Very high-speed linear sortation conveyor with dynamic recirculation capacity

A sortation controller of a material handling system, the sortation controller comprising:

• a processor subsystem in communication with a device interface and a pin guide assembly of a recirculation sortation conveyor, the processor subsystem is configured to:
• determine a predicted induction position of an undiverted article on an endless apron of the recirculation sortation conveyor;
• determine a capacity of two recirculation conveyors that receive articles from a respective lateral side of the recirculation sortation conveyor;
• wherein, in response to determining that at least one of the two recirculation conveyors has available capacity, the processor subsystem is configured to:
• select at least one of the two recirculation conveyors, wherein the selected at least one of the two recirculation conveyors has available capacity;
• and
• assign a pre-sort section of the pin guide assembly to position the undiverted article on a selected lateral side of the endless apron corresponding to a selected one of the two recirculation conveyors;
• and
• wherein, in response to determining that neither of two recirculation conveyors has available capacity, the processor subsystem is configured to:
• assign a divert section of the pin guide assembly to laterally divert to a divert location on a selected lateral side of the recirculation sortation conveyor, wherein the divert section comprises more than one divert guide path, each respective divert guide path comprising an arcuate portion having a continuously increasing slope without a breakpoint to laterally accelerate the diverted article without an abrupt initial force being applied;
• and
• assign the pre-sort section to position the undiverted article on the selected lateral side having one or more pushers that are configured to flank the undiverted article such that it is diverted by the divert section.