US-20260125174-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLACING PRODUCTS IN BOXES

US20260125174A1US 20260125174 A1US20260125174 A1US 20260125174A1US-20260125174-A1

Abstract

A method of loading products into a box includes the following steps displacing the box into a loading station; displacing a first group of products so as to position the first group of products above the box, in the loading station; inserting the first group of products into the box; shifting the box in a first direction while preventing the first group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the first group of products towards the first side wall of the box so as to form a first row of products; and inserting further groups of products into the box so as to form an array of products in the box. A system for carrying out the method is related.

Inventors

Jose Luis FERNÁNDEZ SÁNCHEZ
Aitzol ARRIOLA BADIOLA

Assignees

GAINDU, S.L.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230928
Priority Date: 20221003

Claims (15)

1 . A method of loading products into a box having a substantially rectangular cross section in a horizontal plane, the box comprising a first side wall, a second side wall, a third side wall and a fourth side wall, the side walls extending upwards from the bottom of the box, wherein the method comprises: displacing the box along a first track and into a loading station; displacing a first group of products along a second track, so as to position the first group of products above the box, in the loading station; inserting the first group of products into the box so as to position the first group of products on the bottom of the box; shifting the box in a first direction while preventing the first group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the first group of products towards the first side wall of the box so as to form a first row of products at the first side wall of the box; inserting further groups of products into the box so as to form an array of products in the box, the array comprising a plurality of rows of products.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of shifting the box in the first direction while preventing the first group of products from moving with the box is carried out so that the first group of products becomes positioned at least partly under at least one flap present at the first side wall of the box.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of inserting further groups of products into the box so as to form an array of products in the box comprises: displacing a second group of products along the second track so as to position the second group of products above the box in the loading station; inserting the second group of products into the box so as to position the second group of products on the bottom of the box; shifting the box in a second direction opposite to the first direction while preventing the second group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the second group of products towards the second side wall of the box so as to form a second row of products in the box, at the second side wall of the box.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein preventing the first group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the first group of products towards the first side wall of the box, is carried out using a first retainer which is displaceable between an upper position in which the first retainer is placed outside the box, and a lower position in which the first retainer is at least partially inserted into the box, so that the first retainer prevents the first group of products from moving with the box when the box is shifted in the first direction.
5 . The method according to claim 4 , comprising the step of placing the first group of products on a support in the loading station, the support being arranged to selectively adopt a support configuration for supporting a group of products in the loading station, and a release configuration for allowing the group of products to descend into a box placed under the support, whereby the step of inserting the first group of products into the box comprises the step of setting the support into the release configuration.
6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the first retainer comprises a plurality of vertical bars and wherein the support comprises a plurality of horizontal bars for supporting products, wherein at least some of the horizontal bars are positioned between at least some of the vertical bars, whereby shifting the support from the support configuration to the release configuration comprises displacing the horizontal bars in relation to the vertical bars so that at least some of the horizontal bars slide between at least some of the vertical bars.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising using a first retainer and a second retainer, each one of the first retainer and the second retainer being selectively positionable in an upper position and in a lower position, the method comprising setting the first retainer in its lower position to prevent the first group of products from moving with the box in the first direction at one stage of a loading process during which the second retainer is in its upper position, and by setting the second retainer in its lower position to prevent a second group of products from moving with the box in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, at another stage of the loading process, during which the first retainer is in its upper position.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of shifting the box in a first direction comprises displacing the box with a box shifting device the box, shifting device being controllably displaceable in parallel with the first direction, the box shifting device being switchable between a deployed configuration in which the box shifting device can interact with a box in the loading station so as to shift the box in parallel with the first direction, and a retracted configuration in which the box shifting device cannot interact with the box.
9 . A system for loading products into a box having a substantially rectangular cross section in a horizontal plane, the system comprising: a first transport system for displacing boxes along a first track, into a loading station for loading products into the boxes; a second transport system for displacing products along a second track and into the loading station; a support for supporting the products in the loading station, above the first track, the support being arranged to selectively adopt a support configuration for supporting a group of products in the loading station, and a release configuration for allowing the group of products to descend into a box placed on the first track, under the support; a first retainer arranged in the loading station, the first retainer being displaceable between an upper position and a lower position; and a subsystem for shifting boxes horizontally in the loading station.
10 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the upper position is selected so that the first retainer, when in the upper position, will not interfere with a box passing below the first retainer on the first transport system, and wherein the lower position is selected so that the first retainer, when in the lower position, will enter into a box positioned under the first retainer and on the first transport system, so that the first retainer can interfere with a product placed on the bottom of the box, so as to prevent the product from moving with the box when the box is being displaced in a first direction by the subsystem.
11 . The system according to claim 9 , further comprising a second retainer arranged in the loading station, the second retainer being displaceable between an upper position and a lower position, the first retainer and the second retainer being arranged in parallel so that when a product is placed on the support, the product is placed between the first retainer and the second retainer, wherein the first retainer is displaceable to its lower position to prevent a product dropped into a box from the support from moving with the box when the box is being displaced in a first direction by the subsystem, and wherein the second retainer is displaceable to its lower position to prevent a product dropped into a box from the support from moving with the box when the box is being displaced in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, by the subsystem.
12 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the support comprises a plurality of horizontally extending support members arranged to support products from below when the products are positioned in the loading station, wherein the support members are displaceable in the horizontal direction, so as to shift the support from the support configuration into the release configuration.
13 . The system according to claim 12 , wherein the first retainer comprises a plurality of vertical bars, and wherein at least some of the vertical bars are interleaved with at least some of the horizontally extending support members, so that at least some of the vertical bars can slide vertically between at least some of the horizontally extending support members when the first retainer is shifted between its upper and its lower position, and/or wherein at least some of the horizontally extending support members can slide horizontally between at least some of the vertically extending bars, when the support is shifted between its support configuration and its release configuration.
14 . The system according to claim 9 , configured for carrying out a method of loading products into a box having a substantially rectangular cross section in a horizontal plane, the box comprising a first side wall, a second side wall, a third side wall and a fourth side wall, the side walls extending upwards from the bottom of the box, wherein the method comprises: displacing the box along a first track and into a loading station; displacing a first group of products along a second track, so as to position the first group of products above the box, in the loading station; inserting the first group of products into the box so as to position the first group of products on the bottom of the box; shifting the box in a first direction while preventing the first group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the first group of products towards the first side wall of the box so as to form a first row of products at the first side wall of the box; inserting further groups of products into the box so as to form an array of products in the box, the array comprising a plurality of rows of products.
15 . The system according to claim 9 , programmed for carrying out a method of loading products into a box having a substantially rectangular cross section in a horizontal plane, the box comprising a first side wall, a second side wall, a third side wall and a fourth side wall, the side walls extending upwards from the bottom of the box, wherein the method comprises: displacing the box along a first track and into a loading station; displacing a first group of products along a second track, so as to position the first group of products above the box, in the loading station; inserting the first group of products into the box so as to position the first group of products on the bottom of the box; shifting the box in a first direction while preventing the first group of products from moving with the box, so as to bring the first group of products towards the first side wall of the box so as to form a first row of products at the first side wall of the box; inserting further groups of products into the box so as to form an array of products in the box, the array comprising a plurality of rows of products.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 National Stage patent application of PCT/EP2023/076961 filed 28 Sep. 2023, which claims the benefit of European patent application 22382924.3 filed 3 Oct. 2022, the dis-closures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a method and system for placing products in boxes, such as cardboard boxes. BACKGROUND It is known in the art to place individual products in boxes, such as cardboard boxes, for transportation and storage of the products. For example, edible items such as fruits and vegetables are often placed in individual packages, such as on trays or in boxes or nets, which are then placed in a larger box, such as a cardboard box, to facilitate the subsequent handling, such as temporary storage and transportation, of the individual packages. Typically, the boxes in which the individual packages/products are placed have a rectangular layout, with a rectangular bottom and four side walls extending upwards from the rectangular bottom. An upper opening is defined between the side walls of the box. Often, this upper opening does not extend all the way between the side walls of the box: instead, the upper opening of the box is partially restricted by horizontal flaps extending between the side walls of the box at the ends of the box (typically, at the two narrower ends of a box having two longer and two shorter sides), or by horizontal flaps present at the corners of the box. Thus, the area of the opening is smaller than the area of the bottom of the box between the side walls of the box. The flaps are typically provided for the purpose of enhancing the stability and/or rigidity of the box, and/or to provide for support surfaces allowing for, or at least facilitating, the stacking of boxes on top of each other. Often, products such as packages (nets, trays—such as trays wrapped in some kind of foil—or boxes) containing fruits, vegetables, eggs or other edible items, are placed in arrays in the boxes, that is, extending in rows and columns on the bottom of the box. For efficiency, it is desirable that the products occupy as much as possible of the surface area of the bottom of the box, between the four side walls of the box. As the products are typically placed into the box from above, a problem here is that part of the storage space in the box is situated under the above-mentioned horizontal flaps. Thus, if the boxes are filled by merely letting the products descend into the boxes, the space under the flaps will not be used, which implies a suboptimal use of the surface area available for storage of the products within the boxes. Thus, typically, filling of the products into the boxes involves a horizontal movement of at least some of the products, so as to position at least some of the products at least partially under one or more of the flaps. One example of the kind of box discussed above is shown in FIG. 1A. The box 1000 has a substantially parallelepipedal shape and comprises two short side walls 1001, 1002 and two long side walls 1003, 1004, the long side walls extending perpendicularly to the short side walls. The box has a bottom 1005 extending between the side walls 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1004. The surface area of the bottom of the box is basically L*W, where L is the length of a long side wall and W is the length of a short side wall. Any reference to the “length” of a side or side wall in this document relates to the extension thereof in the horizontal direction, that is, in parallel with the bottom of the box. The upper free surface of the bottom between the side walls represents the surface that is available for the placement of products on the bottom of the box. The illustrated box has a relatively low height. This kind of boxes are sometimes also referred to as “trays” in the art. This kind of boxes are often prepared by folding a cardboard blank. The box features an opening 1006 above the bottom of the box. The opening allows for the insertion of products into the box. The size of the opening is smaller than the surface of the bottom of the box, due to the presence of two substantially horizontal flaps 1000A, 1000B, each flap extending along the upper end of a respective short side wall or side 1001, 1002 of the box. FIG. 1B illustrates the box 1000 filed with products, in this case, approximately parallelepipedal packages (which may contain fruit or any other kind of merchandise). The products are arranged in a 3×2 array, with a first row comprising two products 2001, 2002, a central row comprising two products 2005, 2006, and a final row comprising two products 2003, 2004. The products 2001, 2002 of the first row are partially arranged under a first flap 1000A of the box, and the products 2003, 2004 of the final row are partially placed under a second flap 1000B of the box. The products are tightly packed and basically occupy the entire surface of