US-12623253-B2 - Article sorting apparatus and article sorting system

US12623253B2US 12623253 B2US12623253 B2US 12623253B2US-12623253-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an article sorting apparatus and an article sorting system, wherein the article sorting apparatus includes a first receiving means and a second receiving means which are both configured to receive an article, wherein the second receiving means is arranged below the first receiving means along a vertical direction; a transfer means arranged upstream of the second receiving means for transferring a received article to the second receiving means; and a sorting member for sorting the article to the first receiving means or the transfer means. The article sorting system includes an article sorting apparatus. The first receiving means and the second receiving means are arranged longitudinally along a vertical direction, which reduces the occupied space of the article sorting apparatus and allows for more space for article storage.

Inventors

Ying Chen
Jian Zhang
Xu Liu
Tao Mei
Yunjian CHENG
Xianglong Wang

Assignees

Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230118
Priority Date: 20220429

Claims (12)

1 . An article sorting system, comprising an article sorting apparatus, wherein the article sorting apparatus comprises: a first receiving means for receiving an article; a second receiving means for receiving an article, wherein the second receiving means is arranged below the first receiving means along a vertical direction; a transfer means arranged upstream of the second receiving means for transferring a received article to the second receiving means; a sorting member for sorting the article to the first receiving means or the transfer means; and a first baffle arranged on a side of the sorting member away from a receiving port of the transfer means, for guiding the article deflecting before arriving at the sorting member into the sorting member; wherein the article sorting system further comprises a first conveying means and a robot, wherein the first conveying means is configured to convey the article to be sorted, the robot is arranged above the first conveying means, the article sorting apparatus is arranged on a side of the first conveying means, and the robot is configured to transfer the article from the first conveying means to the sorting member, the sorting member waits for the robot to drop the article at a fixed position every time; the article sorting system further comprises a second baffle arranged between the article sorting apparatus and the first conveying means for guiding the article that fails to enter the sorting member to the first conveying means, the second baffle is arranged on a side of the fixed position adjacent to the first conveying means, so as to return the article that falls before arriving at the sorting member to the first conveying means through the second baffle.
2 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein a receiving port of the transfer means and a receiving port of the first receiving means are located on both sides of the sorting member respectively at the same height.
3 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the sorting member comprises a spindle and a tipping bucket rotatably mounted on the spindle, and in the case that the tipping bucket rotates to a first state, the article in the tipping bucket slides into the first receiving means; and in the case that the tipping bucket rotates to a second state, the article in the tipping bucket slides into the transfer means.
4 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the sorting member comprises a conveying body and a conveyor belt, wherein the conveyor belt conveys the article along a straight line, the conveyor belt moves along a first direction to convey the article to the first receiving means, and the conveyor belt moves along a second direction opposite to the first direction to convey the article to the transfer means.
5 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the transfer means comprises a vertical section and a slanted section communicating with each other, wherein the slanted section communicates with the second receiving means.
6 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the article sorting further comprises a buffer means for reducing an impact force after the article arrives at the second receiving means.
7 . The article sorting system according to claim 6 , wherein the buffer means comprises a mounting frame and a plurality of flexible belts mounted on the mounting frame.
8 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the first receiving means and the second receiving means are provided with a plurality of receiving stations sequentially arranged along a horizontal direction respectively, and the sorting member is movably arranged relative to the first receiving means and the second receiving means along a horizontal direction, so that the sorting member sorts the article to any one of the receiving stations of the first receiving means and any one of the receiving stations of the second receiving means.
9 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , wherein the article sorting further comprises a first support frame and a second support frame located below the first support frame, wherein a plurality of first receiving containers for receiving the article are arranged on the first support frame, so that the plurality of the first receiving containers and the first support frame form the first receiving means; and a plurality of second receiving containers for receiving the article are arranged on the second support frame, so that the plurality of second receiving containers and the second support frame form the second receiving means.
10 . The article sorting system according to claim 9 , wherein the first support frame further comprises a third bracket arranged on a side of the first support frame and the second support frame, the transfer means is arranged on the third bracket, and the sorting member is arranged on the top of the third bracket.
11 . The article sorting system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second conveying means and a third conveying means, which both communicate with the first conveying means, the second conveying means is configured to convey a bin to the first conveying means, the bin is configured to store the article to be sorted, and the third conveying means is configured to receive the bin from the first conveying means.
12 . The article sorting system according to claim 11 , wherein the numbers of the second conveying means and the third conveying means are both two, two of the second conveying means are arranged in parallel, and two of the third conveying means are arranged in parallel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2023/072765, filed on Jan. 18, 2023, which itself claims priority to CN Patent application Ser. No. 20/221,0467393.1 filed on Apr. 29, 2022, the disclosures of both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the technical field of logistics transportation, in particular to an article sorting apparatus and an article sorting system. BACKGROUND With the boom of the logistics industry, the article sorting demand rises abruptly. In the logistics distribution center, a product is first picked out from its storage location or other positions according to an order requirement of a customer or a distribution plan, and then packaged and delivered. At present, in a warehoused article sorting, it is necessary to pick out a product from a target container and allocate the same to a designated target container. Since the sorting is accomplished by manual, a worker needs to turn around repeatedly to pick up a product, which involves repetitive work. Thus, the worker is prone to fatigue and it is difficult to work continuously. Moreover, manual sorting requires consuming a lot of labor, which increases the labor cost. It is to be noted that, the information in the portion of background art of the present disclosure is merely intended to enhance the understanding of the overall background of the present disclosure, but shall not be construed as admitting or hinting in any form that the information constitutes the art already commonly known by those skilled in the art. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides an article sorting apparatus and an article sorting system, which may realize automatic sorting and reduce labor cost. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an article sorting apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises: a first receiving means for receiving an article; a second receiving means for receiving an article, the second receiving means is arranged below the first receiving means along a vertical direction; a transfer means arranged upstream of the second receiving means for transferring a received article to the second receiving means; and a sorting member for sorting the article to the first receiving means or the transfer means. In some embodiments, a receiving port of the transfer means and a receiving port of the first receiving means are located on both sides of the sorting member respectively and substantially at the same height. In some embodiments, the sorting member includes a spindle and a tipping bucket rotatably mounted on the spindle, and when the tipping bucket rotates to a first state, the article in the tipping bucket slides into the first receiving means; and when the tipping bucket rotates to a second state, the article in the tipping bucket slides into the transfer means. In some embodiments, the sorting member includes a conveying body and a conveyor belt, the conveyor belt conveys the article along a straight line, the conveyor belt moves along a first direction to convey the article to the first receiving means, and the conveyor belt moves along a second direction opposite to the first direction to convey the article to the transfer means. In some embodiments, the transfer means includes a vertical section and a slanted section communicating with each other, the slanted section communicates with the second receiving means. In some embodiments, the article sorting apparatus further comprises a buffer means for reducing an impact force after the article arrives at the second receiving means. In some embodiments, the buffer means includes a mounting frame and a plurality of flexible belts mounted on the mounting frame. In some embodiments, the first receiving means and the second receiving means are provided with a plurality of receiving stations sequentially arranged along a horizontal direction respectively, and the sorting member is movably arranged relative to the first receiving means and the second receiving means along a horizontal direction so that the sorting member sorts the article to the different receiving stations of the first receiving means and the different receiving stations of the second receiving means. In some embodiments, the article sorting apparatus further comprises a first baffle arranged on a side of the sorting member for guiding the article deflecting before arriving at the sorting member into the sorting member. In some embodiments, the article sorting apparatus further comprises a first support frame including a first support frame and a second support frame located below the first support frame, a plurality of first receiving containers for receiving the article are arranged on the first support frame, so that the plurality of the first receiving containers and the first bracket form the first receiving m