US-12623857-B2 - Vision sensor infeed system

Abstract

A system and method for optimizing flow of a plurality of products along a conveyor includes a conveyor drive connected with the respect to the conveyor, the conveyor drive configured to modulate the speed of the conveyor. A camera positioned relative to the products on the conveyor. A processing unit is connected with respect to the camera and the conveyor drive, the processing unit defining a zone along the conveyor having a virtual longitudinal and lateral boundary within a section of the conveyor, the processing unit further determining relative product position metrics of the products within the zone and communicating with the conveyor drive to modulate the speed of the conveyor thereby optimizing a relative position of the products within the zone. In addition, the subject system may be used for inspection of conveyed products.

Inventors

• JonPaul LASKIS
• J. Mark NUNN
• Wayne J. RYAN

Assignees

• ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240722

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A system for optimizing flow or improving at least one flow characteristic of a plurality of products along a conveyor, the system comprising: a conveyor drive connected with the respect to the conveyor, the conveyor drive configured to modulate the speed of the conveyor; a camera positioned relative to the products on the conveyor; and a processing unit connected with respect to the camera and the conveyor drive, the processing unit defining a zone along the conveyor having a virtual longitudinal and lateral boundary within a section of the conveyor, the processing unit further determining relative product position metrics of the products within the zone and communicating with the conveyor drive to modulate the speed of the conveyor thereby optimizing a relative position of the products within the zone, wherein the relative product position metrics comprise a vector and velocity of each adjacent product adjusted for a size of each product.
2. 2 . The system of claim 1 further comprising: dynamic sidewalls positioned along the conveyor, the dynamic sidewalls adapted to change configuration or zone latitude based on feedback from the processing unit.
3. 3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the processing unit calculates a real-time product density within the zone to modulate the speed of the conveyor.
4. 4 . The system of claim 3 wherein the real-time product density is compared with an optimum density to adjust inputs for the conveyor.
5. 5 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a division point along the conveyor downstream of the zone, the division point including one or more lane dividers to divide groups of products into two or more single lanes.
6. 6 . The system of claim 1 wherein the processing unit modulates the conveyor using feedback loop adjustments.
7. 7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the conveyor includes generally linear sidewalls.
8. 8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the relative product position metrics comprise a distance between each adjacent product.
9. 9 . The system of claim 1 wherein the conveyor conveys products in one of a mass flow and a single file flow pattern.
10. 10 . A method for optimizing flow or improving at least one flow characteristic of a plurality of products along a conveyor, the method comprising: driving a conveyor with a conveyor drive, the conveyor drive adapted to modulate the speed of the conveyor; positioning a camera relative to the products on the conveyor; counting a group of products within the conveyor; defining a zone along the conveyor with a processing unit connected with respect to the camera and the conveyor drive, the zone having a virtual longitudinal and lateral boundary within a section of the conveyor; determining relative product position metrics of the products within the zone with the processing unit, wherein the relative product position metrics comprise a vector and velocity of each adjacent product adjusted for a size of each product; and communicating with the conveyor drive to modulate the speed of the conveyor thereby optimizing a relative position of the products within the zone.
11. 11 . The method of claim 10 further comprising defining a prime line along the zone, the prime line used to define a desired number of containers on the conveyor.
12. 12 . The method of claim 10 further comprising communicating with dynamic sidewalls to optimize flow of the products along the conveyor.
13. 13 . The method of claim 10 further comprising: identifying a downed product along the conveyor; and communicating a signal to a PLC and the conveyor based upon the downed product.
14. 14 . The method of claim 10 further comprising: assigning a designated lane to the group of products within the conveyor.
15. 15 . The method of claim 10 wherein the processing unit calculates the maximum allowable quantity of products within the zone to engage an accumulation mode.
16. 16 . A system for optimizing flow or improving at least one flow characteristic of a plurality of products along a conveyor, the system comprising: a conveyor drive connected with the respect to the conveyor, the conveyor drive configured to modulate the speed of the conveyor; a camera positioned relative to the products on the conveyor; and a processing unit connected with respect to the camera and the conveyor drive, the processing unit defining a zone along the conveyor having a virtual longitudinal and lateral boundary within a section of the conveyor, the processing unit further determining relative product position metrics of the products within the zone and communicating with the conveyor drive to modulate the speed of the conveyor thereby optimizing a relative position of the products within the zone, wherein the relative product position metrics comprise a vector and velocity of each adjacent product adjusted for a size of each product.
17. 17 . The system of claim 16 further comprising: dynamic sidewalls positioned relative to the conveyor, wherein the dynamic sidewalls are adapted to change configuration or zone latitude based on feedback from the processing unit.
18. 18 . The system of claim 16 wherein the conveyor includes generally linear sidewalls.
19. 19 . The system of claim 16 wherein the relative product position metrics comprise a distance between each adjacent product.
20. 20 . The method of claim 16 further comprising: counting a group of products within the conveyor; and assigning a designated lane to the group of products within the conveyor.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/882,121, filed 5 Aug. 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/230,306, filed on 6 Aug. 2021. The parent and related patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and are made a part hereof, including but not limited to those portions which specifically appear hereinafter. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a device for use in production and packaging that can accurately monitor and adjust product flow, population, and irregularities that occur on a manufacturing line, such as a conveyor line. Traditional manufacturing lines include operator controls as part of a line control system. The speed of the manufacturing lines are maintained and/or programmed to follow the respective upstream or downstream speed of the machine. Such manufacturing lines may include accumulators for smoothing out bottlenecks in product pace, case packing, shrink wrapping, product inspection/rejection, tooling, IE robots, and/or other manufacturing steps. Common methods of detecting product flow, population and related irregularities include mechanical type switches or sensors that are limited in their detection ability or require a disturbance of the package formation. One preferred current method of measuring the existence of products on the conveyor utilizes Boolean sensors that typically make physical contact with the product. These sensors may compromise the guide rail design of the conveyors and result in suboptimal product flow. They only detect the presence or absence of product and are unable to determine if product is moving or stationary. Physical contact with the product may cause damage to both the product and the sensor and, in a worst case, may even inhibit efficient product flow. More generally, sensors requiring physical contact change the flow pattern of the products and the population density and configuration of such in ways that may be detrimental. A need exists for a system and method that can detect and react to flow, population, and irregularities—all without adversely disturbing the product formation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention generally relates to a system and method that detects undesirable product flow and adjusts to normalize such flow. The general object of the invention can be attained, at least in part, through the subject system and method which uses optimized computer vision algorithms. These algorithms will improve the control of function of a machine to facilitate better product flow through the packaging machinery. In a preferred embodiment, a camera is placed relative to the flow of products, preferably over the flow. The use of an overhead camera system enables replacement of multiple contact sensors with a single touchless camera system. The camera system can detect product density in higher fidelity than a simple boolean flag thereby enabling precise control of conveyor speed via automated PID loop (feedback) adjustments rather than simple High/Low speed switching. The same camera system can likewise measure product movement and minimize down time related to jam conditions. Current methods of “down bottle” or “broken bottle” detection require product filed into lanes after entering, for example, a case packer and is used to stop the machine for operator intervention. The smart camera system according to this invention can detect this issue earlier in the line while the product is still in mass flow. Earlier detection enables less costly intervention without downtime. In one preferred embodiment, the input to the device will be a bulk stream of products. The output of the device will be a singular row or plurality of rows of single file products ready for presentation to the next machine or stage in the system. Sensor capabilities include but are not limited to: product count; product spacing; product speed; product direction; product orientation (e.g., downed bottles); control of downstream equipment; lane balancing; and jam detection. Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended claims and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art system; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of vision sensor infeed system according to a preferred embodiment of this invention; FIG. 3 is a process view of a vision sensor infeed system according to a preferred embodiment of this invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic view of vision sensor down bottle and machine control system according to a preferred embodiment of this invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic view of vision sensor lane balancing and machine control system according to a preferred embodiment of this invention; and FIG. 6 is a schematic view of vision sensor pattern recognition and machine control syste