Overhead conveyor system and method for conveying overhead adapters and overhead conveyor facility including such an overhead conveyor system

A method for conveying overhead adapters in an overhead conveyor system along a conveying direction, comprising the method steps of

• suspended conveyance of at least one overhead adapter along a first overhead conveyor line of the overhead conveyor system,
• identifying overhead adapters to be discharged by means of a first identification unit,
• transmitting a first identification signal from the first identification unit to a control unit,
• generating a control signal by means of the control unit, wherein
• a first control signal is generated when at least one overhead adapter to be discharged has been identified by means of the first identification unit,
• a second control signal is generated if no overhead adapter to be discharged has been identified by means of the first identification unit,
• transmitting the control signal from the control unit to a separating unit,
• separating the overhead adapters by means of the separating unit, wherein a conveying distance between two adjacent overhead adapters is set in dependence on the control signal such that a first conveying distance due to the first control signal is greater than a second conveying distance due to the second control signal,
• identifying overhead adapters to be discharged by means of a second identification unit,
• transmitting a second identification signal from the second identification unit to the control unit,
• generating a discharge signal by means of the control unit when an overhead adapter to be discharged has been identified by means of the second identification unit,
• transmitting the discharge signal from the control unit to a discharge unit,
• discharging the overhead adapter to be discharged from the overhead conveyor system by means of a discharge element.

An overhead conveyor system for conveying overhead adapters along a conveying direction, the overhead conveyor system comprising:

• an overhead conveyor line;
• a functional overhead conveyor line operatively connected to the overhead conveyor line, the functional overhead conveyor line comprising a discharge unit for discharging overhead adapters from the overhead conveyor system;
• a separating unit arranged upstream of the functional overhead conveyor line for feeding the overhead adapters separately into the functional overhead conveyor line;
• a first identification unit arranged upstream of the separating unit for identifying overhead adapters to be discharged;
• a second identification unit arranged downstream of the separating unit for identifying overhead adapters to be discharged;
• and
• a control unit configured to control conveying of the overhead adapters and to control discharging of the overhead adapters,
• wherein the separating unit is switchable by means of the control unit such that a conveying distance oriented along the conveying direction between two adjacent overhead adapters can be set variably, and the separating unit is configured to set a first conveying distance based on a first control signal and to set a second conveying distance based on a second control signal with the first conveying distance being greater than the second conveying distance,
• wherein the control unit is configured to generate the first control signal upon the first identification unit identifying an overhead adapter to be discharged and is configured to generate the second control signal upon the first identification unit identifying an overhead adapter not to be discharged and to transmit the first control signal from the control unit to the separating unit and to transmit the second control signal from the control unit to the separating unit,
• wherein the control unit is configured to generate a discharge signal when the overhead adapter to be discharged has been identified by the second identification unit and to transmit the discharge signal from the control unit to the discharge unit, whereby the overhead adapter to be discharged from the overhead conveyor system is discharged by the discharge unit.