Apparatus, system and method for orientating articles
AssigneeWestRock Packaging Systems, LLC
InventorsJean-Christophe Bonnain, Frederic Limousin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A subsystem for orienting articles, the subsystem comprising a tool assembly comprising a carriage. A tool head has a first and a second article gripper rotationally coupled thereto. A first drive mechanism is coupled to the first article gripper. A second drive mechanism is coupled to the second article gripper. A sensor is configured to observe two adjacent articles. A controller is provided in communication with the first and second drive mechanisms and the sensor. The controller is configured to determine the orientation of each of the two adjacent articles and to control the first and second drive mechanisms to rotate each of the two adjacent articles to a predefined orientation.
Claims18
A subsystem for orienting articles, the subsystem comprising:
- a tool assembly comprising:
- a carriage;
- a tool head having:
- a first article gripper rotationally coupled to the tool head;
- a second article gripper rotationally coupled to the tool head and mounted adjacent to the first article gripper;
- a first drive mechanism coupled to the first article gripper;
- a second drive mechanism coupled to the second article gripper;
- a sensor configured to observe two adjacent articles while at least one of the two adjacent articles is being rotated by one of the first drive mechanism and the second drive mechanism;
- a controller in communication with the first and second drive mechanisms and the sensor, the controller configured to determine the orientation of each of the two adjacent articles and to control the first and second drive mechanisms to rotate each of the two adjacent articles to a predefined orientation based on signals received from the sensor.
A subsystem for transferring groups of articles between a first conveyor and a second conveyor, the subsystem comprising:
- a tool assembly comprising:
- a carriage:
- a first tool head mounted to the carriage and having a first plurality of article grippers mounted to the first tool head;
- a second tool head mounted to the carriage and having a second plurality of article grippers mounted to the second tool head, wherein the first and the second tool heads are linearly displaceable with respect to each other;
- an actuator mechanism for moving the first and second tool heads linearly with respect to each other such that a first group of articles engaged by the first tool head and a second group of articles engaged by the second tool head is combinable into a third group of articles.
A method of rotating articles to be packaged, which method comprises:
- conveying articles in a stream of unpackaged articles;
- engaging a first group of at least two articles with a first tool head
- observing the at least two articles with a single sensor;
- rotating each of the at least two articles from a first orientation until they assume a desired orientation, as detected by the sensor, whilst those articles are being conveyed;
- disengaging one or more articles from the first group of a least two articles;
- and
- transferring the at least two articles from a first conveyor to a second conveyor.
A method of rotating articles to be packaged, which method comprises:
- conveying articles in a stream track of unpackaged articles;
- engaging a first group of at least two articles with a first tool head rotator assemblies;
- observing the at least two articles with a single sensor;
- rotating each of the at least two articles from a first orientation until they assume a desired orientation, as detected by the sensor, whilst those articles are being conveyed;
- and
- engaging a second group of at least two further articles with a second tool head;
- observing the at least two further articles with a single second sensor;
- rotating each of the at least two further articles from a first orientation until they assume a desired orientation, as detected by the second sensor, whilst those articles are being conveyed;
- and
- combining the first group of at least two articles with the second group of at least two further articles into a single article grouping.
An article orientation system comprising:
- an article gripper;
- a motion controller;
- a motion device in communication with the motion controller and coupled to the article gripper;
- a sensor;
- wherein the sensor is adapted to recognize a predefined marker characteristic of an article;
- and wherein the sensor issues a signal to the motion controller indicative of the predefined marker characteristic of the article;
- the motion controller issues a signal to the motion device to rotate the article by an angle of rotation determined based on the signal indicative of the predefined maker so as to place the article in a predefined orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.