FIELD

This invention relates to a logistics system.

BACKGROUND

It is known to provide various automation in logistics. For example as shown in Figure 1, the industry convention is that automation is recommended in only a certain range of logistics operations depending on the proportion of stock keeping units (SKU) of inventory picked per day, based on https://www.mhi.org/solutions- community/solutions-guide/aframe.

However, in certain applications an A frame picker may damage fragile items, magazine-based dispensing may not allow for irregular shaped items, and/or any automated solution may still take up considerable space.

SUMMARY

According to one example embodiment there is provided a picking module for packaging a plurality of products comprising: a packaging conveyor; and a plurality of indexed conveyors, each conveyor including a plurality of individual compartments, with each conveyor configured to receive a single item of a particular product into each compartment, and to dispense one or more of each product as required for each order into packages on the packaging conveyor; wherein the plurality of indexed conveyors has a loading face that conveys upwards, and the loading face is inclined at an angle of between 0 to 45° from vertical. In embodiments the angle may be 10-40° from vertical.

In embodiments the angle may be 20-30° from vertical.

In embodiments each indexed conveyor may dispense items directly into a box on the packaging conveyor.

In embodiments each indexed conveyor may dispense items at an angle of between 25 and 41° to horizontal.

In embodiments the packaging conveyor may be sideways inclined, at an angle of between 10 to 30°.

In embodiments the picking module may further comprise a waste conveyor for empty boxes.

In embodiments the plurality of indexed conveyors may comprise different width conveyors, with bigger compartments for larger items.

In embodiments the picking module may further comprise transport channels to allow relocation and/or placement next to a series of picking modules.

In embodiments each package may have a unique identifier and the items to be dispensed for each box may be stored in a database from a customer order associated with that unique identifier.

In embodiments the picking module may further comprise a manual stop and a reset button, which controls the packaging conveyor, and/or the indexed conveyors.

In embodiments the picking module may be configured to be installed against an alignment device mounted to the floor. In embodiments the picking module may further comprise a container at the front of each indexed conveyor to store excess items, and/or rest boxes on that are being unloaded.

According to a further example embodiment there is provided a logistics system comprising: a packaging conveyor, two or move portable picking modules, each module configured to individually convey and dispense a plurality of products into packages on the packaging conveyor, and a controller configured to identify each package on the packaging conveyor, and to dispense selected products into each package depending on a customer order for each package.

Embodiments may further comprise a waste conveyor for empty boxes.

Embodiments may further comprise an RFID or barcode scanner configured to identify each package on the packaging conveyor.

It is acknowledged that the terms "comprise", "comprises" and "comprising" may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, these terms are intended to have an inclusive meaning - i.e., they will be taken to mean an inclusion of the listed components which the use directly references, and possibly also of other non-specified components or elements.

Reference to any document in this specification does not constitute an admission that it is prior art, validly combinable with other documents or that it forms part of the common general knowledge. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and constitute part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description of embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a graph of a prior art industry automation bias;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a semi-automated logistics system;

Figure 3 is a further perspective view of the system in Figure 2 Figure 4 is a perspective view of the picking module from Figure 2;

Figure 5a is a further perspective view of the picking module in Figure 4;

Figure 5b is a perspective view of the box conveyor in Figure 5a;

Figure 5c is a further perspective view of the box conveyor in Figure 5a;

Figure 6 is a front view of the picking module in Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a back view of the picking module in Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a zoomed end view of the picking module in Figure 4;

Figure 9 is a further end view of the picking module in Figure 4; and

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the control system of the system in Figure 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In generals terms a semi-automated logistics system is proposed. The system may be particularly useful where the SKUs are odd shaped or sized items. Traditional automation attempts with such SKUs typically fail because the items are not suited to magazine-based dispensing, are not suited to grabbers due to the variety of sizes and shapes of SKUs, robot-based pickers are too rough, and/or robotic pickers are too slow to achieve the throughput certain applications may require.

For example, in an ecommerce-based grocery logistics operation, various foodstuffs may arrive in bulk packaging, and need to be dispensed into packages with a bespoke combination of SKUs depending on each customer order.

As most of the items are contained in individual bags within a larger box, it is very difficult to automate the dispensing of the right number of each SKU into each customers packaging.

As illustrated by industry bias in Figure 1, automation increases in desirability when the % of SKU's dispensing per day is low, whilst simultaneously making up a large % of orders. Underlying this industry bias is that any investment must have an acceptable return on investment (ROI), hence recommended degrees of automation increase as volumes concentrate around a small sub-set of SKU's (i.e. it is economically viable to automate). The present inventors have designed a system that in certain applications extends the viability of semi-automation to over 80% of SKU's picked per day, whilst giving the throughput and cost advantages of semi-automated systems.

The ideal range of SKU's for one embodiment may be <1000. Large Ecommerce operations with >5,000's SKU's needing automation may not benefit from one or more embodiments, as the machinery space is too great compared to the frequency of individual SKU per order. Figures 2 and 3 illustrates a semi-automated logistics system 100 according to an example embodiment. The system 100 comprises a box assembly station 102, a box conveyor 104, a series of picking modules 106, and a box closure and shipping station 108. The SKU enclosure that is conveyed along the box conveyor 104, may be a cardboard box, a cooled box(later put into a box with other non cooled SKUs), a tote, or other temporary containers or forms of packaging. Alternatively the SKUS may be piled onto the conveyor into order lots, and later dispensed into packaging.

An example picking module 106 is illustrated in Figures 4 to 7. Each SKU may arrive in bulk containers which are loaded into a stockpile 110 behind each loader 112. The picker will open a SKU box from the stockpile 110 and fill compartments within a respective indexed conveyor 402 exclusively with that SKU. If the indexed conveyor 402 is full, any excess product from the box may be temporarily contained in overflow container 404. Once the box is empty it is placed on waste conveyor 406 at the pickers 112 feet.

Each indexed conveyor 402 may have a label designating which SKU it is for, or a digital display displaying information including the SKU.

As the assembled box from box assembly station 102 passes along the box conveyor 104, each SKU is selectively dispensed from the respective indexed conveyor 402 according to what a particular customer ordered. Once dispensing is completed, each box is closed and shipped at station 108.

As can be seen more clearly in Figure 8 the indexed conveyor 402 presents a loading face 802 at an angle 804 of 27° to vertical. This angle may be varied according to the requirements of the application. For example, it may be between 20-30°, 10-40°, or 0-45°. Angles within this range may provide a particular loader productivity optimisation. For example, the angle 804 may be selected to be not too vertical, such that the items may fall out during indexing. By angling the conveyor at the angle 804 the number of slots a loader can reach may be improved, enabling them to empty a box with lower double handling. The angle also reduces the need for the loader to lean over or duck to reach defined slot, as the loader can just refill cleats in the comfortable loading range.

As seen in Figure 5, after the loading face 802, the indexed conveyor 402 engages belt sprocket 502 to transition to a short slightly downward face 823. At the end of the short slightly downward face 823, the indexed conveyor 402 engages belt drive sprocket 504. As the items in each compartment transition over the belt drive sprocket 504, they will be dispensed into the box as shown in Figure 8. The dispensing angle 806 into the box may be between 26 to 40.5° from horizontal. The dispensing angle 806 is the angle range that the product moves off the cleat of the index conveyor 402 and begins moving into the box. The range is to capture the variability in different products and packaging.

The radius of the belt drive sprocket 504 will partly determine the dispensing angle 806 and/or the dispensing behaviour. When the radius is small the SKU doesn't slide down the cleat, it falls, which is not gentle. When the radius is large the SKU slides more slowly down the cleat. The speed at which it leaves the cleat determines when it travels past the sensor and determines the position and angle of the preceding cleat . When the stop position is too low the first SKU dispensed to the next box may not have enough energy to leave the cleat and stall causing a mis-dispense. The diameter of the belt drive sprocket 504 (and/or the other sprockets 502, 506) may be between 150-200mm, for example 164.4mm.

After the belt drive sprocket 504, the empty conveyor belt 402 continues downward to the bottom of the picking module 106, where it engages bottom sprocket 506. It then travels back up the loading face 802 to be refilled.

The conveyor belt 402 is made of HDPE plastic module segments that pivot around hinge pins like a chain. It may for example have a 50mm pin pitch with belts widths of 117mm, 151mm and 335mm. The compartments can be arranged from 50mm long in 50mm increments up to 250mm as required. The cleats form part of the rigid plastic modular conveyor sections linked with a hinge pin to form a chain belt. They are 150mm high, rigid HDPE, and are the same width as the belt. The stationary conveyor side partitions between each conveyor belt 402 are made from Stainless steel and are between 160 to 231mm high.

The belt drive sprocket 504 drives the conveyor belt 402. The belt drive sprocket 504 is itself driven by an electric motor 816. The motor 816 (3 phase brushless AC motor) is controlled by a variable frequency driver. The motor 816 is engaged to a worm drive 818 perpendicular to the motor axis. When the motor stops the worm drive 818 holds the position and the belt will not roll backwards. And the 3-phase motor gearbox is small (as there is not much space) and is relatively inexpensive. When the motor is perpendicular to the output the motor can fit in to the small space of the narrowest conveyor. The worm drive 818 is connected to the belt drive sprocket 504 via a chain. The sprocket sizes can be varied to change the final ratio if required.

The box conveyor 104 is split into separate portions for each picking module 106. Each module 106 is placed closely to the next so that the gap between them, on the box conveyor 104, is small. The box conveyor 104 oriented at an angle 902 of 20° from horizontal. The dispensing angle 806 and the box angle 902 will determine how gently items are dispensed into the box. If the items are particularly fragile, it may be desirable for them to relatively slowly slide or roll into the box. In that case the box angle 902 should be higher. The dispensing angle may vary by SKU depending how long it takes to trigger the light curtain.

The box conveyor 104 comprises a back face 508 and a set of plastic mini-rollers 510 near the bottom of the back face 508. The set of plastic mini-rollers 510 provide a low friction guide to the boxes and take a portion of the vertical load of the box. This helps position the box in a consistent location for dispensing and provides a smooth transition between conveyor modules even with slight misalignment.

The box conveyor 104 should be located so that the top of the open box sits directly below the transfer plate 822 and the open box is within the trajectory of the SKU whilst moving off the indexed conveyor cleat.

The box conveyor 104 may also be driven by brushless DC motor powered roller and controller, the speed is controlled by the PLC with an analogue signal (0- 10VDC) which is provided to the drive controller, which converts a 24VDC supply to a digital PWM drive voltage.

The module 106 is designed to be lifted and moved around with a standard fork lift or wide fork pallet jack, with fork channels incorporated in the base plinth.

The alignment when each module 106 is placed in the production line, is controlled by a fixed reference on the floor (angle iron is bolted to the floor is the stop that the modules are pushed against). This may also be augmented with a latching system depending on the application requirements.

The module 106 may be constructed primarily from sheet stainless steel. This may avoid the need for any additional finish (i.e. paint) or too much special care during its life. Painted steel might deteriorate over time and require maintenance. Stainless steel is also resistant to cleaning chemicals and any cleaning process required for sterilisation. The chassis is designed to reduce areas where water could be trapped and stagnate and for easy wash down cleaning as well as supporting the delivery conveyor structures.

Control System

The control system shown in Figure 10. The system comprises a SQL database of customer orders, a master Programmable Logic Controller that manages the overall system, and a series of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) - one per picking module to control the index conveyor 402, waste conveyor 406 and box conveyor 104. In alternative embodiments customer orders may be stored in other data stores other than an SQL server including text files. In alternative embodiments the master Programmable Logic Controller and/or the Programmable Logic Controllers may be replaced with any suitable electronic controllers including computers.

Each order list contains customer details and delivery information, required quantity of each SKU and other specific requirements.

The box assembly station 102 comprises a label printer for the customers delivery address forthe corresponding delivery company and a barcode (or RFID chip). That barcode also links to the corresponding order in the customer order list. Operators erect boxes and stick labels onto boxes. As each box is added to the box conveyor 104, its barcode is scanned. As the boxes progress along the box conveyor 104, the master PLC updates that boxes location on the conveyor, using box sensors 512.

The master PLC then extracts the Order Number, SKUs' numbers and required quantities, box identity, and sends that to the PLC for the respective picking module, according to the available SKUs for each module.

Master PLC and the module PLCs will implement logic to check the box and order details for the following. i. If the required quantity of an SKU exceeds the limit of what the index conveyor 402 can deliver within the allowed time frame, the PLC will be set to stop its main conveyor when the box arrived at that index conveyor 402 for it to deliver the required quantity of that SKU into that box. ii. If during any normal box delivery, an index conveyor has missed the delivery of required quantity of the SKU, the main conveyor will not be stopped. The PLC will flag a warning to the final operator to check that SKU on box completion. The system then assumes that no product is available in that specific index conveyor 402, if it previously under delivered the required SKU quantity. The main conveyor will then stop if a box requiring that SKU has arrived, until the operator has refilled and rechecked that specific index conveyor and pressed the reset button to restart the main conveyor.

The PLC detects whether each item of SKU is dispensed using a light curtain 820. A separate light curtain is provided for each index conveyor.

This allows for empty compartments - the index conveyor dispenses until an item drop is sensed. In this way the loader 112 doesn't have to accurately fill every compartment, just aim to fill most. In practice a loader will try to continuously fill all the compartments of the most popular SKU, and may go back and fill the lesser dispensed items when time permits. The 802 angle allows the operator to visually monitor the index conveyors to assess the priority of reloading product. iii. If there is no error, the box continues moving on the main conveyor towards the closing section. iv. Each module PLC is responsible for monitoring and recording the real time position of each box on its main conveyor with details of how many items of which SKU has been (or not yet) delivered into that box. v. The master PLC will regularly poll each module PLC to get real time information of each box (position, linked order number, SKU received, completed or not), and update the Orders in Process data on an SQL Server or other suitable data store. vi. The production manager can pull Orders in Process data using for example an SQL program and displays the real time status of all Orders in Process on a computer. The box closure and shipping station 108 comprises an operator manually checking boxes that are flagged with incomplete orders (as described Control System ii) according to order information retrieved from the customer order data (by barcode scanner), correct any error and then seal the box. The operator scans the barcode and the boxes intended contents are displayed on a screen in front of the operator for checking. Then operators manually pack each box onto pallets for delivery.

The SQL Server or data store may run on local computer(s) with dual hard disk for real time redundancy of data storage. The computer may comprise dual network connections, one to the PLC physical ethernet network for production line real time control, the other to an enterprise network through a VPN/Firewall for remote SQL data backup or production line information display. Alternative the SQL Server or data store may be located remotely.

The Enterprise network connection may allow real time retrieval of database and display system process for management purposes. Also this allows after hours daily remote backup of databases at an off-site location.

Logon to servers is controlled by password and remote access authentication. The enterprise connection is secured by a firewall and VPN connections that required password and remote access authentication. Each PLC is protected by administrator password when program retrieval or altering is required. A copy of the PLC programs may also backed up to a local computer, when necessary, the PLC program can be reloaded by copying to SD card and insert into the PLC.

An emergency stop button is provided on each Conveyor Module, to stop the whole main conveyor system. During emergency stop, power output to all motors is switched off by the emergency stop feature on VFDs and main conveyor belt controllers. The power to all computers, PLCs and VFDs are maintained by a UPS to keep the current information of all boxes currently on the system. This would allow immediate restart of the system, without losing any boxes and SKU items. The master PLC will send commands each module PLC for rechecking their boxes within its main conveyor, and flag errors if any, before restarting the process after emergency stop.

One or more embodiments have one or more advantages including:

• Much higher throughput compared to manual picking or existing semiautomated solutions,

• Much reduced errors compared to manual picking,

• Optimized angle and position (in front) for the loader filling the compartments that allows the most compartments to be filled in a single pass,

• Easy disposal of empty boxes,

• Reduced damage to foodstuffs dispensed into the box,

• Easy transport of picking modules for repair and cleaning,

• More space efficient than other automated solutions,

• More flexible in what products can be dispensed than an Aframe conveyor,

• Quick setup and reconfiguration for SKU locations without physical machine changes, and/or

• Expandable to allow for future SKU increases.

While the present invention has been illustrated by the description of the embodiments thereof, and while the embodiments have been described in detail, it is not the intention of the Applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departure from the spirit or scope of the Applicant's general inventive concept.