Transfer apparatus and transfer method
AssigneeTvi Entwicklung & Produktion GmbH
InventorsMaximilian Appel, Thomas Völkl
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transfer system in the form of a robot line used in one embodiment to transfer products, such as slices of meat or other fresh food, while complying with the hygienic requirements. The robot line may transfer the products, simply and with little constructive and financial effort. The robots used for this purpose may be very simply constructed with only one swivel arm and the robot base may be guided below the working plane, and only the swivel arm and the gripper may be disposed above the working plane.
Claims18
A transfer system for transferring products comprising:
- a robot for picking up, transferring and depositing at least one product in a transfer area;
- a picking surface for holding available products in the transfer area;
- a deposit surface for depositing products in the transfer area;
- and
- a scanner for detecting position and rotational position of the products in the picking surface;
- wherein:
- the robot is movable in a transport direction which is a main direction of extension of the picking surface,
- the robot comprises a support column, a pivot arm attached to the support column and pivotable about a pivot axis extending in an upright direction, a gripper column attached to a free end of the pivot arm away from the pivot axis, and a gripper arranged at a lower end of the gripper column, wherein one of the support column or the gripper column is designed as a lifting column so that height of the gripper is adjustable.
A transfer method for transferring products from a picking surface to a depositing surface using at least one robot, which for each transfer operation, grips at least one product on the picking surface, lifts the at least one product up, transfers the at least one product to the deposit surface, and deposits the at least one product there, and wherein a robot base of each of the at least one robot is moved in a controlled manner in or against a transport direction at least one of between or during the transfer operations, and wherein product transfer is carried out by pivoting only one pivot arm of each of the at least one robot,
- wherein the picking surface is moved in a controlled manner in the transport direction during the transfer operation, and in time intervals in which product flow along the picking surface per time unit is greater than a transfer quantity per time unit which can be handled by the at least one robot, at least a first robot of the at least one robot is moved in the transport direction, and in periods of time in which the product flow along the picking surface per unit of time is smaller than the transfer quantity per unit of time that can be handled by the at least one robot, at least the first robot is moved against the transport direction.
A method for a transfer operation for transferring products from a picking surface to a depositing surface using at least one robot, the method comprising:
- gripping at least one product on the picking surface;
- lifting the at least one product up from the picking surface;
- transferring the at least one product to the depositing surface;
- depositing the at least one product on the depositing surface;
- carrying out product transfer pivoting only one pivot arm of each of the at least one robot;
- moving the picking surface in a transport direction;
- moving the at least one robot in the transport direction during the transfer operation and during a period of time in which a product flow along the picking surface per time unit is greater than a transfer quantity per time unit which can be handled by the at least one robot;
- and
- moving the at least one robot against the transport direction during a period of time in which the product flow along the picking surface per unit of time is smaller than the transfer quantity per unit of time that can be handled by the at least one robot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.