Systems and methods for high throughput sorting
AssigneeUnited States Postal Service
InventorsScott R. Bombaugh, Tuan A. Le, Charles P. McLellan, Christopher M. Stratton
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Abstract
A high throughput sorting device is disclosed. The device includes a first sorter and a second sorter, each of the first and second sorters having a plurality of cells each configured to support, carry, and deposit an item. The device can also include at least one shared chute extending below a portion of the first sorter and a portion of the second sorter. The at least one chute can be configured to receive an item deposited by each of the plurality of cells and transport the item to an endpoint. The device can also include a base configured to support the at least one shared chute and the first and second sorters.
Claims18
A high throughput sorting system, comprising:
- a first sorting section parallel to a second sorting section, the first sorting section and the second sorting section comprising a plurality of cells,
- wherein each cell of the first sorting section includes a platform configured to:
- support a first item when in a closed configuration, and
- deposit the first item from the cell when in an open configuration;
- and
- wherein each cell of the second sorting section includes a platform configured to:
- support a second item when in a closed configuration, and
- deposit the second item from the cell when in an open configuration;
- a plurality of chutes, each chute extending at least partially underneath the first sorting section and the second sorting section, the plurality of chutes configured to receive items deposited through the plurality of cells and to transport the items to a plurality of sorting destinations;
- a first inductor positioned to feed the first item into one of the plurality of cells in the first sorting section;
- a second inductor positioned to feed the second item into one of the plurality of cells in the second sorting section;
- a database configured to record sorting destinations for the first item and the second item and associate the sorting destinations with the one of the plurality of cells containing the first item or the second item;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- open the one of the plurality of cells containing the first item or the second item when positioned over one of the plurality of chutes corresponding to the sorting destination of the first item or the second item;
- control a first velocity of the plurality of cells of the first sorting section to deposit the first item based on one or more characteristics of the first item;
- and
- control a second velocity of the plurality of cells of the second sorting section based on one or more characteristics of the second item.
A high throughput sorting system, comprising:
- a first sorting section parallel to a second sorting section, the first sorting section comprising a plurality of cells having a first size and the second sorting section comprising a plurality of cells having a second size, wherein the first size is different from the second size;
- a first inductor positioned to feed one or more items of a first plurality of items into one of the plurality of cells in the first sorting section;
- a second inductor positioned to feed one or more items of a second plurality of items into one of the plurality of cells in the second sorting section;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- determine sorting bins for the one or more items of the first and second plurality of items and associate each one of the plurality of cells containing the one or more items of the first and second plurality of items with a particular sorting bin;
- and
- cause the one or more items of the first and second plurality of items to be deposited from the plurality of cells of the first and second sorting sections into the associated sorting bins.
A method of high throughput sorting, the method comprising:
- associating a plurality of items with respective sorting bins in a database;
- placing, by a first inductor, a first item onto a first cell on a first sorting section of a sorter;
- placing, by a second inductor, a second item onto a second cell on a second sorting section of a sorter;
- determining a first sorting bin for the first item based on the database;
- determining a second sorting bin for the second item based on the database;
- depositing the first item into the first sorting bin;
- depositing the second item into the second sorting bin;
- wherein the first cell is a first size and the second cell is a second size, and wherein the first item is an item of a first size and the second item is an item of a second size.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.