Pallet safety system
OwnerJacob M. Sasaneckiinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pallet safety system includes one or more of a pallet bed monitoring system, a pallet height monitoring system, and a pallet interface monitoring system, each of which provide an emitter and a detector. The safety system may be configured to be retrofit to an existing pallet system and is enabled to monitor the presence of unwanted obstructions at various regions proximate to the pallet bed opening, including a plane region above and parallel to the pallet beds, a region proximate to an interface between the pallet system and a material processing system, and a region between an upper and lower pallet.
Claims20
A pallet monitoring system for a pallet system having a housing in which a plurality of pallets each has a pallet bed with a horizontally extending face to carry objects placed thereon, the housing including a first track and a second track positioned above the first track, with at least one of the plurality of pallets being movably carried on each track into and out of a processing system, the housing having an opening in which the horizontally extending faces of the pallet beds are selectively exposed therethrough, the pallet monitoring system comprising:
- a first emitter adapted to be positioned proximate to the opening of the housing, said emitter configured to emit a first beam that extends above the opening and in a direction parallel to the movement of the pallets;
- and
- a first detector adapted to be positioned proximate to the opening, said first detector configured to receive said first beam.
A method of monitoring a pallet system having a housing in which a plurality of pallets each has a pallet bed with a horizontally extending face to carry objects placed thereon, the housing including a first track and a second track positioned above the first track, with at least one of the plurality of pallets being movably carried on each track into and out of a processing system, the housing having an opening in which the horizontally extending faces of the pallet beds are selectively exposed therethrough, the method comprising:
- providing a first emitter proximate to the opening of the housing;
- providing a first detector proximate to the opening of the housing;
- projecting a first beam from said first emitter to said first detector, wherein said first beam extends above and in a direction that is parallel to the movement of the pallets;
- and
- detecting whether said first projected beam has been interrupted.
A method of monitoring a pallet system having a plurality of pallets having pallet beds for moving material thereon into a material processing system comprising:
- placing a housing of the pallet system adjacent to a processing system to form an interface through which the one or more pallets move on respective stacked rails, which are attached to the housing, the housing including a horizontally extending opening in which the pallet beds are selectively exposed therethrough as they move into and out of the processing system;
- providing a first emitter;
- providing a first detector;
- projecting a first beam from said first emitter to said first detector, wherein said first beam extends above the opening and in a direction that is parallel to the movement of the pallets;
- determining whether said first projected beam has been interrupted by the object;
- providing a second emitter inside said housing;
- providing a second detector inside said housing;
- projecting a second beam between a pair of the plurality of pallets to detect the presence of an object between said pair of pallets;
- and
- determining whether said second projected beam has been interrupted by the object between said pair of pallets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.