Abstract:
An installation for separating and singulating non-uniform postal articles of the small parcel or packet type comprises a platform for temporarily storing a pile of loosely placed postal articles, a vision system adapted to form digital images of the pile of loose postal articles, which pile is static on the platform, a data-processing unit adapted to use these digital images to identify a postal article to be singulated, i.e. an article that has a pickup face that is not covered by any other postal article, the unit being suitable for delivering data indicating the three-dimensional position, the facing direction, and the dimensions of the pickup face, and a pneumatic pickup head of a robotized arm that is controlled on the basis of the data to lift up the postal article to be singulated via its pickup face, and to deposit the postal article on a deposition zone that is off the platform.
Abstract:
An installation for identifying handled parcels, said installation including a linear conveyor for conveying parcels in series. The installation further includes a monitoring and control central unit suitable for instantly determining the three-dimensional position of each parcel on the conveyor, and at least one handheld electronic unit that is suitable for detecting identification information on a parcel when it is placed in the vicinity of said parcel, and for transmitting said information to the central unit. The central unit is arranged to read an instantaneous three-dimensional position for said handheld unit in response to receiving said information coming from said handheld unit, and to detect a match between said instantaneous three-dimensional position of the handheld unit and said instantaneous three-dimensional position of the parcel as determined by the central unit.
Abstract:
A method of merging postal articles with a stack of mailpieces that have already been machine-sorted into a delivery round comprises the following steps: inserting the postal articles in sequence into a sorting frame having slots; placing the stack of mailpieces on a merge table; displaying on a display screen of a monitoring and control unit an indication representative of a number of current postal articles to be merged, and of an insertion position at which the postal articles should be inserted into the stack of mailpieces; then manually taking from the frame the number of postal articles indicated on the screen, and inserting them into the stack to perform a current merger; and having the monitoring and control unit measure a distance before and after the current merger to detect any error in taking the postal articles from the frame.
Abstract:
An installation for separating and singulating non-uniform postal articles of the small parcel or packet type is characterized in that it comprises a platform for storing a pile of loosely placed postal articles, a vision system adapted to form digital images of the pile of loose postal articles, which pile is static on the platform, and a pneumatic pickup head of a robotized arm. The vision system comprises at least one laser source that projects a beam of fanned-out laser lines onto the pile of articles, thereby making it possible, on the basis of images including the laser lines on the pile of articles, to compute accurately a map of depths, and to perform digital silhouetting so as to singulate an article from the pile of loose articles.
Abstract:
An unstacker device comprises a floor and a retaining paddle that are designed to move a stack of mailpieces from a feed magazine towards an unstacker head under the action of a monitoring and control unit as the mailpieces are being unstacked from the front of the stack. The device further comprises a vision system suitable for forming a profile digital image of said stack of mailpieces in the magazine, and said unit is arranged to evaluate a certain inclination of the mailpieces in the stack on the basis of said profile image and to cause the floor and the paddle to move so as to present the mailpiece at the front of the stack in a satisfactory position on edge so that it can be unstacked by the unstacker head.
Abstract:
The postal sorting machine comprises a sorting conveyor suitable for transporting postal articles in series past sorting outlets and a postal article feed unit having a magazine for loosely storing postal articles to be sorted and a separator that has a robotized arm and a vision sensor and that is suitable for picking up the postal articles to be sorted one-by-one from the magazine and for putting them on the sorting conveyor while placing them in series at constant pitch. The sorting conveyor has a flat conveyor that slopes sideways to form a jogging edge against which the postal articles are jogged by gravity.
Abstract:
Equipment for handling postal articles, in particular for preparing a delivery round, includes a sorting machine (4) with a feed inlet (2) and sorting outlets (3). The articles (4) sorted into the sorting outlets are transported in storage trays (5) by shuttle robot carts (6). A monitoring and control unit (7) causes the shuttle robot carts with full trays of articles to move from the sorting outlets to the feed inlet and causes the shuttle robot carts with empty trays to move past the sorting outlets, where the shuttle robot carts move in convoys and in a target-seeking mode.
Abstract:
The method of sorting pre-sorted mailpieces in a postal sorting machine comprises the steps consisting in: detecting loading in the feed inlet of the machine of a batch of mailpieces pre-sorted by a mailer of the mailpieces on the basis of their delivery addresses; and, in response to said detection, loading, in the reference database of the address recognition system, a lexicon comprising the delivery addresses for only the pre-sorted mailpieces of the batch, and, by means of the monitoring and control unit and for each current mailpiece, comparing the result of the OCR reading with said delivery addresses of the lexicon so as to recognize the delivery address of said current mailpiece.
Abstract:
A storage module (1) comprises a storage zone (3) for storing flat articles (2) by accumulation in a stack and on edge, a main conveyor (9) that extends transversely to the storage zone, a stacking function for transferring an article from the main conveyor to the storage zone and for stacking it at the back of the stack of articles in the storage zone, and an unstacking function for extracting an article from the stack of articles and for transferring it to the main conveyor. The unstacking function comprises an unstacking plate (7) having a perforated belt and controlled suction and disposed between the main conveyor and the storage zone, said unstacking plate having a first segment parallel to the stack of articles and a second segment that is adjacent to the first segment and that extends slantwise relative to the first segment, said controlled suction being disposed in the slantwise second segment of the unstacking plate.
Abstract:
Storage tray for automatically unloading stacks of flat articles stacked on edge, the storage tray having panels and a bottom plate provided with slots through which moving fingers can pass for moving the edges of the flat articles away from or towards the bottom plate and for automatically unloading the flat articles from the storage tray, and for automatically loading the flat articles into the storage tray, the panels defining bearing faces suitable for receiving the flanks of the stacks of flat articles and provided with grooves in register with the ends of the slots so that the moving fingers extend beyond the stack of flat articles into the grooves so as to ensure that all of the flat articles are moved. Also a method of loading and of unloading the storage tray.