1. The vertical sorting system comprises a vertical sorting machine and a chute,

perpendicular sorting machine includes the frame, by setting up letter sorting loop and the drive that the round letter sorting unit on the frame constitutes letter sorting loop pivoted actuating mechanism, letter sorting loop includes upper straightway, lower floor's straightway that height distributes and links up their turn section, its characterized in that:

the sorting unit comprises a frame, a conveyor is arranged on the frame, the length-width ratio of the conveyor is not less than 4, a chain rod jacking device positioned below the conveyor is arranged on the frame, a chain rod of the chain rod jacking device is connected with the bottom of the conveyor, and a shear-shaped supporting mechanism is arranged between the frame and the conveyor;

at least one side of the vertical sorting machine is provided with a lower layer chute and an upper layer chute, and when the conveyor of the sorting unit of the upper layer straight line section is at a low position, the output end of the conveyor can be connected with the inlet end of the lower layer chute; when the conveyor of the sorting unit of the upper straight line segment is in a high position, the output end of the conveyor can be connected with the inlet end of the upper sliding groove.

2. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the conveyor is a belt conveyor or a chain plate conveyor and comprises two side plates and a supporting frame for connecting the two side plates, and two ends of each side plate are respectively connected with a roller mounting block which is positioned on the inner side of the side plate and used for mounting a roller.

3. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 2, wherein: at least two roller mounting blocks at the same end are respectively provided with a mounting channel which extends inwards from the outer end to the inner end of the roller mounting block in a straight line and is close to the inner end of the roller mounting block, the mounting channel is communicated with a screw hole at the inner end of the roller mounting block, an adjusting bolt which is in threaded connection with the screw hole is arranged in the mounting channel in a self-rotating manner, the outer end surface of the adjusting bolt is concavely provided with a non-circular groove, and the inner end of the adjusting bolt is connected to a connecting piece at the inner side of a side plate and can rotate relative to the connecting piece; the roller mounting block is provided with a waist-shaped hole parallel to the adjusting bolt, the side plate is provided with a connecting hole matched with the waist-shaped hole in position, and the roller mounting block and the side plate are connected with a nut through a bolt penetrating through the connecting hole and the waist-shaped hole.

4. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 3, wherein: the waist-shaped hole comprises a large-width hole section on the inner side and a small-width hole section on the outer side, and the nut is embedded into the large-width hole section and cannot rotate relative to the waist-shaped hole.

5. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 2, wherein: at least two supporting rollers which are attached to the bottom surface of a belt of the conveyor are arranged between the two side plates, the supporting rollers are parallel to the roller, and the bottom point of each supporting roller is equal to the bottom point of the roller in height;

and/or the supporting frame is positioned between two rollers of the conveyor, and the top surface of the supporting frame is parallel to the conveying surface of the conveyor and is equivalent to the height of the top point of the roller.

6. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the adjacent sorting units are connected through rod end joint bearings located below the frames of the sorting units, walking wheels and limiting wheels are arranged at two ends of the frames, the walking wheels and the limiting wheels are arranged on the rails in a rolling mode, at least part or all of the bottom of the sorting units are provided with secondary plates, and linear motors for driving the secondary plates to move linearly are arranged on the frames.

7. The vertical sorting system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: both sides of the frame do not protrude outside both sides of the conveyor.

8. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 7, wherein: the frame comprises a profile.

9. The vertical sortation system as claimed in claim 7, wherein: the two sides of the frame are respectively provided with the scissors supporting mechanisms connected to the bottom of the conveyor, and the middle pivoting parts of the two scissors supporting mechanisms are connected with the connecting shafts coaxial with the scissors supporting mechanisms through the connecting shafts.

10. Perpendicular sorting machine, including the frame, by setting up letter sorting loop and the drive that the round letter sorting unit on the frame constitutes letter sorting loop pivoted actuating mechanism, letter sorting loop includes upper straightway, lower floor's straightway that the height distributes and links up their turn section, its characterized in that: the sorting unit comprises a frame, a conveyor is arranged on the frame, the length-width ratio of the conveyor is not less than 4, a chain rod jacking device located below the conveyor is arranged on the frame, a chain rod of the chain rod jacking device is connected with the bottom of the conveyor, and a shear-shaped supporting mechanism is arranged between the frame and the conveyor.

11. The sorting method of the vertical sorting system is characterized in that: at least comprises the following steps:

identifying a drop chute position for an article occupying a group of sorting carts;

when the lower package chute of the article is an upper chute, the conveyors of a group of sorting units occupied by the article are synchronously raised until their output ends engage the upper chute;

when the lower package chute of the article is a lower chute, the group of sorting units occupied by the article is not operated, and the output ends of the sorting units are kept in a state of being engaged with the lower chute;

when a group of sorting units occupied by the articles rotate to the corresponding lower package sliding groove of the articles, synchronously starting to convey the articles to the corresponding lower package sliding groove;

when the lower package chute of the article is the upper layer chute, a group of sorting units occupied by the article returns the conveyor to the low position after the lower package and before the turning section.

12. The sorting method of the vertical sorting system according to claim 11, wherein: and conveying the articles to the sorting unit of the upper straight line section through the package supplying table, and at least acquiring the package descending chute information of the articles at the package supplying table.

13. The sorting method of the vertical sorting system according to claim 11 or 12, wherein: the sorting units occupied by the articles are determined by means of an image acquisition device between the upper and the first lower packing chute, or the number of successive sorting units required for the article is determined at the packing station and a corresponding number of successive sorting units is reserved.

Background

Along with the rapid development of China's E-commerce, the logistics express delivery industry is also rapidly developed, and various sorting devices are researched and developed and put into use.

The existing sorting equipment generally comprises systems such as deflection wheel sorting, cross belt sorting, swing arm sorting and the like, wherein the cross belt sorting is a more common sorting system.

The cross belt sorting system is divided into a horizontal cross belt sorting system and a vertical cross belt sorting system, and the horizontal cross belt sorting system usually occupies a large area and is high in investment cost. The vertical cross belts, such as those disclosed in applications 201721534166.7, 201820620773.3, etc., can be used for sorting only when each sorting unit is rotated to the upper straight line segment, so that two rows of destination storage units can be provided only on both sides of the upper straight line segment of the sorting loop, and the number of the destination storage units is limited, which is not easy to expand.

Meanwhile, in the existing cross belt sorting equipment, one article generally corresponds to one sorting unit, so that in order to adapt to most article sizes as much as possible, the length-width ratio of the sorting unit does not substantially exceed 2, which results in a relatively large width and a large self weight of a single sorting unit.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the problems in the prior art and provides a vertical sorting system, a sorting method thereof and a vertical sorting machine.

The purpose of the invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

the vertical sorting system comprises a vertical sorting machine and a chute,

the vertical sorting machine comprises a frame, a sorting loop line and a driving mechanism, wherein the sorting loop line consists of a circle of sorting units arranged on the frame, the driving mechanism drives the sorting loop line to rotate, and the sorting loop line comprises upper-layer straight-line segments and lower-layer straight-line segments which are distributed in a high-low mode and turning sections for connecting the upper-layer straight-line segments and the lower-layer straight-line segments;

the sorting unit comprises a frame, a conveyor is arranged on the frame, the length-width ratio of the conveyor is not less than 4, a chain rod jacking device positioned below the conveyor is arranged on the frame, a chain rod of the chain rod jacking device is connected with the bottom of the conveyor, and a shear-shaped supporting mechanism is arranged between the frame and the conveyor;

at least one side of the vertical sorting machine is provided with a lower layer chute and an upper layer chute, and when the conveyor of the sorting unit of the upper layer straight line section is at a low position, the output end of the conveyor can be connected with the inlet end of the lower layer chute; when the conveyor of the sorting unit of the upper straight line segment is in a high position, the output end of the conveyor can be connected with the inlet end of the upper sliding groove.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, the conveyor is a belt conveyor or a chain scraper conveyor, and comprises two side plates and a supporting frame connecting the two side plates, and two ends of each side plate are respectively connected with a roller mounting block for mounting a roller, which is located on the inner side of the side plate.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, the supporting frame is located between two rollers of the conveyor, and the top surface of the supporting frame is parallel to the conveying surface of the conveyor and is equivalent to the height of the top point of the roller.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, a pair of roller mounting blocks at least one end are provided with mounting channels which extend from the outer ends of the roller mounting blocks to the inner ends of the roller mounting blocks in a straight line and are close to the inner ends of the roller mounting blocks, the inner ends of the mounting channels are communicated with a screw hole at the inner end of the roller mounting blocks, an adjusting bolt screwed with the screw hole is arranged in each mounting channel in a rotatable manner, the outer end surface of each adjusting bolt is concavely provided with a non-circular groove, and the inner end of each adjusting bolt is connected to a connecting piece at the inner side of a side plate and can rotate relative to the connecting piece; the roller mounting block is provided with a waist-shaped hole parallel to the adjusting bolt, the side plate is provided with a connecting hole matched with the waist-shaped hole in position, and the roller mounting block and the side plate are connected with a nut through a bolt penetrating through the connecting hole and the waist-shaped hole.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, the kidney-shaped hole includes an inner large-width hole section and an outer small-width hole section, and the nut is embedded in the large-width hole section and cannot rotate with respect to the kidney-shaped hole.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, at least two supporting rollers attached to the bottom surface of the belt of the conveyor are arranged between the two side plates, the supporting rollers are parallel to the drum, and the bottom point of the supporting rollers is equal to the bottom point of the drum in height.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, adjacent sorting units are connected through a rod end joint bearing located below the frame, walking wheels and limiting wheels are arranged at two ends of the frame, the walking wheels and the limiting wheels are arranged on the track in a rolling mode, at least part or all of the bottom of the sorting units are provided with secondary plates, and the frame is provided with a linear motor for driving the secondary plates to move linearly.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, both sides of the carriage do not protrude outside both sides of the conveyor.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, the carriage comprises a profile.

Preferably, in the vertical sorting system, the scissors-shaped supporting mechanisms connected to the bottom of the conveyor are respectively arranged on two sides of the frame, and the middle pivot parts of the two scissors-shaped supporting mechanisms are connected through connecting shafts coaxial with the scissors-shaped supporting mechanisms.

Perpendicular sorting machine, including the frame, by setting up letter sorting loop and the drive that the round letter sorting unit on the frame constitutes letter sorting loop pivoted actuating mechanism, letter sorting loop includes upper straightway, lower floor's straightway that the height distributes and links up their turn section, its characterized in that:

the sorting unit comprises a frame, a conveyor is arranged on the frame, the length-width ratio of the conveyor is not less than 4, a chain rod jacking device positioned below the conveyor is arranged on the frame, a chain rod of the chain rod jacking device is connected with the bottom of the conveyor, and a shear-shaped supporting mechanism is arranged between the frame and the conveyor;

the sorting method of the vertical sorting system at least comprises the following steps:

identifying a drop chute position for an article occupying a group of sorting carts;

when the lower package chute of the article is an upper chute, the conveyors of a group of sorting units occupied by the article are synchronously raised until their output ends engage the upper chute;

when the lower package chute of the article is a lower chute, the group of sorting units occupied by the article is not operated, and the output ends of the sorting units are kept in a state of being engaged with the lower chute;

when a group of sorting units occupied by the articles rotate to the corresponding lower package sliding groove of the articles, synchronously starting to convey the articles to the corresponding lower package sliding groove;

when the lower package chute of the article is the upper layer chute, a group of sorting units occupied by the article returns the conveyor to the low position after the lower package and before the turning section.

Preferably, the articles are conveyed by the packing table to the sorting unit of the upper straight line section and at least the lower packing chute information of the articles is acquired at the packing table.

Preferably, the sorting units occupied by the articles are determined by the image acquisition device between the upper and the first lower pack chute, or the number of successive sorting units required for the articles is determined at the pack supply station and a corresponding number of successive sorting units is reserved.

The technical scheme of the invention has the advantages that:

the letter sorting system of this scheme, through the design to conveyer length-to-width ratio, under the same length condition, for conventional letter sorting unit, the length-to-width ratio of this scheme can greatly reduce the conveyer width, thereby effectively reduce the dead weight of conveyer, combine the mode that a plurality of letter sorting unit cooperations carried out the letter sorting of an article, the heavy burden of single letter sorting unit has been reduced effectively, on such basis, can set up the chain pole jacking device and the scissors supporting mechanism drive conveyer of less holding power between frame and conveyer, thereby make the conveyer can adjust the position between two heights, and then can use with the cooperation of two-layer spout, the destination that can sort of doubling increase on the basis that does not increase area.

This scheme is inboard through installing the piece with the cylinder at the curb plate to the structure integration that will adjust belt tension is on cylinder installation piece, and for the outside of conventional letter sorting unit with belt tension structure setting at the curb plate, the structure of this scheme is favorable to reducing conveyer frame construction's width, and belt tension is adjusted to the mode that this scheme adopted adjustment cylinder installation piece simultaneously, has changed the conventional mode of the position of the center pin of prior art direct adjustment cylinder. Moreover, the adjusting structure can directly adjust the belt tensioning from the end part of the conveyor through a tool, and compared with the conventional mode that the nut is required to be adjusted firstly when the bolt is matched with the nut, the operation is simpler, and the adjustability is better.

The structural design in waist type hole on the cylinder installation piece of this scheme can restrict the nut and prevent it from twisting, for the equipment of group cylinder installation piece and curb plate provides convenience, effectively improves dismouting efficiency and improves maneuverability.

The conveyer of this scheme adopts band conveyer's structure to make belt lower floor's lifting through the backing roll, thereby for the installation of chain pole jacking device and other structure creates the space, be favorable to reducing the minimum height of whole letter sorting unit, and then reduce the vertical installation space of whole letter sorting system.

The frame of this scheme adopts the section bar as the main part, both acquires the material easily, can be simultaneously under the frame height condition as little as possible, for the equipment of other structures provide convenient condition and guarantee sufficient structural strength. And the two sides of the frame do not protrude out of the two sides of the conveyor, so that the influence of the frame on the distance between the conveyors can be effectively avoided, the distance between the conveyors of adjacent sorting units is as small as possible, and the risk of package clamping during package supply and package unloading to the sorting units is effectively reduced.

The overall structure of the scissors-shaped supporting mechanism is convenient to assemble and has good integrity and supporting performance.

According to the sorting method, the sorting of one article is carried out through the sorting units, the sorting requirements of articles of various sizes can be effectively met, the conveyor is restored to the low position before the conveyor rotates to the turning section after sorting, the centrifugal force of the sorting units in the turning section can be effectively reduced, the stress of the knuckle bearing between the track and the adjacent trolley is reduced, the service life of equipment is prolonged, and meanwhile, the mounting height of the lower-layer straight line segment of the sorting loop line can be kept at the low position to reduce the mounting height of the equipment.

The sorting unit that article occupy is confirmed through image acquisition device to this scheme after the package, for measuring article form, size and state, then the mode of a set of letter sorting unit of reservation, is favorable to simplifying the calculated amount, improves calculation efficiency, can confirm the letter sorting unit that article occupy more accurately simultaneously, is favorable to improving the accuracy nature of control.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is an end view of the vertical sortation system of the present invention (shown with the sort carts in the turnaround area of the sorting loop hidden);

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vertical sortation system of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a sorting loop of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention in a lowered position;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention in an elevated position;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention in an elevated position (with the side panel of the front side of the conveyor hidden);

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of area A of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an inside perspective view of a roller mounting block of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the first support bar and the second support rail of the conveyor of the sorting unit of the present invention in an elevated position with one side hidden;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the vertical sorting system of the present invention with most of the sorting units hidden;

fig. 12 is an enlarged view of the region B in fig. 11.

Detailed Description

Objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be illustrated and explained by the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments. The embodiments are merely exemplary for applying the technical solutions of the present invention, and any technical solution formed by replacing or converting the equivalent thereof falls within the scope of the present invention claimed.

In the description of the schemes, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In the description of the embodiment, the operator is used as a reference, and the direction close to the operator is a proximal end, and the direction away from the operator is a distal end.

The vertical sorter according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, and includes a frame 100, a sorting loop 300 formed by a circle of sorting units 200 disposed on the frame 100, and a driving mechanism 400 for driving the sorting loop to rotate. As shown in fig. 3, the sorting loop 300 includes upper straight line segments 310, lower straight line segments 320 and turning segments 330 connecting the upper straight line segments and the lower straight line segments, and the overall layout is the same as the layout of the conventional double-layer vertical crossing belts with application numbers 201721534166.7, 201820620773.3 and 201920366644.0, which will not be described herein.

The innovative design of the invention is as follows: the sorting unit to traditional vertical crossing area designs, makes its conveyer can go up and down to can be on the basis that does not increase area, reach the purpose that increases the letter sorting route through increasing one deck letter sorting spout by last straightway 310 of upper strata, effectively satisfied the use needs of many letter sorting routes in the little place.

As shown in fig. 4 to 5, the sorting unit 200 includes a vehicle frame 21, a conveyor 22 is disposed on the vehicle frame 21, an aspect ratio of the conveyor 22 is not less than 4, a chain bar jacking device 23 is disposed on the vehicle frame 21 and located below the conveyor 22, a top of a chain bar that can be jacked by the chain bar jacking device 23 is connected to a bottom of the conveyor 22, and a scissors-shaped supporting mechanism 24 is disposed between the vehicle frame 21 and the conveyor 22.

This scheme is through setting up great conveyer length-to-width ratio, for conventional letter sorting unit, under the condition that length is the same, can reduce the width of letter sorting unit by multiples to reduce the dead weight of letter sorting unit, and then created convenient condition for the lift that drives the conveyer through chain pole jacking device 23. Meanwhile, under the smaller width, the sorting units can be close to each other as much as possible, so that the single articles can be sorted through the combination of a group of continuous sorting units, and compared with the existing mode of sorting the single articles on the single sorting unit, the sorting unit is more flexible in application and beneficial to widening the size range of the sorted articles.

In operation, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the chain bar 231 of the chain bar jacking device 23 can be driven by the motor 232 to extend and retract upwards, and the extended chain bar is rigid, so as to drive the conveyor 22 to be lifted upwards to a high position, and at this time, the conveyor 22 can be matched with the upper layer chute, so as to convey articles to the upper layer chute. When the chain bar of the chain bar jacking device 23 retracts, the conveyor is driven to fall back to the low position, as shown in fig. 4, at this time, the conveyor 22 can be matched with the lower layer chute, so that articles are conveyed to the lower layer chute, the lower ends of the upper layer chute and the lower layer chute are located at different positions or are connected with different containers or switching devices, and then the articles can be conveyed to different positions.

The conveyor 22 may be a belt conveyor, a roller conveyor, a chain plate conveyor, or the like, and in order to reduce the size and the self weight of the sorting unit as much as possible, as shown in fig. 4 to 7, the conveyor 22 is a belt conveyor, which includes two parallel and equal-height side plates 222, a support frame 223 is connected between the two side plates 222, two ends of each side plate 222 are respectively connected to roller mounting blocks 225 located inside the side plate, two roller mounting blocks 225 at the same end are mounted with one roller 224, and one roller 224 is preferably an electric roller, two rollers 224 are sleeved with a belt 226, the top surface of the belt 226 is a conveying surface, and the top surface of the belt 226 is higher than the tops of the roller mounting blocks 225 and the tops of the side plates 222.

The supporting frame 223 is located between two rollers 224 of the conveyor 22 and located in the area enclosed by the belt 226, and the top surface of the supporting frame 223 is parallel to the conveying surface 221 of the conveyor 22 and is as high as the vertex 2241 of the roller 224, so that the top surface of the supporting frame 223 is close to the inner surface of the straight line segment of the upper layer of the belt 226, and can provide support for the upper layer of the belt.

Meanwhile, the inner surface of the belt 226 is formed with a protruding strip (not shown in the figure), and the drum 224 and the support frame 223 are formed with a limiting groove opposite to the protruding strip, and the protruding strip is limited in the limiting groove, so that the axial deviation of the drum can be avoided when the belt rotates.

In order to facilitate the adjustment of the belt tension and the reduction of the width of the sorting unit from the end of the sorting unit, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, at least one end of two roller mounting blocks 225 has the same structure, the roller mounting block 225 is formed with a mounting channel extending linearly from the outer end to the inside near the inner end of the roller mounting block, the mounting channel is preferably a slot 2251 extending inward from the outer end of the roller mounting block 225 to a certain depth, the slot 2251 extends from the outer end of the roller mounting block 225 to the inside through a mounting hole 2254 for mounting the roller on the roller mounting block 225, the inner end of the slot 2251 is communicated with a screw hole 2252 at the inner end of the roller mounting block, an adjusting bolt 228 screwed with the screw hole is rotatably arranged in the slot 2251, the center of the outer end 2281 of the adjusting bolt 228 is concavely provided with a non-circular slot (not shown in the figure), such as internal hex slots, cross slots, straight slots, etc.; the inner end of the adjusting bolt 228 is connected to a connector 229 on the inner side of the side plate and is rotatable with respect to the connector 229, for example, the inner end of the adjusting bolt 228 is connected to a bearing fixed on the inner side of the side plate.

A kidney-shaped hole 2253 parallel to the adjusting bolt 228 is formed in the roller mounting block 225, two kidney-shaped holes 2253 are formed at the upper and lower sides of the adjusting bolt 228, a connecting hole (not shown) matching with the kidney-shaped hole is formed at one end of the side plate 222, the roller mounting block and the side plate are connected to a nut 2220 by a bolt 2210 passing through the connecting hole and the kidney-shaped hole, and the bolt 2210 and the nut 2220 can make the side plate and the roller mounting block move relatively, so that the adjustment of the roller mounting block can be realized by rotating the adjusting bolt 228.

Meanwhile, in order to secure stability of the roller mounting and reduce the thickness of the roller mounting block 225 while facilitating the adjustment operation, both ends of the center shaft of the roller 224 extend into the grooves 2251, and both ends of the center shaft are formed with escape grooves not blocking the non-circular grooves concavely formed at the outer end surface of the adjusting bolt 228.

The position of the roller mounting block 225 at the end of the side plate can be adjusted by inserting an adjusting member into the non-circular groove of the adjusting bolt 228 and driving the adjusting bolt 228 to rotate, so as to achieve the tensioning of the belt, and further, a notch opposite to the adjusting bolt 228 and extending inwards from the end of the side plate is formed on the side plate.

As shown in fig. 9, in order to facilitate assembly and avoid interference with the central axis of the drum, the kidney-shaped hole 2253 includes an inner large-width hole section w1 and an outer small-width hole section w2, and the nut 2220 is inserted into the large-width hole section w1 and is not rotatable with respect to the kidney-shaped hole, that is, the nut 2220 is non-circular, such as an hexagon nut or a square nut, so that during assembly, the nut may be inserted into the large-width hole section first, and then a bolt 2210 coaxial with the nut may be inserted from the outer side of the drum mounting block to the inside, and at this time, the bolt 2210 may be rotated to connect the nut 2210 by preventing axial movement of the nut by hand without fixing the nut by hand.

As shown in fig. 7, in order to reduce the height of the whole sorting unit, two supporting rollers 2230 are disposed between the two side plates 222, the two supporting rollers 2230 have the same height, the bottom point of the supporting roller 2230 is at the same height as the bottom point of the roller 224, the top point of the supporting roller 2230 is attached to the bottom surface of the belt 226, and each supporting roller 2230 is close to one of the rollers 224 at one end, so that the lower straight line 2261 of the belt 226 can be lifted upwards to provide an installation space, which is beneficial for reducing the height of the sorting unit.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, in order to facilitate the connection of the scissors-shaped support mechanism and improve the structural stability between the side plates 222, a first mounting member 2240, a second mounting member 2250, and a third mounting member 2260 are further connected between the two side plates 222 and below the belt 226 and between the two rollers 224.

The width of the carriage 21 may be equivalent to the width of the conveyor 22, and both sides of the carriage 21 are flush with both sides of the conveyor 22 or both sides of the carriage 21 do not protrude outside the both sides of the conveyor, so that the interval between the conveying surfaces of the adjacent sorting units may be reduced as much as possible. Of course, the width of the carriage 21 may be larger than the width of the conveyor 22, and both sides thereof protrude outside both sides of the conveyor, but at this time, the interval between the conveyors 22 is relatively increased.

Since various structures are required to be installed on the vehicle frame 21, for the convenience of assembly, as shown in fig. 6, the vehicle frame 21 includes a section 211, the top surface of the section 211 fixes the chain bar jacking device 23, and the specific structure of the chain bar jacking device 23 is known in the art, and may include the structures disclosed in application numbers 2015104899552 and 2013104261260, and a motor for driving a chain, for example. Alternatively, the chain bar jacking device 23 may be a structure disclosed in the prior art, such as the structure disclosed in application numbers 2013102132602 and 2020104005419, and will not be described herein again. The upper end of the chain bar jacking device 23 is connected to the first mounting member 2240, and the top of the chain bar is higher than the bottom of the side plate 222.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, because the connecting area of the chain bar jacking device 23 and the conveyor 22 is small, the supporting force of the chain bar jacking device 23 on the conveyor 22 is not easy to keep the conveyor 22 balanced, and therefore two scissors-shaped supporting mechanisms 24 are arranged between the conveyor 22 and the frame 21 on two sides of the conveyor 22 and the frame.

As shown in fig. 6, each scissors mechanism 24 includes a first support arm 241, a second support arm 242, a lower slide pin 243, an upper slide pin 244, an intermediate pivot 245, a lower guide rail 246 and an upper guide rail 247, a lower pivot 248 and an upper pivot 249.

As shown in fig. 10, the first support arm 241 and the second support arm 242 are disposed in an X shape, the lower end of the first support arm 241 is pivotally connected to the lower slide pin 243, the axis of the lower slide pin 243 is parallel to the conveying surface of the conveyor 22 and perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 22, and the lower slide pin 243 is slidably disposed on the lower guide rail 246 in the conveying direction parallel to the conveyor 22. The lower sliding pin 243 is coaxially fixed to a fixed pin 2411 on the outer end surface of a lower sliding block 2410, but the fixed pin 2411 may be screwed with a stopper (not shown) on the outer end thereof to limit the separation of the lower end of the first support arm from the lower sliding pin 243. The lower guide rail 246 is connected to the side of the profile 211, the lower guide rail 246 is screwed to the profile through a bolt and a nut, and the nut (not shown) is located in a side slot (not shown) of the profile 211. The upper end of the first support arm 241 is pivotally connected to an upper pivot pin 249, and the upper pivot pin 249 is fixed to the second mounting part 2250. And the outer end of the upper pivot pin 249 may also be threadedly coupled with a stopper for stopping the first support arm 241 from being disengaged from the upper pivot pin 249.

As shown in fig. 6 and 10, the middle portions of the first support arm 241 and the second support arm 242 are pivotally connected to a middle pivot 245, the middle pivot 245 includes a pin body 2451, the pin body 2451 is sleeved with a first limit sleeve 2452, a partition 2453 and a second limit sleeve 2454, the first limit sleeve 2452, the partition 2453 and the second limit sleeve 2454 are in interference fit with the pin body 2451 or are welded or in threaded connection, the partition 2453 is located between the first limit sleeve 2452 and the second limit sleeve 2454, the partition and the first limit sleeve 2452 form a first limit groove, and the partition and the second limit sleeve form a second limit groove. The middle of the first support arm 241 is pivotally connected to the first position-limiting groove, and the middle of the second support arm 242 is pivotally connected to the second position-limiting groove and located inside the first support arm, so that the first support arm and the second support arm can rotate around the first position-limiting sleeve 2452 and the second position-limiting sleeve 2454. Of course, the positions of the first support arm and the second support arm can be exchanged.

As shown in fig. 10, the lower end of the second support arm 242 is pivotally connected to a lower pivot 248, the lower pivot 248 includes a bolt-shaped connecting pin 2481, the inner end of the bolt-shaped connecting pin is threadedly connected to a first nut 2482 located in a slot at the side of the profile 211, a pin sleeve 2483 is coaxially sleeved on a portion of the connecting pin 2481 extending to the outer side of the profile 211, the connecting pin 2481 forms a limit slot for the pin sleeve 2483, and the lower end of the second support arm 242 is pivotally connected to the limit slot and can rotate relative to the pin sleeve 2483.

As shown in fig. 10, the upper end of the second supporting arm 242 is pivotally connected to an upper sliding pin 244, the upper sliding pin 244 is slidably connected to the upper guide track 247 through an upper sliding block 2420, the upper sliding pin 244 is connected to the upper sliding block 2420 in the same manner as the lower sliding pin and the lower sliding block, and the upper guide track 247 is disposed on the third mounting member 2260.

As shown in fig. 10, the pin bodies 2451 of the middle pivotal members 245 of the two scissors 24 are connected by a connecting shaft 2430 coaxial with the two pin bodies, and preferably, the connecting shaft 2430 and the two pin bodies 2451 are integrally formed and have a diameter larger than that of the two pin bodies 2451. Meanwhile, the upper pivot pins 249 connected to the upper ends of the first support arms 241 of the two scissors support mechanism 24 are connected by an upper connecting pin 2440, and the upper connecting pin 2440 is fixed to the second mounting part 2250. The adoption of the structure facilitates the installation of the scissors-shaped supporting mechanism.

As shown in fig. 4, when the chain bar of the chain bar jacking device retracts, the upper end of the first support arm is close to the lower end of the second support arm, the upper end of the second support arm is close to the lower end of the first support arm, the scissors-shaped support mechanism is closed, so that the conveyor is at a low position, and the height of the whole sorting unit is low. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, when the chain rod of the chain rod jacking device extends out, the upper ends of the first support arm and the second support arm are lifted along with the conveyor, and simultaneously, the first support arm and the second support arm rotate around the middle pivot joint member 245, the lower end of the first support arm moves to the lower end of the second support arm along the lower guide rail, the upper end of the second support arm moves to the upper end of the first support arm along the upper guide rail, and the scissors-shaped support mechanism is opened.

The driving mechanism 400 can be in various forms, and in one possible form, a known chain-type driving mechanism can be adopted, and the specific structure thereof can be as disclosed in the patent application nos. 201910829998.9, 201920366644.0, 202010614129.7, etc., and will not be described herein. In the chain drive structure, the track may not be required, and the chain may be supported by providing a row of sprockets engaged with the chain and rotatably provided on the frame. Of course, a track may be provided to support the sorting unit, and at this time, a traveling wheel and a limiting wheel rolling along the track may be provided on the sorting unit or on the chain, which is a known technology and will not be described in detail.

In another embodiment, the driving mechanism 400 may be a known structure in which a linear motor and a secondary plate are used or a friction belt or a friction wheel is used to frictionally drive a friction plate. The magnetic drive may be, for example, as disclosed in the patent applications 201510079795.4, 201520133145.9, 202021229989.0.

As shown in fig. 1, preferably, at least a part or all of the bottom of the sorting unit is provided with a secondary plate 410, and the frame 100 is provided with a linear motor (not marked in the figure) for driving the secondary plate 410 to move linearly, and the secondary plate is T-shaped and is screwed in the middle position of the bottom of the carriage, so as to be beneficial to ensuring that all areas of the sorting unit are stressed evenly when being driven. The friction drive may be configured as disclosed in, for example, the patent applications 201811247583.2, 201720689640.7.

In the structure of friction driving or magnetic driving, as shown in fig. 4, adjacent sorting units 200 need to be connected through a rod end joint bearing 25 located below the carriage 21, specifically, a connecting frame 26 is disposed at the bottom of the carriage 21, a connecting shaft 261 for connecting an inner ball 251 of the rod end joint bearing 25 is disposed at one end of the connecting frame 26, the extending direction of the connecting shaft 261 is parallel to the conveying direction of the conveyor and perpendicular to the axes of two rollers of the conveyor, a connecting plate 262 for connecting a screw 252 of the rod end joint bearing 25 is disposed at the other end of the connecting frame 26, a first screw hole 263 is formed on the connecting plate, and the axis of the first screw hole 263 is parallel to the conveying surface of the conveyor and perpendicular to the conveying direction.

As shown in fig. 5, the two ends of the frame 21 are provided with the traveling wheels 27 and the limiting wheels 28, the two traveling wheels 27 are rotatably arranged on the end plate 212 at the end of the frame 21, the two traveling wheels at the two ends of each sorting unit can effectively support the frame and keep the sorting units balanced, and one traveling wheel is arranged at each end, so that the stability of conveying articles can be better ensured, and meanwhile, the damage to the rod end joint bearing 25 can be reduced. The limiting wheel 28 is arranged on a fixed shaft on the connecting frame 26 at the bottom of the frame 21 in a rotatable manner, the fixed shaft is vertical to the conveying surface of the conveyor, and the limiting wheel 28 is positioned on the inner side of the travelling wheel 27.

As shown in fig. 1, 11 and 12, the traveling wheels 27 and the limiting wheels 28 are arranged on two rails 500 in a rolling manner, and the two rails 500 respectively correspond to the traveling wheels and the limiting wheels 28 at the two ends of the sorting unit and are fixed on the frame 100. Each track at least comprises a plane for supporting the travelling wheels 27 and a vertical plane for limiting the limiting wheels, the planes are L-shaped, and the limiting wheels 28 at two ends can limit the position deviation of the sorting units along the direction parallel to the conveying direction of the sorting units.

As shown in fig. 12, the sliding track 500 includes an upper supporting rail 510, a lower supporting rail 520, an inner turning rail 530 and an outer turning rail 540, the upper supporting rail 510 is disposed on the upper supporting section 110 of the frame 100, the inner turning rail 530 is connected to the outer side of the upper supporting rail 510, the upper end 531 of the inner turning rail 530 is connected to the first end of the upper supporting rail 510, the lower end of the inner turning rail 530 is higher than the lower supporting rail 520, and the distance between the inner turning rail and the lower supporting rail is not less than the outer diameter of the walking wheel 27, so that when the sorting unit is turned to the lower level of the sorting loop through the inner turning rail, the lower supporting rail 520 can support the sorting unit in the lower level.

As shown in fig. 12, in order to ensure that the traveling wheels smoothly move onto the lower support rail 520, the outer bending rail 540 is positioned outside the inner bending rail 530, and the upper inlet end 541 of the outer bending rail 540 is positioned above the upper end of the inner bending rail, and the lower end 542 of the outer bending rail 540 is engaged with the corresponding end of the lower support rail 520, so that a guide groove 550 is formed between the inner bending rail and the outer bending rail, and the width of both ends of the guide groove 550 may be slightly greater than the diameter of the traveling wheels to facilitate the entry of the traveling wheels.

Example 2

The present embodiment discloses a vertical sorting system, as shown in fig. 1-2, including the vertical sorting machine of the above embodiment, at least one side of the vertical sorting machine is provided with a lower layer chute 700 and an upper layer chute 800 connected with the end of the sorting unit of the upper layer straight line segment, preferably, both sides of the vertical sorting machine are provided with the lower layer chute 700 and the upper layer chute 800, the upper layer chute and the lower layer chute have the same structure, and one row of lower layer chutes 700 share one chute bottom plate, and one row of upper layer chutes 800 share one chute bottom plate. The width of each of the individual upper and lower chutes is at least 4 times the width of the sorting unit.

When the whole system works, the known control system controls the automatic operation of the whole system, and the corresponding control technology is the prior art, is not an innovation point of the scheme, and is not described herein again.

Example 3

The embodiment discloses a sorting method of the vertical sorting system, which at least comprises the following steps:

identifying a drop chute position for an article 900 occupying a group of sorting carts;

when the lower package chute of the article is an upper chute, the conveyors of a group of sorting units occupied by the article are synchronously raised until their output ends engage the upper chute;

when the lower package chute of the article is a lower chute, the group of sorting units occupied by the article is not operated, and the output ends of the sorting units are kept in a state of being engaged with the lower chute;

when a group of sorting units occupied by the articles rotate to the corresponding lower package sliding groove of the articles, synchronously starting to convey the articles to the corresponding lower package sliding groove;

when the lower package chute of the article is the upper layer chute, a group of sorting units occupied by the article returns the conveyor to the low position after the lower package and before the turning section.

When determining the package dropping chute of the article, the article can be conveyed to the sorting unit of the upper straight line segment through various known package supplying tables (not shown in the figure), and at least the package dropping chute information of the article can be obtained at the package supplying table, and the structure of the package supplying table with the code reading is known in the art and is not described herein again. And more preferably, the package supplying table is arranged at the end part of the vertical sorting machine and is connected with the sorting trolley of the upper straight line section, and the connection position of the package supplying table and the sorting trolley is an upper package point, so that the number of the lower layer sliding chutes and the upper layer sliding chutes can be increased as much as possible.

Because the width of the sorting unit of the scheme is small, the articles can occupy a group of sorting units, and therefore when the conveyor is lifted and packed down, the sorting units occupied by the articles need to be determined so as to control the lifting and packing down.

In a feasible manner, the parameters such as the size, the state and the like of the article can be detected through the detection equipment at the position of the bag supply platform or at the front end of the bag supply platform, so that the article can be effectively borne only by occupying a plurality of continuous sorting trolleys, and the corresponding detection structure and analysis technology are the prior art, are not innovations of the scheme, and are not repeated herein. Preferably, the number of successive sorting units required for an item is determined when the item is at the supply station and a corresponding number of successive sorting units is reserved.

In another possible way, the sorting units occupied by the articles are determined by an image capturing device (not shown in the figure) between the upper packing point and the first lower packing chute of each layer, that is, the image capturing device captures the top surface image of the sorting unit passing through the image capturing device, and determines which sorting units the articles are on by image analysis, and the corresponding image analysis technology is the prior art and will not be described herein again. And the image acquisition device should be as close as possible to the upper packing point so that there is sufficient time to make the height adjustment of their conveyors after confirming the sorting unit occupied by the articles. Under the condition, the articles can be placed on the sorting units of the upper straight line segments after the routes are acquired by manually scanning the codes.

The invention has various embodiments, and all technical solutions formed by adopting equivalent transformation or equivalent transformation are within the protection scope of the invention.