Conveyor arrangement
AssigneeInterroll Holding AG
InventorsXavier Frangeul, Antoine Loizeau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Conveyor arrangement (1), comprising a conveying section (11) having a plurality of rollers (22) on which a conveyable object (9), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed, a mobile drive (30), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section (11) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller (22) depending on the position of the mobile drive (30) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller (22); wherein that the mobile drive (30) comprises scanners (40) to detect a presence of an conveyable object (9) located above the rollers (22).
Claims12
A conveyor arrangement (1), comprising:
- a conveying section (11) having a plurality of rollers (22) on which a conveyable object (9), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed;
- a mobile drive (30), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section (11) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller (22) depending on the position of the mobile drive (30) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller (22) wherein the mobile drive (30) comprises scanners (40) to detect a presence of an conveyable object (9) located above the rollers (22), further wherein at least one scanner (40) is located below the roller (22) and is adapted to detect a conveyable object (9) located above the mobile drive and above on the rollers (22);
- a position database (51) adapted to store positions of the conveyable objects (9) located in the conveyor arrangement (1), wherein the conveyor arrangement (1) is adapted to store a position of the objects located in the conveyor arrangement obtained by the scanners (40);
- wherein the conveyor arrangement (1) is adapted to use the stored position in a manner to control movement of the mobile device (30) in a later conveying operation of the object linked to the stored position;
- and
- wherein in the later conveying operation, the mobile drive (30) is directed from a position distant from the object in a direction towards the stored position of the object.
A method for operating a conveyor arrangement (1), comprising:
- providing a conveyor arrangement, comprising:
- a conveying section (11) having a plurality of rollers (22) on which a conveyable object (9), in particular a pallet, can be conveyed,
- a mobile drive (30), wherein the mobile drive is movable along different positions along the conveying section (11) and the mobile drive is adapted to temporarily provide a drive power to a selected roller (22) depending on the position of the mobile drive (30) in particular by immediate contact between the mobile drive and the roller (22), wherein the mobile drive (30) comprises scanners (40) to detect a presence of an conveyable object (9) located above the rollers (22);
- transporting a selected object (9c) from a starting position to a final position within the conveying arrangement (1) by a transport operation comprising the following steps:
- moving the mobile drive (30) to a stored position of said selected object (9c), wherein the stored position is stored in a database (51);
- and
- when moving the mobile drive, using the scanners (40) to determine the actual position of said selected object (9c) and positioning the mobile drive (30) below said selected object (9c) based on the determined actual position of said selected object (9c).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.