the same time.
This value is larger than the serial numbers of B ₁ and A ₁ (=4, 1). At step #24, these are stored in the product information storage section 10d in the order in which they are loaded, and they are stored in the order shown in FIG. 7a. Then, when the sorting work is completed, the stored data is sorted in ascending order of serial numbers, resulting in an order as shown in FIG. . Then, by dividing the data arranged in the order of sorting according to the full volume, a detailed breakdown of the case when the machine is full can be output.

In this embodiment, the article sorting device is configured by a sorter, a sorter control section that controls the sorter, and a distribution processing section that processes distribution data, but the sorter control section and the distribution processing section may be integrated.

Further, in this embodiment, the breakdown of the sorted articles is separated when fullness is detected, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the breakdown details can be output at any timing according to a predetermined request.

〔effect〕

As explained above, in the present invention, a virtual volume is attached to an article, and this is tracked as the article moves, and the fullness at each sorting place is detected by summing the volume for each sorting place.
This eliminates the need for a fullness detection device, allowing highly accurate detection of fullness, as well as storing the breakdown of items when they are put in and generating sorting order information for the items, so that the contents rearranged in the sorting order can be displayed upon a predetermined request. By outputting the information in sections, excellent effects can be achieved, such as the ability to automatically create breakdown details for each sorting location with a small amount of data communication without requiring any human effort.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the article sorting device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the physical distribution processing section, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sorter control section, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sorter control section. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the fullness detection procedure of the sorter control section, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the output procedure of the breakdown statement of the distribution processing section, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams explaining the generation of the sorting order. 1... Logistics processing unit, 2... Sorter control unit, 3... Sorter, 22... Data shift unit, 23... Volume addition unit,
24...Full detection unit, 10d...Product information storage unit, 1
4... Sorting section, 15... Delimiting section, 16... Specification output section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an article sorting device that sorts articles received to be sorted into a plurality of sorting locations each having a predetermined volume according to sorting information, volume information regarding the volume of the articles is divided into two or more sorting locations based on the sorting information. means for tracking in relation to articles; means for accumulating the volume information each time the articles are sorted into each sorting location based on the sorting information; An article sorting device comprising a detection means. 2. In an article sorting device that sorts multiple types (multiple pieces) of articles received at multiple receiving ports to be sorted into multiple sorting locations, means for storing a breakdown of the articles for each sorting location; An article sorting device comprising means for sorting the details of articles in the order of sorting at the sorting location, and means for dividing the sorted details according to a predetermined request and outputting the details at each sorting location in the order of sorting. .