Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110067977 | ZONED ACCUMULATION CONVEYOR - An accumulation conveyor with individually controllable zones may be controlled in a manner which efficiently reduces the gaps between accumulated articles, accomplished by control logic which determines the existence of conditions conducive to reducing the gaps and implements the control logic as appropriate. The accumulation conveyor may be controlled in a coast to stop mode. The accumulation conveyor may be controlled in manner to detect and clear jams. | 03-24-2011 |
20130140138 | SORTATION CONVEYOR - A sortation conveyor has a divert guide path which is configured to guide pushers to engage articles disposed on an endless conveying surface at an initial impact which does not result in an out of control situation even at high speeds. The divert guide path is disposed at a plurality of divert angles, and guides pushers to engage articles at a low initial contact divert angle and first lateral speed and to accelerate the articles to a final divert angle and second, higher, lateral speed. The pushers may be undergoing lateral acceleration at the time initial contact is made with the articles. | 06-06-2013 |
20140156061 | ACCUMULATION CONTROL - Zones of an accumulation conveyor are controlled using a look ahead approach. The speed and article presence conditions of downstream and upstream zones are used to assess the condition of article flow in the neighborhood of a particular zone. The respective speeds of individual zones are then selected and implemented based on the assessment. | 06-05-2014 |
20140156063 | ACCUMULATION CONTROL - Systems, methods, devices, and non-transitory processor readable media of the various embodiments enable control of a conveyor having a plurality of zones each having a control module configured to control a selectable speed of the zone. The various embodiments are disclosed in connection with, but not necessarily limited to, accumulation conveyors with control systems which selectively set the speeds of zones based on conditions of upstream and downstream zones. The various embodiments are directed to improving efficiency of accumulation systems by controlling zones based upon consideration of conditions of neighboring zones. The various embodiment also enable the generation and use of translation tables correlating zones with network addresses of their respective control modules. | 06-05-2014 |
20140172155 | Flow Control Conveyor - The discharge case length rate of a collector conveyor is controlled to provide a more consistent case length rate to the infeed of a downstream conveyor, such as a singulator conveyor, to control or maintain a desired case length rate at the exit of the collector conveyor without stopping the infeed conveyors. The discharge case feet rate accounts for the requirements of downstream devices, such as accounting for trailing gap requirements of a sortation conveyor disposed downstream of a singulator conveyor feed by a conveyor system constructed in accordance with this aspect of the present invention. | 06-19-2014 |
20140244026 | GOODS TO ROBOT FOR ORDER FULFILLMENT - An order fulfillment system and method uses a robotic arm having an end effector for grasping an object. An arcuate structure is moveable within reach of the robotic arm. A conveyor system brings inventory to the arcuate structure and takes a container that holds picked inventory away from the arcuate structure. A control system fulfills an order by directing the conveyor system to bring inventory to the arcuate structure, positioning the inventory on the arcuate structure relative to the robotic arm, determining a selected inventory item for an order, commanding the robotic arm to move the selected inventory item from a pick location of the selected inventory item to a container location for the order, and directing the conveyor system to take the container from the arcuate structure. | 08-28-2014 |
20140364998 | CONVEYOR SPEED CONTROL - Systems, methods, devices, and non-transitory processor readable media of the various embodiments enable intelligent speed control of conveyors (e.g., singulator conveyors, sortation conveyors, etc.) in a material handling system. | 12-11-2014 |